Youth Soccer May Be Key To Pro Team

Attorney Is Expected To Plead Guilty

By P. DOUGLAS FILAROSKI; Times Leader Staff Writer
 Friday, July 05, 1996 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Page: 1A 





NANTICOKE -- The car that drifts over the double yellow line. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The one that swings wide as it turns onto a road about midnight. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Forget intuition, Dallas Township Police Chief Carl Miers says, National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration figures plainly show that a majority of
these drivers are drunk. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 As coordinator of the county's driving under the influence program, Miers'
job is to catch them. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 He has used a lot of state and federal grant money setting up DUI
checkpoints. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 But for Miers' money, a tactic called "roving patrols" is the best way to
pull the pavement out from under drunken drivers. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "The checkpoints are good, especially for some things. But we found the
patrols are more effective," Miers said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Nanticoke Police Chief Chester Zaremba said officers are so enthusiastic
about the patrols that some even volunteer their time. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The program involves bringing extra officers out on overtime to
aggressively enforce traffic laws in areas where statistics show a lot of
drunken drivers have been pulled over or have crashed. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Police from Nanticoke and Newport Township will team up tonight to conduct
roving patrols using eight additional officers. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "The guys like to do it because they can see results from the time they put
in," Zaremba said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 A checkpoint conducted by nine officers on Market Street Bridge in
Wilkes-Barre two weeks ago netted two DUI arrests. The officers worked a total
of 45 hours at a cost of $990, Miers said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 By comparison, a roving patrol last weekend also netted two arrests, but
using fewer officers at a lower cost. The six officers worked a total of only
24 hours and were paid $528, Miers said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Unlike the checkpoints, the patrols are not stationary, giving drivers
little chance to avoid them, Miers said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Each of the two tactics has its benefits, Miers said. The county-wide
program plans to conduct five more full-scale checkpoints, six smaller-scale
checkpoints and six more roving patrols by October. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Like checkpoints, police conduct patrols in areas where statistics show DUI
activity occurs. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Route 11, between Plymouth and Shickshinny, and state Route 309 leading to
the Back Mountain are among the deadliest, Miers said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The chief keeps track of DUI crashes by marking each on a county map. He
places crosses on the map where DUI-related fatalities have occurred. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "You should see this thing. Everyone should," Miers said. "It would open a
lot of eyes." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 In another departure from checkpoints, police on roving patrols pull cars
over for perceived violations. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Consider these National Highway Traffic Safety Administration statistics: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Nationwide, of cars stopped for drifting past the double yellow line, the
driver is under the influence of alcohol 65 percent of the time. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The same is true for drivers making wider than normal turns; the operator
is under the influence of alcohol 65 percent of the time. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Of the operators stopped for driving more than 10 mph below the speed
limit, following a car too closely, drifting, or stopping without cause in a
traffic lane, about 50 percent are drunk. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Miers said stops by officers for other violations, such as a burned out
headlight, also result in DUI arrests, especially between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "Take somebody coming down the road with a `one-eyed monster' -- the
officers may find out this guy...is really DUI," Miers said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 In Nanticoke and Newport Township tonight, officers plan to patrol with an
eye toward these types of violations. They also will use a device called
VASCAR -- Visual Average Speed Calculator and Recorder -- to clock drivers for
speeding. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Years of education and enforcement seem to be paying off, Miers said. In
1978, half of the crashes in Dallas Township were DUI-related. Today, he said,
that number has dropped to approximately 27 percent, down by roughly half. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The chief said he hopes to reduce those numbers further. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "We want to impress on people that it's just not worth it to drink and
drive." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 TIMES LEADER/DON CAREY &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Nanticoke Police officer Chris Zavatski parks alongside a street in
Nanticoke. Nanticoke and Newport Township police will team up this weekend to
conduct roving patrols to catch motorists driving under the influence. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

`roving Patrols' Help Put Brakes To Dui Police In Nanticoke And Newport Township Team Up Tonight To Conduct Roving Patrols To Catch Drunken Drivers