DUI checkpoint sends message to motorists

By KECIA BAL
kbal@tribdem.com
Somerset —

The details were as unclear as the dimly lit, smoky bar scenes. But the moral in every story about area sobriety checkpoints was obvious at local bars Friday night: Watch out. Word had spread that police were stopping vehicles on North Center Avenue where the Borough ends and Somerset Township begins. Some told of unusual undercover vehicles. One man told a chum that police had every exit of the Borough covered.

At Maggie Mae’s Neighborhood Cafe, a half mile from where officers and troopers were lighting flares and police lights, a few said they knew checkpoints were coming some time soon. Another said he thought police had conducted one Wednesday.

It didn’t take more than 20 minutes for word to spread to Myron’s Lounge in the Quality Inn near the Pennsylvania Turnpike interchange. “We had a big table that left after some one got a call about it,” said bartender Jeff Richards. “With cell phones, everybody knows.”

A few took the opportunity to curse sobriety checks, but not all. “If you have lost someone – a sister, friend, whoever – to a drunk-driving accident, you could appreciate it,” Richards said.

Devin Croyle and a couple buddies said they were being cautious after a friend tipped them off. “We just heard about it a few minutes ago,” he said.

That was part of the goal, said state police Cpl. William Link. “If we set up and get the effect going, word is going to spread,” he told borough officers and state troopers at a briefing that began their mission. Four Borough officers joined four state troopers in conducting the stops into early Saturday morning. It was the county’s first sobriety checkpoint in at least four years. “Our goals are to prevent drunk drivers and drunk-driving crashes,” he said. “It’s also about making people think before they drink and drive. This is basically their chance to not get arrested.”

On scene, officers stood in the 14-degree weather, leaning into the drivers’ side window of each vehicle with a “How are you folks?” or a “Hello, ma’am” or “Good evening, sir.”

Though they asked whether the motorists had been drinking, getting close was the real indicator. There was a whiff of air fresheners here and French fries there, but by 11:30 p.m., not one person had been arrested for drunk driving.

A passenger in one vehicle was sent straight to jail after officers discovered he was under a bench warrant. “If we go without one DUI all night, this will still have been a success,” Borough police Chief Randy Cox said. “I have a belief that this gets people thinking about drinking and driving,” he said.

Barbara Patton of Somerset drove her pickup truck past the checkpoint flares and handed over her papers to Link. Patton said she appreciated the enforcement, even if it meant slowing her drive to work in Johnstown.
“With your kids on the road, there’s plenty to worry about,” she said, clicking on her seat belt after a warning from Link.

Mark Lyons of Jennerstown said he felt safer driving with his family after he made it past the troopers. “It’s really not a bad thing,” he said.

Many motorists even thanked the troopers and officers for their work, Link said. “We’ve had a really positive response from the public,” he said, adding that one man requested that they “catch a couple thousand” drunk drivers.

Friday night was the first sobriety checkpoint in a new routine for state police, who are to rotate every five weeks between Somerset and four other county barracks in the region. “It gets people thinking twice about getting behind the wheel after drinking,” Link said.

Kecia Bal can be reached at 445-5103 or kbal@tribdem.com.