These People Are Using Our Oxygen (Ot)

[Kip Powick]

SHERBROOKE, QUE.—A Quebec man has been charged with drinking and driving for the 17th time.

Maurice Larrivée allegedly showed up this Sunday morning at a grocery store to buy a case of two dozen beers at 8:45.

The cashier allegedly warned the 69-year-old man that he appeared too drunk to drive and, along with fellow employees, tried to convince him not to get back in his car.

Larrivée allegedly ignored the request, and left.

That’s when store employees called the police, in Sherbrooke, Que. The 69-year-old was arrested in the parking lot.

The last time Larrivée was charged with DUI, in 2005, he lost his licence for five years.

But his rap sheet is not the longest of its kind for drinking and driving. In 2009, another Quebec man was convicted of DUI for the 19th time.

Roger Walsh was sentenced to life in prison because he killed a woman in an alcohol-related hit and run. The judge refused a prosecution request to designate him a dangerous offender but, in handing down the life sentence, he called Walsh “incorrigible” and said he was incapable of quitting drinking.

[AME]

It's rampant right across our nation, In Alberta Courts sent a man who racked up his 10th criminal driving offence — all but one involving booze — to nine months behind bars. This was coupled with 18 months probation and a seven-and-a-half-year driving prohibition. by now surely the sentence should have included a life time ban on driving. http://www.calgarysun.com/2012/11/14/repeat-drunk-driver-sentenced-to-nine-months-behind-bars

Banning them from driving for life only means the next time they get caught they also get a driving with a suspended licence charge.

[Spinnaker]

When there is 19 DUI's it isn't just a mistake any more. When it comes to an addiction, you can ban anything you want, suspend anything you want and even throw them in jail... nothing is more important that the drug. When they get out of jail, repeat...

You're dealing with a diseased brain that needs a treatment. Most addictions come from the same place and depending on what the drug is, dictates the correct treatment to a strong enough recovery that will prevent relapse. It gets more complicated when you look at the individual and where they are in life to know if they will ever take the help as help cannot be forced or ordered either.

In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts by Dr. Gabor Mate is one of many interesting books on the subject of addiction. When you get exposure to this disease through reading, training -or just a family member, you start to understand just how bad it has to get for someone to stop.

[Guest ACSideStick]

Spinnaker, what do you mean " when they get out of jail" . if this a$$hole can't keep from being a human missile, throw away the key and have him committed for life.

[UpperDeck]

My friends----incarceration won't solve the problem. It is MUCH more difficult to keep a gun out of the hands of a psychotic than the keys to the auto out of the hands of an alcoholic.

Confiscate a gun and another is easily obtained. The same cannot be said of a car.

In short (is it too late?)---the solution is forfeiture. Don't take the license; take the car. One or two seizures and that drunk driver won't be driving.

[moeman]

Too many $200 cars in Quebec for that to work.

[mo32a]

Have them report to a treatment station for antabuse every day or back to jail.

[Gumbi]

Too many $200 cars in Quebec for that to work.

Had to come to that, again...

[Spinnaker]

Spinnaker

I do agree that it is a disease / addiction but if treatment does not work, then what? Society needs to be protected so it would appear that the only cure, if all else fails, would be incarceration.

I don't know the solution. Only a few facts from some education on the subject. If it is jail then hopefully they have a good recovery program for when he gets out. As much sense as it makes to lock someone up to protect others, we all know they will not give life for the offence in Canada. So yes... He will get out, he will drive without a license and he will get caught again.

[moeman]

Had to come to that, again...

What? He lives in Quebec. If he lived in Alberta, I'd have said Alberta.

[deicer]

I don't know the solution. Only a few facts from some education on the subject. If it is jail then hopefully they have a good recovery program for when he gets out. As much sense as it makes to lock someone up to protect others, we all know they will not give life for the offence in Canada. So yes... He will get out, he will drive without a license and he will get caught again.

What do they do with rabid dogs?

[better4me]

It's rampant right across our nation, In Alberta Courts sent a man who racked up his 10th criminal driving offence — all but one involving booze — to nine months behind bars. This was coupled with 18 months probation and a seven-and-a-half-year driving prohibition. by now surely the sentence should have included a life time ban on driving. http://www.calgarysun.com/2012/11/14/repeat-drunk-driver-sentenced-to-nine-months-behind-bars

This my friend was a (1999) SCR 688 case, aka the perp got a Gladue sentence.

[Kip Powick]

This my friend was a (1999) SCR 688 case, aka the perp got a Gladue sentence.

Pardon my ignorance, but what have you posted. ?..in plain simple English please

Disregard...I see that what you are referring to is that the sentence to this individual is based on the Supreme Court Of Canada Ruling (case 688) in 1999 which , in effect, states that Aboriginal cases factor in other issues when considering a sentence for Aboriginals stepping outside the law (Gladue sentence).

[Spinnaker]

What do they do with rabid dogs?

That is a solution but not a legal one. Try and find something that can fix this type of problem within the laws and resources available. It quickly becomes a reality that the problem is huge. The downtown east side of Vancouver is one of the biggest elephants in the room (country). The crime feeds the drugs, the drugs feed the crimes, it will get worse.

[DEFCON]

Society cannot afford to keep warehousing the hamsters that can't get along within the pack. I liked Mo32a's approach to the use of Antabuse. If it’s contraindicated because of liver function, incarceration becomes society’s tool of self-protection.

.

[J.O.]

Wankers. I hope they have to pay every nickel of Sunwing's expenses plus compensation to all of their fellow passengers who lost a day of their vacation.

[DEFCON]

I'm pleased to see the OPP are showing us all how completely sick & tired they are of being used as pawns by our completely gutless politicians.

[Fido]

http://www.virtualsk.com/current_issue/men_in_red.html

I guess that this doesn't work any more.

The athletic, steely-eyed white man with a red coat and an outstretched hand struck Sioux Chief Sitting Bull as a brave person, indeed. Accompanied by only six men, this white man had just "dropped in" on the chief's 1,000-warrior encampment demanding an audience with the most powerful and feared Indian on the North American continent, the chief who one year earlier defeated Custer at the 1876 Battle of Little Big Horn.RCMP Sunset Ceremony

Sitting Bull was curious. He shook hands with the white man. Then, through a translator, he listened attentively as Maj. James Walsh, of the North-West Mounted Police, proceeded to tell him he's welcome to stay in Canada so long as he obeys the laws of the land.

"People who break laws in this land, whether they be whites, blacks or browns, will not escape punishment," Walsh said.

Sitting Bull paused, and then laughed at the ridiculous situation: A man with six followers telling a powerful chief with a thousand braves what he must do? Yet, according to Sitting Bull biographer Grant MacEwan, the chief agreed with Walsh's request to meet with the Sioux council for a full briefing on Canadian laws.