Thank you, Jeanne Southwood, for your excellent letter published in the July 28 Daily Inter Lake.

Judge Baugh’s warning, “If you drink and drive and kill someone, you will spend some real time in prison,” underscored the light penalties in Montana for driving under the influence.

I applaud Rep. Keith Regier from Evergreen who sponsored HB 275 to increase the penalty for felony DUI. Flathead County Attorney Ed Corrigan requested this bill to allow judges to impose a prison sentence longer than the current maximum, which is 13 months. This bill was defeated in the House Appropriations Committee because the Department of Corrections estimated the cost at $80 million.

Although I disagree with the Department of Corrections estimate, this highlights the problem. Our state correctional system is filled with felony DUI offenders. Felony DUI is the No. 1 offense for male inmates and No. 2 offense for all inmates. Of 14,000 felony offenders, 2,000 were convicted of felony DUI.

Every time we drive on Montana highways we are threatened by violent criminals — the criminals driving under the influence of alcohol and other drugs. When an impaired person gets behind the wheel of a 4,000- to 5,000-pound vehicle and aims it at the public, it is assault with a weapon. If I pointed a loaded gun at you I would be held accountable for that threat to your person. The prosecutor could show that you had “reasonable apprehension of body injury” and I could be convicted of assault with a weapon and would be subject to 20 years in prison. It wouldn’t have to be a gun — it could be a baseball bat.

Yet impaired drivers aim their lethal weapons at us thousands of times per year. The first-time conviction results in a misdemeanor $300-$1000 fine, one day in jail, and a short education class. The second and third convictions are usually treated as a first time, either because of the look-back loophole or plea agreement.

A felony DUI offender is a person who has proven the need for serious behavior change. This person has already aimed his or her lethal weapon at the public over 1,000 times and been caught more than three times. And many have been caught more than four times. Even the 10th time the prison sentence is the same — 13 months. We have one offender in the Flathead who has at least 17 DUIs. Sure enough his last sentence was 13 months plus five years suspended — the maximum penalty.

I hope that none of you will watch your son’s dashboard video of a truck crossing the center line to crush his car. Or visit his young mangled cold body to say goodbye for the last time. I have and I am furious. Montanans accept drinking and driving and using drugs and driving as part of our “way of life.” We believe that death by drunk is an acceptable risk.

Joanne is right, “We as Montanans have the power and the responsibility to change this shameful situation.”

On the positive side the 24/7 program is working. It makes sense to allow DUI offenders to continue working and driving in our community IF we can ensure that they are sober. In Flathead County our municipal and justice court judges require offender monitoring through twice-daily breath alcohol testing, drug testing, and/or continuous alcohol testing (SCRAM bracelet). Thank you to Sheriff Curry and Compliance Monitoring Systems for keeping hundreds of offenders sober with well over 95 percent compliance rate!

But they are only monitored by the courts for a few weeks. It is up to the rest of us to monitor each other — to keep our family, friends, and even strangers from getting behind the wheel. We are ALL responsible for the death and destruction caused by impaired driving.

Sturdevant, of Kalispell, represents the Montana Common Sense Coalition (www.montanacsc.org).