I think I worked a part-time job several years ago with the driver of the vehicle. He was a polite, friendly young guy with definite life goals. I am praying that he and his passengers heal quickly and that he is able to learn from this event. My thoughts are with you, Adam.

wonterfrontdean.... Personally, I've driven several times when I should not have, as do about 9 out of every 10 people leaving a bar on any given night. Problem is, unfortunately, the police can only catch so many of them. People will continue to do so until they are caught, hurt, or killed. I would hope that for everyone's sake, people don't have to pay the ultimate price to learn their lesson. It would be nice that the police catch them before they have the opportunity to hurt themselves or anyone else. That's where my original comment stems from. Granted, they still shouldn't do it in the first place.
For me, it took a couple different results for me to realize things needed to change. 1 - the money spent to get everything taken care of, along with the hassle of dealing with the court system. 2 - I was required to take an alchohol assessment. When the instructor started talking about children and the bad influence that drinking is, that was the ticket to getting me to stop drinking completely.
I already knew it, but deeply establishing the results that my drinking could play on my daughter's life is what finally made it kick in to just stop drinking completely. My daughter is the most important thing in the world to me, and me being so irresponsible as to jeapordize that is the stupidest thing I've ever done.

Now, as far as the Beloit Township PD, here's the story. Not that I was right for drinking and driving, but after the officer stopped me, I asked him why he pulled me over. He had no good reason. He literally told me to hold on and he'd get back to me. I didn't have a tail light out, I wasn't speeding, swerving, etc. Now, on that same note, I know of another person that was stopped and the officer told them that his license plate light was not working. When he picked up his vehicle from the tow yard, the first thing he checked was the light on the plate. Guess what? It was in PERFECT working order, even witness by the employee at the tow yard.
I've spoken to several people about the Town of Beloit PD and even friends of those officers. They know what they are doing and they will continue to do so. That new police station they have..... don't think that a large portion of that wasn't paid for by all the stops they have made. That PD is playing on people's ignorance that will just go pay their fines and not fight back.
I'm going to stop now, I get irritated when I talk about this.

paisley, Your follow up post was very good. I'm glad to see that others actually understand personal responsibility. Regarding the police, it's their job soley to uphold the laws that are put in place because people aren't perfect and occasionally break them. Problem is, there are way too many, like you said, that repeat their mistakes over and over again. "Lesson repeated until lesson learned"!
It's no different than govt. We have guidelines in which to live our lives that are put in place to ensure if everyone uses those guidelines, people can live together as one regardless of our differences. When those laws are compromised, which so many have been, we find chaos. If we all just take it upon ourselves to get better everyday and work on "US", everything takes care of itself in the end. We don't have that. We have too many fingerpointers and too many people who choose to settle for just average and exemplify what "they" believe is the correct version of "right" or "wrong".

wonterfrontdean, I never claimed to 'be so intelligent' in my post. Since you're so intelligent, why don't you tell us where you derived that idea from? All I meant was a reference to a chain of events. If the police would have happened to intervene anywhere prior to the accident, he would not have had the accident. Pure chance, that's all.

Ok, I'm back to explain. I guess I should have been more descriptive before. I agree with all of you that it was his choice to drive drunk, etc. And you're right, I'm not too fond of BTPD. That's an entire different subject. They just play dirty, and they know it. My comment just wasn't well thought out. It would have been nice if the police had the opportunity to stop him. It WOULD have avoided the accident. HOWEVER, it would have been BETTER had he not decided to get behind the wheel.

Darius is right about the accountability. People need to be held responsible for their actions. I'm in the process myself of being in the legal system due to an OWI, and I'm not upset with anyone but myself for allowing myself to be so irresponsible. Unfortunately, some people don't learn from their mistakes, and some don't get a second chance at all. I guess that's why I made the comment about the police stopping him. He would have had a better chance to learn from his mistake without having to be hospitalized. I'd rather that he have the same opportunity as I to learn from it and not do it again.

i saw the headline, but id have never guessed the 'eviler of two evils' would be involved. shnikes, we havent seen a story like this since.....well...yesterday.

leo,
You'd be surprised. There's alot of people in society who think it's everybody's fault but their own for what happens to them in life.

Paisleysdaddy doesn't like BTPD much. That's pretty evident in his posts.

So many drunk drivers lately. I fear it is only going to get worse. People losing jobs turning to alcohol and making the poor decision to get behind the wheel. Of course that's not the only reason people drink, but it makes sense that it will increase. I hope these three guys recover alright.

Pretty sure Paisley was joking...who would make a comment like that and be serious????

localboy~ I'm with you! What "paisley" said is why our society is in the shape it's in!
ACCOUNTABILITY! You are exactly right. The police didn't get in the car and turn the key for Mr. Hess! Putting the onus on the police is like putting water in your gas tank and turning around and blaming the car manufacturer because the car won't run! Everybody puts themselves in the situation they're in. That's where it starts.

No-too bad he didn't decide to be responsible and not drive drunk! The police have nothing to do with it. This was a choice by the driver. He is the only one who could have avoided this whole accident.

Too bad the police didn't stop him ahead of time. Could have avoided the whole accident.