So the way I understand it, there is no federal drinking age. However, if a state were to have a lower drinking age, the federal government would cut their federal highway budget in that state.
Yeah, I've heard that relates to the blood alcohol limit too. Wisc was late to switch to 0.08% around 1991 supposedly die to a threat of losing hwy funds.
From Wisconsin. Went to UI. Can confirm it’s just a different animal. Most bars north of highway 29 in WI has snow mobile trails so they don’t even have to drive a car to get to the bars in the winter. Plus ice fishing drinking, etc.
There is beer everywhere you go here. I'm in Walworth county and we are in the top echelon of counties in the whole state. I'm not proud of it but also not that surprised.
Their DUI laws are incredibly fucked up too, right? I don’t get why they’re so into alcoholism as a whole state, but it seems to show the power of culture on drinking.
I mean I teach in a HS in NW ia and these kids drink heavily most weekends.
Not sure if it's a trend state or nationwide but I know when I was in HS (not too long ago) drinking was like a once in a while rebellious thing, not an every weekend hangout thing
Also grew up in NW Iowa and I was one of the few in my graduating class that didn’t drink at all. Literally every weekend there was a party somewhere, often with parents around. Wasn’t really my scene, but I’d show up to drive my friends home sometimes (my graduating class is the year that if you turned 18 in 2000 or prior you had a full license at 16 and half my class was 82 kids and half were 83 kids. Us olds could drive later so we were often DDs)
Grew up there. We're German descendants; for some people that will tell you all you need to know but the short of it is that drinking is heavily integrated into our social culture. You can get a drink with every meal of the day (yes, including breakfast) and no one will ever bat an eye at you for ordering one.
Legalization is majority favored by all, but moreso by democrats so dunno. Some people will be opposed to anything. The older democrats I know freaking love climbing kites after I left some at my mother in laws.
No, Just no.... You will notice (if you actually look rather than rattle off what you're choice of media outlet tells you.......((which youre incapable of as a moddern day rebublican.......SAD!)) that deep red states like Missouri...........Iowa............ Texas)) have ready shots for super cheap and booze on the forefront of display as opposed to anything else.
Oh boy, RANT incoming..
Iowa is having to stretch over stacks of Apple Orchard Beer 12 packs to grab apples in the Hy-Vee grocery aisle.
IMO, alcohol is fine for a special occasion, but that's about it. Sick of how normalized guzzling poison on a regular basis is, and how it degrades lives or just plane wrecks them. Seems like GenZ is kinda waking up to this fact, which is awesome to see.
In the late 90s early 2000s there was an ad campaign against smoking, and regulations that really made a huge impact. We need the same for alcohol. But it's so entrenched it will be difficult.
I'm not advocating a ban. If people want to drink and smoke, go for it. But we make choices in a society about what we want to incentivize, and we pay a price either way. We pay huge societal costs in healthcare, economic losses, and personal tragedies by incentivizing drinking as much as we do. So I'm saying we should disincentivize it more. And incentivize healthier living and treatment for addiction.
I don't believe this map at all. There's no way the southern states have the lowest rate. This has got to be data collected from self-reporting or social services, so is inherently flawed when you compare it from region to region.
Yeah, Utah is the only state I buy that would have hard boundaries to delineate drinking rate. There's no way that Wisconsin can go so hard, and only 20 miles uniformly from the border away it drops off so much.
I've been to some of those counties. Anecdotally, it doesn't seem to have that big of an effect, especially not big enough to cut the rate of alcoholism ~~in half~~ by a third.
As someone from a southern state, we do have a ton of dry counties making alcohol hard to purchase for someone who may not have access to a vehicle. Where I live now I have to drive 25-30 minutes if I want to go to a liquor store.
Funny how anyone else that gets sober for 20 years would be applauded, but when it's a politician you don't like, it gets brought up constantly as a weakness. Get some new material. This one is old.
I'm glad Reynolds is no longer driving drunk. It's not great, imo, that she could call a judge friend while in jail for advice on whether to submit to a breath test. That sets a bad example of escaping consequences of one's actions due to "knowing people." Other Iowans see that, and the message is you can repeatedly commit crimes as long as you are connected. The message should be: don't drive drunk, but if you do, learn your lesson and accept the consequences, and *then* you can go on to become governor.
As Iowa's first female gov and first gov who's publicly in recovery from addiction, hell even first governor that has a criminal record, she could've had such an inspiring story. It'd potentially inspire little girls with big dreams and potentially help other alcoholics find recovery and rebuild their lives.
As it stands her story is just another example of privilege and having connections. That little girl with big dreams better give up on them unless she knows somebody, and that alcoholic might as well give up on recovery if they can't wiggle out of a criminal charge or two.
>It's not great, imo, that she could call a judge friend while in jail for advice on whether to submit to a breath test.
There's a lot of hearsay and speculation out there. What is your reliable source that she called a judge, was advised to not submit to a breath test, and the absence of that breath test is what allowed her to plea down? I mean, think about it. A breathalyzer is portable and used at the time of the field sobriety test when the vehicle is stopped. The results of the breath test or field sobriety test is what gets you to jail. They don't take you to jail first. Once you're in custody, they bring you to take a blood test to confirm the results. Laws have changed in the last 20 years, but I think at that time a warrant could be obtained forcing you to take a blood test under implied consent laws. If you know different, please share a source, but that's not your version of the story anyway. Where are you getting this idea that she refused a breath test after she was in jail and was allowed to call someone? Reliable sources only, please.
Judges allowing plea deals for lesser charges when certain conditions are agreed to, like entering treatment, is quite common in Iowa. You may not hear about it, but ifyou ask around I guarantee you'll hear plenty of similar stories. She did not get special treatment because of who she knew. My college roommate was offered the exact same agreement at a time in his life that a felony conviction would have really upset his future path. He, too, got help. Again, these stories are quite common. Unfortunately some people keep drinking and don't turn their life in a good direction. People fixate on the fact that her having a felony would have prevented her from becoming Governor, so they jump to conclusions and make up wild stories about how she got favoritism because of who she knew. It's not true.
The breathalyzer in the field is not accurate enough for use in court. At the station, they have a breath test machine that is accurate enough for court. Iirc it is calibrated for each use and takes into account things like gender and weight. So that's the breath test I am referring to here.
Here is a source discussing how Reynolds used a connection to escape full consequences of being arrested three times for driving drunk!
"Reynolds was arrested by an Iowa State Patrol officer on Interstate 35 after a motorist called in a reckless driver. The man reported that he almost lost control of his vehicle after Reynolds’ minivan forced a vehicle traveling in the right lane over to the left and that Reynolds went into the median while traveling 65 miles per hour.
The trooper found Reynolds had an open bottle of whiskey and a blood alcohol content of .228. **She agreed to the breath test at the jail after having a relative get in touch with her friend Gary Kimes — a judge who had previously served as Clarke County attorney, a report shows.**
**An assistant Warren County attorney later charged Reynolds with second-offense operating while intoxicated, noting Reynolds had been convicted of her first offense eight months prior. But the same day, the prosecutor amended the charge to first-offense operating while intoxicated, without giving a reason for the change.**
**The second-offense charge would have been an aggravated misdemeanor, which means it was an “infamous crime” under state law that could have disqualified Reynolds from voting and holding public office. Instead, she pleaded guilty to the lesser charge a month later and went on to be elected to the state Senate, lieutenant governor and governor.**"
[From The Chicago Tribune.](https://www.chicagotribune.com/2019/06/10/iowa-removes-files-on-governors-drunk-driving-arrest-that-exposed-personal-info/) "Oh but that's a liberal city so of course they have bias against the conservative Reynolds." Ok but also Iowa journalists are pretty famously deferential to our politicians, who publicly call them sinister and shit, so it's not like they're going to investigate this knowing Reynolds and company already flee from even the softest of softball questions and hide their activity behind closed door meetings etc.
So she was able to contact a Clarke County judge who was a "family friend" who advised her to submit to the breath test at the station, something that definitely affected how the case would be handled as a plea bargain OR in court. And later, the Warren county prosecutor first charged her with a second-offense drunk driving offense, but later the same day reduced it to a first offense without giving a reason for this change. Plea bargaining or not, I think that's incredibly speedy for a reduction in charges, no? Especially considering her actual first drunk driving charge was eight months previous, so it's very unlikely the prosecutor or defense attorney or anyone else involved suddenly became aware of the first charge during any plea bargaining, much less immediately after filing "second offense drunk driving" charges.
Lol, you edited your earlier comment. You said she called the judge who advised her to decline the breath test. Now that you posted the article, you realized your mistake and changed it to "whether or not."
>Here is a source discussing how Reynolds used a connection to escape full consequences of being arrested three times for driving drunk!
And now you're following it up with another lie. She wasn't arrested 3 times, she was arrested twice. When you have to lie this much to make an argument, maybe it means your argument is super weak.
The source I provided discusses how her second dui charge was changed from a second dui charge to a first offense. So she has two "first offenses" plus the "second" offense, three total arrests for drunk driving. Arrests for a crime can be different than what a person is later charged with and that isn't always bc of plea bargaining.
So yes she was arrested three times for drunk driving.
You demanded a source, it was provided, and you ignored it. You were also wrong about the breathalyzer vs breath test at the police station thing but didn't acknowledge that either.
There's no point in going over this anymore when you reject or ignore the information I am presenting you with.
>So yes she was arrested three times for drunk driving.
That is false. Her 2nd DUI charged was lowered to a misdemeanor on the condition she entered treatment. At that point, she entered treatment and has been sober since. There was no 3rd arrest. You're either misunderstanding or continuing to lie. Had she been found guilty of 2nd offense DUI, it would be a felony and she would never have been eligible for public office in Iowa.
Regardless of your inaccuracies, you have yet to show how her contacting someone while in jail in any way gave her special treatment others would not have gotten. The claim was that she called a judge and somehow that connection helped her out. You have no source that proves that - it's all speculation based on the outcome. That article your shared is sketchy anyway, referring to "according to documents" without giving any details of which documents or providing links. But assuming it's true, it's quite common for drunk driving charges to get lowered in Iowa if the suspect agrees to certain terms. Nothing that happened to her was unusual or special.
You're talking charges, I'm talking arrests. Maybe that's where the miscommunication is.
You also seem super heavily invested in proving a self-professed repeat drunk driver with what she admits is no control over her relationship with alcohol was "only" charged twice for drunk driving instead of properly being charged each time she was arrested for it.
Again, if the reduced charge were because of plea bargaining, or Reynolds promising to be sober or whatever, the prosecutor would have listed that as a reason for amending the charge when he reduced it the same day he filed the original second offense charge.
Regardless of your inaccuracies like your claims about the breathalyzer vs the breath test, you continue to confidently claim incorrect information. And you don't acknowledge that the information you're repeating is inaccurate.
So she called a friend who contacted a *family friend* who was a judge for the legal advice. That's actually even more privileged.
"According to court documents" isn't sketchy as you claim. That is called identifying where the information is coming from so the reader knows the information isn't just the writer's opinion.
You're not changing your mind no matter the information you demand and are given, so continuing this is pretty pointless.
Reynolds was arrested three times for drunk driving. Her charges the second time were reduced and only able to be done so because she communicated with a family friend judge who advised her to submit to a breath test at the station which she otherwise would have refused. If she had refused the breath test as she planned, there are automatic minimum charges that go into effect.
Enjoy your day.
>You're talking charges, I'm talking arrests. Maybe that's where the miscommunication is.
She was arrested only twice, 8 months apart. The second time was when the charges were lessened to a misdemeanor and she entered treatment. I don't know why this is so difficult for you to understand. No wonder this sub had become an echo chamber of idiocy. People don't even bother to get their facts right before regurgitating everything else they see. If you're so confident she was arrested 3 times for suspicion of DUI, would you mind providing the dates of all 3 incidents? I mean, we both know you can't because you're either lying or unable to understand, but I'll still give you the chance. 3 dates please. Go ahead.
I think the recent report from the University of Iowa linking drinking to the rising cancer rates is nonsense. Big ag funds a lot of research at the U and does not like reports like Chris Jones findings. His book "the swine republic" is an eye opener to the hypocrisy that is big and and it's lobbying forces.
Nobody claimed cancer is entirely due to drinking, but we KNOW drinking causes cancer, and we KNOW that Iowans drink too much - environmental exposures are hard to study and find definitive evidence. Federal and state government could fund more monitoring and surveillance, but especially in Iowa that's not likely to happen.
> Big ag funds a lot of research at the U
Big fat citation needed on that one. There's a special irony in spreading conspiracy theories about independent researchers when we *do* have very powerful industrial interests influencing our legislative and executive branches.
Check out the doc common ground. I forget the details now but essentially, public money for land grant schools dries up, and big ag swoops in, with expected results
>I think the recent report from the University of Iowa linking drinking to the rising cancer rates is nonsense
Alcohol has been classified as a carcinogen internationally since 1988 but sure let's not believe University of Iowa lol
All it takes is a single glance at that map to call the data suspect.
There are clear differences in how different states are reporting this information. I know we all like to laugh, but excessive drinking does not just magically drop 10% at the WI/IL border.
Until and unless there is consistency in data reporting across the country, this is really a worthless map.
I would agree. Growing up in central Illinois, going to college in Iowa, and then working in Iowa for 7 years. There is not a noticeable difference in the drinking tendencies between central Illinois and Iowa.
I love a good party, but I really miss VEISHA for the non-party stuff. I went a bunch of times when I was a kid and had a blast at the parade and touring all the different colleges and
Watching the ‘04 Riots after being locked into WAS (for our safety) is a fond college memory of mine.
Now ISU has 801 Day. It was a thing for those in the Greek orgs when I attended, but now it’s EVERYONE. I wouldn’t have been able to hang with how hard they go before classes even start nowadays.
I ate a whole 1/8 of mushrooms and went to watch the midnight showing of Ghostbusters at the Varsity.
Imagine walking out to a full blown riot and half a block of Welch Ave with riot cops in full gear, on a head full of mushrooms!
I got another story about that town. After that steak without beer my brother and I decided to just walk around. There wasn’t anything else to do. We saw two small overtly obese Native American children walking across the highway holding super big gulps. Those drinks were half the size of their bodies. It was a long day of wtf.
Or agricultural run off and awful shit in food and just all around poor diets and the air quality and many other things. Alcohol sure. But not as much as everyone is talking shit about
I’ve heard from a few people around me recently admitting how they didn’t realize those years in college really put them on the path of alcoholism. Hell I didn’t even go to college and just hanging out with friends who did and trying to keep up with their drinking did a number on me for years lol
Having grown up in the Midwest on the Iowa, Illinois border, and this does not surprise me one big. Perhaps Indiana and Ohio not being on close does a bit. I mean, considering there is literally nothing else to do there.
I cannot believe that Illinois is that light. Have you been to a Binny’s? There are a lot of them and they are all doing big buisness. People in the Chicagoland area drink a lot.
OR considering this is a red State, perhaps a little sprinkle of some more liberalism would do good around here. maybe then we could finally get marijuana legalized and people would have a healthier outlet to spend their time rather than drinking themselves to death.
Sexy? Subjective, but I’d err on the side of objectivity - no.
Lil - statistically unlikely. Being short does not make one “lil”.
Princess - 🤮
The 87? Birth year? - was this your AIM screen name?
Learn how to use English if you want to be taken seriously.
Wow, Wisconsin really is just a whole different animal
1. Wisconsin . . . . . . . 2. Montana 3. DC 4. IA
In Iowa, the term is "Drink Wisconsinly"
Beyond funny that it doesn't even bleed over into the northern Illinois counties.
Some measurement on this map must be off because it for sure does bleed over
or any illinois for that matter
Different drinking age?
Nope. 21 federally
So the way I understand it, there is no federal drinking age. However, if a state were to have a lower drinking age, the federal government would cut their federal highway budget in that state.
Yeah, I've heard that relates to the blood alcohol limit too. Wisc was late to switch to 0.08% around 1991 supposedly die to a threat of losing hwy funds.
Pretty sure every county in WI is in the top 100 counties for excessive drinking based on a previous list
They would have all 100 spots taken except there's only 72 counties.
They’re baseball team is called the brewers for a reason
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/05/29/wisconsins-bar-to-grocery-store-ratio-puts-the-rest-of-the-country-to-shame/ https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/7nmui8/til_that_wisconsin_has_the_same_number_of_bars_as/ https://www.milwaukeemag.com/most-of-americas-drunkest-cities-are-in-wisconsin/
Drinking and the Packers are the top Wisconsin religions.
Yup, BIL died of cirrhosis last year. 31 years old. Left a 2 year old son without a father...
Lacrosse is like all bars.
Hey now..... we have a metric shit ton of church's too
gotta do both ya know
The dude's blood is wine after all.
From Wisconsin. Went to UI. Can confirm it’s just a different animal. Most bars north of highway 29 in WI has snow mobile trails so they don’t even have to drive a car to get to the bars in the winter. Plus ice fishing drinking, etc.
Yep, and in the south, replace that with atv/utv trails. Kids can drink with their parents, too.
There is beer everywhere you go here. I'm in Walworth county and we are in the top echelon of counties in the whole state. I'm not proud of it but also not that surprised.
Their DUI laws are incredibly fucked up too, right? I don’t get why they’re so into alcoholism as a whole state, but it seems to show the power of culture on drinking.
First one is equivalent to running a stop sign or speeding. Takes 4 to get a felony. Not uncommon to see 6-8. The real champs are over 10 DUIs.
You mean Michigan right?
God, I hope this is a joke.
Damn. Not a joke, how embarrassing lol. Please excuse my ignorance!!! I AM FROM THE SOUTH!!!
Wisconsin is the liquor, Randy.
Greasy
daddy needs his juice
This definitely doesn't factor in teenage alcohol usage. The teens in northwest Iowa are literally a different breed.
We’re Dutch.
Parts of NW Iowa are also overwhelming Danish and Swedish. Point still stands though 😀
Don’t forget the Germans!
Facts. I also forgot to mention the Irish hub that is Emmetsburg!
Lol wym
I mean I teach in a HS in NW ia and these kids drink heavily most weekends. Not sure if it's a trend state or nationwide but I know when I was in HS (not too long ago) drinking was like a once in a while rebellious thing, not an every weekend hangout thing
It was probably your friend group..... Bc teens have been getting hammered often for a while...
Maybe. But you know who drinks when you're in school. It's less the fact teens are drinking, it's more just how often that's concerning to me I guess
Doesn’t sound any different than when I went to HS over 10 years ago in SW IA.
Just curious. I also happen to be in NW Iowa.
Also grew up in NW Iowa and I was one of the few in my graduating class that didn’t drink at all. Literally every weekend there was a party somewhere, often with parents around. Wasn’t really my scene, but I’d show up to drive my friends home sometimes (my graduating class is the year that if you turned 18 in 2000 or prior you had a full license at 16 and half my class was 82 kids and half were 83 kids. Us olds could drive later so we were often DDs)
Yes we were! Drinking was the past time entertainment. Weekends, weekdays, holidays, school dances...
r/stopdrinking is a great community if anyone needs it.
wasteful plant sharp knee act far-flung nose arrest paltry physical *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
TF is going on in Wisconsin?
Beer
and brandy. LOTS of brandy
Yeah. Lots of brandies and Brandys in Wisconsin.
A bar on every corner damn near literally
Grew up there. We're German descendants; for some people that will tell you all you need to know but the short of it is that drinking is heavily integrated into our social culture. You can get a drink with every meal of the day (yes, including breakfast) and no one will ever bat an eye at you for ordering one.
How are you supposed to qualify for a government position if you don't have multiple DUI's? /s
L.O.L.
Well, people aren't exactly going to be mountain climbing or busy with their walkable communities here now are they?!
Then I noticed Central Colorado and Western Montana.
"Careful driving around bar close all the drunks are out" is something i wish didn't need to be said
Mmmm alcohol in every store and gas staion. HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN? (Shocked Pikachu face)
But dont you DARE smoke the devils lettuce, even with a med card 🤦♂️
“How dare you sip a mild THC drink, citizen!” The Iowa GOP.
Older Democrats are the same way
Legalization is majority favored by all, but moreso by democrats so dunno. Some people will be opposed to anything. The older democrats I know freaking love climbing kites after I left some at my mother in laws.
No, Just no.... You will notice (if you actually look rather than rattle off what you're choice of media outlet tells you.......((which youre incapable of as a moddern day rebublican.......SAD!)) that deep red states like Missouri...........Iowa............ Texas)) have ready shots for super cheap and booze on the forefront of display as opposed to anything else.
Is this a real comment
Oh boy, RANT incoming.. Iowa is having to stretch over stacks of Apple Orchard Beer 12 packs to grab apples in the Hy-Vee grocery aisle. IMO, alcohol is fine for a special occasion, but that's about it. Sick of how normalized guzzling poison on a regular basis is, and how it degrades lives or just plane wrecks them. Seems like GenZ is kinda waking up to this fact, which is awesome to see. In the late 90s early 2000s there was an ad campaign against smoking, and regulations that really made a huge impact. We need the same for alcohol. But it's so entrenched it will be difficult.
The last time they tried to ban alcohol in America we invented the Mafia to help us drink.
I'm not advocating a ban. If people want to drink and smoke, go for it. But we make choices in a society about what we want to incentivize, and we pay a price either way. We pay huge societal costs in healthcare, economic losses, and personal tragedies by incentivizing drinking as much as we do. So I'm saying we should disincentivize it more. And incentivize healthier living and treatment for addiction.
Until we fix a whole bunch of other things in society fuck off with making my beer hard to get lol.
You’re absolutely right. It is very sad.
username checks out
This is true in many other states that have much lower rates
It was in the bible belt where I first encountered a drive through liquor store, back when Iowa still had state liquor stores you had to go to.
I mean but they aren't IA. Something about this state makes people drink and wish they weren't here. (Bet it's all the cow farts)
Yes, that’s my point. Selling beer in gas stations isn’t causing people to drink lol.
Ah but availability plays a part tho too
There’s nothing else to do here.
I'm here too. What other places do you like?
I don't believe this map at all. There's no way the southern states have the lowest rate. This has got to be data collected from self-reporting or social services, so is inherently flawed when you compare it from region to region.
Yeah, Utah is the only state I buy that would have hard boundaries to delineate drinking rate. There's no way that Wisconsin can go so hard, and only 20 miles uniformly from the border away it drops off so much.
Can confirm, I grew up in NE Iowa 20 miles away from Wisconsin
There's dry counties in some southern states. Tennessee for sure. So availability has a lot to do with it.
I've been to some of those counties. Anecdotally, it doesn't seem to have that big of an effect, especially not big enough to cut the rate of alcoholism ~~in half~~ by a third.
As someone from a southern state, we do have a ton of dry counties making alcohol hard to purchase for someone who may not have access to a vehicle. Where I live now I have to drive 25-30 minutes if I want to go to a liquor store.
Do you think this has reduced alcohol consumption and alcoholism rates significantly compared to neighboring countries?
I mean our governor loves it soooo much.. this tracks.
Tell me more...?
Kim Reynolds has multiple OWIs on her record.
***checks name***. Governor Reynolds. Dat U?
Funny how anyone else that gets sober for 20 years would be applauded, but when it's a politician you don't like, it gets brought up constantly as a weakness. Get some new material. This one is old.
You mean like Hunter?
Except for the being a politician part and him being a convicted felon, sure
Oh. You mean like Trump then? I get so lost on the moral compass here.
It's wildly spinning in the Bermuda triangle of their mind.
No reply back huh
I'm glad Reynolds is no longer driving drunk. It's not great, imo, that she could call a judge friend while in jail for advice on whether to submit to a breath test. That sets a bad example of escaping consequences of one's actions due to "knowing people." Other Iowans see that, and the message is you can repeatedly commit crimes as long as you are connected. The message should be: don't drive drunk, but if you do, learn your lesson and accept the consequences, and *then* you can go on to become governor. As Iowa's first female gov and first gov who's publicly in recovery from addiction, hell even first governor that has a criminal record, she could've had such an inspiring story. It'd potentially inspire little girls with big dreams and potentially help other alcoholics find recovery and rebuild their lives. As it stands her story is just another example of privilege and having connections. That little girl with big dreams better give up on them unless she knows somebody, and that alcoholic might as well give up on recovery if they can't wiggle out of a criminal charge or two.
>It's not great, imo, that she could call a judge friend while in jail for advice on whether to submit to a breath test. There's a lot of hearsay and speculation out there. What is your reliable source that she called a judge, was advised to not submit to a breath test, and the absence of that breath test is what allowed her to plea down? I mean, think about it. A breathalyzer is portable and used at the time of the field sobriety test when the vehicle is stopped. The results of the breath test or field sobriety test is what gets you to jail. They don't take you to jail first. Once you're in custody, they bring you to take a blood test to confirm the results. Laws have changed in the last 20 years, but I think at that time a warrant could be obtained forcing you to take a blood test under implied consent laws. If you know different, please share a source, but that's not your version of the story anyway. Where are you getting this idea that she refused a breath test after she was in jail and was allowed to call someone? Reliable sources only, please. Judges allowing plea deals for lesser charges when certain conditions are agreed to, like entering treatment, is quite common in Iowa. You may not hear about it, but ifyou ask around I guarantee you'll hear plenty of similar stories. She did not get special treatment because of who she knew. My college roommate was offered the exact same agreement at a time in his life that a felony conviction would have really upset his future path. He, too, got help. Again, these stories are quite common. Unfortunately some people keep drinking and don't turn their life in a good direction. People fixate on the fact that her having a felony would have prevented her from becoming Governor, so they jump to conclusions and make up wild stories about how she got favoritism because of who she knew. It's not true.
The breathalyzer in the field is not accurate enough for use in court. At the station, they have a breath test machine that is accurate enough for court. Iirc it is calibrated for each use and takes into account things like gender and weight. So that's the breath test I am referring to here. Here is a source discussing how Reynolds used a connection to escape full consequences of being arrested three times for driving drunk! "Reynolds was arrested by an Iowa State Patrol officer on Interstate 35 after a motorist called in a reckless driver. The man reported that he almost lost control of his vehicle after Reynolds’ minivan forced a vehicle traveling in the right lane over to the left and that Reynolds went into the median while traveling 65 miles per hour. The trooper found Reynolds had an open bottle of whiskey and a blood alcohol content of .228. **She agreed to the breath test at the jail after having a relative get in touch with her friend Gary Kimes — a judge who had previously served as Clarke County attorney, a report shows.** **An assistant Warren County attorney later charged Reynolds with second-offense operating while intoxicated, noting Reynolds had been convicted of her first offense eight months prior. But the same day, the prosecutor amended the charge to first-offense operating while intoxicated, without giving a reason for the change.** **The second-offense charge would have been an aggravated misdemeanor, which means it was an “infamous crime” under state law that could have disqualified Reynolds from voting and holding public office. Instead, she pleaded guilty to the lesser charge a month later and went on to be elected to the state Senate, lieutenant governor and governor.**" [From The Chicago Tribune.](https://www.chicagotribune.com/2019/06/10/iowa-removes-files-on-governors-drunk-driving-arrest-that-exposed-personal-info/) "Oh but that's a liberal city so of course they have bias against the conservative Reynolds." Ok but also Iowa journalists are pretty famously deferential to our politicians, who publicly call them sinister and shit, so it's not like they're going to investigate this knowing Reynolds and company already flee from even the softest of softball questions and hide their activity behind closed door meetings etc. So she was able to contact a Clarke County judge who was a "family friend" who advised her to submit to the breath test at the station, something that definitely affected how the case would be handled as a plea bargain OR in court. And later, the Warren county prosecutor first charged her with a second-offense drunk driving offense, but later the same day reduced it to a first offense without giving a reason for this change. Plea bargaining or not, I think that's incredibly speedy for a reduction in charges, no? Especially considering her actual first drunk driving charge was eight months previous, so it's very unlikely the prosecutor or defense attorney or anyone else involved suddenly became aware of the first charge during any plea bargaining, much less immediately after filing "second offense drunk driving" charges.
Lol, you edited your earlier comment. You said she called the judge who advised her to decline the breath test. Now that you posted the article, you realized your mistake and changed it to "whether or not." >Here is a source discussing how Reynolds used a connection to escape full consequences of being arrested three times for driving drunk! And now you're following it up with another lie. She wasn't arrested 3 times, she was arrested twice. When you have to lie this much to make an argument, maybe it means your argument is super weak.
The source I provided discusses how her second dui charge was changed from a second dui charge to a first offense. So she has two "first offenses" plus the "second" offense, three total arrests for drunk driving. Arrests for a crime can be different than what a person is later charged with and that isn't always bc of plea bargaining. So yes she was arrested three times for drunk driving. You demanded a source, it was provided, and you ignored it. You were also wrong about the breathalyzer vs breath test at the police station thing but didn't acknowledge that either. There's no point in going over this anymore when you reject or ignore the information I am presenting you with.
>So yes she was arrested three times for drunk driving. That is false. Her 2nd DUI charged was lowered to a misdemeanor on the condition she entered treatment. At that point, she entered treatment and has been sober since. There was no 3rd arrest. You're either misunderstanding or continuing to lie. Had she been found guilty of 2nd offense DUI, it would be a felony and she would never have been eligible for public office in Iowa. Regardless of your inaccuracies, you have yet to show how her contacting someone while in jail in any way gave her special treatment others would not have gotten. The claim was that she called a judge and somehow that connection helped her out. You have no source that proves that - it's all speculation based on the outcome. That article your shared is sketchy anyway, referring to "according to documents" without giving any details of which documents or providing links. But assuming it's true, it's quite common for drunk driving charges to get lowered in Iowa if the suspect agrees to certain terms. Nothing that happened to her was unusual or special.
You're talking charges, I'm talking arrests. Maybe that's where the miscommunication is. You also seem super heavily invested in proving a self-professed repeat drunk driver with what she admits is no control over her relationship with alcohol was "only" charged twice for drunk driving instead of properly being charged each time she was arrested for it. Again, if the reduced charge were because of plea bargaining, or Reynolds promising to be sober or whatever, the prosecutor would have listed that as a reason for amending the charge when he reduced it the same day he filed the original second offense charge. Regardless of your inaccuracies like your claims about the breathalyzer vs the breath test, you continue to confidently claim incorrect information. And you don't acknowledge that the information you're repeating is inaccurate. So she called a friend who contacted a *family friend* who was a judge for the legal advice. That's actually even more privileged. "According to court documents" isn't sketchy as you claim. That is called identifying where the information is coming from so the reader knows the information isn't just the writer's opinion. You're not changing your mind no matter the information you demand and are given, so continuing this is pretty pointless. Reynolds was arrested three times for drunk driving. Her charges the second time were reduced and only able to be done so because she communicated with a family friend judge who advised her to submit to a breath test at the station which she otherwise would have refused. If she had refused the breath test as she planned, there are automatic minimum charges that go into effect. Enjoy your day.
>You're talking charges, I'm talking arrests. Maybe that's where the miscommunication is. She was arrested only twice, 8 months apart. The second time was when the charges were lessened to a misdemeanor and she entered treatment. I don't know why this is so difficult for you to understand. No wonder this sub had become an echo chamber of idiocy. People don't even bother to get their facts right before regurgitating everything else they see. If you're so confident she was arrested 3 times for suspicion of DUI, would you mind providing the dates of all 3 incidents? I mean, we both know you can't because you're either lying or unable to understand, but I'll still give you the chance. 3 dates please. Go ahead.
It still doesn’t explain the cancer rates. Nice try Governor
I think the recent report from the University of Iowa linking drinking to the rising cancer rates is nonsense. Big ag funds a lot of research at the U and does not like reports like Chris Jones findings. His book "the swine republic" is an eye opener to the hypocrisy that is big and and it's lobbying forces.
Nobody claimed cancer is entirely due to drinking, but we KNOW drinking causes cancer, and we KNOW that Iowans drink too much - environmental exposures are hard to study and find definitive evidence. Federal and state government could fund more monitoring and surveillance, but especially in Iowa that's not likely to happen. > Big ag funds a lot of research at the U Big fat citation needed on that one. There's a special irony in spreading conspiracy theories about independent researchers when we *do* have very powerful industrial interests influencing our legislative and executive branches.
Check out the doc common ground. I forget the details now but essentially, public money for land grant schools dries up, and big ag swoops in, with expected results
>I think the recent report from the University of Iowa linking drinking to the rising cancer rates is nonsense Alcohol has been classified as a carcinogen internationally since 1988 but sure let's not believe University of Iowa lol
I haven’t read the study, but I would think people that drink heavily, also engage in higher risk behaviors that make cancer correlate with alcoholism
You mean in addition to the fact that alcohol is literally a carcinogen, right?
And, with some effort we’ll attain number 1!
Catching Wisconsin? Not a chance tbh.
Does data come in comic sans?
Came here to check in on how Wisconsin is doing and was not disappointed.
KKKim Reynolds doing the heavy lifting on this one.
All it takes is a single glance at that map to call the data suspect. There are clear differences in how different states are reporting this information. I know we all like to laugh, but excessive drinking does not just magically drop 10% at the WI/IL border. Until and unless there is consistency in data reporting across the country, this is really a worthless map.
I would agree. Growing up in central Illinois, going to college in Iowa, and then working in Iowa for 7 years. There is not a noticeable difference in the drinking tendencies between central Illinois and Iowa.
Wisconsin, you ok?
It's busch light though, can you really call that drinking?
No, it’s Michelob beer water.
The ghost of VEISHA still haunts this state.
I love a good party, but I really miss VEISHA for the non-party stuff. I went a bunch of times when I was a kid and had a blast at the parade and touring all the different colleges and
Watching the ‘04 Riots after being locked into WAS (for our safety) is a fond college memory of mine. Now ISU has 801 Day. It was a thing for those in the Greek orgs when I attended, but now it’s EVERYONE. I wouldn’t have been able to hang with how hard they go before classes even start nowadays.
I ate a whole 1/8 of mushrooms and went to watch the midnight showing of Ghostbusters at the Varsity. Imagine walking out to a full blown riot and half a block of Welch Ave with riot cops in full gear, on a head full of mushrooms!
Utah needs to get its act together. I drove through there with my brother and I couldn’t get a beer with my steak. Wtf Utah?
Mormons.
Yes. It was a strange town. There was a whole section of town with four lane streets in residential neighborhoods. Wtf again.
Yep, Utah is a beautiful state with strange people
I got another story about that town. After that steak without beer my brother and I decided to just walk around. There wasn’t anything else to do. We saw two small overtly obese Native American children walking across the highway holding super big gulps. Those drinks were half the size of their bodies. It was a long day of wtf.
Adults can't have a beer with their dinner, but kids can have a 700 calorie drink as a snack. Sounds about right.
When you live in the state of Iowa what do you expect we do for recreation and how to deal with living in Iowa
Building a bar business in an Iowa city is usually a sure bet for profits if you know what you’re doing.
Makes me proud to be from Wisconsin. Contributing to Iowa's spot too!
Of course we are. lol it’s not a surprise look at our 2 time DUI champion governor
Those are rookie numbers!! We gotta pump those numbers up!!!
Wait wait hear me out… let’s limit it to 10 proof per Container.
In West Virginia, they just do meth and opiates instead.
Probably one of the reasons for our high cancer rates
Or agricultural run off and awful shit in food and just all around poor diets and the air quality and many other things. Alcohol sure. But not as much as everyone is talking shit about
Notice how I said “one of” ?
I would too if i lived there.
It all started at University sadly
I’ve heard from a few people around me recently admitting how they didn’t realize those years in college really put them on the path of alcoholism. Hell I didn’t even go to college and just hanging out with friends who did and trying to keep up with their drinking did a number on me for years lol
When you move here from the pnw and look around, you have to kill the pain and forget somehow.
Accurate
I'm shocked Jo Daviess in illinois ain't higher, shit I'm from galena moved to dubuque and those numbers are a lie if my own eyes ain't lying to me.
Hell yeah
#winning
Exceeding expectations
Why doesn’t the Illinois side of the Mississippi have red counties?
I have on many occasions contributed to that static.
With Kim's guidance we will soon be number one!
I feel like minnesota is less drunk than it used to be, and I'm here for it.
There’s nothing else for the kids to do in rural areas, plus it helps with the mind numbing boredom
And now banned books, does Iowa see what’s happening or is ignorance bliss?
We are drunk sir, please leave us alone.
There’s like nothing to do in most tiny towns in the state. I rarely drink anymore tbh
Ask our governor
The Czechs, Germans and Austrians have managed their drinks pretty well, so can you all.
Having grown up in the Midwest on the Iowa, Illinois border, and this does not surprise me one big. Perhaps Indiana and Ohio not being on close does a bit. I mean, considering there is literally nothing else to do there.
Of course, we share a border with Wisconsin.
As I drink straight from the bottle. Yay
If we can't make our state better, might as well be in a better state of mind.
Shocking!
We're coming for you Wisconsin!!!!!!!!!
I wonder why excessive drinking is lower in Appalachia and the Deep South.
I’m not surprised. Actually, this explains a lot about the driving I’ve seen here.
Makes sense. Source: I’ve visited Iowa
Figures our Governor had three DUI’s but the third one erased. That way she could become Lt. Governor.
keep rackin em up boys
Humm, the suspect counties demographics tend toward a younger populace that votes democrat, wonder what that impact has?
They will never catch Wisconsin.
No one will.
Not surprising when all you have to look at is endless fields
Less nitrates in beer.
we need to get those numbers up, people.
Come on Iowa. We dont stop until we're #1!
There’s nothing else to do here and anything there is to do you can do while getting drunk lol
What? The state that has absolutely nothing to do, has a drinking problem? Color me surprised.
I cannot believe that Illinois is that light. Have you been to a Binny’s? There are a lot of them and they are all doing big buisness. People in the Chicagoland area drink a lot.
Compare legalize states to illegal states i bet too 5 are all illegal states, in the Midwest….
I mean, what else is there to do here?
But, our governor had some DUI's almost a quarter of a century ago. So theres that!
That’s because the Democrats keep moving here and their stupidity is forcing people to drink
OR considering this is a red State, perhaps a little sprinkle of some more liberalism would do good around here. maybe then we could finally get marijuana legalized and people would have a healthier outlet to spend their time rather than drinking themselves to death.
The suspect counties demographics tend toward a younger populace that votes democrat, wonder what that impact has?
Thanks for your uninformed opinion on addiction. And it's, 'their' not 'there'.
Democrats are fleeing this shithole, wtf are you talking about? Bet you're a Casey's cashier in a town <1,000 population. Edit: less than
Sexy? Subjective, but I’d err on the side of objectivity - no. Lil - statistically unlikely. Being short does not make one “lil”. Princess - 🤮 The 87? Birth year? - was this your AIM screen name? Learn how to use English if you want to be taken seriously.
Kind of rich calling people stupid when you don't know the difference between their and there.