Prosecutors not happy with proposed change in drunk driving law

Prosecutors, state troopers and Mothers Against Drunk Driving are criticizing a proposal the say would weaken Iowa’s drunk driving law. Senators who’re unhappy about the federal pressure to lower Iowa’s drunken driving standard to point-oh-eight (.08) blood alcohol want to give Iowans who’re pulled over a better shot at beating the charge. Colonel Robert Garrison, chief of the State Patrol, says that’d undo a license revocation process that’s been on the books since 1982. Garrison says it’d be hard to swallow that Iowa would start back up the hill of having more and more drunk driving fatalities. Bill Schackleford, president of Polk County Mothers Against Drunk Driving, says current law forces those who test over the legal limit to give up their license immediately. Schackleford says Senators are proposing to weaken the laws that’re already on the books. Polk County Attorney John Sarcone says more people would refuse road-side sobriety tests to take their chances in court — clogging an already overburdened court system. Sarcone says prosecutors fear linking the license change with the .08 change would doom the bill.Sarone says someone who’s driving with .08 blood alcohol has no business behind the wheel, as they run the risk of killing others and damaging property.Sarcone says prosecutors hear all the time that someone accused of drunk driving had just a couple of drinks. He says that’s because they only remember the first and last, and not all the ones in between.