That's a question I've been asked before and it has come up again in the past couple of weeks.
I don't write stories about every DWI arrest that's made. There are just too many and I have other things I want to do with my time.
I'm surprised no one is writing about every DWI because I have no doubt that person would have a lot of readers.
At one time, I posted the initial DWI arrests from the Highway Patrol and the Joplin Police Department. The JPD list only included the ones that went to municipal court. Ones that went to Jasper County Circuit Court, usually those who had multiple DWIs or those who had been charged in connection with other crimes, were not put on the list. Since that timer, JPD stopped posting its arrests.
So now, the only ones whose initial arrests are posted come from the Highway Patrol and the Newton County Sheriff's Office, which started posting arrests after Matt Stewart became sheriff and includes arrests that go to municipal court and those that go to Newton County Circuit Court.
In my Turner Report Newsletter column Tuesday I explained how I choose which DWI cases I write about after they are posted on Missouri's casenet system. The column is printed below.
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I let one slip through the cracks.
I don't write about every person who's arrested for DWI because if I did I wouldn't have enough time to write about anything else.
I keep reading that statistics show less people are driving on alcohol or drugs, but when I see the lengthy list of Highway Patrol arrests for DWI, often day after day, I grow skeptical of that claim.
And I also wonder just how many people were driving drunk before the numbers began falling. We were playing Russian roulette every time we went on the highway and we never even knew it.
How do I choose which DWI arrests to write about?
Often, if it occurs in connection with another crime, if someone is killed or injured, or if something unusual happens, like driving into a house or a business, it's going to make the Turner Report.
I also check to see if the person has had multiple DWI convictions. A fourth or fifth DWI is going to be written about every time.
I also write about it when people in positions of responsibility are arrested or charged with DWI. In 2013, within a space of two weeks, members of the Joplin R-8 and Carthage R-9 boards of education were arrested for drunk driving. I followed those cases every step of the way.
I recognized the two men's names when I saw them on the Highway Patrol arrest list.
I did not recognize the name of a Carl Junction R-1 assistant principal when the Highway Patrol arrested him in May.
I received an e-mail today from a reader who wanted to know if I knew about it and if I intended to write about it.
I didn't know about it, I replied, but I will definitely write about it.
And I did.
2 comments:
Keep up all your hard work Randy. And fuhc the haters. We depend on you more than you know!
Yes, that would be an entire Blog in itself. The sad truth is that drinking not only impacts that person's life, but their families, their friends and even other innocent individuals that may be drawn in and hurt or killed due to the negligence of these alcoholics. Then by our courts not policing these criminals and allowing them to go free time after time with just a slap on the wrist or quick probation deal between the Prosecuting Attorneys, the Defendant's Attorney, Judges and even sympatric Jurors, until they cause harm, destruction, and even death to others.
Though it is the innocent bystanders who will have to live with all this as their lives crumble from the lack of oversight, because we are soft on criminals and don't feel sorry for the many victims of these criminals.
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