It was bad enough that Junior Yazzie, 54, was arrested for his seventh DWI this week. However, his latest victim could not be more worse — Aztec Magistrate Judge Carla Vescovi-Dial. Judge Vescovi-Dial is still recovering from the accident where she was a passenger. She is one of six magistrate judges in San Juan County and handles primarily . . . you guessed it . . . drunk driving cases.
Yazzie is charged with a felony DWI as well as child abuse, providing alcohol to a minor, driving with a suspended or revoked license, driving with an open container, careless driving and refusing to submit to a blood-alcohol test. That should immobilize him for a while.
Yassie was allegedly driving drunk with a 15-year-old female and an 18-year-old male in the car . . . and an empty bottle of vodka and a case of beer.
Source: Daily Times
bettykath,
My ex-wife used to pour out my home brewed beer. I said, do you know how many hours it took me to make that? She said she had fun pouring it out.
She didn’t find all the beer because I had it stored in different places. When she saw me drinking beer she said, I wish I had found that too. And she isn’t even Mormon.
Matt, You can’t “make” someone stop drinking. They have to do it.
To alcoholics, one drink is to many, and one drink is never enough. It is a disease. The best one can hope for is to become a recovering alcoholic. There is no guarantee that one will never take another drink. One day at a time. Yesterday was a different day Tomorrow is another day. Only today.
Blouise,
Why didn’t you make your very good friend stop drinking?
The drunks will never catch the TEXTERS, who create most of the accidents.
But, since the TEXTERS have religion on their side, their killings are civil, while those who kill using devil juice and who only hold third place, will bear the brunt of the righteous indignation of the exceptionalsts.
Shhhhhhh ….
“So, the more one drinks, the poorer impulse control becomes. That creates a major problem for both treatment and law enforcement. The longer time goes on, the less cognitive function there is to work with.” (OS)
I am familiar with these studies. A very good friend slowly lost brain function due to excessive drinking and died at the age of 52.
Frankly, I am so sorry.
I agree with you. I thihnk it is premeditated when you get into a car while buzzed or drunk. If you don;t cause trouble you lucked out but you knew well that getting in that car drunk could well result in hurting someone or worse.
Maybe hitting a judge instead of just ‘regular folk’ will get him a sentence significant enough to make his reconsider his choices and recovery.
Bettykath, my friend would take it to the next level. Every purchase would have to be carded. Every single purchase, no matter age, or whether you just bought a beer at the bar fifteen minutes ago. He suggests serious penalties for sellers that are more than just a slap on the wrist. Using or making a counterfeit card would carry an automatic prison sentence.
Personally, I think it is an interesting concept that ought to be explored.
OS, Interesting idea but most states already require an ID card be presented to prove legal age to buy booze. Anyone who sells to underage people is subject to prosecution if caught. Teens (and younger) get access to alcoholic beverages all the time. It’s a deterrent but not always successful.
There was a research study that came out in the 1970s. I learned this from a prominent neuropsychologist who was known to drink some himself, and he said the study scared him badly. The study found that every time you get drunk, you lose an average of 100,000 brain cells. ETOH is an organic poison–why do you think it kills germs? Ingest enough of it and you will end up with a much smaller an less functional brain. The first part of the brain to be damaged is the part that develops last in the frontal lobes and tertiary areas of the parietal lobes. Those areas are the ones that manage impulse control.
So, the more one drinks, the poorer impulse control becomes. That creates a major problem for both treatment and law enforcement. The longer time goes on, the less cognitive function there is to work with. Here are comparison photos of a normal brain and an alcoholic brain. Both these subjects are 43 years old:
http://www.psych.ndsu.nodak.edu/nawrot/Courses/465Projects11/Korsakoffs/Korsakoffs.vs.alcoholic%20dementia_files/image005.jpg
One of my geek friends came up with an idea. Everyone should have a license to purchase alcoholic beverages. Something like a drivers license, and it would have to be renewed every so often. If it is hole-punched by a court clerk, then anyone who sells a alcohol to a convicted drunk or anyone on parole/probation would be subject to fines and possible jail time themselves. You have to show your card in order to purchase anything from a beer to a mixed drink, to a fifth of cheap whiskey.
Alcoholism is a serious disease. Native Americans are more susceptible to it and treatment possibilities tend to be fewer. Certainly Yazzie needs to be taken off the streets and removing his license has already been tried. Maybe some time in jail will help him dry out. If the res has rehab facilities, let’s hope he goes. Most likely he will drink until he dies. Sad.
Lived in Albuquerque for about 3 1/2 years. This is nothing new.
The article is a bit incoherent. The judge is a predator. Yassie needs a change of venue.
Oh my…..
My cousin was murdered by a drunk driver, around 2 in the afternoon. He had been celebrating his release from prison for a previous drunken vehicular murder.
While I think drunken murderers who use cars should get the same penalty as sober ones that use guns, knives or baseball bats I don’t think that will solve the problem. I think we need to make drunk driving so socially unacceptable that those who do are associated with attempted murder since thats what they are doing.
Isn’t it in the Constitution – Drinking & Driving is a 21st Century right (according to the automobile and alcoholic beverage industries,) AND he didn’t kill anybody THIS time…
So, are you saying he missed that judge all those previous times, but is a diehard who just would not give up until he got the judge?
This is a menace and needs to be put away for a long time.