Container Top
Homes   Jobs   Cars   Shopping
Search

Events Calendar

EVENT SEARCH:

In This Section


Most Read Stories


Blogs:


Pets:
Not 101 Dalmations…but close!

The Heldenfiles:
Friday Notebook

Patrick McManamon:
For your perusal

Akron Zips:
The morning after

Tribe Matters:
Tribe makes roster moves

Cleveland Browns:
Lewis doesn't like boycott

Kent State Sports:
Kent State falls to Akron, 20-28

Cleveland Cavaliers:
Gameblog: Cavs at Knicks

Buckeye Blogging:
Weekly ‘B’ Deck Report – New Mexico St.

Varsity Letters:
Wrestling, bowling teams prepare for season

All Da King's Men:
If It Looks Like Islamic Terrorism…

Blog of Mass Destruction:
Dems Message To Women: Don't Enjoy The Sex

Akron Law Café:
Health Care Financing Reform: (62) The Stupak Amendment

See Jane Style:
Muffle Your Muffler

Car Chase:
Perfect Weather for an Autumn Drive

Let's Talk Real Estate:
RUMORS: Downtown Restaurant Explosion

Ohio Travels with Betty:
Jack is looking for a trip to Southern Ohio the week of November 16.

Sound Check:
The Black Keys to perform benefit concert at Musica on November 27

HRLite House:
Personal Rant – Why People Do Not Live in Northeast Ohio

Akron Gamer:
New 'Call of Duty' could set entertainment record

Dyer: Your rights aren't what they were

By Bob Dyer

Boy, it's great to be an American.

Land of the free, baby!

Did you know that, in some countries, the people aren't free? Why, in some countries, the authorities can just stop you at random, even if you're not doing anything wrong.

Seriously! Just imagine: People wearing uniforms and guns can delay and question you even if they don't have a reasonable suspicion you're doing something illegal.

Say what?

The sobriety checkpoints we're running all over Summit County aren't anything like that.

Why? Well, we're trying to catch bad people. Really bad people. People who might drink and drive and kill someone we love.

The Constitution? Well, yeah, I remember reading that in school. But that stuff was written a long time ago by guys who didn't even have cell phones. If the Founding Fathers were alive today, I'm sure they'd retract that stuff if they could make the roads safer.

Besides, look how well we've been doing.

Why, on Aug. 11, the Summit County OVI Task Force spent six hours stopping vehicles in Barberton and Norton. Officers from a variety of cities and villages ordered 1,263 drivers to halt and found...well, OK, they only found three drunken drivers.

That's a fielding percentage of .002. Less than 1 percent.

But who cares? They found a lot of other bad guys, too. Among them:

Two people were cited for not wearing seat belts.

Three people were cited because they forgot to renew their driver's licenses.

Seven people were cited for not flossing after meals.

OK, just kidding on the last one. But that may be next.

Buoyed by the remarkable accomplishment of ridding the roadway of three drunks in six hours, the task force headed back out Sept. 1.

This time, on a Saturday night near the big entertainment district in downtown Akron, they stuck their noses in 1,292 vehicles and found -- drum roll -- six drunks.

That sent their fielding percentage soaring to .005.

The checkpoint lasted 71/2 hours. Now, I'll bet you a week's pay that if you took all those cops and put them out on patrols in their own communities to watch for drivers weaving back and forth, they'd track down a lot more drunks in 71/2 hours.

But whether this is a wise investment of law-enforcement time is really beside the point. The point is this: We live in the United States. This is a nation that was created by people who wanted to get government off their backs.

Here's a well-kept secret: A lot of cops in our area think this is wrong. A patrolman from a Summit County city who doesn't want to be named for obvious reasons told me service on this task force is voluntary, and that he and many others refuse to participate on principle.

I also have talked to the people who run these things. They sincerely believe their methods are proper. In fact, they are convinced they are doing all of us a huge favor.

They are not. What they actually are doing is chopping away at the very essence of our nation.

And most of us just sit there and take it.

Today, our thoughts turn to the anniversary of 9/11 and our place in the world. Take a moment to ask yourself something: As we think about all of the Americans who have died in various wars to make this country different from all the other countries that have gotten big and powerful, why are so few of us worried about the fact that it's getting harder and harder to tell the difference?

 


Bob Dyer can be reached at 330-996-3580 or bdyer@thebeaconjournal.com.

 

Boy, it's great to be an American.

Land of the free, baby!

Did you know that, in some countries, the people aren't free? Why, in some countries, the authorities can just stop you at random, even if you're not doing anything wrong.

Seriously! Just imagine: People wearing uniforms and guns can delay and question you even if they don't have a reasonable suspicion you're doing something illegal.

Say what?

The sobriety checkpoints we're running all over Summit County aren't anything like that.

Why? Well, we're trying to catch bad people. Really bad people. People who might drink and drive and kill someone we love.

The Constitution? Well, yeah, I remember reading that in school. But that stuff was written a long time ago by guys who didn't even have cell phones. If the Founding Fathers were alive today, I'm sure they'd retract that stuff if they could make the roads safer.

Besides, look how well we've been doing.

Why, on Aug. 11, the Summit County OVI Task Force spent six hours stopping vehicles in Barberton and Norton. Officers from a variety of cities and villages ordered 1,263 drivers to halt and found...well, OK, they only found three drunken drivers.

That's a fielding percentage of .002. Less than 1 percent.

But who cares? They found a lot of other bad guys, too. Among them:

Two people were cited for not wearing seat belts.

Three people were cited because they forgot to renew their driver's licenses.

Seven people were cited for not flossing after meals.

OK, just kidding on the last one. But that may be next.

Buoyed by the remarkable accomplishment of ridding the roadway of three drunks in six hours, the task force headed back out Sept. 1.

This time, on a Saturday night near the big entertainment district in downtown Akron, they stuck their noses in 1,292 vehicles and found -- drum roll -- six drunks.

That sent their fielding percentage soaring to .005.

The checkpoint lasted 71/2 hours. Now, I'll bet you a week's pay that if you took all those cops and put them out on patrols in their own communities to watch for drivers weaving back and forth, they'd track down a lot more drunks in 71/2 hours.

But whether this is a wise investment of law-enforcement time is really beside the point. The point is this: We live in the United States. This is a nation that was created by people who wanted to get government off their backs.

Here's a well-kept secret: A lot of cops in our area think this is wrong. A patrolman from a Summit County city who doesn't want to be named for obvious reasons told me service on this task force is voluntary, and that he and many others refuse to participate on principle.

I also have talked to the people who run these things. They sincerely believe their methods are proper. In fact, they are convinced they are doing all of us a huge favor.

They are not. What they actually are doing is chopping away at the very essence of our nation.

And most of us just sit there and take it.

Today, our thoughts turn to the anniversary of 9/11 and our place in the world. Take a moment to ask yourself something: As we think about all of the Americans who have died in various wars to make this country different from all the other countries that have gotten big and powerful, why are so few of us worried about the fact that it's getting harder and harder to tell the difference?

 


Bob Dyer can be reached at 330-996-3580 or bdyer@thebeaconjournal.com.



Story tools

Email  Email   Print  Print   Save  Save   Reprint  Reprint   Popular  Most Popular   Reprint  Subscribe

Share this story

AddThis Social Bookmark Button
















Most Commented Stories