Hot Pursuit

The penalty for driving around drunk is going to become potentially harsher beginning this coming weekend.
On Aug. 1, Minnesota’s DWI laws are going to change to reflect what some have viewed as a loophole for several years. The threshold for one of the enhanced penalties in the law will drop from .20 to .16. 
When Minnesota lowered the intoxication level to .08 a few years back, lawmakers didn’t drop the part of the law which made it a gross misdemeanor to have an alcohol level twice the legal limit. It remained at .20 until now. 
So now if you plan on hopping behind the wheel after drinking heavily, it will be a gross misdemeanor if your alcohol level registers .16 or higher. 
The change will “put it on people’s radar to just not take the chance,” Steele County’s top prosecutor, Daniel McIntosh, said recently. He said this is a good move for the state and considers it very justifiable to lower the level. 
Just maybe, McIntosh said, such a move will make it likely that drunk drivers will be more careful than they have in the past. 
The difference will be in the sentencing part of DWIs. For gross misdemeanors, violators can expect jail time up to a year and six years probation while your basic misdemeanor runs 90 days in jail and two years probation. 
One area that might catch some off guard is with vehicle forfeitures. Under the new revision at .16, violators will be subject to having their vehicles forfeited. “Forfeiture deters some people—it’s quite a consequence,” McIntosh says. “People are surprised to see that their vehicles are taken.”
Steele County, and Owatonna in particular, has the second or third highest capita of DWI arrests throughout southeastern Minnesota, according to McIntosh. It’s hard to know exactly what to make of that fact. Are there more folks in the Owatonna area that like to tip back a few more brews than others? Or is it that law enforcement in Owatonna is just better at catching drunks than police in other areas?
Whatever the case is, it’s troubling to have such a distinction, to say the least. “Even with all the education, publicity and word of mouth, people still take the chance,” McIntosh said. He added that folks in the criminal justice system are at a loss as to why people take that risk. 
“It’s hard to understand why people continue to do it,” McIntosh said. “It’s one of those things that is a head scratcher for us as to why people continue to take the risk.”
McIntosh is frustrated because obviously the message isn’t hitting its intended target. 
More recently, McIntosh has seen an increase in the number of “huffing cases.” Huffing is the act of inhaling toxic gases to get high. Some of the most common forms of huffing are gasoline, solvents or spray paint. “It’s so dangerous,” he said.
“More people are killed by DWI than murder,” McIntosh said. “People need to look out for their own safety,” he added. 
For years families have been shattered and lives have been ruined at the hands of drunk drivers. I don’t think you want to put yourself in a position of being responsible for any of that kind of mayhem. 
It’s simple: don’t get behind the wheel after drinking alcohol. Let’s all do our part in going in hot pursuit of preventing drunken driving.