Well here's another weird law. In April of this year, young Scott Mason suffered an ankle injury while climbing Mount Washington. Relying on skills honed as a scout, he survived for three days on the mountain. He was rescued by officers from several agencies after a successful search and rescue effort. Sounds like a happy ending right? Not so fast. Fox News reports that the state is trying to collect $25,000 from young Scott to recover what are allegedly the cost of rescuing him. A story chronicling Mr. Mason's survival and the ensuing efforts by the state of New Hampshire to charge him money for it are below:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,533641,00.html
Here's the weird law that's at issue here: RSA 206:26-bb, with which the Fish and Game Department is reportedly trying to extract $25,000 from Scott Mason:
RSA 206:26-bb (2009)
206:26-bb Search and Rescue Response Expenses; Recovery. I. Notwithstanding RSA 153-A:24, any person determined by the department to have acted negligently in requiring a search and rescue response by the department shall be liable to the department for the reasonable cost of the department's expenses for such search and rescue response. The executive director shall bill the responsible person for such costs. Payment shall be made to the department within 30 days after the receipt of the bill, or by some other date determined by the executive director. If any person shall fail or refuse to pay the costs by the required date, the department may pursue payment by legal action, or by settlement or compromise, and the responsible person shall be liable for interest from the date that the bill is due and for legal fees and costs incurred by the department in obtaining and enforcing judgment under this paragraph. All amounts recovered, less the costs of collection and any percentage due pursuant to RSA 7:15-a, IV(b), shall be paid into the fish and game search and rescue fund established in RSA 206:42.
II. If any person fails to make payment under paragraph I, the executive director of the fish and game department may:
(a) Order any license, permit, or tag issued by the fish and game department to be suspended or revoked, after due hearing.
(b) Notify the commissioner of the department of health and human services of such nonpayment. The nonpayment shall constitute cause for revocation of any license or certification issued by the commissioner pursuant to RSA 126-A:20 and RSA 151:7.
(c) Notify the director of motor vehicles of such nonpayment and request suspension of the person's driver's license pursuant to RSA 263:56.
Yikes! Not even legally old enough to sign a contract, but deemed to be responsible for a $25,000 bill for services he never asked for.
Have a safe weekend,
Mark Stevens
LAW OFFICES OF MARK STEVENS
5 Manor Parkway
Salem, NH 03079
603-893-0074
http://www.ByeByeDWI.com
http://www.ByeByeDUI.com
http://www.ByeByeOUI.com
Friday, July 17, 2009
Friday, July 3, 2009
New Hampshire DWI Roadblocks: The Annual Crackdown on Freedom
On the Fourth of July every year we honor the patriots past and present who gained us our freedom and who have fought to preserve it ever since. Parades, concerts, fireworks and celebrations occur all over New Hampshire and everywhere else in America to celebrate our independence from a foreign oppressor in 1776. The freedom won by those patriots is being obliterated every year though, by an ever increasing number of police DWI roadblocks all over New Hampshire. Thousands of New Hampshire citizens and visitors will be stopped and hassled in police roadblocks this weekend. The government's own records reveal that about 99% of the citizens who are seized and subjected to unwanted dealings with the police in these roadblocks have done nothing wrong at all. They simply drove on a New Hampshire road on a holiday weekend that the police selected for a federally funded DWI blockade. The police call these "DWI Crackdowns" and other law enforcement nicknames.
As the 2009 Fourth of July Weekend begins, it is more likely than ever that you will be stopped at a DWI roadblock in New Hampshire. That is because your individual right to be left alone if you are doing nothing wrong is being sand-blasted away for the sake of police convenience. The police receive federal grants to block roads. The police mantra goes that it is easier for the police to catch drunk drivers and "send a strong message about DWI" by erecting these blockades. If that were really so though, wouldn't the number of DWI arrests and DWI induced accidents go down if the number of drivers on our roads remained constant?
Is the high price that we all pay in terms of our civil liberties worth what we get in return from DWI roadblocks? If DWI roadblocks actually were effective, the number of DWI arrests and DWI caused accidents and fatalities would go down every year. They don't. In New Hampshire the number of alcohol related fatalities and accidents has remained constant, despite a rise in the number of police roadblocks from 7 roadblocks in 2005 to 44 roadblocks in 2008. There were 1, 127 drivers seized in 2005 DWI roadblocks that netted only 10 DWI arrests. In 2008 there were 8,649 drivers seized in 44 New Hampshire DWI roadblocks and only 52 drivers were even arrested for DWI in those roadblocks.
Does any one see an alarming trend here? Wake-ee, wake-ee!
In 2005 there were 4,903 DWI arrests made in New Hampshire, state-wide. There were 7 DWI roadblocks in New Hampshire that year. In 2007, there were 41 DWI roadblocks, roughly 6 times the number of DWI roadblocks as in 2005. Surely with a 600% increase in the frequency of this allegedly effective law enforcement tool the number of DWI arrests must have skyrocketed, wouldn't you think?
Shockingly, the actual number of DWI arrests was exactly the same statewide in 2007 as in 2005: 4,903. It is statistically improbable that these two numbers would come out exactly the same in two different years, much like hitting your same daily number on two different nights, but these are the state's own numbers. It is appalling that a 600% increase in the number of DWI roadblocks in a 3 year span did not generate one single additional DWI arrest in 2007 versus 2005 across the entire state of New Hampshire, year after road blocking year.
When Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence in 1776, and when John Adams and Benjamin Franklin edited it, and when the first congress approved it, can it seriously be argued that this is what they had in mind?
Happy Fourth of July, and be prepared for police blockades in your travels this weekend.
Mark Stevens
LAW OFFICES OF MARK STEVENS
5 Manor Parkway
Salem, NH 03079
603-893-0074
http://www.ByeByeDWI.com
http://www.ByeByeDUI.com
http://www.ByeByeOUI.com
Legal Advertising
As the 2009 Fourth of July Weekend begins, it is more likely than ever that you will be stopped at a DWI roadblock in New Hampshire. That is because your individual right to be left alone if you are doing nothing wrong is being sand-blasted away for the sake of police convenience. The police receive federal grants to block roads. The police mantra goes that it is easier for the police to catch drunk drivers and "send a strong message about DWI" by erecting these blockades. If that were really so though, wouldn't the number of DWI arrests and DWI induced accidents go down if the number of drivers on our roads remained constant?
Is the high price that we all pay in terms of our civil liberties worth what we get in return from DWI roadblocks? If DWI roadblocks actually were effective, the number of DWI arrests and DWI caused accidents and fatalities would go down every year. They don't. In New Hampshire the number of alcohol related fatalities and accidents has remained constant, despite a rise in the number of police roadblocks from 7 roadblocks in 2005 to 44 roadblocks in 2008. There were 1, 127 drivers seized in 2005 DWI roadblocks that netted only 10 DWI arrests. In 2008 there were 8,649 drivers seized in 44 New Hampshire DWI roadblocks and only 52 drivers were even arrested for DWI in those roadblocks.
Does any one see an alarming trend here? Wake-ee, wake-ee!
In 2005 there were 4,903 DWI arrests made in New Hampshire, state-wide. There were 7 DWI roadblocks in New Hampshire that year. In 2007, there were 41 DWI roadblocks, roughly 6 times the number of DWI roadblocks as in 2005. Surely with a 600% increase in the frequency of this allegedly effective law enforcement tool the number of DWI arrests must have skyrocketed, wouldn't you think?
Shockingly, the actual number of DWI arrests was exactly the same statewide in 2007 as in 2005: 4,903. It is statistically improbable that these two numbers would come out exactly the same in two different years, much like hitting your same daily number on two different nights, but these are the state's own numbers. It is appalling that a 600% increase in the number of DWI roadblocks in a 3 year span did not generate one single additional DWI arrest in 2007 versus 2005 across the entire state of New Hampshire, year after road blocking year.
When Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence in 1776, and when John Adams and Benjamin Franklin edited it, and when the first congress approved it, can it seriously be argued that this is what they had in mind?
Happy Fourth of July, and be prepared for police blockades in your travels this weekend.
Mark Stevens
LAW OFFICES OF MARK STEVENS
5 Manor Parkway
Salem, NH 03079
603-893-0074
http://www.ByeByeDWI.com
http://www.ByeByeDUI.com
http://www.ByeByeOUI.com
Legal Advertising
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