LOCAL/STATE
The Michigan Daily - Friday, September 25, 1998 - 5
ew drunken driving
bill sent to Engler
Lean on me
Engler: State gets
tough on violence
LANSING (AP) - Repeat offenders
would face tougher, more inconvenient
sanctions if they break drunken driving
,and other traffic laws under bills head-
d for Gov. John Engler's desk.
The Legislature yesterday over-
whelmningly adopted final pieces of a
20-bill package that's been negotiated
over the past two years with little
debate.
Engler spokesperson John Truscott
said the governor would sign the bills
immediately once he gets them. The
blls, would then take effect Oct. 1,
1499.
"We've only called for this for two
ears. We're glad to see it pass,"
Tr sPott said.
Some differences between House
and Senate versions and political party
philosophies clashed during negotia-
tions. Democrats didn't like the so-
called Scarlet plate idea proposed by
Engler and that wasn't part of the final
package.
While the bills aren't designed to
mbarrass people, some red faces could
Wesult as those who are convicted of
drunken driving a second or third time.
Those repeat offenders would have
their cars booted outside their homes
for a mandatory 24 days and 6 months,
respectively.
The bills keep the laws fairly
lenient on first-time drunken driving
offenders. They won't be subjected
to immobilization, vehicle forfeiture,
ignition interlock devices, temporary
vehicle plates or a felony conviction
like second or third time offenders.
The bills also would prohibit repeat
offenders without a driver's license to
obtain vehicle plates.
The bills are aimed at saving several
hundred lives a year, said Rep. Frank
Fitzgerald (R-Grand Ledge) who spon-
sored two bills in the package.
"This is the day many of us have
been working toward for a long time.
We've always believed that driving is a
privilege, not a right;' he said. "When
individuals fail to meet minimum levels
of responsibility, and continually
endanger others, they must lose those
privileges."
According to state statistics, 544
people were killed on Michigan roads
last year by drunken driving. That rep-
resented about 38 percent of all traffic
fatalities in 1997.
Last year, more than 61,000 peo-
ple were arrested for drunken dri-
ving, and nearly 44,000 Michigan
drivers have had three drunken-dri-
ving convictions.
Other major provisions of the pack-
age include:
- Require drug and alcohol treat-
ment for second convictions and igni-
tion interlock devices for licenses
restored after revocation.
- Allows Secretary of State to sus-
pend licenses without court order and
to issue restricted licenses.
LANSING (AP) -_Michigan's
counties have tough, uniform standards
to deal with the perpetrators of domes-
tic violence, Gov. John Jingler said yes-
terday.
"Around the country, people look at
us as a model state for prevention and
treatment of domestic violence," Engler
said. "The long arm of the law is
around the shoulders of those who are
battered."
Englermade the remarks as part c the
20th anniversary of the state's D)omestic
Violence Prevention and Treatment
Board. Engler and others wore white rib-
bons and shared cake in the Capitol
Rotunda to celebrate the board.
Engler also presented new recom-
mendations from the batterer interven-
tion task force he convened last year.
The group includes judges, police offi-
cers and abuse prevention specialists.
Among the group's recommenda-
tions were:
Closer communication between
courts and victim services, including
mandatory reporting of violations of
court orders to courts, police and victim
services.
N Establishment of minimum levels
of violent behavior for which interven-
tion will be mandated.
Mandate comprehensive evalua-
tions for any batterer who needs treat-
ment, including substance abuse and
mental health screenings.
Set criteria for successful comple-
tion of batterer intervention programs,
including no reported incidents of vio-
lence and acknowledgment of responsi-
bility 1or abuse.
IEingler said he would take the group's
recommendations to the state Supreme ,
Court, which will help implement them
across the state.
Lt.. Gov. Connie Binsfeld, who helped,
pass the state's first series of domestic
violence bills 20 years ago. said the task
force shows how far the state has come.
"It was from those first public hear-
ings in 1978 that the public begatn to
come forth and tell their stories anId we
realized what a widespread problem
domestic violence was," Binsfeld sid.
"Women had very little security- in
those days. They didn't have the check-
book, they didn't have the health card.'
Michigan and Minnesota were the
first two states to have such legislation,
Binsfeld said.
Engler and Binsfeld also presentcd a
state award to Beverly Geyer of
Muskegon, a survivor of domestic vio-
lence who went on to open her own
shelter for battered women.
"When I was first battered, there was
no place to go. Violence in the lnifily
was a little secret that nobody talked
about," Geyer said.
"If we are to end domestic violence,
we must protect the victims and gve
them a place to learn, heal and grow
and we must hold the batterers accotmt-
able,"
NATHAN RUFFER/Daily
Architecture Prof. Mete Turam sit in one of his student's creations: A cardboard
chair designed without the use of glue to hold his body weight of 160 pounds.
*Stupak won't endorse Fieger
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP)
U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak will not endorse
frelfow Democrat Geoffrey Fieger's can-
didacy for governor.
Stupak (D-Menominee) has sent
Fieger a letter explaining his decision,
pokesperson Bob Meissner said yes-
,terday.
. fie said Stupak would stay neutral
instead of backing Republican Gov.
John Engler, with whom Stupak has
clashed often in recent years.
The three-term representative is
among Democrats who have criticized
aFieger's controversial statements, par-
ticularly his attacks on Catholic leaders.
Stupak is a Catholic and opposes abor-
* n:rights.
"I've been disturbed by his remarks,
vry much so;' he said in a recent inter-
view. But until this week he had been
undecided on whether to support
Fieger.
Republican state Rep. Michelle
McManus, who is challenging Stupak
in the 1st Congressional District, has
taunted him for delaying the decision.
Spokesperson Sylvia Warner said yes-
terday that McManus would continue
linking Stupak with Fieger and
President Clinton.
"Clearly it was a political decision, or
he would have done it earlier," she said.
"It doesn't deprive us of an issue. It
shows he's reacting to what we're doing
and saying."
Fieger spokesperson June West said
she had not seen Stupak's letter and
declined additional comment.
Maureen McNulty, spokesperson for
F-ngler, said Stupak's defection was no
surprise.
" There are many Democrats that are
embarrassed that Geoff Fieger won the
top slot on their ticket, and for their own
political lives they recognize the need to
back away as far as possible trom him,"
she said.
On Wednesday, Vice President Al
Gore also avoided mentioning Fieger
by name during his visit to Michigan
although he met with him privately.
Most congressional Democrats From
Michigan have avoided talking about
F ieger.
Stupak's announcement came as
Democrats tried to put McManus on the
defensive over a controversy involving
the petitions that qualified her to enter
the race.
CLINTON
Continued from Page 1
up there," he joked to reporters, a finger aimed at the paint-
ing of himself.
But the allusion was not lost on anyone. Republicans and
Democrats have continually pointed to the Watergate hear-
ings as a model for bipartisan action during an impeachment
process.
Ilyde and his boss, House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga)
realize they need Democratic support for an impeachment
review to overcome public opinion polls that give high ratings
to Clinton's job performance and low performance ratings to
GOP leaders in Congress.
Yesterday, I lyde vowed that he is his own man and that he
is not operating under the directions of Gingrich or other
Republican leaders.
"As to whether I am in charge of the investigation," he said,
"all I know is, every time I give advice to Newt he nods his
head a ffirmatively~
But the chair also echoed Gingrich's comment Wednesday
that Republicans will be led by the Constitution rather than
public sentiment.
"Our guide is deliberate speed, not too fast that peo-
ple can accuse us of~ rushing to judgment and not too
slow so people can accuse us of deliberately stretching
it out for political purposes," Hyde said. "This is one of
those 'damned if you do, damned if you don't"' situa-
tions.
Sometime after the vote on whether to conduct
impeachment hearings, which is expected to pass, the
House would set a timetable for those proceedings.
Lawmakers could decide to start the hearings sometigae
later this year or wait until the new Congress convenesin
January. Because the 105th Congress ends this year and
impeachment proceedings are expected to last several
months, information from hearings begun this year world
be reported to the 106th Congress, which then ttuld
resume the process.
When Starr sent his referral on the Clinton-Lewinsky case to
Capitol Hill on Sept. 9, he noted that there were other matters
he was continuing to investigate.
These include his original mandate to review 'the
Whitewater land transactions made by Clinton and.i rst
lady Hillary Rodham Clinton before they moved to-
Washington.