– Press release from the CHP:
The California Highway Patrol (CHP) Bridgeport Area had previously scheduled a sobriety/driver’s license checkpoint for Saturday, July 27, 2013, in Mono County. The checkpoint was cancelled due to thunderstorms in the area, as Well as, poor air quality caused by a Wildfire in the Sierra National Forest in neighboring Fresno County. The checkpoint has been rescheduled for this Saturday, August 10, 2013, in Mono County.
“All too often, members of our community are senselessly injured or killed on local roadways by impaired drivers,” said Lieutenant R. D. Cohan, Area Commander of the CHP’s Bridgeport Office. Officers will be contacting drivers passing through the checkpoint for signs of alcohol and/or drug impairment. Officers Will also check drivers for proper licensing and will strive to delay motorists only momentarily.
The goal of the CHP is to ensure the safe passage of each and every motorist. A sobriety/ driver’s license checkpoint is a proven effective tool for achieving this goal and is designed to augment existing patrol operations. “By publicizing our efforts We believe that we can deter motorists from drinking while driving and/or driving while unlicensed,” Lieutenant Cohan said.
Lieutenant Cohan emphasized, “Traffic volume permitting, all vehicles will be checked for drivers who are under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. Our objective is to send a elear message to those individuals that mixing alcohol and/or drugs while driving will not be tolerated.
“The CHP seeks to enhance highway safety by apprehending the impaired driver.”
Funding for this checkpoint is provided to the CHP by a .grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National HighwayTraffic Safety Administration, reminding everyone to continue to work together to bring an end to these tragedies. 1f you see a Drunk Driver, call 9-1-1.
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The check point was set up soley for the Burning Man crowd driving up through LA and SD. They stop you on the 395 then run there dogs around every car. This is exactly how it would have went down. Then they start handing out felonies. In the mean time they also snag locals with a little pot on them along with the average tourist up mountain biking in the Sierras.Thats how I want to start my vacation with a bunch of hard line cops and there dogs sniffing around my car. A DUI check point is one thing but the dogs on each stop feels like a invasion of privacy whether you have anything on you or not. Makes me want to avoid Mono county as a vacation spot. Targeting a certain group of individuals going to a festival because they have bikes on the back of there vehicles feels like a violation of basic rights. I’m sure the restraunts and gas stations in Bishop and surrounding communities enjoy the influx in business. The word is already going out in the burner community about these cops w there dogs are 100% overzealous and mono county will lose alot of business. I do not believe any one should be driving around w narcotics in there car but when you pull up to a road block with dogs the druggies arent the only ones effected by this. Its the tourist as well. Thank goodness the weather didnt let this happen but I heard most everyone with a bike was pulled over and had dogs going around there car w 2-3 squad cars. Way to go Mono county Sheriffs! Killing tourism one stop at a time
I don’t recall reading that there were any roadblocks.
Benett Kessler
Awesome perspective of how this effort (the war on drugs) is counter productive on many platforms…What law enforcement has done in the last 30 years in regards to the war on drugs is it has become more accessible, more people are likely to use now then they were then, drugs have become more potent and easier to make and can’t forget we spend 3 times the amount on a single prisoner, then we do on a ones education, and we have become the #1 country that finds reasons to locks up it’s own people..
Good Job America! Now lets go start a war in Syria…and then beat our chest about it..
Tom O…..I’m thinking the check-point was planned to be set up in the Bridgeport area,along HWY .395,and not in the town of June Lake. But having one set-up in Mammoth Lakes would be a good idea,no matter the day of the week ..or time of day….24/7……maybe a way to quickly get the town out of debt in a big hurry.Last time I was in Mammoth Lakes,I was on a dish-install job at the village,at about 9 A.M……quite a while ago,but what I remember the most about the day is how many drunk,belligerant,loud-mouth,foul-mouthed people I saw up there having their “good time”…..can only guess what it’s like at night-time if it’s like that during the early morning hours.
It wasnt in Bridgeport, it was in June. @ Mammoth Aint Utah[if that’s your real name]Sorry for ‘bitching’.
Sounds like you could use a drink, Tom O.
Lighten up.
Nothing wrong with a little Eat, Drink and be Merry – for tomorrow you may die.
Thanks Dr Laura
Blaze,
Sorry for your loss.
I hope everyone reads your link before opening their stupid mouths.
Trouble, the nice thing about freedom of speech is it makes spotting idiots a lot easier.
As there wasyet another drinking festival going on at the Village in Mammoth[Margarita Fest], CHP decided to set up their checkpoint in June Lake as the town is having its annual fundraiser for our volunteer firefighters. Thanks guys, you wonder why you have no respect from the public that PAYS YOU.
Those festivals Tom O is bitching about in Mammoth were attended by an older, respectable crowd who have alcoholic beverages served to them and responsible drinking. No DUIs were written, no fights broke out, no underage drinking was going on, everyone was civil to each other and had a good time. And oh, yes, lots of money was generated from the events to boot.
Sorry Tom O. Mammoth Lakes, California ain’t Utah – Thank God!
Your wrong…I work at one of the hotels in Mammoth next to the Village. Believe me there were plenty of overly drunk old people and young people. maybe you were too hammered to notice. And it goes on EVERY wknd in the summer….IMO, the TOML police look the other way because, like you said, it generated a lot of money for the town.
I was stopped at a DUI checkpoint in Bishop earlier this summer. The officers were very courteous and the delay was only a minor inconvenience. My frustration with checkpoints is not with law enforcement, it is with those who abuse their freedom and drive impaired creating the need for checkpoints.
Freedom comes with responsibilities. I have little respect for those who abuse our freedoms by showing disregard for the responsibilities that come with it.
Exactly! We have unparalleled freedom. Seems like those that force the need for DUI checkpoints always complain the loudest.
And while the pot laws are unreasonable, they are not cause to indict our entire system of law enforcement.
Being required to answer questions with absolutely no probable cause is abuse and is not what life in a free society is about. It’s the guilty until you can prove yourself innocent attitude that has that awful stench of the police state.
When the 5th amendment is suspended just because you’re driving down the road we no longer enjoy the freedom we should cherish. If your drunk driving you should be punished, if you’re not you should not be subjected to being forced to answer intrusive questions our constitution protects us from.
…and to keep you from suffering the outrage of having to talk to a Police Officer for 30 seconds, everybody has to risk driving on roads full of drunk drivers with no option except to wait for a terrible accident. Is that your plan?
If you can provide a better method to keep irresponsible people from driving a car on busy roads after drinking enough alcohol to make them a dangerous menace — lets hear it.
If you don’t have a better way to keep drunks off the road — suffer the terrible indignity of the drunk checks and be grateful you are less apt to become a statistic because of them.
I’ll side with opinion of the SCOTUS on whether or not this is a violation of our Constitutional Rights Dee.
If there would have been a sobriety check point two days ago, maybe my nephew would still be alive.
http://www.wkbn.com/2013/08/10/teen-hit-killed-while-fishing/
Most of you are whining like a child being told they can’t have all the cookies.
I think the CHP should have a daily mobile roadblock that really do some good. Like at the bottom of 203 where it enters 395 in Mammoth Lakes on Sunday afternoon after a Tequila drinking contest.
Sorry Ken- I liked how free we used feel in this country. Before our government declared a war on it’s own people, in the name of drugs. That’s alright, the jails are over flowing and pretty soon the bubble will burst. Plus pot is close to becoming legal herb again.
“I fight authority, authority always wins” – John Mellencamp
I’ll be laying low at home after work on Saturday.
Same here, but laying low to secure of freedom and liberty, is not freedom and liberty!
Maybe the Seargant’s wife will be watching from a cliff with binoculars.
I think I’ll see how many times I can drive threw this trap/crap. Just to piss them off.
Trouble…..no you won’t….
Bomber…..If your refering to the “freedom” of driving a vehicle on the highway,back in the 1700’s,when Ben Franklin wrote that quote,there wasn’t impaired,drunken drivers going 75 + MPH in a 2,000 pound vehicle the next lane over in the opposite direction….If the CHP make one single arrest of a drunk driver the night of this check-point…or keep someone from drinking and driving,knowing if they do,they will be dealing with an arrest and time in jail,and a big ole’ fine,this check-point will b a huge success.Like I said,whoever sees this as your “rights being violated” hasn’t lost a family member to a drunk driver,like me and countless others have.
Wayne- your lucky they don’t have road blocks for teachers pets!
Trouble……Tryin’ to figure out what that means….
Can someone tell me what CHP will do when they see an illegal immigrant at the checkpoint with a bogus DL or none at all? Deport them? I doubt it. Arrest them? Doubtful. Born and raised here, heaven forbid if I happen to have forgotten my license at home or whatever. I hope ICE will be present to enforce the laws and detain and deport all people who have willfully chosen to break the law by entering this country unlawfully.
They will be arrested for being an unlicensed driver and the car they are driving will be impounded.
I SAID YOU WILL BOW YOUR HEAD TO YOUR GOV’T, DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND? DO YOU NOT LIKE YOUR FREEDOM? YOUR FREEDOM WHERE YOU ARE A SLAVE TO DEBT AND HAVING TO CONFORM TO BEING A SHEEP TO CORPORATIONS WHERE WE ALL HAVE TO CONSUME IN ORDER TO SURVIVE!
THEN GET BACK IN LINE!!!
The NEW law about being an un-licensed driver, the officer has to give the individual the option to have a legal, licensed driver to show up at the scene within 15 minutes, saving them from having their vehicle impounded. A couple of different police agencies in So. Cal. were targeting lower income neighborhoods, impounding cars left and right, and then selling them at auction even before the 30 day impound period was up. THAT is why they changed the impound law.
TOML loves their illegal aliens. Sanctuary city all the way. I won’t be spending any money with TOML until they figure it out and get it right.
Mammoth Lakes is not interested in forming any kind of far-right gestapo to round up entire groups of people. The town is much more civil than that. People get along quite nicely and don’t need your money, Humble Pie. Perhaps you would be better served sending your money to the nearest Tea Party affiliation.
I understand they need your support.
TOML doesn’t need your money or round up people because they make plenty by exploiting people willing to work for nothing. Civil slumlords.
Was right with you on the “civility” theme, Civility, until you uncivilly disparaged a political group with whom you disagree. Practice what you preach or stop using the name.
That’s great, Pie. Stay out of Mammoth. TOML doesn’t need bigots or their money.
driving is a privlege,if you arent drunk,dont worry your pretty little drunk heads over it,put down your bongs and find another route
Let’s lay the “driving is a privilege” canard to rest. It is a right. You pass the test, you MUST be given a license and it cannot be revoked for no reason, as a mere privilege can be, unless you misbehave. Just like guns – you have a right to have one so long as you pass a background check and do not misbehave. That a right such as the right to bear arms – or drive – can be revoked for misbehavior does not convert it into a mere “privilege” which is granted at the discretion of a bureaucrat.
And before I get lectures on Constitutional law, there is at least as much textual support for the right to drive in the Constitution as for other things we have come to accept as Constitutional rights such as abortion and flag burning. For example, Article I, Section 8 (power of Congress to establish roads is meaningless if travel over those roads with whatever conveyances are in vogue is not a right); Article IV, Section 1 (full faith and credit to the official acts, which would include issuance of drivers license, by other states); the Fourteenth Amendment (equal protection – if driving were only a privilege, not a right, one person’s “privilege” could be revoked without cause while another person’s would not be).
I was watching the news today and the story about that guy James Dimaggio that (allegedly) killed the woman and abducted 16 year old Hannah Anderson in San Diego….took off in his car and reports saying he could have headed up to Oregon or Canada..and if he did,a good chance he would travel HWY.395,thinking it would be safer than trying to get there on HWY. 5….and the first thing I thought was NO WAY would he make it past the Lee Vining-Bridgeport area if he were to do that….not the way the CHP works that area….which is a good thing.With this publicized “check-point” coming up,only a fool would attempt to drive drunk,or without a license or if they have some type of warrant hanging over them…but my bet is someone will try it,and then probably complain about their “rights” being violated when they are arrested.
The people that object to this have obviously never had a family member or a loved one killed by a drunk driver….or had to clean up the mess of an accident involving a drunk driver and the innocent victims they usually leave behind dead or maimed.
If you are driving sober you have absolutely nothing to worry about and can enjoy exercizing our 1st, 4th, and 5th Amendment rights. Carry a video camera and have some fun.
Here is my counter to your statement;
Every so often, you hear the argument “If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear”, in order to justify increased and invasive surveillance. This argument is not only dangerous, but dishonest and cowardly, too!!!!!!!
Thoughts????
YOU WILL BOW YOUR HEAD TO THE GOV’T! “yes Sir, Sorry Sir, anything you say Sir”
(DISA) The Defense Information Systems Agency,
You are a “high risk” and on the “Insider Threat” list if you;
Visit family abroad frequently
have money problems and or openly speak out of unhappiness with U.S. foreign policy.
whether you believe it or not, that isn’t the issue!
This is a joke because those that drink and drive already know the risk they are taking and just take their chances, Law enforcement don’t serve and protect anymore they would rather COMBAT and then cherry pick facts to justify their actions..
Welcome to East Germany everybody!
People who drink and drive with impaired reflexes and judgement are risking the health and safety of others, not just themselves.
People willing to trade their freedom for temporary security deserve neither and will lose both - Ben Franklin
Quote not applicable and used out of context.
says the guy with the bias argument!
The Nazi’s will be lining you all up and pulling you in for absolutely no reason at all this Saturday.
Calling the CHP Nazis is really lame. Are the CHP putting all the Jews in death camps here in Mono County? Did they slaughter millions of people based on regilious beliefs? Did the CHP invade Poland?
The US Supreme Court says checkpoints like this are OK so if you don’t like it why don’t you move? Ideally somewhere that has no Internet so we don’t have to read your retarded comments everyday.
“If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear”, in order to justify increased and invasive surveillance. This argument is not only dangerous, but dishonest and cowardly, too.
“If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear” Yes, the NAZIS did say that.
Sean- isn’t it beautiful I don’t have to move or shut up because Nazis minded people haven’t won the right to make me.
Trouble, I know that you don’t want to be confused by any actual facts, but how about you do a ride along with CHP on checkpoint night and observe what acutally takes place at one of these checkpoints, then report back to us.
Really, I don’t think it would change my mind. I don’t think people should be subject to interrogation and unwarranted searches just because someone else may be breaking a law.