COMMENTARY: Serial OWI offenders need imprisonment

NOTE: The following is an opinion piece. The opinions stated in commentaries, here and otherwise in our newspaper, are those of the author and not The Brillion News, Zander Press Inc. or the owners or staff. The Brillion News welcomes letters to the editor to respond to this or any other topic of interest. 

Commentary by Ed Byrne

The deaths of a Hobart couple killed by a drunk driver who ran a stop sign are just the latest evidence that how we deal with drunk drivers in our state is so absurd and ineffective that we are being played for fools – by the alcoholics behind the wheel and alcohol manufacturers and dealers who feed them and cash in on the whole deal. 

The state legislature’s initiative to permanently revoke the licenses of serial drunk drivers is a joke too.

As in the case of that crash that killed the Hobart couple and left two teens orphaned, the accused drunk driver had already lost his license to revocation and paid no attention to the laws saying he couldn’t drive.

Then there’s a Denmark man, charged with his 10th or greater OWI on February 23. In 2012, he was sentenced to four years in prison plus four years of extended supervision for felony drunk driving. He was ordered, at his sentencing, to not consume alcohol.

That guy should have been locked up for life, just as we already do with serial sex offenders. Lock them up and wait for them to die in prison.

Please see Ed Byrne’s complete commentary on sports and life in the March 3, 2016 edition of The Brillion News. The commentary also features Ed’s take on the Old Glory Honor Flight program.