DRUNKEN DRIVERS DON'T DESERVE MORE THAN A SECOND CHANCE

Ever since the tragic death of a construction worker on I-94, there has been
an outcry for justice from our judicial system. What's being done? Nothing!

Now our legislative system wants prison time handed down after five
convictions for drunken driving. Why five? Why not make it two?

These people who habitually drive drunk deserve no more than a second
chance.

Why is this happening? I can think of two reasons off the top of my head:
jail overcrowding and the Tavern League's powerful lobby claiming that it is
a right to dispense a dangerous substance for profit.

We all know Prohibition didn't work, but there is an answer.

The solution to this problem is to enact tough, and I mean tough, sentencing
laws and apply such a prohibitive tax on alcohol products that it would dry
up these dispensers of death on our streets, in our homes and on our
highways.

This country is willing to curb the use of tobacco products with such a tax.
Why not include alcohol?

No one wants to take a stand on this issue because it will put some Mom and
Pop operations out of business. So what? What do we suppose is going to
happen to the thousands of tobacco growers in the Southeast if legislation
to increase the cigarette tax passes?

Don't these industries deserve equal treatment?

If we are going to adopt legislation to curtail the sale of dangerous
substances, let's do it across the board and not single out one particular
industry.

David Meyer, Wauwatosa

ADDICTS NEED TREATMENT, NOT JAIL

I agree that drunken drivers need to be taken off the road, not as
criminals, but as sick people, which is what they are. Not to prison, but to
a treatment center. They must be forced to go to a treatment center.

The law will send these people to prison and in a year, or five years, they
will be back with the same problem.

Families, husbands, wives can't abandon these people. Those with drinking
problems need love and understanding.

Would one abandon a person if he or she had cancer, heart disease, etc.? The
addicts are just as sick.

I know many people who lead good, productive lives after treatment. I know
there are some who fail. Maybe they need added help.

Isabelle Held, Slinger

Checked-by: "R. Lake"