MCSO: Don’t drink and Drive
Alcohol and the gas pedal simply don’t mix. That’s the mantra of the area’s Driving While Intoxicated Task Force.
There are too many reasons not to chance driving the streets of Gallup and McKinley County and the DWI Task Force wants people to know the laws of the road.
“We do checkpoint procedures and also saturation patrols,” Tammy Houghtaling, DWI Task Force supervisor with the McKinley County Sheriff’s Office, said. “If you’re driving a car under the influence, you are committing a crime and you could seriously hurt or kill someone. I think we’ve been very successful with the program,” she said.
Houghtaling, who has run the area program for about the last four years, said the DWI Task Force works saturation patrol Tuesday through Sunday and at various hours. “We also have joint checkpoints,” she said, noting that the last one was Dec. 20 at the intersection of Historic Highway 66 and Woodrow Drive, near downtown Gallup.
At that checkpoint, “There were 1,294 vehicles that passed through and we did have five arrests during a 5-hour period,” she said.
Houghtaling works alongside MCSO Deputy Ivan Tsethlikai, and there is a designated prosecutor to handle DWI Task Force cases that come through the McKinley County court system. That prosecutor is Paula Pakkala.
A grant amount received from the state in the amount of $496,000 allows for the salaries and expenses of the three.
In given some recent statistics, Houghtaling said between Oct. 1, 2015 and Sept. 30, 2016, there were 57 DWI arrests with 1,599 citations written. She said the three highest number of citations issued were for speeding (462), no proof of insurance (270) and driving without a registration or having an expired registration.
“These stats do not include the (New Mexico State Police) since those were turned over to the McKinley County Sheriff’s Office,” she said.
The DWI Task Force grant renews annually and is administered by the state department of Transportation.
DID YOU KNOW?
The cost of getting a DWI can be expensive. A DWI can run as high as $10,000 when one figures in the cost of an attorney, fines, probation supervision costs, DWI school and alcohol treatment. Automobile insurance is also impacted. Some insurance companies increase fees three to five times higher after a DWI arrest.
By Bernie Dotson
Sun Correspondent
