A different spin on sobriety patrols

I'm the first to admit that it's been many, many years since I lived in Portsmouth, NH. However, I worked there much more recently, and from that I can attest that Portsmouth's drinking habits remain, shall we say, robust.

That's why you can't convince me that only 1.25 percent of Port folk on the roads between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. of a weekend night were so drunk that they should be arrested. And just one stoner? Come on now!

I would have expected the reverse. I suspect a news leak. I imagine this news was posted on every john wall of every drinking establishment in the seacoast area. The ten arrested were probably too shit-faced to read the warning graffiti. That in itself is a sobering thought.

Now of course, the results are published for all the (sober) world to see, so that earnest hope expressed in the story is likely to come true. Some day very soon, the seacoast NH gendarmes and MADD madames will indeed have zero drunk driving arrests in their 10-2 sweep.

All the drunks will smarten up and drink until 2:30 a.m., because nobody in authority can resist having their 15 minutes of fame.