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In a press release we sent today, Senate President Michael Waddoups said the following:

Senate Majority Leader Sheldon Killpack was arrested late Thursday night on suspicion of driving under the influence. Senator Killpack was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail and later released. The Utah Highway Patrol is working with the appropriate authorities on what is now a legal matter.

This is a difficult time for Senator Killpack and his family. He has requested privacy as he addresses the situation with those closest to him. When he and I spoke this morning he indicated he is accountable for his actions and I respect him for that. Senator Killpack has served this state, and the Senate, with distinction and he remains in our hearts and prayers.

Majority Leader Sheldon Killpack also made a brief statement:

I am deeply sorry for the impact this incident will have on those who support and trust me -- my colleagues in the senate, my constituents and, most importantly, my family. I am a firm believer in responsibility and personal accountability, and am prepared to accept all personal, legal and political consequences for my actions.

5 Comments:

 Anonymous said...

hypocrite

1/15/2010 4:07 PM  

 Anonymous said...

Q: 'Since WHEN does the Utah State Senate requenst 'privacy and prayers' for someone caught DUI?"

A: 'Since one of their own got caught'

PS: Why does someone who believes in 'personal responsibility' refuse a breath test? 'Implied consent not apply to him?

He's demonized anyone else who ever got caught doing this, and that's exactly what he deserves

1/15/2010 4:55 PM  

 Kim Frank said...

I borrowed this one from a good friend....."I would rather be a good person who makes a mistake and fixes it, than a person who delights and swims in the misfortune of others." Words to live by.

1/15/2010 8:24 PM  

 Anonymous said...

The key problem with DUI, is that very few people who drive after drinking any alcohol have any idea what their BAC is until the blow into a patrolman's device.
And I can understand the state's hesitation to endorse any level of BAC as 'safe'.

But unless you close each and every bar in the state, people are going to be driving after some level of drinking. How can people know 'when to say when', when they dont know when 'when' is?

By simply saying 'dont drink and drive' you push every bar patron (which I'm not btw) outside the sphere of your influence.

MADD and AA dominate this issue - while at one time advancing it, now they strangle it, because if their agenda of neo-prohibition

And you have an entire DUI-Industry, that doesnt really want people knowing their BAC like a speedometer, they want everyone who drives after any drinking to get a DUI, because that's how they make their money

You dont have to endorse BAC calculation anywhere outside of bars. But you can make real headway by creating a culture where anyone drinking outside of their home knows their BAC (by close estimate) before they drive.

This 'all or nothing' attitude that you currently have creates situations like Senator Killpack's. "I shouldnt be drinking and driving at all, so why clock and count what I've been drinking to calculate my BAC?" That's EXACTLY what he was thinking, for all of you who are wondering (yes I'm speculating, but I bet I'm right)

In a culture of BAC self-calculation, he would still be in the senate.

The Senate is at a crossroads - are you more interested in punishing people who drink, or are you interested in the maximum lowering the actuarial probablity of risk for everyone on the road for every dollar spent?

The issue of texting while driving is quickly coming upon you. Are you ready to consider new practical thinking, or are you going to hold onto old dogma, domam that doesnt even work for a Senator who once advanced it?

1/19/2010 4:02 PM  

 Anonymous said...

from MADD Canada

MADD Canada: Don’t play around calculating your BAC level
Organization issues a public warning
along with research on blood alcohol concentration levels
http://www.madd.ca/english/news/pr/p20080522.htm

Yet, the .08 BAC level came from MADD itself!

From CATO institute's home page

"Even MADD's founder, Candy Lightner, has lamented that the organization has grown neo-prohibitionist in nature."

http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=5116

How ethical is it, to set an arbitrary level, at which a serious crime is committed, then discouraging the public from calculating estimates of where that level is? Certainly, they consider the police's calculation of that level as 'infallable'

MADD's own founder was against lowering the BAC level from .10 to .08, saying that the bulk of dangerous drivers was above the .10 level. So what's so wrong with drivers attempting to self-regulate themselves below .08 (advising them that theres increasing danger at every level and it's still a DUI if they mis-calculate)

Its almost seems like they WANT anyone who drinks and drives at all to get a DUI, even if they have to have another beer to do it

And maybe you're all OK with that, but think about who just got caught in that net, and what it's doing to him and his family right now.

1/19/2010 4:56 PM  

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