No bail reduction in 4 crash deaths (repeat DWI 21 years old 4 times over the limit)

[Omaha Steve]

Several people asked me to post updates on this story as it goes through court.

http://www.omaha.com/article/20101004/NEWS97/710059954#no-bail-reduction-in-crash-deaths

Published Monday October 4, 2010

By Andrew J. Nelson
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

LOGAN, Iowa — Andrew Schlichtemeier, the 21-year-old accused in the deaths of four motorcyclists in August, failed to get his bail reduced Monday.

Photo: http://www.omaha.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=OW&Date=20101004&Category=NEWS97&ArtNo=710059954&Ref=AR&maxw=490&maxh=275

He is being held the Harrison County jail on four counts of vehicular homicide.

Schlichtemeier appeared in Harrison County District Court Monday. His parents also attended.

Schlichtemeier was northbound on Interstate 29 in a two-lane construction zone near the Little Sioux exit when, according to authorities, his pickup truck veered into the southbound lane, striking motorcyclists Dale Aspedon, Steven Benscoter, Jay Bock, and Dennis Chaney, killing them.

Schlichtemeier's blood-alcohol level measured .373 percent after the Aug. 9 accident, according to the Iowa State Patrol.

Video at link.

[catgirl]

1. Justice can never be served for these four guys

This is just so sad. Thanks for the update. News cycles are so fast-paced these days, that I often wonder
how things ended in stories like these. I think the justice system is equally to blame here.

I have a friend who has received several DWIs in the state of New York. He lost his license and had to appear
before a judge every year to get it back. Every year, he was denied. I know his parents. I am pretty sure that
they privately requested for the judge to determine that he wasn't fit to have a license. A lot of lives were
saved because of this, I'm sure of it. And he did stop trying. I know he realizes he would be a danger to
other drivers and pedestrians.

People who turn a blind eye to family and friends who drink and drive, should be held responsible, as well.
I've taken the keys away from friends many times. They were pissed at the time, but I was usually thanked
afterwards. I wonder if this tragedy could have been averted. I feel so bad for the victims, their families and
their friends.

[Divernan]

3. Taking their licenses doesn't stop many alcoholics from driving.

We wrestled with this problem in the state legislature. We tried barring them from owning cars - but they just used other cars. We tried confiscating the cars they were illegally driving, but that punished their parents, spouses, significant others, who often never gave permission to drive their cars and were not about to prosecute for car theft. When drunks need their booze, they get as sneaky as necessary. We reluctantly concluded that short of cutting off their hands so they could not drive, or putting them in prison, at great expense to the taxpayers, nothing would work.

The older I get, the more I dislike drunks. I don't want to work with or for them; I don't want to live on the same block as them, I don't want to sit next to a table of them in a restaurant, I don't want to do business with them.

When I was 18, a drunken driver crossed the median strip and hit head-on the car in which I was sitting in the front passenger seat. That was before the day of seat belts. I had a fractured skull and other injuries and was lucky to survive.

I have experienced and/or observed that alcoholics are incapable of being a reliable friend or spouse. And they can't enjoy life sober. The purpose at too many parties is to get blind drunk as quickly as possible. unless they are binge drinking.

Here are some national binge drinking statistics according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services:

92% of U.S. adults who drink excessively participated in binge drinking in the last 30 days.

70% of binge drinking episodes are done by adults who are over the age of 25

Men are twice as likely to partake in binge drinking than women

Binge Drinkers are 14 times more likely to drive drunk than non-binge drinkers

90% of underage drinkers (21 years old or less) consume their alcohol in the form of binge drinking

It is estimated that 70% of college students on any given campus participate in binge drinking, while 42% of college students admit to binge drinking.

Approximately 1700 college students die each year from binge drinking related deaths

Alcohol is the third leading cause of death between people ages 15-24

1 in 5 college binge drinkers drink on a weekly basis, with 50% of all college binge drinkers participating in binge drinker more than once a week

College students who frequently binge drink are more likely to have lower GPA’s and excessive absences from school.

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. Does Iowa NOT have mandatory treatment for DUIs?

Back in the 80's, I worked as a Substance Abuse counselor under Florida's Drug Court Act, which allowed for court ordered treatment of repeat DUI offenders. Sometimes treatment worked, sometimes it did not.
A few severely determined "NO body is going to tell me I can't drink" guys later ended up being killed while driving, one memorable client with a serious F**k YOU attitude was ironically killed by another drunk driver.