Standing with legislators and members of the Dominguez family, who lost a family member to a suspected drunk driver in March 2014, Gov. John Hickenlooper, third from the left in the background, gives a thumbs-up after signing a new felony DUI bill into law on Monday. (Kathryn Scott Osler, The Denver Post)
Re: “Colorado Gov. Hickenlooper signs felony DUI bill into law,” June 2 news story.
I just want to offer up a great big congratulations to our gutless Colorado legislators for passing the “four strikes and you’re out” DUI bill. Basically, drivers will still be able to drive drunk and be arrested three times before there are felony consequences.
For years, Colorado has been unconscionably remiss in passing a substantive bill that addresses drunk driving. In 1984 I was the sole witness to a drunk-driving crash that took two lives. I testified at a trial and clearly remember wondering why there weren’t stiffer penalties for people who drive under the influence. Do we value life so minimally that we can’t pass a law that will address this societal problem? Somewhere, in all of this, I know there has to be an explanation. And yet itap more 30 than years later and a woefully inadequate bill is passed.
Itap hard to drive drunk when you’re incarcerated — just like committing any other crime.
Richard Agren, Denver
This letter was published in the June 4 edition.
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