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Show Sat/Sun/Mon/Tues, March 25-28, 2017 A-17 The Park Record Governor approves .05 DUI limit By MICHELLE L. PRICE Associated Press SALT LAKE CITY — Utah’s governor on Thursday signed legislation giving the predominantly Mormon state the strictest DUI threshold in the country, a change that restaurant groups and representatives of the ski and snowboard industry say will hurt tourism. Republican Gov. Gary Herbert said approved the measure lowering the blood alcohol limit for most drivers to .05 percent from .08 percent, saying that it will save lives. Opponents had urged him to veto the bill, saying it would punish responsible drinkers and burnish Utah’s reputation as a Mormon-majority state that’s unfriendly for those who drink alcohol. “People are going to try to say this is a religious issue. And that is just absolutely false. This is a public safety issue,” the governor, who is Mormon, said at a news conference. Proponents say it will send a resounding message that people should not drink and drive — no matter how little somebody has had to drink. Restaurant groups said they don’t support drunken driving but a .05 limit won’t catch drivers who are actually impaired. Rep. Norm Thurston, a Republican who sponsored the measure, says it will make people think twice about drinking and driving. If drivers are not impaired, they won’t violate the law, Thurston said, because police won’t measure someone’s blood alcohol level until they have seen visible signs of impairment and the person fails a field sobriety test. He also pointed out that Utah led the country in 1983 by becoming the first state to lower its blood alcohol limit to .08 percent, and since then tourism has flourished. Utah’s Tourism Office said it’s not concerned about the measure discouraging visitors, noting that a number of foreign countries such as France and Australia have similar laws and don’t have a problem attracting tourists. Across the country, the bloodalcohol content limit for most drivers is .08, but limits vary among states for commercial drivers or drivers who have had a past DUI conviction. For several years, the National Transportation Safety Board has encouraged states to drop their blood-alcohol content levels to .05 or even lower, though local officials have not adopted the standards in part because of pressure from the hospitality industry. Lawmakers in Washington and Hawaii had considered lowering their blood-alcohol limits to .05 this year but both measures appear dead. The new threshold in Utah will take effect on Dec. 30, 2018, just before New Year’s Eve. In the meantime, Herbert said Thursday that he plans to call state lawmakers into a special session this summer because he thinks new law needs improving. He said he wants legislators to consider a tiered punishment system with less stringent penalties for those convicted of driving with a blood alcohol level of .05 to .07 percent. He also wants to look at punishments for multiple offenders and other distracted driving and unintended consequences that the lower limit will have on matters like auto insurance rates. The American Beverage Institute says a 150-pound man would be over the .05 limit after two beers, while a 120-pound woman could exceed it after a single drink, though that can be affected by a number of factors, including how much food has been consumed. Even before the measure, drivers in Utah with a blood alcohol level below .08 could still be charged if law enforcement could show the person was under the influence of alcohol and it impaired their ability to safely drive. Utah has some of the lowest rates of fatal DUI accidents in the country. The population has been booming over the past decade, particularly as more people move in from other states, but the DUI arrest rate has dropped. Mothers Against Drunk Driving has taken a neutral position on the measure. J.T. Griffin, a government affairs officer for the group, said in a statement that MADD is focusing on “countermeasures that work, such as ignition interlock laws for all drunk driving offenders and sobriety checkpoints.” Hot Wife? We can help. $4995 Air Conditioner Tune Up SALES AND SERVICE 435-640-7824 STRANDHVAC.COM SERVING PARK CITY FOR OVER 20 YEARS Officials look into Flynn Utah Rep. Chaffetz is on board By STEPHEN BRAUN and CHAD DAY Associated Press WASHINGTON — Republicans joined Democrats on Wednesday in pressuring the Trump administration to surrender records of former national security adviser Michael Flynn’s payments and contacts with foreign officials during the past three years. In a sign of deepening interest among congressional investigators, leaders of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee asked for materials on Flynn’s communications and payments from Russian, Turkish and other foreign sources since Flynn retired as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency in August 2014. The request came in letters to White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, FBI Director James Comey, Defense Secretary James Mattis and National Intelligence Director Dan Coats. Also sought by the committee chairman, GOP Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah, and the top Democrat, Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, is any available material on Flynn’s security clearance, which would have been required to allow him access to highly classified government documents and information. President Donald Trump fired Flynn last month for misleading Vice President Mike Pence and other top administration officials about Flynn’s postelection conversations with Russia’s ambassador to the United States. The committee’s move is significant because of the bipartisan front and the effort to gain broad information about Flynn’s foreign-related work and communications for an extended period before Trump appointed him. Cummings said the goal is to learn whether Flynn “was untruthful on his security clearance forms, his vetting materials, and in other documents — conduct that could carry a criminal penalty — and we want to know what the White House knew when they hired him as national security adviser.” It also wants to know if Flynn violated the constitutional prohibition against foreign payments to former military officials who could be called back into service. The FBI has interviewed Flynn about his Russia contacts as part of its inquiry into meetings, phone calls and electronic contacts last year between Trump campaign aides and Russian officials and others representing Russian interests. The House request comes a week after the committee released documents showing Flynn accepted more than $33,750 from KARZ • POOR RESORT LENDING GROUP Rob Karz rob@greatlender.com Ian Poor ian@greatlender.com Devery Karz deveryk@greatlender.com The rates and terms he quoted me on the day we met were the exact rates and terms I ended up doing my mortgage at three months later K.A. – Dec 2016 Locally Owned and Operated with National Lending Sources Since 1992 Intermountain Mortgage Company | NMLS# 74889 2029 Sidewinder Drive, Suite 200 (435) 649-6660 www.greatlender.com the Russian government-backed RT network for a trip to Moscow in 2015, before he joined the Trump campaign. U.S. intelligence agencies called it apropaganda arm of the Russian government. Cummings and Chaffetz cited Flynn’s payments from RT in their letters, seeking information about the retired Army lieutenant general’s responses to security clearance questions, as well as “any other security clearance applications, certifications, or requests for periodic reinvestigation.” The letters also ask for any “investigative and adjudicative” files concerning Flynn’s clearance, including any direct or indirect contacts between Flynn “and foreign government officials, representatives, affiliates, or agents.” 50 ©2017 Del Taco LLC DTL-14400 PRICE AND PARTICIPATION MAY VARY. SINGLE ITEM PRICE ON MENU BOARD DTL-14400_Park_Record_Shrimp_Tacos_F.indd 1 2/2/17 9:47 AM |