DWI PROGRAM COORDINATOR ARRESTED FOR DWI

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) -- The coordinator of Dona Ana County's
drunken-driving prevention program has been arrested on a charge of driving
while intoxicated at a DWI awareness picnic.

Police arrested Linda M. Harris, 53, on Wednesday in the parking lot of the
park where the event was held.

Several people working near Harris during the day told police they smelled
alcohol on her, Sgt. Joel Cano said. An officer later saw her driving in
the parking lot and smelled alcohol on her breath, Cano said.

Harris denied drinking and volunteered to take a breath test, Cano said.
Her blood-alcohol level was 0.09 percent -- the legal limit in New Mexico
is 0.08 -- and she failed four of five coordination tests, police said.

As Harris did the coordination tests, people gathered to watch, thinking it
was a demonstration.

At the police department, Harris was given two more breath tests and
registered 0.09 and 0.08, police said.

Harris, saying she was innocent, requested a blood test as well and was
taken to a hospital for that, but she must arrange to send the sample to an
independent lab for testing, Cano said.

She has been placed on paid administrative leave by the county.