CAPTAINZING2000

Nine DUIs = 10 years in prison
March 20, 2008 - 11:15PM
By LAURA GRIFFITH
The Telegraph

JERSEYVILLE - A ninth-time offender is facing a 10-year sentence in the Illinois Department of Corrections for yet another DUI.

Charles S. Swafford, 55, of the 20200 block of Oak Ridge, Warrenton, Mo., was charged in February in Jersey County Circuit Court with aggravated driving under the influence, aggravated driving while revoked, obstructing justice and improper lane usage. The charges stemmed from a traffic stop on Feb. 1.

According to an Illinois State Police report, he also was wanted on a warrant by the Adult Detention Facility in St. Charles, Mo.

Jersey County State's Attorney Ben Goetten said Swafford pleaded guilty Wednesday to those charges.

Swafford was arrested at 11:40 p.m. Feb. 1 near the intersection of Illinois Route 3 and Stanka Lane, according to the police report.

According to the report, Trooper Shawn Isaacs of the Illinois State Police was traveling south of Illinois Route 3 at Summit Road behind Swafford, who was driving a 1990 Cadillac Seville, when he noticed Swafford cross over the center and fog lines.

When he was pulled over, Swafford gave a false name and date of birth, claiming to be named Bruce E. Powers and giving his birth date as April 4, 1949.

Isaacs noticed Swafford's eyes were red, and the trooper smelled an odor of alcoholic beverage on his breath.

According to the report, Swafford told Isaacs he did not have identification - that he had a driver's license from Missouri years ago but never renewed it. Isaacs checked but could not find a "Powers" on file.

The report states that Swafford failed field sobriety tests and had a blood-alcohol content of 0.12 percent. A blood-alcohol level of 0.08 percent constitutes a legal presumption of intoxication in Illinois.

On Feb. 2, at 5:33 p.m., Swafford agreed to speak without an attorney present and gave his real name when shown a photograph of himself obtained from Missouri.

According to the report, Swafford said he lied about his name because he knew he had a warrant for his arrest on a DUI charge and his driver's license was revoked in Missouri.

Isaacs wrote in an alcohol/drug influence report that Swafford passed out on the way to the Jersey County Sheriff's Department and during a 20-minute observation period.

When asked during his interview what city he was in, Swafford replied, "Alton."

Swafford also admitted to drinking three Busch beers at the Dew Drop Inn in Jersey County, which he said was in Alton, according to the report.

According to court documents, Swafford had eight previous convictions of a similar statute to DUI in Missouri and several previous convictions of a similar statute to driving while license revoked.

"This is beyond the point of a crime," Goetten said. "This is a problem, rather, with alcoholism."

Goetten said he would like to commend law enforcement for taking this repeat offender off the streets.

"Everyone on the roads is going to be safer because of it," he said.

Goetten said he hopes Swafford can get the help he needs in the Department of Corrections.

CAPTAINZING2000

duh

sugErspun

I don't identify with myself as alcoholic because of the things I did, or those which happened to me while drinking.

There is a difference between the reason for and the results of.


Look at the results of these guys alcoholism..

A lot of non-alcoholics get DUI's because they drive when they got drunk.

sugErspun

I agree there is probably a problem going on there.

But - exactly how many DUI's does it take to call someone an alcoholic?

Is it the 2nd, 3rd, 4th?


I know many alcoholics who never got into any trouble at all - they just could not stop drinking once they started, and couldn't stay away from taking that first drink.

Alcoholism is not defined by outside circumstance- it is found within.

sugErspun

Qualify as dependent or abuse?

This is more about money (ie Insurance Companies) than recovery from alcoholism.

sugErspun

Wow.

Okay - I am a recovered alcoholic. I went through the 12 steps of AA, diagnosed my condition based on the big book - did what it said to do and havent drank or had the thought of a drink since.

I understand where you are coming from though. In order to get funding you need a diagnosis - I apologize that I assumed it was from insurance companies rather than (state, federal, charitable trusts etc) - it all comes down to the need to diagnose properly to continue to receive funding right?

Like I asked before- how many DUI's make someone an alcoholic (assuming they were pulled over because of etoh consumption)?

When you diagnose someone, is there a corresponding code that is put into their charts?

I have seen MANY indigent men and women recover without the need of someone else telling them what is wrong with them. I come from the AA angle- in AA we self diagnose as alcoholic or not. I am sure you are familiar with the book.

btw - this is an alcoholism thread, not an addiction thread. There is a difference...

sugErspun

Who uses the DSM-IV?

What is the primary purpose of the DSM-IV?

What is the evolution of the diagnosis of one who is dependent on alcohol from DSM-III to the newer DSM-IV?

I am asking simple questions- you can refer to my behavior as that of an addict or alcoholic. What page of the DSM-IV does it refer to splitting hairs as an attribute of addictive/alcoholic behavior?

miss communicat

not to me.

I have the disease of alcoholism. In order to recover from this disease I need to know what it is and what it isnt. It is not interchangeable, although there may be commonalities with, drug addiction and/or dependencies.

NoelleR

OK, I wouldn't go so far to say that anyone who receives a DUI is an alcoholic, but I would be willing to bet my annual salary that if they're not already an alcoholic, they do have a drinking problem (whoops, that bet would be no good.....I'm retired with no annual income.....lol).

When I was new in recovery I heard some stats in a class on addiction/alcoholism/ DUI's that stated (now remember, this was a while ago so my memory isn't perfect....but) that for every DUI a person receives, that person has probably been driving under the influence on at least 20 other occasions; just never pulled over.....of course, there are exceptions, but they're only that, exceptions and not the norm.....just a wee fyi to add to the mix..... (o:


NoelleR

SF69

"Mr. Owl, how many DUIs does it take before you're an alcoholic?"



Sorry, this whole discussion made me think of that commercial.

sugErspun

There are already too many threads about the difference between alcoholism and addiction. Not to mention you already pointed out that I clearly have the same defense mechanisms of the classic addict.

For the record - I do not believe that true alcoholism can be overcome on will power, it has not been my experience.

The point I was trying to make - is that you don't have to have any of those outside circumstances to be alcoholic.

A little about me.

Never been arrested
Never been homeless
Never had DUI
Never had wife/family abandon me
No tickets
Good income
Good credit rating
College Educated
Have been employed full time consistently since 1995
3 treatment centers (inpatient)- did not get me sober.


Alcoholic.


Per the DSM-IV I have also been diagnosed at one time or the other with the following:
Axis I depressive
Panic Disorder
Acute Stress Disorder
Antisocial Personality Disorder
Insomniac
Disassociative
General Anxiety Disorder
Borderline Personality Disorder
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Depressive
ADHD (Adult)

(The above no longer apply - thanks to doing what Alcoholics Anonymous [the book] said to do, and working with another recovered alcoholic.)

It cost me a heck of a lot of money to be diagnosed with all the above using the DSM-IV. I gotta put that in my inventory (obviously).

I never got free until I made a self diagnoses based on my experience - didn't cost me a dime, just a little bit of willingness.

LosingmyMisery

I hid from my Dr., for many years, my drinking problem. Honestly, I'm sure he knew, but he never brought it up as a concern. When I was ready, I came to him to discuss my problem and how to treat it. There never was a diagnosis of alcoholism on his part. I was the one who determined that. If my Doc had brought it up, I no doubt would have argued the fact. Until we self-diagnosis there is a problem, we aren't ready for recovery. IMO

sugErspun

The state never paid anything for my treatments. I had really good insurance for the first two (they also gave me antidepressants and anti-psychotic medication), one time I paid cash after convincing the director that I was an alcoholic. Considering I was put through etoh detox each time - they probably diagnosed me with alcohol dependent as well. I have never seen much of that paperwork - the other things were diagnosed by psychiatrists, therapists and my regular doctor.

LosingmyMisery

Very true. I drank for several more years after admitting, to myself, I was an alcoholic. The person staring back from the mirror confirmed and I couldn't deny. In acknowledging, I can move forward into recovery.

I agree, treatment centers are a worthy cause. The way people are yanked around by insurance companies is a crying shame. There definitely needs to be some restructure on how treatment is funded.

CAPTAINZING2000

We're pretty good about telling our Dr. how much we drink!!

Tazman53

Totally agree, what does start at that point is the potentail for recovery, not recovery, but the potential, I drank a lot of years after I openly admitted I was an alcoholic, my recovery did not begin until I was convinced to the core of my being that I was powerless over alcohol once I consumed it and my life was unmanagable due to my drinking.

I only had one DUI and that was 20 years before I quit drinking, the last 5 years I drank I doubt very seriously if there was a single day I did not drive without a BAC well above the legal limit. Except for that one DUI I was never arrested for anything.

I was in the early part of the final stage of alcoholism so number of DUIs or arrest are not a indicator of alcoholism, heck I had some friends who had multiple DUIs in their youth that are not alcoholics, I also know some guys who got busted more then once for DIP that are not alcoholics. I will concour that multiple DUIs & DIPs are a possible indicator but not a solid marker of the disease.

BTW I have a college education that I got before I quit and I know a ton of alcoholics who did before they quit as well.

CAPTAINZING2000

Impaired Drivingen Espanol

Overview

Alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes kill someone every 31 minutes and nonfatally injure someone every two minutes (NHTSA 2006). But there are effective measures that can be taken to prevent injuries and deaths from impaired driving.



Occurrence and Consequences

* During 2005, 16,885 people in the U.S. died in alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes, representing 39% of all traffic-related deaths (NHTSA 2006).

* In 2005, nearly 1.4 million drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics (Department of Justice 2005). That’s less than one percent of the 159 million self-reported episodes of alcohol–impaired driving among U.S. adults each year (Quinlan et al. 2005).

* Drugs other than alcohol (e.g., marijuana and cocaine) are involved in about 18% of motor vehicle driver deaths. These other drugs are generally used in combination with alcohol (Jones et al. 2003).

* More than half of the 414 child passengers ages 14 and younger who died in alcohol-related crashes during 2005 were riding with the drinking driver (NHTSA 2006).

* In 2005, 48 children age 14 years and younger who were killed as pedestrians or pedalcyclists were struck by impaired drivers (NHTSA 2006).

Cost

Each year, alcohol-related crashes in the United States cost about $51 billion (Blincoe et al. 2002).

Groups at Risk

* Male drivers involved in fatal motor vehicle crashes are almost twice as likely as female drivers to be intoxicated with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.08% or greater (NHTSA 2006). It is illegal to drive with a BAC of 0.08% or higher in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

* At all levels of blood alcohol concentration, the risk of being involved in a crash is greater for young people than for older people (Zador et al. 2000). In 2005, 16% of drivers ages 16 to 20 who died in motor vehicle crashes had been drinking alcohol (NHTSA 2006).

* Young men ages 18 to 20 (under the legal drinking age) reported driving while impaired more frequently than any other age group (Shults et al. 2002, Quinlan et al. 2005).

* Among motorcycle drivers killed in fatal crashes, 30% have BACs of 0.08% or greater (Paulozzi et al. 2004).

· Nearly half of the alcohol-impaired motorcyclists killed each year are age 40 or older, and motorcyclists ages 40 to 44 years have the highest percentage of fatalities with BACs of 0.08% or greater (Paulozzi et al. 2004).

* Of the 1,946 traffic fatalities among children ages 0 to 14 years in 2005, 21%

CarolD

Let's get off the soap boxes please
share your own experiences

SR is for peer support
and not for medical or professional evaluations.

Thanks Everyone