Be careful (DWI) this fourth of July Weekend: Don’t drink and drive
Be careful this fourth of July Weekend: Don’t drink and drive
Be careful this weekend. It is always best, if there is any question at all, to take a cab or give the keys to somebody who has not been driving. (…)
Be careful this weekend. It is always best, if there is any question at all, to take a cab or give the keys to somebody who has not been driving. The best way to avoid a DUI in Arizona is to not get behind the wheel of any vehicle if you have had anything at all to drink.
In Arizona, the law allows you to drink and then drive, but the reality is that conviction is possible at very low alcohol levels, in fact it is possible to be convicted of drunk driving even if you are under a .080.
Have a safe and happy 4th!
Last year, more than 500 drivers were cited for DUI during the extended Fourth of July detail. During that time, alcohol was involved in 12 driving deaths.
Source: feeds.feedburner.com
Utah DUI Substance Abuse Classes
I often get calls from people asking where they can get substance abuse counseling when they are being charged with a DUI. If a person is convicted of a DUI, a person is required to have an evaluation to determine if a treatment is necessary. I don’t think I have ever had a client convicted of a DUI and the evaluator did not recommend treatment. It just cuts against the grain and common sense. Some people have felt these classes are not about rehabilitation so much as money. I disagree with that opinion and often recommend a client get into treatment before going to Court. Whether we are contesting the charge or not, the treatment is relatively cheap and it can only help the person. My theory is that an alcoholic is not necessarily a person who has to drink everyday. My definition of an alcoholic is when alcohol begins to interfere with a person’s life regardless of how much or how often they drink. Getting a DUI is definitely an interference with a person’s life.
There are a lot of great programs out there. However, for the Courts and the DMV to recognize the class, it must be a State Certified "Prime for Life" class. This web site is great to find classes all around the country and in a person’s own city. I suggest you call them directly and verify that they are state certified and teach a class that is recognized by the Courts. Hitting the continue reading button will give you a list of providers in the Ogden area.
Facility No. Name Address Phone Distance Maps
1 Weber Human Services
237 26th Street
Ogden, UT 84401 (801) 625-3700 2.09 miles
Map It!
Primary Focus: Mix of mental health and substance abuse services
Services Provided: Substance abuse treatment, Detoxification
Type of Care: Residential short-term treatment (30 days or less), Outpatient
Special Programs/Groups: Adolescents, Persons with co-occurring mental and substance abuse disorders, Women, Men, DUI/DWI offenders, Criminal justice clients
Forms of Payment Accepted: Self payment, Medicaid, Medicare, State financed insurance (other than Medicaid), Private health insurance, Military insurance (e.g., VA,TRICARE)
Payment Assistance: Sliding fee scale (fee is based on income and other factors)
Special Language Services: ASL or other assistance for hearing impaired
Hotline: (801) 625-3700
Website: http://www.weberhs.org
2 Salvation Army
2615 Grant Avenue
Ogden, UT 84401 (801) 621-3580×22 2.18 miles
Map It!
Primary Focus: Substance abuse treatment services
Services Provided: Substance abuse treatment, Halfway house
Type of Care: Residential long-term treatment (more than 30 days)
Forms of Payment Accepted: Medicare, Private health insurance
3 Clinical Consultants
2351 Grants Avenue, Suite 100
Ogden, UT 84401 (801) 621-8670 2.18 miles
Map It!
Primary Focus: Mix of mental health and substance abuse services
Services Provided: Substance abuse treatment
Type of Care: Outpatient
Special Programs/Groups: Persons with co-occurring mental and substance abuse disorders, Women, Men, DUI/DWI offenders
Forms of Payment Accepted: Medicare, Private health insurance, Military insurance (e.g., VA,TRICARE)
Special Language Services: Spanish
Website: http://www.clinicalconsultants.org
4 New Horizons Education and Treatment
3003 Grant Avenue
Ogden, UT 84401 (801) 392-6958 2.30 miles
Map It!
Primary Focus: Mix of mental health and substance abuse services
Services Provided: Substance abuse treatment
Type of Care: Outpatient
Special Programs/Groups: DUI/DWI offenders
Forms of Payment Accepted: Medicare, Private health insurance
Special Language Services: Spanish
Intake: (801) 593-0008
Website: http://www.horizons4u.com
5 Metamorphosis Ogden Inc
2144 Washington Boulevard
Ogden, UT 84401 (801) 622-5272 2.38 miles
Map It!
Primary Focus: Substance abuse treatment services
Services Provided: Substance abuse treatment, Detoxification, Methadone Maintenance, Methadone Detoxification, Buprenorphine Services
Type of Care: Outpatient
Forms of Payment Accepted: Medicare, State financed insurance (other than Medicaid)
Special Language Services: ASL or other assistance for hearing impaired
Website: http://www.breakaddiction.org
6 Professional Services Corporation
533 26th Street, Suite 102
Ogden, UT 84401 (801) 621-3624 2.52 miles
Map It!
Primary Focus: Mix of mental health and substance abuse services
Services Provided: Substance abuse treatment, Detoxification
Type of Care: Outpatient
Special Programs/Groups: Adolescents, Persons with co-occurring mental and substance abuse disorders, Gays and Lesbians, Seniors/older adults, Pregnant/postpartum women, Women, Men, DUI/DWI offenders, Criminal justice clients
Forms of Payment Accepted: Medicaid, Medicare, Private health insurance, Military insurance (e.g., VA,TRICARE)
Payment Assistance: Sliding fee scale (fee is based on income and other factors)
Special Language Services: Spanish
Intake: (801) 621-3640
7 Utah Alcoholism Foundation
Serenity House
529 25th Street
Ogden, UT 84401 (801) 392-5971 2.53 miles
Map It!
Primary Focus: Substance abuse treatment services
Services Provided: Substance abuse treatment
Type of Care: Residential short-term treatment (30 days or less), Residential long-term treatment (more than 30 days), Outpatient, Partial hospitalization/day treatment
Special Programs/Groups: Pregnant/postpartum women, Women, Men
Forms of Payment Accepted: Self payment, Private health insurance
Website: http://www.uafut.org
8 Blue Skies Recovery Center
727 24th Street
Ogden, UT 84401 (801) 392-8900 2.82 miles
Map It!
Primary Focus: Substance abuse treatment services
Services Provided: Substance abuse treatment
Type of Care: Outpatient, Partial hospitalization/day treatment
Special Programs/Groups: Adolescents, Persons with co-occurring mental and substance abuse disorders, Persons with HIV/AIDS, Gays and Lesbians, Seniors/older adults, Pregnant/postpartum women, Women, Men, DUI/DWI offenders, Criminal justice clients
Forms of Payment Accepted: Self payment, Medicaid, Medicare, Private health insurance
Payment Assistance: Sliding fee scale (fee is based on income and other factors)
Intake: (801) 394-1212 Hotlines: (801) 392-8900 (801) 394-1212
9 Ogden Regional Medical Center ACT
5475 South 500 East Street
Ogden, UT 84405 (801) 479-2250 4.62 miles
Map It!
Primary Focus: Substance abuse treatment services
Services Provided: Substance abuse treatment, Detoxification, Buprenorphine Services
Type of Care: Hospital inpatient, Outpatient, Partial hospitalization/day treatment
Special Programs/Groups: Persons with co-occurring mental and substance abuse disorders, Persons with HIV/AIDS, Women, Residential beds for clients’ children, Men
Forms of Payment Accepted: Medicaid, Medicare, State financed insurance (other than Medicaid), Private health insurance, Military insurance (e.g., VA,TRICARE)
Special Language Services: ASL or other assistance for hearing impaired
Intakes: (800) 215-2250 (800) 237-9194
Website: http://www.ogdenregional.com
10 Positive Adjustments Corporation
466 North Main Street, Suite 207
Clearfield, UT 84015 (801) 776-4628 7.00 miles
Map It!
Primary Focus: Substance abuse treatment services
Services Provided: Substance abuse treatment
Type of Care: Outpatient
Special Programs/Groups: DUI/DWI offenders
Forms of Payment Accepted: Medicare
Website: http://www.positiveadjustments.com
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92028605:
North Pole man clipped for DUI on riding mower : NPR
NORTH POLE, Alaska June 24, 2008, 10:06 pm ET ยท Alaska State Troopers used lights and sirens to apprehend a North Pole man suspected of driving under the influence after he allegedly led them on a slow-speed chase that covered several lawns.
The 20-year-old man was on a riding mower. Sunday's pursuit lasted about 200 feet and reached speeds of up to 5 mph before a trooper got out of a cruiser and told the man to stop.
Troopers received a call early Sunday complaining of an intoxicated man driving a mower. They said Wyatt Lewis's blood-alcohol content was 0.18 percent, more than twice the legal limit of 0.08 percent.
Driving a lawnmower while drunk qualifies for a DUI charge. Lewis was also charged with failure to stop at the direction of a peace officer.
No phone number was listed for Lewis in North Pole and a message left with the Fairbanks Correctional Center on Tuesday was not immediately returned.
Source: feeds.feedburner.com
Followup on Washington Breath Test Fiasco!
Barry Logan is (was) the head of the Washington State Crime Lab. He has resigned because of the fiasco that took place in the lab. I met Barry at a course I took in Indiana. He was very knowledgeable about the science of Breath Testing. I’m sad that this has cost him his career. I am sad that innocent people may have been convicted because of the things that happened in the lab. I am also sad for a corrupt justice system. Here is the story as posted in Seattle.
I have also posted the story here in case the link dries up.
State crime lab chief resigns after problems raised on DUI evidence
Director, who leaves in March, says problems now fixed
By TRACY JOHNSON
P-I REPORTER
The head of the state labs that test crime evidence is stepping down, a move that prosecutors and defense lawyers say could help bring back lost confidence in the way drunken-driving cases are handled around the state.
Barry Logan’s resignation, effective March 14, comes after a series of problems at the Washington State Patrol toxicology lab have cast doubts on breath tests for suspected drunken drivers.
Mike Urban / P-I
Barry Logan talks to the media Thursday about his crime lab resignation. At right is State Patrol Chief John Batiste.
"Barry has done an excellent job of addressing the issues during this difficult period," State Patrol Chief John Batiste said. "But he and I agree that forward momentum will require different leadership."
The decision stunned attorneys who have worked with Logan on criminal cases and saddened his staff, leaving some in tears, but the lab has drawn stinging criticism about errors and ethical problems in recent months.
"Too many things went wrong on his watch," said defense attorney Francisco Duarte, who specializes in DUI cases. "I believe he wanted to run a laboratory that was based on integrity — and ultimately, he failed to do so."
DUI attorney Ted Vosk, who has worked to uncover problems at the lab and has persuaded judges to throw out many breath-test results, said he believed Logan’s departure was appropriate.
"His stepping down now seems to represent, at least in my mind, that we were right," Vosk said.
Logan has served as the state toxicologist since 1990 and became director of the Forensic Laboratory Services Bureau — overseeing toxicology and crime labs — in 1999, managing 220 workers at eight lab locations.
On Thursday, he said he has dedicated his career "to quality evidence in DUI cases" and, after spending months trying to fix the lab’s problems, wants the public to know it "can have confidence in the results of these tests."
"I have done as much as I can," he said. "I feel that it’s going to help move things forward to have a new director."
Logan, a 46-year-old native of Scotland who is well known and respected in his field, said he remains proud of the labs’ work and takes responsibility for many of the Seattle-based toxicology lab’s errors — though he believes they were "dramatically overstated" by defense attorneys.
"With the benefit of hindsight, I can always say that I might have handled things differently," he said.
Doubts about the lab’s work surfaced last summer, when lab manager Ann Marie Gordon was accused of signing off on scientific tests she hadn’t actually done.
Some of the criticism toward Logan was about how he handled a vague tip about the wrongdoing. He assigned Gordon to investigate the matter, apparently unaware that she was the problem.
Then other errors came to light involving the same issue: how the lab tests an ethanol-water solution used to make sure breath-test machines give accurate readings. The solution is critical in tens of thousands of drunken-driving cases each year because if it’s off, people may face charges based on faulty results.
The State Patrol has maintained that inaccurate results have been extremely limited. Defense attorneys have argued that the lab’s shoddy practices call all of its work into question.
In October, two Skagit County judges challenged Logan’s credibility as they cited careless and potentially flawed work at the lab.
Last month, three King County District Court judges questioned his ability to serve as state toxicologist and found that the lab was fraught with ethical problems, scientific errors and carelessness — making all breath tests unreliable.
On Thursday, King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg said Logan built "a solid foundation" of forensic science and suggested that his resignation "is a positive step toward rebuilding the professional reputation of the lab."
Prosecutors, he said, "are eager to work with the State Patrol and the new toxicologist to make sure that they have corrected questioned administrative procedures … and ultimately restored the confidence of the court system" in breath tests as evidence.
Batiste said he would immediately begin a search to replace Logan. Crime Lab Division Manager Larry Hebert, a 34-year veteran, will take over in the interim.
The state has already appointed Fiona Couper, who most recently served as chief toxicologist in Washington, D.C., to serve as the state toxicologist.
Her job will now be a separate position from the director of the Forensic Laboratory Services Bureau because having someone fill both jobs, as Logan does, is "too much to ask of any one person," Batiste said.
P-I reporter Tracy Johnson can be reached at 206-467-5942 or tracyjohnson@seattlepi.com.