09/04/2025
This past month in our Upton County Court, we had roughly 40 cases on the docket. The offenses included a little bit of everything. Reckless Driving, Possession of a Controlled Substance (don’t carry prescription medication around if it isn’t yours), Escape From Custody (they’ll get you eventually so probably just stick with them), Criminal Trespass, Unlawful Restraint (this one is a wild tale), Terroristic Threat (four of these surprisingly), Interference with Emergency Request for Assistance, Theft of Property (stop taking things that aren’t yours), Harassment, and then the usual DWI’s.
Of all of those, something jumped out at me about the DWI’s specifically, and I thought, maybe other people would like to know this. Then, in usual fashion, the office got busy and I never shared it. But today, here I am again, going through newly submitted cases and can’t help but have the same thing catch my attention again.
These stops happened – likely lives were saved – because of good Samaritan citizens who weren’t afraid to get involved and call law enforcement when they saw something suspicious. No matter what time of day.
It is easy, and I get it, to believe that DWI’s happen only on Fridays and Saturdays, late at night when people are heading home from having some fun. But that is not the reality in our County. I honestly don’t even see many of those. I’ll use these as examples.
One DWI occurred a little before 8 pm on a Tuesday, right in the middle of McCamey. Another happened mid-week-mid-afternoon, a work truck heading south on 349 towards Rankin, swerving and riding the white line. And another, middle of main street Rankin, early on a Sunday, a speeding driver whose blood was over two times the legal limit. And today’s, a guy who had already gone through McCamey and Rankin, on a Monday before 6 PM, heading towards the interstate already twice the legal limit and with plans to continue taking shots to keep himself awake on his trip.
Each of those share a common denominator – citizens who called those drivers in and reported them.
Something else interesting – none of them are local. They aren’t even from neighboring counties. Just people traveling through, making poor life choices that could potentially affect our communities in devastating ways.
I share all of this with two hopes in mind. First, to encourage you to keep on calling. Dispatch can handle it, I promise. Don’t be afraid to call in something suspicious, something that you know in your gut just isn’t right. It saves lives.
Second, I would love some feedback. The penalty range for a first DWI is up to 180 days in jail and/or up to a $2000.00 fine. The penalty for a 2nd DWI or a DWI where they are over .15 BAC is up to 1 year in jail and/or a $4000.00 fine. There’s also always the options for probation (1 -2 years) which include supervision fees, the fine, all the “stay out of trouble, no drinking/drugs language,” community service, mandatory AA classes, mandatory DWI offender classes, and I add in a required Victim Impact Panel requirement.
Using those parameters, what do you think should be the consequence for DWI’s in Upton County? Feel free to comment here (just keep it clean and classy please) or e-mail me your thoughts to [email protected]
If you made it this far, thanks for sticking around! Have a safe rest of your day! - Paige
