DWI Hit Parade!

The following persons were booked into the Polk County Florida Sheriff’s Jail for DUI; Sheriff Grady Judd:

Sara Adelina-Tavira Gafford, 28, on 3/10/2011 by Winter Haven Police Dept.
Bennie Hall, 37, on 3/10/2011 sentenced by court to 40 days

Michael E. Hampton, 55, on 3/10/2011 sentenced to 30 days by Tenth Circuit Court
Zenon Patton Oprysk, 41, on 3/10/2011 by Lakeland Police Dept.

Michael A. Boisey, 53, on 3/11/201 by Florida Highway Patrol

Bobby Dean Smith, 27, on 3/11/2011 by Polk County Sheriff

Shawn Michael DiPierro, 40, on 3/12/2011 sentenced to 45 days by Tenth Circuit Court

Dana K. Hagood, 22, on 3/12/2011 by Polk County Sheriff
Mark A. James, 50, on 3/12/2011 sentenced to 10 days by Tenth Circuit Court

Filomeno Porfirio-Agustin, 27, on 3/12/2011 by Lakeland Police Dept.

Lindsey Elizabeth Kennedy, 19, on 3/12/2011 by Lakeland Police Dept.

From Houston Press
Happy Friday! It’s the joyous start to the weekend, that grateful lapse between the freshly dead workweek and the one that looms next. It’s also the kickoff to no-refusal weekend, HPD’s drunk driving initiative. If you’re pulled over on suspicion of being drunk and refuse a breathalyzer either tonight or tomorrow, police will obtain a search warrant and draw your blood.
I went along for the ride late one Friday with Officer Michael Bostain, a 16-year veteran policeman. ….MORE

From Press of Atlantic City
The video recording of Hamilton Township Deputy Mayor Charles Cain’s drunken-driving arrest does not show erratic driving or certain close-up physical details noted in the police report released to The Press of Atlantic City two weeks ago.
Cain was polite to officers and repeatedly apologized when he did something incorrectly during sobriety testing.
However, the arrest video does show Cain speaking slowly with slightly slurred speech, having difficulty with some of the physical sobriety tests and struggling to remain calm.
Cain did not argue with police that he should not have been driving that night.   ….MORE SEE THE VIDEO

From KMSU Public Radio:
For the second time in three years Greene County is blazing a trail when it comes to DWI Court. The highly recognized program is creating a safer environment for its citizens and providing a learning opportunity for the country. KSMU’s Chasity Mayes has more.
Greene County’s DWI Court was named an Academy Court for the second time Friday by the National Drug Court Institute in partnership with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. ….MORE

The Chippewa Herald
A former Cadott man arrested for his sixth drunken driving offense while a warrant was out for his arrest for failing to show up in court on a fifth offense charge will be serving another year in jail.
But Raymond Hakes III, 29, most recently of Meeker, Okla., can avoid going to prison if he stays dry.
“If you fail at this, there is a substantial likelihood you will go to prison,” Judge Steven Cray said on placing Hakes on probation for three years, during which the focus will be Hakes staying alcohol-free……MORE

From HickoryRecord.com
Hickory –  State lawmakers are working to give North Carolina’s DWI laws new teeth.
North Carolina House bill 49, better known as “Laura’s Law,” provides a higher level of maximum punishment for the crime of driving while intoxicated. And it passed the house unanimously by a vote of 116 to 0 on Thursday.
The new law is designed to keep offenders from getting behind the wheel and driving drunk repeatedly – an occurrence law enforcement officers regularly confront.
A Conover man with three previous DWI convictions and one pending DWI charge was arrested and charged with DWI Sunday.
Tommy Leonard Wishon, 42, of Conover, was arrested by Hickory police at about 4:30 a.m. He was charged with driving while impaired, driving while license permanently revoked, no financial responsibility and displaying fictitious registration. ….MORE