The Pendulum
editorials • letters
ippert-Hnnfs
Thursday, Feb. 3,1983
DUI proposal
' Much has been said about drunken drivers and
the current driving under the influence laws. Several
states, such as Virginia, have already implemented
tougher laws for those people arrested on a DUI
charge and have raised the legal drinking age to 19
or older.
Gov. Hxmt recently jumped on the band wagon
with these other states and outlined his solution to
the problem of the increasing number of DUI
charges in North Carolina, as well as the increasing
nimiber of 18 year olds and younger teenagers
drinking too much.
First of all. Gov. Hunt, a Democrat who has held
the office of governor for two terms,said that he
was in favor of raising the drinking age to 19 or
higher, if the state legislature and North Carolina
citizens so wished.
There are many groups that are favoring such a
move, such as Mothers Against Drunken Drivers
(MADD), other parent groups, such as PTAs, and
many religious organizations.
That part of Gov. Himt’s proposed tougher
drinking laws will probably be pass^ by the state
legislatiu-e soon, much to the dismay of some 17
year olds who have been eagerly waiting until their
eighteenth birthday to take that first legal drink of
beer and wine.
Gov. Hunt also went on to propose several other
possible tough DUI laws that would supposedly
make drinking drivers think twice before getting on
the road and driving themselves home. Among
other possible suggestions were impounding the car,
spending at least 48 hours in jail without bond,
higher fines and court fees for the people arrested
with a DUI charge.
All of the proposals are stiff and needed very
much. Where the problem comes in is the wealthier
people can afford to get a slick-tongued lawyer to
*get them off the charges, or reduce the charges
down to next to nothing.
This will leave the less fortunate staying the night
in jail, or worse without a license or a car. Or if a
minor gets caught in their parents’ car with a DUI
charge, the innocent parents will be without a car
for possibly several days.
The initial proposals are too broad to be passed
now. Hopefully legislators will understand this and
require that the proposals be defined to more
specific terms. The laws do need to be passed.
There is too much drinking and driving going on
and definitely too many deaths because of this folly.
Places that sell alcoholic beverages should keep a
register of organizations that offer free rides home
to people that have had a “little too much” and
take advantage of these organization’s offers by
calling rides for their patrons.
However, these people who sell the alcoholic
beverages should not be held responsible for the
drunken drivers, as one state legislator suggested.
No one forced the patrons to drink. They could
have easily left the bar or restaurant half way sober
and then gone to a store and bought more liquor
and became highly intoxicated off of this.
What all the proposals boil down to is that life is
too precious a commodity to waste on such an
idiotic thing as driving while intoxicated. And it is
equally stupid to endanger other innocent peoples’
lives by getting behind the wheel while drunk. The
proposals do indeed need to be defined more
stringently, but they also certainly do indeed need to
be passed.
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Reagan playing Cold War games
with proposed summit conditions
Yuri Andropov may not
be far off the mark when he
says that Ronald Reagan’s
proposed conditional summit
is no more than a part of a
“propaganda game.”
The condition Reagan says
must exist before the two
leaders can meet is a bann
ing of all U.S. and Soviet
land-based nuclear missiles
from the European theater.
The Soviets have rejected
such a proposal several times
before. Andropov summed it
up as well as anyone when
he said, “I must say quite
definitely that there is noth
ing new in President
Reagan’s proposal.”
While Reagan’s proposal
may sound like the effort of
a peace-keeper, it is more
accurately his attempt to
regain some of the Europe-
lost affection for the
American stance.
The Soviets, who hold
superiority in land-based
nuclear warheads in Europe
claim that they cannoJ
accept the latest Reagan
proposal because it makes
no provisions for American
dominance of air-based and
Ma-based nuclear missiles in
Europe. As a counter, they
propo« a bilateral reduction
of medium-range land-based
missiles. Another Soviet
proposal is to ban all
nuclear weapons, medium-
range and tactical, from
Europe. Whether this is a
sincere proposal or a little
propaganda Moscow-style, if
pursued, it offers a tangible'
alternative to the false hopes
aroused by the political
gaming and Cold War tac
tics we have suffered
through for so long now.
It was not be chance that
Vice-President Bush read the
letter outlining Reagan’s
proposal in West Germany.
National elections in that
country are not far off, and
Chancellor Hehnut Kohl, a
strong supporter of Reagan’s
military plans in Europti
could be in real poli
trouble as disillusioninffli
grows among West GenMH
over American military pw
ence there. Reagan’s
wording his same
proposal may help salvap
Kohl’s role as a leader ail
supporter of Reagan’s po®’
tion.
It wiU take more tM
such toyings with words 1
get the Soviets to the nego
ating table, and Rc*!**
should know that by no*'
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