County Police Arresting More Holiday Drunk Drivers Than Last Year
Police in Santa Clara County have arrested 460 DUI suspects in the first 11 days of Avoid the 13, the cooperative law enforcement holiday crackdown on impaired drivers.
This compares with 350 arrests last year at the same time in the campaign, for a 31 percent increase. Two men have died so far in the 18-day crackdown, compared with no deaths during the same period last year.
In the nine Avoid campaigns of the San Francisco Bay Area, officers have made 1,683 DUI arrests and recorded five DUI deaths.
The Morgan Hill Police Department has accounted for 40 of those arrests, the third highest number from a Santa Clara County law enforcement agency. San Jose police have logged 112 arrests so far.
“If you see a driver on the street or freeway who obviously hasn’t been as responsible as you are and is driving erratically, please have a passenger in your car use a cell phone and turn the driver in by calling 911, and the police will take care of it. Don’t approach the other car for any reason,” said Chief Scott Seaman, of the Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police Department, Avoid the 13 Chairman for the Santa Clara County Police Chiefs Association.
Some of the signs to watch for are making wide turns, almost hitting another vehicle, weaving, swerving or turning abruptly along with following too closely an driving with headlights off at night, according to Seaman.
Drivers will see a great many black-and-white California Highway Patrol cars on the freeways as the local CHP offices assign nearly all of their available officers to the road, canceling days off, said San Jose CHP Officer Steve Perea. Covering Santa Clara County are CHP area commands in Redwood City, San Jose and Hollister-Gilroy.
Avoid the 13, like all 35 campaigns in California counties, is funded by the California Office of Traffic Safety. The Santa Clara County crackdown, the first in California during the 1973-74 holiday season, is the template upon which all other campaigns are based. Shorter campaigns are scheduled during Memorial Day weekend and the Fourth of July.
PG&E Pays $97 Million In Property Tax Payments to Santa Clara County
Pacific Gas & Electric announced it will pay nearly $97 million in property taxes to the 49 counties in which it operates, including a payment of $9.7 million to Santa Clara County.
The amount represents property tax payments due for the period from July 1 to Dec. 31 of this year.
“Pacific Gas & Electric Company’s payment of property taxes, franchise fees and other taxes and fees help fund vital local government services,” said Nancy McFadden, PG&E’s vice president of governmental relations. “With local government revenues continuing to face ongoing uncertainties, PG&E’s payment of $97 million in property taxes provides a stable source of funding for public safety, environmental protection, health care and education.”
The company’s tax payments to counties increased by more than $5.2 million over the last property tax payments made April 10, 2006. This is the result of an increase in assessments due to PG&E’s plant investments and an overall increase in tax rates.
