Friday, April 28, 2006
San Diego DUI - 9/11 DUI Defense
Fireman says 9/11 dust skewed DUI test
April 27, 2006
Southern Vermont
BRATTLEBORO — A New York City firefighter claims the 9/11 terrorist attacks caused a lung disorder that skewed a breath test when he was arrested for drunken driving in Vermont three years later.
Rolf. W. Hettinger, 50, of Bethpage, N.Y., is charged with two counts of driving under the influence in December 2004. His attorney argued Wednesday at the start of his two-day trial in Brattleboro District Court that the smoke and dust damage to his lungs from Sept. 11, 2001, is so severe that the DUI test results are not applicable.
William Kraham of Brattleboro, Hettinger's attorney, is expected to call a chemist from the University of Washington today to testify that the Breathalyzer test results could be inaccurate due to his client's weak lung capacity.
Kraham told the jury during the trial's opening arguments Wednesday that Hettinger's lung capacity is two-thirds of what it should be.
"The Breathalyzer test is worthless and does not represent his blood alcohol content," Kraham said. "It grossly overestimated the amount of alcohol in him at the time."
Deputy State's Attorney Nathaniel Seeley introduced three witnesses Wednesday, including the Wilmington police officer who arrested Hettinger on Dec. 4, 2004, and a state Department of Health chemist who testified about the specifics of alcohol breath tests.
Officer Ethan Kipnes testified that Hettinger swerved into the oncoming lane twice while driving north on Route 100 before he pulled him over on suspicion of drunken driving. He said he instantly smelled alcohol and saw that Hettinger had watery and bloodshot eyes.
Hettinger told him he'd consumed two or three beers in the previous 90 minutes, Kipnes testified. The officer said Hettinger failed a roadside sobriety test and then went to the Wilmington Police Department to take the Breathalyzer after consulting with his attorney.
Kipnes also testified that Hettinger during his arrest repeatedly stressed his past employment in law enforcement and his job as a firefighter. The officer testified that Hettinger was asking for a "professional courtesy" and be released without being charged.
The jury was removed from the courtroom in the midst of that part of the testimony, due to objections from Kraham. The lawyer said jurors shouldn't hear it because the alleged conversation was not recorded on the police cruiser's equipment or in Kipnes' official affidavit.
The officer said he didn't bring the recording system's microphone outside the car, where the conversation took place. He didn't explain why it wasn't in his affidavit. With the jury out of the room, he repeated that Hettinger wanted to be released.
"He mentioned it two or three times," Kipnes said. "He was looking for a break."
Hundreds of people living or working near the former site of the World Trade Center — including firefighters and police officers — are suffering from respiratory illnesses from the dust and smoke that billowed into the streets when the towers collapsed on Sept. 11, 2001, according to news reports.
Earlier this month, an autopsy confirmed dust lodged in a 34-year-old New York City police officer's lungs as his official cause of death. Nearly 400 first responders have left the jobs early due to breathing problems following the attacks, according to news reports.
Kraham declined to comment after the court closed Wednesday. The case is expected to wrap up today.
April 27, 2006
Southern Vermont
BRATTLEBORO — A New York City firefighter claims the 9/11 terrorist attacks caused a lung disorder that skewed a breath test when he was arrested for drunken driving in Vermont three years later.
Rolf. W. Hettinger, 50, of Bethpage, N.Y., is charged with two counts of driving under the influence in December 2004. His attorney argued Wednesday at the start of his two-day trial in Brattleboro District Court that the smoke and dust damage to his lungs from Sept. 11, 2001, is so severe that the DUI test results are not applicable.
William Kraham of Brattleboro, Hettinger's attorney, is expected to call a chemist from the University of Washington today to testify that the Breathalyzer test results could be inaccurate due to his client's weak lung capacity.
Kraham told the jury during the trial's opening arguments Wednesday that Hettinger's lung capacity is two-thirds of what it should be.
"The Breathalyzer test is worthless and does not represent his blood alcohol content," Kraham said. "It grossly overestimated the amount of alcohol in him at the time."
Deputy State's Attorney Nathaniel Seeley introduced three witnesses Wednesday, including the Wilmington police officer who arrested Hettinger on Dec. 4, 2004, and a state Department of Health chemist who testified about the specifics of alcohol breath tests.
Officer Ethan Kipnes testified that Hettinger swerved into the oncoming lane twice while driving north on Route 100 before he pulled him over on suspicion of drunken driving. He said he instantly smelled alcohol and saw that Hettinger had watery and bloodshot eyes.
Hettinger told him he'd consumed two or three beers in the previous 90 minutes, Kipnes testified. The officer said Hettinger failed a roadside sobriety test and then went to the Wilmington Police Department to take the Breathalyzer after consulting with his attorney.
Kipnes also testified that Hettinger during his arrest repeatedly stressed his past employment in law enforcement and his job as a firefighter. The officer testified that Hettinger was asking for a "professional courtesy" and be released without being charged.
The jury was removed from the courtroom in the midst of that part of the testimony, due to objections from Kraham. The lawyer said jurors shouldn't hear it because the alleged conversation was not recorded on the police cruiser's equipment or in Kipnes' official affidavit.
The officer said he didn't bring the recording system's microphone outside the car, where the conversation took place. He didn't explain why it wasn't in his affidavit. With the jury out of the room, he repeated that Hettinger wanted to be released.
"He mentioned it two or three times," Kipnes said. "He was looking for a break."
Hundreds of people living or working near the former site of the World Trade Center — including firefighters and police officers — are suffering from respiratory illnesses from the dust and smoke that billowed into the streets when the towers collapsed on Sept. 11, 2001, according to news reports.
Earlier this month, an autopsy confirmed dust lodged in a 34-year-old New York City police officer's lungs as his official cause of death. Nearly 400 first responders have left the jobs early due to breathing problems following the attacks, according to news reports.
Kraham declined to comment after the court closed Wednesday. The case is expected to wrap up today.
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Those who control alcohol are drunk themselves
Liquor Chief Charged With Drunken Driving Thu Apr 27, 4:47 PM ET
PORTLAND, Ore. - The director of the Oregon Liquor Control Commission abruptly resigned Thursday after she was charged with drunken driving.
Teresa Kaiser was stopped Saturday night in Portland and was found to have a blood-alcohol level of 0.16 percent, twice the legal limit for driving in Oregon, said police Detective Paul Dolbey.
Governor's spokesman Lonn Hoklin confirmed Thursday that Kaiser had e-mailed her resignation to the commission's board of directors that day.
"Due to circumstances that I deeply regret, I am resigning as executive director of the commission," Kaiser wrote in the e-mail. "Although my departure is abrupt, I am confident the commission will move forward."
Oregon is one of 18 "control" states for liquor, which means the state owns it at some point in the distribution process. The Oregon commission runs state stores, oversees licensing and enforces liquor laws.
Kaiser had been the commission's administrator since 2003. Its board planned to meet Friday to appoint an acting executive director.
"The governor naturally is very concerned about this. But he has total confidence that the commission will handle this and do the right thing," Hoklin said.
___
On the Net:
http://www.olcc.state.or.us
PORTLAND, Ore. - The director of the Oregon Liquor Control Commission abruptly resigned Thursday after she was charged with drunken driving.
Teresa Kaiser was stopped Saturday night in Portland and was found to have a blood-alcohol level of 0.16 percent, twice the legal limit for driving in Oregon, said police Detective Paul Dolbey.
Governor's spokesman Lonn Hoklin confirmed Thursday that Kaiser had e-mailed her resignation to the commission's board of directors that day.
"Due to circumstances that I deeply regret, I am resigning as executive director of the commission," Kaiser wrote in the e-mail. "Although my departure is abrupt, I am confident the commission will move forward."
Oregon is one of 18 "control" states for liquor, which means the state owns it at some point in the distribution process. The Oregon commission runs state stores, oversees licensing and enforces liquor laws.
Kaiser had been the commission's administrator since 2003. Its board planned to meet Friday to appoint an acting executive director.
"The governor naturally is very concerned about this. But he has total confidence that the commission will handle this and do the right thing," Hoklin said.
___
On the Net:
http://www.olcc.state.or.us
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
San Diego DUI - Will all vehicles have breathalyzers some day?
Could the day be coming when every driver is checked for drinking before starting a car?
Widespread use of ignition interlock devices that won't allow a car to be started if a driver has had too much alcohol, once considered radical, no longer seems out of the question. Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) gives a qualified endorsement to the idea. New York state legislators are considering requiring the devices on all cars and trucks by 2009. And automakers, already close to offering the devices as optional equipment on all Volvo and Saab models in Sweden, are considering whether to bring the technology here.
Manufacturers are perfecting technology that could detect alcohol on the skin surface, eliminating the need for the current, cumbersome, blow-into-a-tube breath-analyzing systems. Current breathalyzers cost about $1,000. The newer systems are expected to cost about the same.
The New York bill was introduced by Assemblyman Felix Ortiz, who also sponsored the bill that became the first law banning the use of handheld cellphones while driving. To those who say neither the public nor the technology is ready for such a universal application, Ortiz says he heard similar complaints about the cellphone ban and hands-free technology. He compares the criticism to early complaints about mandatory safety belts.
But Ortiz's bill faces a tough fight. The idea of forcing every driver to pass a blood alcohol test to start a car raises privacy concerns, irritates non-drinkers and has some restaurant industry officials worrying about a march back to Prohibition, or at least the demonizing of social drinking.
MADD and others trying to reduce the 17,000 alcohol-related fatalities a year say ignition interlocks are the only sure way to separate potential drunken drivers from their "weapons."
"If the public wants it and the data support it, it is literally possible that the epidemic of drunk driving could be solved where cars simply could not be operated by drunk drivers," says Chuck Hurley, CEO of MADD, which is hosting its first conference on drunken-driving technology in June.
"What a great day that would be."
MADD doesn't currently support requiring the devices on all cars because it doesn't think the technology is ready. For now, the organization prefers requiring the devices, called ignition interlocks, for anyone convicted of a first drunken-driving offense.
About 70,000 ignition interlocks are on vehicles — most of them ordered by courts for repeat drunken-driving offenders.
Even without universal use, there's a huge potential market in the 1.4 million people who are arrested for drunken driving each year. Legislation is pending in at least 12 states that would require interlocks for some or all first-time offenders.
Driver sees it as 'a life preserver'
Steven Carter, a Colorado Springs-based photographer, voluntarily put one on his Honda Prelude last year after his third drunken-driving arrest since 1999. He had quit drinking but installed it as a "safeguard with me."
The decision was fortunate: Four months ago, Carter had a relapse and tried to drive his car after drinking at a bar.
It wouldn't start, so he took a cab home and went back the next day to get it. It still wouldn't start because he set his device to detect alcohol above a 0.01 blood-alcohol level.
Carter, 27, who is hoping to compete as a skier in the 2010 Winter Olympics, thinks interlocks should be required on all cars. He believes insurance company discounts for voluntary installation — which some interlock makers are pushing — would be a good place to start.
"Some of my friends see it as a toy, but in my opinion, it's more like a life preserver," Carter says.
State Farm Insurance spokesman Dick Luedke says interlock discounts wouldn't make much sense because "for the majority of our customers, installing one of these things would have absolutely no impact. For the person who does have the problem and does install (the device), if it does inhibit him from driving impaired, that's worth way more than a lower insurance rate."
Barry Sweedler, a former National Transportation Safety Board official, is trying to persuade automakers to put the wiring for ignition interlocks in all cars to make it easier to install the devices. And once interlocks can automatically check alcohol levels without any action from drivers, Sweedler thinks they should be standard equipment on cars.
Current technology requires a driver to blow heavily into a breathalyzer device before starting the car and regularly while driving. With that system, "Unless a person is an offender, to require it for everyone is too intrusive," says Sweedler, past president of an anti-impaired-driving group that has sponsored ignition interlock conferences for the past six years.
George Ballance, director of sales and marketing for device maker DraegerSafety, says his company advocates interlocks as part of teen driving laws and insurance company discounts.
"We want to get on the preventive side of the cycle and not just be on the court-ordered side," he says.
Draeger encourages its employees to carry pocket breath analyzers and would fire any worker convicted of drunken driving.
"We're not here to say, 'Don't drink.' We're here to say 'Don't drink and drive,' " Ballance says.
Opposition to breathalyzers
Such talk makes John Doyle, executive director of the American Beverage Institute, cringe. "This campaign is a lot further down the pike than people realize," says Doyle, whose group is funded by chains including Outback Steakhouse and Chili's and is leading the opposition to broader use of interlocks.
He says the existing devices are costly and easy to defeat, by getting someone else to blow into them or using an air compressor instead of a driver's own breath. Besides, he says most drunken-driving deaths are caused by hard-core offenders who have slipped through the system.
"How far are you going to go to reduce alcohol-related fatalities?" Doyle asks. "Maybe they should make driving at night illegal."
Opposition comes from other sources, too. Steven Brown, executive director of the Rhode Island ACLU, says his group opposes laws that require judges to mandate interlocks for convicted drunken drivers. Rhode Island's Legislature is considering a bill that would require interlocks for second-time offenders and first-time offenders with a blood-alcohol level above 0.15, which correlates to drinking seven drinks in an hour for a 170-pound male.
"Our concern about mandatory penalties is that they don't allow courts to take all situations into account, including that the cost is quite significant and the effect it has on family members," Brown says. "Some individuals can't afford it."
While automakers are working on interlock technology, they are cautious. General Motors safety chief Bob Lange says his company has been working on ways to integrate alcohol-detection devices into cars for 30 years, but still doesn't think any are close to ready for widespread use in this country.
"If the technology incorrectly restricts ... sober individuals, it is unlikely to be supported," says Lange, who says systems must be "transparent" to non-drinkers. "Public acceptance and technological viability are essential."
Sue Cischke, Ford Motor's safety chief, agrees obstacles remain. "Some of the challenges include designing a system that is most of all accurate, not easily disabled or avoided, is easy to use and does not create driver-distraction issues."
Swedish brands Volvo, owned by Ford, and Saab, owned by GM, are at the forefront of auto industry efforts to incorporate interlocks into cars. Swedish regulators are expected to soon propose a deadline of 2012 for all cars in that country to have alcohol interlocks.
Volvo's Alcolock — which is built into the seat belt buckle — will likely be available as an option on cars in Sweden within three years. Saab's Alcokey has the technology built into the key.
For automakers, anything that keeps a car from starting sounds too much like the public relations nightmare that came out of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's 1973 decision to require devices that would prevent cars from starting if seat belts weren't buckled. After a huge public outcry and widespread disconnections, Congress passed a law the following year prohibiting NHTSA from requiring seat belt interlocks or warning buzzers lasting more than eight seconds.
Some critics say alcohol-related interlocks would be even more problematic than seat belt interlocks because about 40% of adults say they don't drink at all. MADD's Hurley says most people don't steal or have their cars stolen, but keys still have built-in anti-theft technology.
Ortiz agrees: "This is a tool that will save lives. We have to stop putting parameters on it."
Ortiz disputes claims that the technology is not ready, but even interlock makers don't think their systems should be offered on all cars — yet. Albuquerque-based TruTouch Technologies, which makes a device that detects alcohol using light rays through the surface of the skin, will introduce a version for use in police stations next year to replace breathalyzers. CEO Jim McNally says he is talking to automakers about offering his system as an option, but not until at least 2010.
New Mexico, which has the toughest interlock law in the country, isn't ready to go as far as Ortiz is proposing. Last year, New Mexico passed the first law requiring interlocks for first-time drunken-driving offenders after earlier debating — and rejecting — mandatory installation in all vehicles.
Wary of 'annoying' car buyers
Volvo technical safety adviser Thomas Brobergsays he isn't sure mandating interlock technology is the way to go: "It might not be good to force these kinds of systems onto customers. There are quite a few things that can be quite annoying to the customer."
Jim Champagne, a former Louisiana state police lieutenant colonel who spent decades responding to drunken-driving crashes and now chairs the Governors Highway Safety Association, is guardedly optimistic about the prospects for interlocks.
Champagne says he would "love to see" optional interlock devices offered.
"It would give an opportunity for parents and guardians to get more involved," he says. But as standard equipment on all cars? "To tell the American public this is going to be on your car? No way."
Widespread use of ignition interlock devices that won't allow a car to be started if a driver has had too much alcohol, once considered radical, no longer seems out of the question. Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) gives a qualified endorsement to the idea. New York state legislators are considering requiring the devices on all cars and trucks by 2009. And automakers, already close to offering the devices as optional equipment on all Volvo and Saab models in Sweden, are considering whether to bring the technology here.
Manufacturers are perfecting technology that could detect alcohol on the skin surface, eliminating the need for the current, cumbersome, blow-into-a-tube breath-analyzing systems. Current breathalyzers cost about $1,000. The newer systems are expected to cost about the same.
The New York bill was introduced by Assemblyman Felix Ortiz, who also sponsored the bill that became the first law banning the use of handheld cellphones while driving. To those who say neither the public nor the technology is ready for such a universal application, Ortiz says he heard similar complaints about the cellphone ban and hands-free technology. He compares the criticism to early complaints about mandatory safety belts.
But Ortiz's bill faces a tough fight. The idea of forcing every driver to pass a blood alcohol test to start a car raises privacy concerns, irritates non-drinkers and has some restaurant industry officials worrying about a march back to Prohibition, or at least the demonizing of social drinking.
MADD and others trying to reduce the 17,000 alcohol-related fatalities a year say ignition interlocks are the only sure way to separate potential drunken drivers from their "weapons."
"If the public wants it and the data support it, it is literally possible that the epidemic of drunk driving could be solved where cars simply could not be operated by drunk drivers," says Chuck Hurley, CEO of MADD, which is hosting its first conference on drunken-driving technology in June.
"What a great day that would be."
MADD doesn't currently support requiring the devices on all cars because it doesn't think the technology is ready. For now, the organization prefers requiring the devices, called ignition interlocks, for anyone convicted of a first drunken-driving offense.
About 70,000 ignition interlocks are on vehicles — most of them ordered by courts for repeat drunken-driving offenders.
Even without universal use, there's a huge potential market in the 1.4 million people who are arrested for drunken driving each year. Legislation is pending in at least 12 states that would require interlocks for some or all first-time offenders.
Driver sees it as 'a life preserver'
Steven Carter, a Colorado Springs-based photographer, voluntarily put one on his Honda Prelude last year after his third drunken-driving arrest since 1999. He had quit drinking but installed it as a "safeguard with me."
The decision was fortunate: Four months ago, Carter had a relapse and tried to drive his car after drinking at a bar.
It wouldn't start, so he took a cab home and went back the next day to get it. It still wouldn't start because he set his device to detect alcohol above a 0.01 blood-alcohol level.
Carter, 27, who is hoping to compete as a skier in the 2010 Winter Olympics, thinks interlocks should be required on all cars. He believes insurance company discounts for voluntary installation — which some interlock makers are pushing — would be a good place to start.
"Some of my friends see it as a toy, but in my opinion, it's more like a life preserver," Carter says.
State Farm Insurance spokesman Dick Luedke says interlock discounts wouldn't make much sense because "for the majority of our customers, installing one of these things would have absolutely no impact. For the person who does have the problem and does install (the device), if it does inhibit him from driving impaired, that's worth way more than a lower insurance rate."
Barry Sweedler, a former National Transportation Safety Board official, is trying to persuade automakers to put the wiring for ignition interlocks in all cars to make it easier to install the devices. And once interlocks can automatically check alcohol levels without any action from drivers, Sweedler thinks they should be standard equipment on cars.
Current technology requires a driver to blow heavily into a breathalyzer device before starting the car and regularly while driving. With that system, "Unless a person is an offender, to require it for everyone is too intrusive," says Sweedler, past president of an anti-impaired-driving group that has sponsored ignition interlock conferences for the past six years.
George Ballance, director of sales and marketing for device maker DraegerSafety, says his company advocates interlocks as part of teen driving laws and insurance company discounts.
"We want to get on the preventive side of the cycle and not just be on the court-ordered side," he says.
Draeger encourages its employees to carry pocket breath analyzers and would fire any worker convicted of drunken driving.
"We're not here to say, 'Don't drink.' We're here to say 'Don't drink and drive,' " Ballance says.
Opposition to breathalyzers
Such talk makes John Doyle, executive director of the American Beverage Institute, cringe. "This campaign is a lot further down the pike than people realize," says Doyle, whose group is funded by chains including Outback Steakhouse and Chili's and is leading the opposition to broader use of interlocks.
He says the existing devices are costly and easy to defeat, by getting someone else to blow into them or using an air compressor instead of a driver's own breath. Besides, he says most drunken-driving deaths are caused by hard-core offenders who have slipped through the system.
"How far are you going to go to reduce alcohol-related fatalities?" Doyle asks. "Maybe they should make driving at night illegal."
Opposition comes from other sources, too. Steven Brown, executive director of the Rhode Island ACLU, says his group opposes laws that require judges to mandate interlocks for convicted drunken drivers. Rhode Island's Legislature is considering a bill that would require interlocks for second-time offenders and first-time offenders with a blood-alcohol level above 0.15, which correlates to drinking seven drinks in an hour for a 170-pound male.
"Our concern about mandatory penalties is that they don't allow courts to take all situations into account, including that the cost is quite significant and the effect it has on family members," Brown says. "Some individuals can't afford it."
While automakers are working on interlock technology, they are cautious. General Motors safety chief Bob Lange says his company has been working on ways to integrate alcohol-detection devices into cars for 30 years, but still doesn't think any are close to ready for widespread use in this country.
"If the technology incorrectly restricts ... sober individuals, it is unlikely to be supported," says Lange, who says systems must be "transparent" to non-drinkers. "Public acceptance and technological viability are essential."
Sue Cischke, Ford Motor's safety chief, agrees obstacles remain. "Some of the challenges include designing a system that is most of all accurate, not easily disabled or avoided, is easy to use and does not create driver-distraction issues."
Swedish brands Volvo, owned by Ford, and Saab, owned by GM, are at the forefront of auto industry efforts to incorporate interlocks into cars. Swedish regulators are expected to soon propose a deadline of 2012 for all cars in that country to have alcohol interlocks.
Volvo's Alcolock — which is built into the seat belt buckle — will likely be available as an option on cars in Sweden within three years. Saab's Alcokey has the technology built into the key.
For automakers, anything that keeps a car from starting sounds too much like the public relations nightmare that came out of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's 1973 decision to require devices that would prevent cars from starting if seat belts weren't buckled. After a huge public outcry and widespread disconnections, Congress passed a law the following year prohibiting NHTSA from requiring seat belt interlocks or warning buzzers lasting more than eight seconds.
Some critics say alcohol-related interlocks would be even more problematic than seat belt interlocks because about 40% of adults say they don't drink at all. MADD's Hurley says most people don't steal or have their cars stolen, but keys still have built-in anti-theft technology.
Ortiz agrees: "This is a tool that will save lives. We have to stop putting parameters on it."
Ortiz disputes claims that the technology is not ready, but even interlock makers don't think their systems should be offered on all cars — yet. Albuquerque-based TruTouch Technologies, which makes a device that detects alcohol using light rays through the surface of the skin, will introduce a version for use in police stations next year to replace breathalyzers. CEO Jim McNally says he is talking to automakers about offering his system as an option, but not until at least 2010.
New Mexico, which has the toughest interlock law in the country, isn't ready to go as far as Ortiz is proposing. Last year, New Mexico passed the first law requiring interlocks for first-time drunken-driving offenders after earlier debating — and rejecting — mandatory installation in all vehicles.
Wary of 'annoying' car buyers
Volvo technical safety adviser Thomas Brobergsays he isn't sure mandating interlock technology is the way to go: "It might not be good to force these kinds of systems onto customers. There are quite a few things that can be quite annoying to the customer."
Jim Champagne, a former Louisiana state police lieutenant colonel who spent decades responding to drunken-driving crashes and now chairs the Governors Highway Safety Association, is guardedly optimistic about the prospects for interlocks.
Champagne says he would "love to see" optional interlock devices offered.
"It would give an opportunity for parents and guardians to get more involved," he says. But as standard equipment on all cars? "To tell the American public this is going to be on your car? No way."
Sunday, April 23, 2006
Overtime on Drunk Driving cases inflates some Police Officer salaries
Officer's pay tops $172,000
Overtime on DWI cases inflates some salaries
As a senior officer in the Houston Police Department, William Lindsey Jr. received a salary of about $72,000 last year.
Because he is on the department's DWI Task Force, however, Lindsey's overtime pay put him at an income level rivaling Mayor Bill White and Police Chief Harold Hurtt.
The 27-year HPD veteran grossed more than $100,000 in overtime pay in 2005, and he wasn't the only task force member pulling in a six-figure income.
Two others in the unit, including Lindsey's supervisor, were boosted above the $100,000 income level last year with significant help from overtime pay.
Though police and prosecutors defend the hefty overtime as an effective means of getting drunken drivers off Houston's streets, critics of the practice say many of those hours are an unnecessary expense that increases the risk of putting physically and mentally fatigued officers on duty.
Lindsey's total income of more than $172,576 from HPD last year put his pay above White's $165,000 but below Hurtt's $184,000. The mayor and police chief are not eligible for overtime pay.
Among the other task force members with six-figure incomes in 2005 was Lindsey's supervisor, Sgt. Edward Robinson, whose $76,055 in overtime pay boosted his overall compensation to $161,722.
Senior police officers like Lindsey are paid roughly $50,000 to $70,000 in salary, before overtime, depending on various incentives for education and certifications, according to employee records obtained by the Houston Chronicle.
The police department was still working late last week to compile a list of DWI Task Force members. But the Chronicle confirmed the names of at least eight officers who were in the unit during 2005.
Those officers were paid a total of $317,000 in overtime last year. That figure made up 38 percent of their total compensation, which averaged about $103,000.
In addition to the more than $100,000 in overtime pay he collected in 2005, Lindsey was paid more than $85,000 in overtime in 2004. He refused to comment last week on his overtime or on a disciplinary record that includes a 15-day suspension in 1990 for submitting inaccurate overtime pay requests.
Police chief unconcerned
Hurtt, who learned about the high overtime pay after Chronicle inquiries, said he doesn't worry about the public's perception of the spending.
"If the officer is truly earning it, I think the public is well-aware of the staffing levels at the Houston Police Department," he said, referring to manpower shortages that have sparked other overtime programs since Hurricane Katrina evacuees came to town. "And I also think the public is well-aware that certain officers have special training."
Police officials say the overtime pay for the DWI Task Force is necessary because of the nature of the job, which requires officers to work nights — when more drunken drivers are out — and then testify in daytime court hearings for previous arrests.
A typical task force officer works from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. Wednesday through Saturday. Some then have to go to various courts for hearings on weekday mornings, said Lt. Robert Manzo, a police spokesman.
In such cases, they are paid overtime for court appearances and, often, for the period between their night shifts and the hearings. Still others work overtime shifts on their days off.
The system is laid out in the officers' collective-bargaining agreement, which was negotiated with the city while Lee Brown, a former police chief, was mayor.
HPD's budget director, Larry Yium, said officers' salaries and court overtime are paid out of the general fund, the tax- and fee-supported portion of the budget that covers most city operating costs. Currently, the department is using two grants totalling $257,000 from the Texas Department of Transportation to reimburse overtime costs associated with DWI enforcement, he said.
Yium said he isn't surprised that some officers get large overtime payments.
"I'm aware that we have officers who approach this number because of the nature of their assignments," he said. "We always periodically look at that to make sure they're working within their guidelines and it's something that the supervisors and others can justify."
Manzo said adding officers to the task force wouldn't cut overtime costs.
"If we doubled the size of the DWI Task Force, then we would presumably have double the number of subpoenas, which would mean the amount of paid overtime for going to court would double," he said.
Officers are prohibited from working more than 16 hours in a 24-hour period, Manzo said, or more than 80 hours in a workweek, without a shift supervisor's approval.
Manipulation?
Defense attorneys who specialize in DWI cases contend some task force members manipulate arrests to accumulate overtime.
"They switch defendants or piggyback on each other's cases," said lawyer J. Gary Trichter. "They get additional officers involved, because it bolsters (the DWI case), which is valid."
But, in many cases, he added, task force members bring in other officers who collect overtime for their involvement, although they were not really needed.
Marc Brown, who heads the misdemeanor division at the Harris County District Attorney's Office, said DWI cases often require more than one officer to appear in court. Prosecutors, for example, need the testimony of the arresting officer, who may have relied on help from a colleague with the specialized training to give a field sobriety test.
This is especially true with officers in a large city, as opposed to those from suburban departments, Brown said. The sheer number of Houston patrol officers means many aren't specialized to handle drunken-driving cases they encounter on patrol. State law requires certification for officers to conduct breath tests. Special training also is required for officers to know what to look for when conducting eye tests of suspected drunken drivers.
Other agencies streamlined
However, unlike Houston police, most DWI cases filed by Texas Department of Public Safety troopers are handled by one trooper, said DPS spokeswoman Tela Mange.
She added that, even with two-person units, one trooper will work the DWI investigation while the other directs traffic. Only the investigator goes to court in most cases, she said.
"I'm not aware of situations where there would be multiple troopers testifying, unless one trooper saw the original (offense) and someone else backed him up," Mange said. "But that would be very unusual."
She noted that, unlike HPD, the DPS requires all troopers to be certified in field-sobriety testing and operating breath-test machines.
"It only takes one DPS trooper to make an arrest," Trichter said. "But with the HPD task force, they get at least three, sometimes four, people involved."
In many cases, all of those officers testify at trial, where they compile more overtime hours, Trichter said.
Balancing goals with safety
Other HPD officers say task force members save untold numbers of lives each year by taking drunken drivers off the streets. They also acknowledge, however, that allowing officers to work excessive hours — sometimes 16-hour shifts for several days in a row — can diminish their mental and physical effectiveness and put public safety at risk.
"Hiring additional officers, rather than the implementation of additional overtime programs, would better serve the safety of the officers and the community they protect," said one officer, who asked not to be named out of fear of retribution by the department.
Officer Paul Lassalle, the task force's administrative officer, praises his colleagues' work but said he once left the unit because of his long hours. His wife, he said, jokingly put a picture of him on the inside of their front door.
"She said, 'Kids, if this man knocks on the door, open it. He's your father.' "
As for whether it is safe to allow officers to work so many hours a week in back-to-back shifts, HPD spokesman Capt. Dwayne Ready said, "If it's not, then it will be determined by the on-duty shift commander, who has to assess the individual for their fitness for duty."
Hans Marticiuc, president of the Houston Police Officers' Union, said Lindsey's overtime pay doesn't concern him.
"I don't know how else you get around that," he said. "He's certainly deserving of the overtime if he's making the arrests and (prosecutors) are putting him on the trial docket.
"If you're working it, then you have a right to it," Marticiuc said. "It's good for him and certainly a benefit to the public if he's getting drunks off the streets."
Houston police made almost 12,600 DWI arrests in 1985, but the total had dropped by about half by 2004, according to HPD statistics. The district attorney's office does not keep statistics on DWI conviction rates, Brown said.
The decline in drunken-driving arrests has been attributed largely to changing social norms.
In the courtroom
Last week, at least two DWI cases in which task force members testified ended in acquittal. Defense lawyer Sam Adamo, who represented one defendant, said he and other DWI specialists have been attempting to inform jurors about the task force and the overtime pay, but they often are blocked by judges and prosecutors.
"These guys are like small-town speed traps," Adamo said. "Regular officers have to work extra jobs. But these (task force) guys don't have to, because they're making so much money coming down to the courthouse."
Hurtt said that practice, if true, would concern him.
"What we'll do is have supervisors do an audit of their citations," he said, "and if it's occurring, we'll take corrective action."
Overtime on DWI cases inflates some salaries
As a senior officer in the Houston Police Department, William Lindsey Jr. received a salary of about $72,000 last year.
Because he is on the department's DWI Task Force, however, Lindsey's overtime pay put him at an income level rivaling Mayor Bill White and Police Chief Harold Hurtt.
The 27-year HPD veteran grossed more than $100,000 in overtime pay in 2005, and he wasn't the only task force member pulling in a six-figure income.
Two others in the unit, including Lindsey's supervisor, were boosted above the $100,000 income level last year with significant help from overtime pay.
Though police and prosecutors defend the hefty overtime as an effective means of getting drunken drivers off Houston's streets, critics of the practice say many of those hours are an unnecessary expense that increases the risk of putting physically and mentally fatigued officers on duty.
Lindsey's total income of more than $172,576 from HPD last year put his pay above White's $165,000 but below Hurtt's $184,000. The mayor and police chief are not eligible for overtime pay.
Among the other task force members with six-figure incomes in 2005 was Lindsey's supervisor, Sgt. Edward Robinson, whose $76,055 in overtime pay boosted his overall compensation to $161,722.
Senior police officers like Lindsey are paid roughly $50,000 to $70,000 in salary, before overtime, depending on various incentives for education and certifications, according to employee records obtained by the Houston Chronicle.
The police department was still working late last week to compile a list of DWI Task Force members. But the Chronicle confirmed the names of at least eight officers who were in the unit during 2005.
Those officers were paid a total of $317,000 in overtime last year. That figure made up 38 percent of their total compensation, which averaged about $103,000.
In addition to the more than $100,000 in overtime pay he collected in 2005, Lindsey was paid more than $85,000 in overtime in 2004. He refused to comment last week on his overtime or on a disciplinary record that includes a 15-day suspension in 1990 for submitting inaccurate overtime pay requests.
Police chief unconcerned
Hurtt, who learned about the high overtime pay after Chronicle inquiries, said he doesn't worry about the public's perception of the spending.
"If the officer is truly earning it, I think the public is well-aware of the staffing levels at the Houston Police Department," he said, referring to manpower shortages that have sparked other overtime programs since Hurricane Katrina evacuees came to town. "And I also think the public is well-aware that certain officers have special training."
Police officials say the overtime pay for the DWI Task Force is necessary because of the nature of the job, which requires officers to work nights — when more drunken drivers are out — and then testify in daytime court hearings for previous arrests.
A typical task force officer works from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. Wednesday through Saturday. Some then have to go to various courts for hearings on weekday mornings, said Lt. Robert Manzo, a police spokesman.
In such cases, they are paid overtime for court appearances and, often, for the period between their night shifts and the hearings. Still others work overtime shifts on their days off.
The system is laid out in the officers' collective-bargaining agreement, which was negotiated with the city while Lee Brown, a former police chief, was mayor.
HPD's budget director, Larry Yium, said officers' salaries and court overtime are paid out of the general fund, the tax- and fee-supported portion of the budget that covers most city operating costs. Currently, the department is using two grants totalling $257,000 from the Texas Department of Transportation to reimburse overtime costs associated with DWI enforcement, he said.
Yium said he isn't surprised that some officers get large overtime payments.
"I'm aware that we have officers who approach this number because of the nature of their assignments," he said. "We always periodically look at that to make sure they're working within their guidelines and it's something that the supervisors and others can justify."
Manzo said adding officers to the task force wouldn't cut overtime costs.
"If we doubled the size of the DWI Task Force, then we would presumably have double the number of subpoenas, which would mean the amount of paid overtime for going to court would double," he said.
Officers are prohibited from working more than 16 hours in a 24-hour period, Manzo said, or more than 80 hours in a workweek, without a shift supervisor's approval.
Manipulation?
Defense attorneys who specialize in DWI cases contend some task force members manipulate arrests to accumulate overtime.
"They switch defendants or piggyback on each other's cases," said lawyer J. Gary Trichter. "They get additional officers involved, because it bolsters (the DWI case), which is valid."
But, in many cases, he added, task force members bring in other officers who collect overtime for their involvement, although they were not really needed.
Marc Brown, who heads the misdemeanor division at the Harris County District Attorney's Office, said DWI cases often require more than one officer to appear in court. Prosecutors, for example, need the testimony of the arresting officer, who may have relied on help from a colleague with the specialized training to give a field sobriety test.
This is especially true with officers in a large city, as opposed to those from suburban departments, Brown said. The sheer number of Houston patrol officers means many aren't specialized to handle drunken-driving cases they encounter on patrol. State law requires certification for officers to conduct breath tests. Special training also is required for officers to know what to look for when conducting eye tests of suspected drunken drivers.
Other agencies streamlined
However, unlike Houston police, most DWI cases filed by Texas Department of Public Safety troopers are handled by one trooper, said DPS spokeswoman Tela Mange.
She added that, even with two-person units, one trooper will work the DWI investigation while the other directs traffic. Only the investigator goes to court in most cases, she said.
"I'm not aware of situations where there would be multiple troopers testifying, unless one trooper saw the original (offense) and someone else backed him up," Mange said. "But that would be very unusual."
She noted that, unlike HPD, the DPS requires all troopers to be certified in field-sobriety testing and operating breath-test machines.
"It only takes one DPS trooper to make an arrest," Trichter said. "But with the HPD task force, they get at least three, sometimes four, people involved."
In many cases, all of those officers testify at trial, where they compile more overtime hours, Trichter said.
Balancing goals with safety
Other HPD officers say task force members save untold numbers of lives each year by taking drunken drivers off the streets. They also acknowledge, however, that allowing officers to work excessive hours — sometimes 16-hour shifts for several days in a row — can diminish their mental and physical effectiveness and put public safety at risk.
"Hiring additional officers, rather than the implementation of additional overtime programs, would better serve the safety of the officers and the community they protect," said one officer, who asked not to be named out of fear of retribution by the department.
Officer Paul Lassalle, the task force's administrative officer, praises his colleagues' work but said he once left the unit because of his long hours. His wife, he said, jokingly put a picture of him on the inside of their front door.
"She said, 'Kids, if this man knocks on the door, open it. He's your father.' "
As for whether it is safe to allow officers to work so many hours a week in back-to-back shifts, HPD spokesman Capt. Dwayne Ready said, "If it's not, then it will be determined by the on-duty shift commander, who has to assess the individual for their fitness for duty."
Hans Marticiuc, president of the Houston Police Officers' Union, said Lindsey's overtime pay doesn't concern him.
"I don't know how else you get around that," he said. "He's certainly deserving of the overtime if he's making the arrests and (prosecutors) are putting him on the trial docket.
"If you're working it, then you have a right to it," Marticiuc said. "It's good for him and certainly a benefit to the public if he's getting drunks off the streets."
Houston police made almost 12,600 DWI arrests in 1985, but the total had dropped by about half by 2004, according to HPD statistics. The district attorney's office does not keep statistics on DWI conviction rates, Brown said.
The decline in drunken-driving arrests has been attributed largely to changing social norms.
In the courtroom
Last week, at least two DWI cases in which task force members testified ended in acquittal. Defense lawyer Sam Adamo, who represented one defendant, said he and other DWI specialists have been attempting to inform jurors about the task force and the overtime pay, but they often are blocked by judges and prosecutors.
"These guys are like small-town speed traps," Adamo said. "Regular officers have to work extra jobs. But these (task force) guys don't have to, because they're making so much money coming down to the courthouse."
Hurtt said that practice, if true, would concern him.
"What we'll do is have supervisors do an audit of their citations," he said, "and if it's occurring, we'll take corrective action."
Saturday, April 22, 2006
San Diego DUI - Body heat rising alcohol levels change wines' taste
Body heat
Rising alcohol levels change wines' taste
April 20, 2006
The Heat Is On
Rising alcohol levels change wines' taste
Shh ... vintners turn down the heat, quietly
Booze may be boosted by vines' roots
HOT is winespeak for the taste and smell of alcohol. These days, wine is hotter than ever.
In the 1970s, red wines under 12 percent alcohol by volume were common. Today, even white wines are rarely that low in alcohol. Zinfandels higher than 16 percent are no longer outliers. And the expected "standard" level for varietals like Chardonnay and Pinot Noir has crept from below 13 percent a couple decades ago to over 14 percent today.
Is this a problem?
For many Chronicle Wine section readers, it is. We constantly get unbidden letters decrying high alcohol levels. And here's why: If your limit was once three glasses of wine, based on alcohol levels below 12 percent, you probably should now stop at two.
But wine is hotter than ever, in more sense than one. Sales are at an all-time high, and a Gallup opinion poll last year showed that for the first time, wine has passed beer (which generally has alcohol levels less than half that of wine) as Americans' alcoholic drink of preference.
It's hard to ignore the hot-hot connection, although it's probably not because Americans want more booze. Alcohol gives wine its body. When balanced with sufficient acidity, a high-alcohol wine can taste richer, with softer mouthfeel, than one lower in alcohol.
Wine sales are up
"Alcohol levels are rising, and red wine sales are at an all-time high. Is that a coincidence?" asks Siduri Wines owner Adam Lee. "If somebody wants lower alcohol wines, they don't want lower flavor wines. They want the weight and the flavor. They don't want a light, wimpy wine."
The demand for bold flavors is one reason that many winemakers, who prefer that their wines not be too hot, surreptitiously remove alcohol from them. (See "Shh ... vintners turn down the heat, quietly.") But the processes are expensive and carry a stigma with some consumers, so many winemakers forego them and sell wine in its original high-alcohol form.
The long, cool 2005 growing season in California will lead to some of the lowest alcohol levels in years, Lee says. But 2005 may be a one-time dip on a chart that seems to be heading ever upward.
Consumers seem to accept -- even expect -- high-alcohol wines. French wine importer Kermit Lynch of Berkeley points out that alcohol levels are also up in France, and blames global warming for the increasing frequency of hot growing seasons. Many sommeliers and vintners point to the influence of wine critic Robert M. Parker Jr., who seems to favor full-throttle, high-alcohol wines.
Yet-to-be published UC Davis research suggests that rootstocks may be to blame, a groundbreaking idea. (See "Booze may be boosted by vines' roots")
Another key factor is simply vineyard location. Many New World wines -- from California, Australia, South America -- are from warm-weather climates, and warm growing conditions tend to produce higher-alcohol wines.
But the single biggest reason for rising alcohol is that growers worldwide are letting their grapes hang on the vines longer than in the past. The longer the grapes ripen, the more sugar they contain, and sugar converts into alcohol. A longer hang time also produces more fruit flavors and fewer vegetal ones.
"A sensory character of underripe Cabernet (Sauvignon) is herbal, grassy, green bean, asparagus," says Doug Shafer, president of Shafer Vineyards in Napa. "For a long time people thought that's what Cabernet's supposed to be. It can be so much more."
Hang time has been one of the biggest wine controversies of the 21st century. Growers complain that when the grapes stay on the vine longer, they dehydrate and lose weight, and most growers are paid by the ton.
Allied Grape Growers president Nat DiBuduo says some newer contracts have clauses to compensate growers for the weight loss in their crop, but these contracts usually require the grapes to reach a certain level of sugar -- in essence, an encouragement to produce higher-alcohol wines.
Shafer says in the 1980s, his winery decided when to pick the grapes based on Brix, a measure of sugar. When the Brix hit 23 degrees, a number that produces about 12 percent alcohol in the finished wine, Shafer picked them "because that's what you did.
"By the early '90s, we started making decisions on taste, rather than the sugar meter," Shafer says. "We got these wonderful black-fruit flavors compared to the green ones."
They also got alcohol levels just below 15 percent. The extra oomph makes a big difference to a diner.
"I had a guy try to sell me 16.5 percent Merlot," says Kent Liggett, owner and wine buyer at 1550 Hyde restaurant in San Francisco. "He said (critic Robert) Parker liked it out of barrel. I said, 'Parker can drink it. You drink two glasses and you'll be face down on your plate.' "
Food-wine pairing changes
Many sommeliers complain that high-alcohol wines don't go well with food, and are destroying traditional ideas of food-wine pairing.
"These wines are way out of control. What's sad is this is what people like now. This is what the American palate likes," says Rajat Parr, wine director at Michael Mina restaurant in San Francisco.
"People say Pinot Noir goes well with fish, but not if it's 15.6 percent alcohol," Parr says. "That's so hot, it's going to burn your mouth. Now almost all the Pinot Noirs from the Russian River and around Sonoma and Napa, they're all about 15 percent alcohol. If you have them with anything, it should be meat dishes: game, like squab and quail."
Despite his disdain for what he calls "muscular wines," Liggett says he has to carry them because people want them.
"California Pinot is so rich now, you could have it with steak if you wanted to," Liggett says. "I always like to think of Pinot as a little more delicate on its feet." Those delicate wines are the sort of Pinots usually produced in the grape's native home in Burgundy.
Siduri's Lee, whose Pinot Noirs frequently contain close to 15 percent alcohol, says that view of Pinot, while popular, disregards the French principle of terroir -- that wines should represent the climate and soils of the place where they're made.
"People who order a lot of Burgundy say this is what Pinot should be," Lee says. "The one group who never says that are the Burgundians. When they come here to visit, they taste my wines and say a Pisoni Vineyard Pinot should taste like Pisoni Vineyard. They don't even talk about anything tasting like Pinot. They say it should taste like Clos Vougeot or Vosne-Romanee. If you really believe in the Burgundian ideal of terroir, you shouldn't think a Pisoni Vineyard Pinot should taste like a Burgundian wine."
There's no question the terroir of California is different from that of France. Mike Benziger, general manager of Benziger Family Winery in Glen Ellen, says, "We have more sun hours than almost any growing region in the world." Benziger also points out that California's large differences in daytime and nighttime temperature prevent grapes from maturing physiologically as fast as they might in Europe, so that sugar levels have longer to rise.
Temperature isn't the only reason California wines are getting hotter. If UC Davis' preliminary findings into the impact of rootstocks on sugar levels prove accurate, many California wineries may simply be unable to naturally lower the alcohol of their wines without costly replanting.
Shafer says, "We'd love to make a Chablis-like Chardonnay. We can't do it in our climate. If we made a Chardonnay at 12 percent alcohol, you wouldn't like it. It would be green and reedy. Our philosophy is to make the best of what your site does, whether it's Chile or France or California."
Wineries can use recently developed technology to reduce alcohol. The results are impressive: "de-alked" wines can deliver the big fruit flavors and rich mouthfeel of a more "natural" long hang-time wine, without the intoxicating power. Clark Smith, owner of one of the two de-alcoholization companies in Wine Country, says he and his competitor are now removing alcohol from nearly half of all wine made on California's North Coast, though most clients prefer to remain anonymous.
But de-alcoholization is expensive; moreover, some vintners agree with Shafer, who says his wines' high alcohol levels are a natural product of their environment.
The low-tech way to make lower-alcohol wines is simply to pick earlier, when the sugar levels are lower. Laurie Claudon, co-owner of Clark Claudon Vineyards in St. Helena, says avoiding vegetal flavors is simply a matter of paying close attention in the vineyard.
"We go literally vine by vine, and even more specific than that," Claudon says. "We will harvest the front of the vine and leave the (grapes on the) back of the vine out there longer.
"We would rather have the wine be the way it comes out of the vineyard. We are trying to produce a wine that has more elegance."
French style changes
In the past, such balanced, lower-alcohol wines have been called "French-style." But that term may be outdated -- the alcohol level of French wines is also rising. This hasn't been obvious because U.S. regulations don't require the alcohol level on the label to be precise (See "Label leeway," Page F3.)
Leo McCloskey, founder of the Sonoma wine consultancy Enologix, says, "I did a huge study in Chardonnay. The American wines are identical in alcohol to the French wines -- identical."
Lynch, who has imported French wines for more than 30 years, says he can track global warming simply by counting the number of warm vintages in Burgundy -- one in the 1970s, four in the '80s, and seven in the '90s.
"Down in the south of France, there's a big difference," Lynch says, adding that "2001 had the highest alcohols I've ever seen in the south of France.
"In 1964, 13 percent was considered high alcohol in Bordeaux," Lynch says. "Now Bordeaux puts out 13.5 to 14 (percent) every year. The Loire reds have found a market. I'm sure it's because the Cabernet Francs are getting riper."
However, grapes can get too ripe, leading to raisiny character and a sweet, fruity sameness, albeit one that's currently in vogue.
"Overripe fruit is going to give you more of a fruit bomb," says Ridge Vineyards winemaker and CEO Paul Draper. "It certainly makes Cabernet more approachable as a young wine. If you're going to make Cabernet to be drunk when it's 3 years old, one of the ways to do it is use fruit that's overripe. But it loses its sense of place."
Many people in the wine industry blame the popularity of these types of wines -- high-alcohol, soft tannins, rich mouthfeel, yet nothing that distinguishes a Shiraz from Australia's Barossa Valley from one made in Paso Robles -- on Parker, the world's most powerful critic. Kvetching about Parker is a popular activity when winemakers gather. (Parker did not respond to requests by e-mail for comment.)
But McCloskey, who compares his approach to wine to the logical, statistical analysis-based thinking of Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane, says Parker is popular because his tastes conform to the public's -- not the other way around. McCloskey points out that plenty of other wine critics rate wines, but the public has not chosen to follow them with such devotion.
McCloskey says he has held blind tastings with winemakers and discovered that the wines they prefer turn out to be the same ones Parker prefers.
"They don't like to hear that," McCloskey says. "The idea that Parker is a bad guy is preposterous. The consumer is empowering the critics. The critics are reducing the consumers' risk to capital. It would be laissez-faire capitalism if the wineries could get away with defining quality."
Sebastiani Vineyards & Winery winemaker Mark Lyon and others blame the practice of blind tastings for the popularity of high-alcohol wines. At contests like The San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, judges sometimes must taste more than 100 wines in a day.
"Wines that have a lot of alcohol and oak stand out in tastings," Lyon says. "When judges get fatigued, they can still taste them."
Indeed, the best overall red wine at the 2005 Chronicle Wine Competition was judged to be the 2003 Earthquake Lodi Petite Sirah ($28), a brawny wine with 15.5 percent alcohol. Information sheets about the Earthquake wines unabashedly read, "With over 15 percent alcohol and bold tannins, these dark and voluminous wines will definitely leave your senses quivering."
David Phillips, co-owner of Michael David Family of Wines in Lodi, which makes Earthquake, says, "For several years of going to the ZAP (Zinfandel Advocates and Producers) tasting, the wines people are always talking about are the highest-alcohol wines. And no wonder -- they have the ripest fruit and the boldest flavors.
"We're making wines for flavor. If the judges can taste the alcohol, if it tastes hot, they'll throw it out. They have to taste the fruit."
Winemaker Jeff Cohn, probably as well known for high-alcohol wines as anyone, both at Alameda's Rosenblum Cellars and his own label, JC Cellars, says, "I've never had anybody complain to me. People love the wines because they have great textures and great flavors. Our philosophy is to pick for flavors. If you pick for flavors, it will be balanced. It won't be fiery hot."
McCloskey says, "I'm a big fan, like everybody, of terroir. The U.S. terroir is alcoholic."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Label leeway
Warning: your wine may be hotter than you think.
Ever wonder why so many wine bottles, particularly from Europe, state 12.5 percent alcohol? The reason has to do with U.S. wine label regulations.
Wineries must list each wine's alcohol content on its front label, unless it contains 14 percent alcohol or less, in which case the winery can choose to say "Table wine" or "light wine," according to Art Resnick, spokesman for the federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB).
However, the number doesn't have to be exact. The margin of error for wines of 14 percent alcohol or under is 1.5 percent; it's 1 percent for wines over 14 percent.
In other words, a wine labeled 12.5 percent alcohol may contain anywhere from 11 percent to 14 percent alcohol. A wine labeled 15 percent alcohol might contain anywhere from 14.01 percent to 16 percent.
The magic number is 14 percent. Wines with more alcohol than that are taxed at a rate nearly 50 percent higher. Because of that, the alcohol level on the label doesn't have to be precise, but a wine with more than 14 percent alcohol cannot be labeled as containing less, and vice versa.
Rising alcohol levels change wines' taste
April 20, 2006
The Heat Is On
Rising alcohol levels change wines' taste
Shh ... vintners turn down the heat, quietly
Booze may be boosted by vines' roots
HOT is winespeak for the taste and smell of alcohol. These days, wine is hotter than ever.
In the 1970s, red wines under 12 percent alcohol by volume were common. Today, even white wines are rarely that low in alcohol. Zinfandels higher than 16 percent are no longer outliers. And the expected "standard" level for varietals like Chardonnay and Pinot Noir has crept from below 13 percent a couple decades ago to over 14 percent today.
Is this a problem?
For many Chronicle Wine section readers, it is. We constantly get unbidden letters decrying high alcohol levels. And here's why: If your limit was once three glasses of wine, based on alcohol levels below 12 percent, you probably should now stop at two.
But wine is hotter than ever, in more sense than one. Sales are at an all-time high, and a Gallup opinion poll last year showed that for the first time, wine has passed beer (which generally has alcohol levels less than half that of wine) as Americans' alcoholic drink of preference.
It's hard to ignore the hot-hot connection, although it's probably not because Americans want more booze. Alcohol gives wine its body. When balanced with sufficient acidity, a high-alcohol wine can taste richer, with softer mouthfeel, than one lower in alcohol.
Wine sales are up
"Alcohol levels are rising, and red wine sales are at an all-time high. Is that a coincidence?" asks Siduri Wines owner Adam Lee. "If somebody wants lower alcohol wines, they don't want lower flavor wines. They want the weight and the flavor. They don't want a light, wimpy wine."
The demand for bold flavors is one reason that many winemakers, who prefer that their wines not be too hot, surreptitiously remove alcohol from them. (See "Shh ... vintners turn down the heat, quietly.") But the processes are expensive and carry a stigma with some consumers, so many winemakers forego them and sell wine in its original high-alcohol form.
The long, cool 2005 growing season in California will lead to some of the lowest alcohol levels in years, Lee says. But 2005 may be a one-time dip on a chart that seems to be heading ever upward.
Consumers seem to accept -- even expect -- high-alcohol wines. French wine importer Kermit Lynch of Berkeley points out that alcohol levels are also up in France, and blames global warming for the increasing frequency of hot growing seasons. Many sommeliers and vintners point to the influence of wine critic Robert M. Parker Jr., who seems to favor full-throttle, high-alcohol wines.
Yet-to-be published UC Davis research suggests that rootstocks may be to blame, a groundbreaking idea. (See "Booze may be boosted by vines' roots")
Another key factor is simply vineyard location. Many New World wines -- from California, Australia, South America -- are from warm-weather climates, and warm growing conditions tend to produce higher-alcohol wines.
But the single biggest reason for rising alcohol is that growers worldwide are letting their grapes hang on the vines longer than in the past. The longer the grapes ripen, the more sugar they contain, and sugar converts into alcohol. A longer hang time also produces more fruit flavors and fewer vegetal ones.
"A sensory character of underripe Cabernet (Sauvignon) is herbal, grassy, green bean, asparagus," says Doug Shafer, president of Shafer Vineyards in Napa. "For a long time people thought that's what Cabernet's supposed to be. It can be so much more."
Hang time has been one of the biggest wine controversies of the 21st century. Growers complain that when the grapes stay on the vine longer, they dehydrate and lose weight, and most growers are paid by the ton.
Allied Grape Growers president Nat DiBuduo says some newer contracts have clauses to compensate growers for the weight loss in their crop, but these contracts usually require the grapes to reach a certain level of sugar -- in essence, an encouragement to produce higher-alcohol wines.
Shafer says in the 1980s, his winery decided when to pick the grapes based on Brix, a measure of sugar. When the Brix hit 23 degrees, a number that produces about 12 percent alcohol in the finished wine, Shafer picked them "because that's what you did.
"By the early '90s, we started making decisions on taste, rather than the sugar meter," Shafer says. "We got these wonderful black-fruit flavors compared to the green ones."
They also got alcohol levels just below 15 percent. The extra oomph makes a big difference to a diner.
"I had a guy try to sell me 16.5 percent Merlot," says Kent Liggett, owner and wine buyer at 1550 Hyde restaurant in San Francisco. "He said (critic Robert) Parker liked it out of barrel. I said, 'Parker can drink it. You drink two glasses and you'll be face down on your plate.' "
Food-wine pairing changes
Many sommeliers complain that high-alcohol wines don't go well with food, and are destroying traditional ideas of food-wine pairing.
"These wines are way out of control. What's sad is this is what people like now. This is what the American palate likes," says Rajat Parr, wine director at Michael Mina restaurant in San Francisco.
"People say Pinot Noir goes well with fish, but not if it's 15.6 percent alcohol," Parr says. "That's so hot, it's going to burn your mouth. Now almost all the Pinot Noirs from the Russian River and around Sonoma and Napa, they're all about 15 percent alcohol. If you have them with anything, it should be meat dishes: game, like squab and quail."
Despite his disdain for what he calls "muscular wines," Liggett says he has to carry them because people want them.
"California Pinot is so rich now, you could have it with steak if you wanted to," Liggett says. "I always like to think of Pinot as a little more delicate on its feet." Those delicate wines are the sort of Pinots usually produced in the grape's native home in Burgundy.
Siduri's Lee, whose Pinot Noirs frequently contain close to 15 percent alcohol, says that view of Pinot, while popular, disregards the French principle of terroir -- that wines should represent the climate and soils of the place where they're made.
"People who order a lot of Burgundy say this is what Pinot should be," Lee says. "The one group who never says that are the Burgundians. When they come here to visit, they taste my wines and say a Pisoni Vineyard Pinot should taste like Pisoni Vineyard. They don't even talk about anything tasting like Pinot. They say it should taste like Clos Vougeot or Vosne-Romanee. If you really believe in the Burgundian ideal of terroir, you shouldn't think a Pisoni Vineyard Pinot should taste like a Burgundian wine."
There's no question the terroir of California is different from that of France. Mike Benziger, general manager of Benziger Family Winery in Glen Ellen, says, "We have more sun hours than almost any growing region in the world." Benziger also points out that California's large differences in daytime and nighttime temperature prevent grapes from maturing physiologically as fast as they might in Europe, so that sugar levels have longer to rise.
Temperature isn't the only reason California wines are getting hotter. If UC Davis' preliminary findings into the impact of rootstocks on sugar levels prove accurate, many California wineries may simply be unable to naturally lower the alcohol of their wines without costly replanting.
Shafer says, "We'd love to make a Chablis-like Chardonnay. We can't do it in our climate. If we made a Chardonnay at 12 percent alcohol, you wouldn't like it. It would be green and reedy. Our philosophy is to make the best of what your site does, whether it's Chile or France or California."
Wineries can use recently developed technology to reduce alcohol. The results are impressive: "de-alked" wines can deliver the big fruit flavors and rich mouthfeel of a more "natural" long hang-time wine, without the intoxicating power. Clark Smith, owner of one of the two de-alcoholization companies in Wine Country, says he and his competitor are now removing alcohol from nearly half of all wine made on California's North Coast, though most clients prefer to remain anonymous.
But de-alcoholization is expensive; moreover, some vintners agree with Shafer, who says his wines' high alcohol levels are a natural product of their environment.
The low-tech way to make lower-alcohol wines is simply to pick earlier, when the sugar levels are lower. Laurie Claudon, co-owner of Clark Claudon Vineyards in St. Helena, says avoiding vegetal flavors is simply a matter of paying close attention in the vineyard.
"We go literally vine by vine, and even more specific than that," Claudon says. "We will harvest the front of the vine and leave the (grapes on the) back of the vine out there longer.
"We would rather have the wine be the way it comes out of the vineyard. We are trying to produce a wine that has more elegance."
French style changes
In the past, such balanced, lower-alcohol wines have been called "French-style." But that term may be outdated -- the alcohol level of French wines is also rising. This hasn't been obvious because U.S. regulations don't require the alcohol level on the label to be precise (See "Label leeway," Page F3.)
Leo McCloskey, founder of the Sonoma wine consultancy Enologix, says, "I did a huge study in Chardonnay. The American wines are identical in alcohol to the French wines -- identical."
Lynch, who has imported French wines for more than 30 years, says he can track global warming simply by counting the number of warm vintages in Burgundy -- one in the 1970s, four in the '80s, and seven in the '90s.
"Down in the south of France, there's a big difference," Lynch says, adding that "2001 had the highest alcohols I've ever seen in the south of France.
"In 1964, 13 percent was considered high alcohol in Bordeaux," Lynch says. "Now Bordeaux puts out 13.5 to 14 (percent) every year. The Loire reds have found a market. I'm sure it's because the Cabernet Francs are getting riper."
However, grapes can get too ripe, leading to raisiny character and a sweet, fruity sameness, albeit one that's currently in vogue.
"Overripe fruit is going to give you more of a fruit bomb," says Ridge Vineyards winemaker and CEO Paul Draper. "It certainly makes Cabernet more approachable as a young wine. If you're going to make Cabernet to be drunk when it's 3 years old, one of the ways to do it is use fruit that's overripe. But it loses its sense of place."
Many people in the wine industry blame the popularity of these types of wines -- high-alcohol, soft tannins, rich mouthfeel, yet nothing that distinguishes a Shiraz from Australia's Barossa Valley from one made in Paso Robles -- on Parker, the world's most powerful critic. Kvetching about Parker is a popular activity when winemakers gather. (Parker did not respond to requests by e-mail for comment.)
But McCloskey, who compares his approach to wine to the logical, statistical analysis-based thinking of Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane, says Parker is popular because his tastes conform to the public's -- not the other way around. McCloskey points out that plenty of other wine critics rate wines, but the public has not chosen to follow them with such devotion.
McCloskey says he has held blind tastings with winemakers and discovered that the wines they prefer turn out to be the same ones Parker prefers.
"They don't like to hear that," McCloskey says. "The idea that Parker is a bad guy is preposterous. The consumer is empowering the critics. The critics are reducing the consumers' risk to capital. It would be laissez-faire capitalism if the wineries could get away with defining quality."
Sebastiani Vineyards & Winery winemaker Mark Lyon and others blame the practice of blind tastings for the popularity of high-alcohol wines. At contests like The San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, judges sometimes must taste more than 100 wines in a day.
"Wines that have a lot of alcohol and oak stand out in tastings," Lyon says. "When judges get fatigued, they can still taste them."
Indeed, the best overall red wine at the 2005 Chronicle Wine Competition was judged to be the 2003 Earthquake Lodi Petite Sirah ($28), a brawny wine with 15.5 percent alcohol. Information sheets about the Earthquake wines unabashedly read, "With over 15 percent alcohol and bold tannins, these dark and voluminous wines will definitely leave your senses quivering."
David Phillips, co-owner of Michael David Family of Wines in Lodi, which makes Earthquake, says, "For several years of going to the ZAP (Zinfandel Advocates and Producers) tasting, the wines people are always talking about are the highest-alcohol wines. And no wonder -- they have the ripest fruit and the boldest flavors.
"We're making wines for flavor. If the judges can taste the alcohol, if it tastes hot, they'll throw it out. They have to taste the fruit."
Winemaker Jeff Cohn, probably as well known for high-alcohol wines as anyone, both at Alameda's Rosenblum Cellars and his own label, JC Cellars, says, "I've never had anybody complain to me. People love the wines because they have great textures and great flavors. Our philosophy is to pick for flavors. If you pick for flavors, it will be balanced. It won't be fiery hot."
McCloskey says, "I'm a big fan, like everybody, of terroir. The U.S. terroir is alcoholic."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Label leeway
Warning: your wine may be hotter than you think.
Ever wonder why so many wine bottles, particularly from Europe, state 12.5 percent alcohol? The reason has to do with U.S. wine label regulations.
Wineries must list each wine's alcohol content on its front label, unless it contains 14 percent alcohol or less, in which case the winery can choose to say "Table wine" or "light wine," according to Art Resnick, spokesman for the federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB).
However, the number doesn't have to be exact. The margin of error for wines of 14 percent alcohol or under is 1.5 percent; it's 1 percent for wines over 14 percent.
In other words, a wine labeled 12.5 percent alcohol may contain anywhere from 11 percent to 14 percent alcohol. A wine labeled 15 percent alcohol might contain anywhere from 14.01 percent to 16 percent.
The magic number is 14 percent. Wines with more alcohol than that are taxed at a rate nearly 50 percent higher. Because of that, the alcohol level on the label doesn't have to be precise, but a wine with more than 14 percent alcohol cannot be labeled as containing less, and vice versa.
Sunday, April 09, 2006
San Diego DUI - MADD is out of control
An attempt by government and special interest groups to influence our thinking is not a new phenomenon. In the 50's, we were convinced that there was a Communist under every bed just waiting to enslave us and our families. The Commie hysteria went on to justified the Viet Nam war in the 60's. In the words of Bob Dylan, "I learned to hate the Russians all through my whole life."
Think about words or phrases that make your blood boil. "Communist" has lost its magic, but how about "drunk driver"? Twenty-five years and hundreds of millions of dollars spent by our government, MADD and other anti-alcohol groups has rendered us unable to view every drunk driver as anyone other than a vile, child killer--Public Enemy #1. Read any MADD press release. There is always a reference to a specific family member killed and the continued grieving of the mother or father. But with a deliberate motive the killer “drunk” driver morphs into all “drinking” drivers, who we are told are just as dangerous; statistics be damned. You can't help but feel sympathy and yearn for justice and/or revenge, but against whom?
This social conditioning is similar to Pavlov's experiments with his dog. Ring the bell, offer Fido some food and watch him salivate. After a while, just the ringing of the bell causes the dog to salivate. Sound the alarm, show the Smith’s a dead child and watch them demand tougher laws against all drinking drivers.
If he is a killer he should be severely punished, and today's laws ensure that he will be, unless he's a politician or policeman. Why is the same hatred not expressed toward a speeder or red light runner who kills someone? Because we have not yet been conditioned to hate these potential killers. Our laws even mandate lesser punishment if alcohol is not involved.
What happens when the thought control groups reach their goal that it's not drunk drivers but all drinking drivers that are the scum of the earth? It used to be "Don't let friends drive drunk." Now it's "You drink, You drive, You lose." What does that mean? Is it illegal to drive after drinking? If you have a beer and get behind the wheel are you, in MADD's words, the same as a "drive-by shooter?" Say it on TV for 25 years and, the public subliminally gets the message. "It must be true, why would they lie?"
MADD is determined to convince us. (Prohibition was a good thing, it was just done the wrong way.) They are doing it through hysterical unverifiable claims that tens of thousands of innocent people are killed by drunk drivers each year. They are doing it by exploiting and highly publicizing only those tragedies that involve alcohol. They are doing it through media coverage that loves the sensational story and never checks the source or phony statistics.
And once we are all conditioned to their alarm bell, there will no longer even be a need for them to feed us their lies.
Think about words or phrases that make your blood boil. "Communist" has lost its magic, but how about "drunk driver"? Twenty-five years and hundreds of millions of dollars spent by our government, MADD and other anti-alcohol groups has rendered us unable to view every drunk driver as anyone other than a vile, child killer--Public Enemy #1. Read any MADD press release. There is always a reference to a specific family member killed and the continued grieving of the mother or father. But with a deliberate motive the killer “drunk” driver morphs into all “drinking” drivers, who we are told are just as dangerous; statistics be damned. You can't help but feel sympathy and yearn for justice and/or revenge, but against whom?
This social conditioning is similar to Pavlov's experiments with his dog. Ring the bell, offer Fido some food and watch him salivate. After a while, just the ringing of the bell causes the dog to salivate. Sound the alarm, show the Smith’s a dead child and watch them demand tougher laws against all drinking drivers.
If he is a killer he should be severely punished, and today's laws ensure that he will be, unless he's a politician or policeman. Why is the same hatred not expressed toward a speeder or red light runner who kills someone? Because we have not yet been conditioned to hate these potential killers. Our laws even mandate lesser punishment if alcohol is not involved.
What happens when the thought control groups reach their goal that it's not drunk drivers but all drinking drivers that are the scum of the earth? It used to be "Don't let friends drive drunk." Now it's "You drink, You drive, You lose." What does that mean? Is it illegal to drive after drinking? If you have a beer and get behind the wheel are you, in MADD's words, the same as a "drive-by shooter?" Say it on TV for 25 years and, the public subliminally gets the message. "It must be true, why would they lie?"
MADD is determined to convince us. (Prohibition was a good thing, it was just done the wrong way.) They are doing it through hysterical unverifiable claims that tens of thousands of innocent people are killed by drunk drivers each year. They are doing it by exploiting and highly publicizing only those tragedies that involve alcohol. They are doing it through media coverage that loves the sensational story and never checks the source or phony statistics.
And once we are all conditioned to their alarm bell, there will no longer even be a need for them to feed us their lies.
San Diego DUI - MADD uses social conditioning to condemn persons who drink & drive
An attempt by government and special interest groups to influence our thinking is not a new phenomenon. In the 50's, we were convinced that there was a Communist under every bed just waiting to enslave us and our families. The Commie hysteria went on to justified the Viet Nam war in the 60's. In the words of Bob Dylan, "I learned to hate the Russians all through my whole life."
Think about words or phrases that make your blood boil. "Communist" has lost its magic, but how about "drunk driver"? Twenty-five years and hundreds of millions of dollars spent by our government, MADD and other anti-alcohol groups has rendered us unable to view every drunk driver as anyone other than a vile, child killer--Public Enemy #1. Read any MADD press release. There is always a reference to a specific family member killed and the continued grieving of the mother or father. But with a deliberate motive the killer “drunk” driver morphs into all “drinking” drivers, who we are told are just as dangerous; statistics be damned. You can't help but feel sympathy and yearn for justice and/or revenge, but against whom?
This social conditioning is similar to Pavlov's experiments with his dog. Ring the bell, offer Fido some food and watch him salivate. After a while, just the ringing of the bell causes the dog to salivate. Sound the alarm, show the Smith’s a dead child and watch them demand tougher laws against all drinking drivers.
If he is a killer he should be severely punished, and today's laws ensure that he will be, unless he's a politician or policeman. Why is the same hatred not expressed toward a speeder or red light runner who kills someone? Because we have not yet been conditioned to hate these potential killers. Our laws even mandate lesser punishment if alcohol is not involved.
What happens when the thought control groups reach their goal that it's not drunk drivers but all drinking drivers that are the scum of the earth? It used to be "Don't let friends drive drunk." Now it's "You drink, You drive, You lose." What does that mean? Is it illegal to drive after drinking? If you have a beer and get behind the wheel are you, in MADD's words, the same as a "drive-by shooter?" Say it on TV for 25 years and, the public subliminally gets the message. "It must be true, why would they lie?"
MADD is determined to convince us. (Prohibition was a good thing, it was just done the wrong way.) They are doing it through hysterical unverifiable claims that tens of thousands of innocent people are killed by drunk drivers each year. They are doing it by exploiting and highly publicizing only those tragedies that involve alcohol. They are doing it through media coverage that loves the sensational story and never checks the source or phony statistics.
And once we are all conditioned to their alarm bell, there will no longer even be a need for them to feed us their lies.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Think about words or phrases that make your blood boil. "Communist" has lost its magic, but how about "drunk driver"? Twenty-five years and hundreds of millions of dollars spent by our government, MADD and other anti-alcohol groups has rendered us unable to view every drunk driver as anyone other than a vile, child killer--Public Enemy #1. Read any MADD press release. There is always a reference to a specific family member killed and the continued grieving of the mother or father. But with a deliberate motive the killer “drunk” driver morphs into all “drinking” drivers, who we are told are just as dangerous; statistics be damned. You can't help but feel sympathy and yearn for justice and/or revenge, but against whom?
This social conditioning is similar to Pavlov's experiments with his dog. Ring the bell, offer Fido some food and watch him salivate. After a while, just the ringing of the bell causes the dog to salivate. Sound the alarm, show the Smith’s a dead child and watch them demand tougher laws against all drinking drivers.
If he is a killer he should be severely punished, and today's laws ensure that he will be, unless he's a politician or policeman. Why is the same hatred not expressed toward a speeder or red light runner who kills someone? Because we have not yet been conditioned to hate these potential killers. Our laws even mandate lesser punishment if alcohol is not involved.
What happens when the thought control groups reach their goal that it's not drunk drivers but all drinking drivers that are the scum of the earth? It used to be "Don't let friends drive drunk." Now it's "You drink, You drive, You lose." What does that mean? Is it illegal to drive after drinking? If you have a beer and get behind the wheel are you, in MADD's words, the same as a "drive-by shooter?" Say it on TV for 25 years and, the public subliminally gets the message. "It must be true, why would they lie?"
MADD is determined to convince us. (Prohibition was a good thing, it was just done the wrong way.) They are doing it through hysterical unverifiable claims that tens of thousands of innocent people are killed by drunk drivers each year. They are doing it by exploiting and highly publicizing only those tragedies that involve alcohol. They are doing it through media coverage that loves the sensational story and never checks the source or phony statistics.
And once we are all conditioned to their alarm bell, there will no longer even be a need for them to feed us their lies.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Saturday, April 01, 2006
San Diego DUI - Get Drunk, Fall, Sue
Teen Sues Restaurant After Drunken Fall
Mar 31st - 5:12am
FREDERICK, Md. (AP) - A teenager who sneaked into a charity bartender contest to drink is suing the restaurant for causing facial injuries she suffered in a drunken fall in the parking lot.
Tyler C. Bauer, 18, of New Market, is seeking $200,000 in damages from TGI Friday's, according to the lawsuit filed March 22 in Frederick County Circuit Court.
Bauer claims the restaurant was negligent in allowing her to consume beer and liquor purchased for her by an 18-year-old companion and an older man on Oct. 11.
The lawsuit says Bauer, then 17, shattered her teeth, lips and gums when she passed out and fell on her face in the parking lot with a blood alcohol level of 0.238 percent - nearly three times the legal limit of 0.08 for operating a motor vehicle. Police reported that Bauer had fallen off the tailgate of a pickup truck while leaving the bar.
The Frederick County Liquor Board fined the restaurant $1,600 in January for allowing Bauer and her underage friend to drink.
Mar 31st - 5:12am
FREDERICK, Md. (AP) - A teenager who sneaked into a charity bartender contest to drink is suing the restaurant for causing facial injuries she suffered in a drunken fall in the parking lot.
Tyler C. Bauer, 18, of New Market, is seeking $200,000 in damages from TGI Friday's, according to the lawsuit filed March 22 in Frederick County Circuit Court.
Bauer claims the restaurant was negligent in allowing her to consume beer and liquor purchased for her by an 18-year-old companion and an older man on Oct. 11.
The lawsuit says Bauer, then 17, shattered her teeth, lips and gums when she passed out and fell on her face in the parking lot with a blood alcohol level of 0.238 percent - nearly three times the legal limit of 0.08 for operating a motor vehicle. Police reported that Bauer had fallen off the tailgate of a pickup truck while leaving the bar.
The Frederick County Liquor Board fined the restaurant $1,600 in January for allowing Bauer and her underage friend to drink.
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