BlogWood: MT Archives

Officer lies, Commissioner buys

The Tampa Trib, an unapologetically conservative newspaper with undeniable Christian leanings, reports that one of our County Commissioners has changed her mind about Hillsborough County’s recent relaxation of our archaic blue laws. The County Commissions was reacting to a City Council move a few weeks earlier which was designed to make it easier for rich white football fans to get snookered before Bucs games.

Now, though, having heard from a single law enforcement officer, Jan Platt is having second thoughts:

Earlier Sunday alcohol sales face a short life in Hillsborough after one county commissioner changed her mind about recently relaxing the old ``blue laws.''

Commissioner Jan Platt became the swing vote Tuesday after a sheriff's deputy spoke about drunken driving.

Platt had been in the majority when commissioners voted 4-3 in September to allow earlier Sunday sales. By switching sides, she began the process of shifting the start time back to 1 p.m. from the current 11 a.m.

``When a law enforcement officer stands up ... I'm going to react,'' Platt said, referring to the testimony from sheriff's Sgt. Steven Wallace. ``He said there has been a significant increase in DUIs in the past year.''

So, DUIs are up? Maybe we should rethink this early sales thing. After all, everyone knows that DUIs are bad.

Driving under the influence of alcohol had not been a dominant issue when commissioners voted to allow the earlier sales. Businesses had pushed for the change, arguing the old ``blue laws'' were an outdated attempt to discourage drinking on a day reserved for church.

Hmmm... that sounds right too. But if DUIs are up, maybe we should restrict sales every day and not just on Sundays.

In June, St. Petersburg shifted its Sunday start time from 1 p.m. to 11 a.m. Tampa followed suit in September, and later went further by allowing Sunday sales to begin at 7 a.m. in Tampa International Airport.

Retailers in unincorporated Hillsborough worried they would be at a disadvantage. So Platt voted with Commissioners Kathy Castor, Pat Frank and Jim Norman to match the cities' time change. Ken Hagan, Tom Scott and Ronda Storms opposed it without much discussion.

But Tuesday, Wallace spoke to commissioners at the request of the local chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. He's a MADD adviser and the sergeant in charge of the sheriff's central blood testing facility, where people arrested for suspected drunken driving are tested for alcohol levels.

The facility processed 6,785 DUI cases in 2002 and already has processed more than 5,300 this year, Wallace said.

Oh, good! Now we have some numbers to back up Wallace’s testimony that DUIs are increasing. Let’s see, it’s November, so we can knock 2 months off of our 365 day year, do a little math, and see that Wallace’s division is processing about 17 DUI cases each day. Wow. They’re pretty busy, all right. Why, last year they only processed a little over 18.5 cases each day. That’s an increase of... uh, wait... let’s see... Well, I’m sure Officer Wallace can shed some light on this apparent discrepancy:

``The statistics are scary. Hillsborough County has a problem,'' he said after the meeting. ``Two more hours to drink - what good can that have?''

Hmmm... that’s a pretty scientific observation. I don’t think I can fault his methodology at all.

Wallace said he wasn't representing either his department or Sheriff Cal Henderson, and he also backtracked from at least one of the statistics he provided to commissioners, saying he wanted to double-check with the state his figures about the amount of alcohol-related traffic accidents.

So, DUIs in Hillsborough are down, despite the misleading testimony of a paid MADD consultant, and he may have gotten the State figures that he used to bolster his argument wrong, but as Jan Platt says, ``When a law enforcement officer stands up ... I'm going to react.'' Of course, since this particular officer was aparently representing MADD and not the HCSO, shouldn’t that tend to dilute the weight of his testimony just a little?

Meanwhile, county staff is expected to draft legal language to reverse the law. After two public hearings, not yet scheduled, commissioners could give final approval.

``It just seems so ridiculous to me,'' said Bill Shumate, the owner of Bella's Italian Cafe in Tampa. ``What's the difference between 11 and 1? There's no difference.''

And what’s the difference between Sunday and Monday? There’s also no difference, unless you are a Christian.

Posted by Norwood at November 19, 2003 08:38 AM