Drinking bills head to Helena

A strong movement by advocacy groups,

law enforcement officials and concerned citizens is putting

pressure on state legislators to toughen Montana’s drunk-driving

laws when they meet in January.

Montana typically ranks among the worst

states each year for DUI statistics, and Whitefish, as a resort

town, has its share. According to the Whitefish Pilot’s police log,

local police see more than 100 DUI arrests a year, including DUIs

per se and felony DUIs. They also see from 50 to 100 minors in

possession of alcohol arrests — depending on the number of large

teen parties that get busted each year.

One way to bring those numbers down is

to change how alcohol is sold. To that end, the interim Law and

Justice Committee on Sept. 10 unanimously approved forwarding a

bill to the legislature that calls for mandatory training for

people who serve alcohol at bars and restaurants.

While everyone who spoke at the

committee hearing supported the new bill draft, some expressed

disappointment that plans to have the Department of Revenue oversee

and approve training had been removed from the draft. The proposed

bill stops short of providing state money to pay for educational

programs and allows the private sector to manage the programs.

Other changes to the final version

include changing the re-certification requirement for alcohol

servers from yearly to once every five years, and removing a

training-certification fee that would have gone to the Revenue

Department. A server who doesn’t complete the training within 60

days of hire or re-certify within five years could face a $50

fine.

Sen. Carol Juneau, D-Browning, who

sponsored the original draft, supported approval of the bill

despite the changes, saying it would “set good policy for the state

and be a good prevention tool.”

Mark Staples, speaking for the Montana

Tavern Association, said his group supports mandatory server

training. He noted that the bill might have had difficulty getting

through the legislature if the state was expected to pay for the

training. Initial costs were about $250,000, and annual costs were

about $200,000, he said.

“We do not oppose mandatory server

training,” Staples said. “We just want it effective, efficient and

to help with the problem with DUIs, other than just adding another

thing that doesn’t work.”

Bigfork case

Allie Bovington, representing the

Montana Highway Patrol, also supported the server-training bill.

She noted at the hearing that the driver of a vehicle that killed

trooper Michael Haynes in a head-on crash on U.S. 93 south of

Kalispell on March 23, 2009, had been drinking at Pick’s Bowling

Center, in Bigfork, and “had been served excessive amounts of

alcohol in a pretty short period of time.”

Bovington pointed out that both the bar

owner and the server were held criminally liable for their conduct

— one of the first such cases in Montana history.

Prosecutors alleged that Nathan Hale,

31, of Woods Bay, served 10 drinks in 3 1/2 hours to Travis

Vandersloot, 29, of Columbia Falls, and that Hale was drinking

during his shift. Vandersloot died on impact, and Haynes, 28, died

several days later. Justice of the Peace David Ortley sentenced

Hale, who pleaded no contest, to four months in jail — four times

the sentence recommended in his plea bargain.

The owner of Pick’s Bowling Center,

Diane Pickavance, 40, pleaded no contest on June 4 to allowing Hale

to serve alcohol to fellow-employee Vandersloot after closing time.

Ortley sentenced Pickavance to six months in jail, with all but 10

days suspended, a $500 fine and 100 hours of community service.

Haynes was the third Highway Patrol

trooper to die in vehicle crashes in Flathead County over a

two-year period. His widow, Tawny Haynes, of Kalispell, spoke at

Pickavance’s hearing and has continued to speak out about Montana’s

DUI laws.

“It’s impossible to know the results of

the decisions that you make, but, looking back now, I hope that you

can see those effects on me and my two little kids that will now

grow up without their daddy,” she told Pickavance during the

hearing.

Noting in an op-ed last year that

Montana ranks second in the U.S. for youth binge-drinking, after

holding the No. 1 spot for many years, Haynes calls for

implementation of Responsible Alcohol Sales and Service (RASS)

training for anyone in Montana who serves beer, wine or liquor.

“Montana needs to step up and build a

stronger link between aggressive prevention and enforcement,” she

said. “By supporting prevention on the front end, it’s possible to

reduce the future costs of cracking down on underage drinking and

impaired driving.

Other measures

Another advocate of changes in DUI laws

is Becky Sturdevant. Her son, 29-year-old Highway Patrol trooper

Evan Schneider, was killed Aug. 26, 2008, in a head-on crash on

U.S. 2 near Bad Rock Canyon. The driver of the other vehicle was

legally alcohol-impaired.

A nurse practitioner in Kalispell,

Sturdevant is the most visible and vocal representative of Mothers

Against Drunk Drivers in the Flathead Valley. She plans to travel

to Helena in January to testify in support of bills that would

impose more severe penalties on impaired drivers.

She also wants a bill requiring

interlock devices be installed on all vehicles driven by people

convicted of a DUI, providing businesses that serve alcohol with

the ability to prevent intoxicated patrons from leaving, and

allowing police officers to conduct breathalyzer tests with a

warrant issued by telephone.

Sturdevant says she was “shocked” that

every proposed DUI-related bill failed to pass in the 2009

legislature. She acknowledges that one difficulty is the perception

that new DUI legislation could infringe on the rights of

Montana.

“Public safety is what we’re talking

about, though,” she said. “We’re not talking about rights. You do

not have the right to kill me.”

The legislature’s interim Law and

Justice Committee has considered several DUI-related proposals over

the past six months, including stopping youths under 18 years of

age from driving if they are convicted of being a minor in

possession. If convicted of MIP, the driver’s license would be

suspended until the youth reaches 18, and the youth would not be

allowed to get a license until turning 18.

Another measure would allow Fish,

Wildlife and Parks game wardens the authority to issue MIP

citations. Many youth drinking parties take place on state or

federal forest lands. The committee approved the idea in June with

the stipulation that the game warden be responsible for the

follow-up investigation and prosecution process.

The committee also looked at allowing

counties the authority to enact ordinances that would penalize

“social hosts” who are present at functions where under-age youths

consume alcohol, and to provide for around-the-clock judges who

could authorize search warrants for breath- or blood-alcohol

tests.

David Carter, from the Yellowstone

County Attorney’s Office, recommended legislation that would codify

an “aggravated DUI” crime for suspects who refuse to allow breath-

or blood-alcohol tests, who have a high blood-alcohol content, or

who are repeat offenders.

The Boulder City Council joined two

other Montana towns in moving forward on the testing issue. In

August, the council approved an ordinance requiring DUI suspects to

submit to a breath- or blood-alcohol test. Violators face a minimum

of a $300 fine and three days in jail. Darby and Missoula had

already enacted similar ordinances.

Montana has an “implied consent”

statute that requires anyone operating a motor vehicle to submit to

testing when they are suspected of impaired driving. Failure to do

so could result in a six-month driver’s license suspension.