Troopers report sober New Year

PALMER -- The local post of the Alaska State Troopers reported statistics last week from an enforcement blitz on drunk drivers during the New Year's Eve holiday. Troopers statewide worked around 300 hours of overtime and stopped 590 vehicles during the six-day enforcement effort, which was dubbed the "Drive Hammered/Get Nailed" campaign.

But troopers arrested only 12 people for drunken driving during the six-day effort, which ran from Friday, Dec. 27 to Wednesday, Jan. 1.

"We're very pleased with the numbers from this campaign," Major Don Bowman, administrative commander of the Alaska State Troopers said. "It seems that people really took our 'Drive Hammered/Get Nailed' message to heart. We made a large number of traffic stops, but found that most people were either not drinking, or had designated drivers."

The overtime was paid for with funds from the U.S. Department of Transportation, according to the troopers. The federal program paid for increased enforcement for law enforcement agencies that reported traffic stops and drunk driving arrests for the increased enforcement period.

Locally, the Palmer trooper post worked 79.5 hours of overtime, stopped 129 vehicles and made two DWI

arrests during the six day period.