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18 - CAPE GAZETTE, Friday, April 14 - April 20, 2000
Delaware State Police target teen drinking and driving
By Kerry Kester
Delaware State Police Troop 7 is taking
an aggressive stance with teenagers who
drink and drive. Beginning the weekend of
April 7-9, troopers stepped up their efforts
to locate and cite teens violated the state's
underage consumption laws.
"The state has a zero-tolerance policy for
underage consumption," said Capt. Peter
Schwartzkopf, Troop 7 commander. "We're
going to enforce the law. We've identified
some problem areas, and we're going to
push the resources in that direction. As a
result of last weekend's effort, we respond-
ed to Midway Shopping Center and arrest-
ed five juveniles for underage consump-
tion, three of whom were also arrested for
drugs."
Of the five arrested, one was also cited
with a traffic violation, said SchwartzkopL
and troopers also arrested three additional
juveniles in the shopping center area for
traffic violations.
Delaware State Police began a new traf-
fic initiative at the onset of 2000, which
calls for stepped-up enforcement for specif-
ic traffic laws.
Most of the monthly violations in the
campaign are geared toward aggressive
driving. April, for example, calls for
heightening teenagers' awareness of.the
dangers of drinking and driving not only
through enforcement, but also through state
police education programs for teens.
Those efforts will continue through May
and the summer months, when all aggres-
sive driving practices will be targeted. Sep-
tember's Violation of the Month is school
bus safety, October is stop signs and yield
signs, November is child restraints and De-
cember is driving under the influence.
According to Cpl. Lad Dick of the Fatal
Accident Investigation and Reconstruction
team housed at Troop 7, national statistics
show 80 percent Of the young drinking
drivers who were killed in accidents in
1998 were not wearing seat belts. What is
more alarming, he said, is 20 Delaware
youths 20 or younger have died on state
roads because of alcohol-related crashes.
"Motor vehicle crashes are the leading
cause of death for 15- to 20-year-olds," said
Lt. John Yeomans, state police spokesman.
"In 1998, nationally, 3,427 drivers - age 15
to 20 - were killed, and an additional
348,000 were injured in motor vehicle
crashes.
"In 1998, 21 percent of the young drivers
ages 15 to 20 who were killed were intoxi-
cated."
"Delaware law states drivers under 21
convicted of operating any kind of vehicle
while or after consuming alcohol will lose
their licenses and/or privileges for two
months, the first time they are convicted,"
said Dick.
"Any subsequent convictions call for los-
ing the licenses for six to 12 months. If the
young people convicted don't have their li-
censes at the time of their arrests, they will
be fined $200 for the first offense and $400
to $1,000 for subsequent convictions."
Police need neither warrants nor personal
observation of someone drinking to make a
driving under the influence (DUI) arrest.
They need only to have probably cause.
Legislative Update
Continued from page 16
The governor also asked for, but
did not receive a sunset provision
in the bill. Carper and all who
have voiced an opinion agree that
the technology needs to prove it's
safe for the environment and all
creatures who share it. However,
some feel, as the technology is
perfected, it might be the best way
to eliminate ever-present waste.
Before the bill left the Senate,
George Bunting, D-Bethany
Beach, amended it to exempt cre-
matoriums and incinerators used
by farms and veterinary product
plants to burn poultry waste and
dead animals.
Bunting and Rep. John
Schroeder, D-Lewes, both ex-
pressed disappointment that law-
makers moved forward on the bill
without much thought for poten-
tial for safe incineration of waste
in the future.
However, both also said that
passage now does not preclude
lawmakers from coming back
with new legislation should stud-
ies of existing incinerators and
trash-to-energy plants prove them
safe and efficient.
More action in the halls
• The next shot out of the barrel
after Maryland enacted a law
mandating trigger locks on hand-
guns, On April 11, Sen. Robert
Marshall, D-Wilmington West, in-
troduced a Delaware version of
the gun safety legislation. Mar-
shall termed his bill a "common
sense" approach to protect chil-
dren and to reduce the use of guns
that are-stolen. The bill would im-
mediately require all hand guns
sold or traded in Delaware to have
trigger locks, and after Jan. 1,
2003, it would require handguns
to have integrated safety locks
that would allow only the owner
to use it. Marshall said his bill re-
flects what he sees as a national
trend toward responsible handgun
ownership, and he calls on
Delawareans to enact their own
law before it is federally mandat-
ed. Sen. George Bunting, D-
Bethany Beach, said the bill will
go nowhere in Delaware. He, Rep.
John Schroeder, D-Lewes, and
Sen. Gary Simpson, R-Milford,
all agree it is a very serious issue,
however, the bill is new and no
one has had time to study it thor-
oughly. Bunting thinks that gun
manufacturers will see state and
national lawmakers taking aim at
the target and make their own
moves toward safer, smarter guns
that can only be used by the legit-
imate owner.
• The House has passed a bill
that would lower the legal blood
alcohol level that determines
drunken driving from .10 to .08.
The bill is sponsored by Rep.
William Oberle Jr., R-Beecher's
Lot. If it passes into law,
Delaware will join 17 other states
that have dropped the legal limit
for DUI under. 10.
• Although not in the same leg-
islation, teachers and poisonous
snakes are included among sub-
jects occupying lawmakers this
season. The House recently
passed H.B. 450 on to the Senate;
sponsored by Rep. Nancy Wagn-
er, R-Dover, it would allow re-
tired teachers to come back into
the classroom without effecting
their pensions or benefits. Wagner
said successful passage would
strengthen the pool of substitute
teachers. The poisonous snake
legislation slithered safely
through both chambers and goes
to Gov. Tom Carper for his ex-
pected signature. The bill would
make it illegal for state residents
to own poisonous snakes that are
not generally found in Delaware.
• Rep. Ben Ewing, R-
Bridgeville, has two abortion-re-
lated bills to be considered by the
House Health and Human Devel-
opment Committee. One would
require doctors to give women de-
lailed information regarding the
abortion method, its risks, alterna-
tives to abortion and anatomical
and physiological characteristics
of the fetus at the estimated age
of gestation. The other would
make a doctor civilly liable if he
or she failed to obtain the written
consent of a woman before per-
forming an abortion.
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