Dicey Police Situations #2

     The second dicey situation concerns a friend of the family. Some of my family have grown up with this man. I know him well enough to greet or wave to. The most interesting thing I know about him is in a story: Seth -we'll say- is very high-minded, very kind and interested in helping others. Probably very politically correct: my antithesis. One day someone remarked that he had a beautiful wife. Very true. But Seth is reputed to have thought about that and said, "I guess I do."
     The dicey situation, according to what others and I know about it, happened one night when he was pulled for having a rear light out. For some reason, he was asked to do the physical part of a sobriety test such as walking straight. He passed. Then he was asked to blow the sober meter. He passed. After all this passing, he was charged with drunken driving. Probably you've heard the ads too where some very unpleasant guy snarls, "If you're convicted of a DUI, it will cost you a total of ten thousand dollars!" Unfortunately, it will cost you almost that if you're merely charged and hire a lawyer to defend you. I hear lawyers are now getting $250 an hour. You have to be rich to have one! And you won't be rich for long. This is one of the biggest weaknesses of we, the people that we don't change the law to allow a person to choose whoever he wants to represent him. Women have the right to choose to kill an unborn human being but they don't have the right to choose who represents them in court? As they say nowadays-WHAT IS THAT? Where's the logic? In the back pockets of lawyers!
They've got an monopoly. It's time to break up that monopoly. There are plenty of brilliant people out there who can quickly learn the law and represent you for
fifteen, twenty dollars an hour. I've got two in my family who'd jump at the opportunity right now. Both were nationally ranked orators in high school and philosophically oriented. People can't be represented in civil court or have to use the cursory services of a court appointed lawyer because of what? Because of we, the people -the government- in changing such a criminally unfair law.
     Maybe we'll learn more at Seth's trial why he was charged with a DUI after passing both the physical sobriety test and after blowing the meter. This appeared in a paper. Weren't there any reporters around who noticed this obvious question and had the motivation to ask the police?
   Peter Nickerson, Philosophy Major, 352-359-0850. peternickerson12@yahoo.com
"The measure of a man,
 Is not what he says.
 But what he does.
 And what he allows others,
 To do in his presence."
  -Navy Seal Instructor