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Archive for the ‘Local Comments – Wyoming’ Category
Wyoming will become the latest in a string of states to mandate drivers to submit to blood tests at DUI checkpoints if a new bill is passed via the Legislature.
The bill, which would see any driver suspected of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol lose their right to refuse any chemical tests for alcohol, was cleared by The House Judiciary Committee yesterday to move forward for debate.
If successful, the bill would overturn a 50-year-old implied consent law, which allows drivers to say no to blood or urine tests.
While police representatives endorsed the bill, defense lawyer Robert Moxley argued against the legislation, noting that it was unnecessary for any competent prosecutor to rely on test results in cases where a driver is really impaired from operating a vehicle.
“I think this is a Draconian solution to a nonexistent or minimum problem,” Moxley said, adding that the legislation is unconstitutional.
“The question is if government should subject people to battery,” he said. “You can’t make people blow into a breath system.”
In questions over the proposed law, the Judiciary Committee chairman mulled whether the proposed law could be abused by law enforcement, and expressed concern that forced blood draws from uncooperative drivers could endanger both the driver and the person taking the blood.
Nevertheless, the legislation, sponsored by Jackson Republican Rep. Keith Gingery, was endorsed by the committee in a 5-4 vote.
The federally sponsored ‘no refusal’ blood draw program has been gathering pace and has already been instituted in several other States. As we have previously highlighted, police in Texas and Idaho are already forcibly jabbing needles into people’s arms and taking their blood at DUI checkpoints, even if they are merely “suspected” of being drunk.
The Associated Press reported last year that officers in Texas and Idaho are training to withdraw blood from “suspects” as a replacement for the standard breathalyzer test, primarily because police can’t make anyone breathe into a tube but apparently, in the “land of the free,” they can forcibly hold someone down and jab a needle into their arm and take their blood, “a practice that’s been upheld by Idaho’s Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court,”.
Nicole Watson, the College of Western Idaho phlebotomy instructor teaching the Idaho officers, has described how the process would unfold.
“Once they’re back on patrol, they will draw blood of any suspected drunk driver who refuses a breath test. They’ll use force if they need to, such as getting help from another officer to pin down a suspect and potentially strap them down, Watson said.”
The following recent CNN report highlights how the program has also been adopted in Utah, Arizona, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Louisiana and Florida:
The trashing of the implied consent law has also been made official in South Dakota, so far without challenge.
The practice of cops drawing blood at the side of the road has been in place in some areas since 1995 but the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has indicated that the program is ultimately intended to be introduced nationwide.
As Alex Jones exposed over a decade ago, the eventual plan, under a 1993 executive order signed by Bill Clinton, is to institute mandatory blood and urine testing at the DMV.
Mili Note: As most of you are probably aware, I am not “for” any new “laws” or ordinances. I would rather see lawmakers spend their time becoming law-rescinders, reducing our government by systematically destroying the code books. That said, these aren’t bad suggestions. They’re at least libertarian at their core.
(Sent to Wyoming liberty-minded State Representatives Allen Jaggi, Sue Wallis, Bob Brechtel, Lorraine Quarberg, David Miller, and liberty-minded Wyoming state senators Curt Meier and Cale Case, and my liberty-minded Wyoming state representative-elect, Gerald Gay. Also CCed to Wyoming Senators Mike Enzi and John Barrasso, and Wyoming Congressperson Cynthia Lummis.)
Hello Cale, Sue, Allen, Gerald, Bob, Lorraine, David and Curt
SMOKING BAN BAN:
I think there should be a state law superseding local law with regards to smoking bans, based on this:
“Article 1, section 7, of the Wyoming State Constitution says that ‘absolute, arbitrary power over the lives, liberty and property of freemen exists NOWHERE in a republic, not even in the largest majority’.”
If nothing else, even proposing this bill would attract a lot of good attention to Wyoming. And if passed, it could set a precedent for other states. Smoking bans are a “camel’s nose under the tent.” Where smoking bans have passed in other places, they have lead directly or indirectly to more silly bans, including prohibition on some food and some guns.
I think Cale Case put it well when he said “I don’t like being exposed to Kenny G’s music, cigarette smoke or patchouli oil, but I will defend the right of other folks to have all that junk, the right of business owners to allow it, and my right not to have to be around it. Government should not regulate anything that citizens can avoid by turning around and walking out.”
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STRENGTHENING CASTLE DOCTRINE:
Is there anything in the state Castle Doctrine that could use strengthening? This coming year would be a good time to get that through. I know the current Wyoming Castle Doctrine, HB0137, which passed, has no Duty to Retreat anywhere you have a lawful right to be, but is there case law contradiction that? According to a new book I’m reading now, “Self-Defense Laws in the 50 States”, there seems to be.
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TEACHING THE CONSTITUTION IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS:
Next week I’m writing to all the new Republicans in the US Congress suggesting a bill requiring that all public schools, K-12 and state colleges, teach an unbiased unit on the US Constitution (particularly the Bill of Rights) or lose their federal funding. I mentioned this to my state rep-elect, Gerald Gay, and I believe he is planning on proposing a similar bill in Wyoming at the state level, not contingent on funding, but that the US Constitution and Wyoming Constitution should be taught in Wyoming schools on Constitution Day.
An equipment failure disrupted communication between 50 nuclear missiles and the launch control center at WarrenAir Force Base in Wyoming over the weekend, an Air Force spokesman said Tuesday.
Lt. Col. Todd Vician said the break occurred early Saturday and lasted less than one hour. The White House was briefed about the failure Tuesday morning.
There was no evidence of foul play, and the Air Force never lost the ability to launch the missiles, officials said.
The Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles are part of the 319th Missile Squadron stockpiled at Warren Air Force Base near Cheyenne, where 150 ICBMs are located. The failure affected 50 of them, or one-ninth of the U.S. arsenal. ICBMs at Air Force bases in Montana and North Dakota were not affected.
The equipment failure disrupted “communication between the control center and the missiles, but during that time they were still able to monitor the security of the affected missiles,” Vician said. “The missiles were always protected. We have multiple redundancies and security features, and control features.”
The launch control center computers communicate through an underground cable, but Vician could not confirm the cable was the source of the problem.
Vician said base personnel inspected all 50 missile sites and found no evidence of damage.
Aaron’s Note: Wyoming isn’t actually “financially beleaguered,” it’s just that the school system has to meet those federal guidelines and all that costs money… More money than we have right now. So the governor, who will be replaced at the first of the year, had two choices: stop meeting federal guidelines or tell the feds to pay for their mandates. The latter is always an option while the first is only an option when the latter hasn’t been done. So the strategy is obvious.
Some might call it blackmail. The governor of Wyoming calls it desperation.
Governor Dave Freudenthal is threatening to sell off a chunk of one of America’s most beautiful national parks unless the Obama administration comes up with more money to pay for education in the financially beleaguered state.
He says he will auction land valued at $125m (£80m) in the Grand Teton national park, one of the country’s most stunning wildernesses. Part of the park was donated by John Rockefeller Jr.
Other parts belong to the state government including two parcels of land of about 550 hectares (1,360 acres) designated as school trust lands to be “managed for maximum profit” to generate funds for education in Wyoming.
At present Wyoming raises only about $3,000 a year from the land by leasing it to a cattle rancher. Officials have menacingly suggested that the property might make a nice site for a ski lodge.
Freudenthal recently wrote to the interior department asking the federal government to trade the park land for mineral royalties. “If the federal government won’t dance with us, we will go look for another partner,” said Freudenthal. “The purpose is to force the federal government to come to the table.”
Washington says it is negotiating, but Freudenthal says the issue has dragged on for a decade. “The way the federal government has treated us to date is that we are like the people who own the land, but they figure there isn’t anything else they can do with it,” he said.
Previous negotiations led Washington to offer 800,000 acres of federal land in a swap but state officials rejected it as “trash land” not worth nearly as much as their “prime, in-park real estate”.
“I admit we aren’t as bright as those boys on the Potomac,” said Freudenthal. “But this ain’t our first county fair.”
CHEYENNE – The House passed on third reading a bill to allow Wyoming citizens to carry concealed firearms without a permit.
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