“Mixing Alcohol with Diet Soda May Make You Drunker”

This is the title of a new NPR report about a recent study done on the effects of mixing alcohol with diet soda rather than sugared soda. Author Allison Aubrey posted the following information on the NPR “insider’s blog:”

“Alcohol, consumed with a diet mixer, results in higher (BrAC) Breath Alcohol Concentrations as compared to the same amount of alcohol consumed with a sugar-sweetened mixer,” says Cecile Marczinski, a cognitive psychologist who authored the new study.

Why? Turns out that sugar slows down the absorption of alcohol from the stomach to the bloodstream.

Drunk? Just Ask Your Ice Cube

Created by a student at MIT, glowing ice cubes are now able to calculate how much you are drinking and respond by changing color: green after sip one, yellow after sip two, eventually changing to red signaling you should slow your alcohol intake.  The circuit in the ice cube keeps track of time and the number of sips you take.  This allows the ice cube to, according to reports, reliably guess your level of intoxication.  Should you drink too much, the ice cube will send a text message to your close friends.  What will they think of next?

Have a DUI/DWI/OUI related question? Stephen L. Jones is available 24-hours a day. Please call: (617) 851-7153.

Proposed Mississippi DUI Law Change Would Allow Online MASEP Classes

Mississippi law requires that drivers convicted of DUI First Offense “attend and complete an alcohol safety education program.”  Mississippi Code Annotated section 63-11-30 not only includes MASEP as a sentencing requirement, but it also establishes MASEP completion as a prerequisite for obtaining driver’s license reinstatement or a hardship license pursuant to the 90-day administrative suspension provision.  Clearly, then, MASEP is unavoidable for first offenders convicted under Mississippi’s DUI statute.

Authority for the MASEP program is found in Mississippi Code Annotated section 63-11-32.  In addition to providing for assessments against the offender, section 63-11-32 requires that “the program shall consist of a minimum of ten (10) hours of instruction.”  And in its current form, MASEP classes are carried out through in-person, weekend classes offered at 41 locations across the state.  For more information on MASEP, see the MASEP website:http://www.ssrc.msstate.edu/divisions/masep/

Cops: Drunk man's car goes airborne with child inside

Long Island news from Eyewitness News

SPEONK -- A Long Island man has been arrested on a DWI charge after

police say his car became airborne when he failed to navigate a turn with his 2-year-old child inside.

Southampton Town police say Timothy Shaw of Rocky Point was arrested in Speonk on Thursday.

They say he was speeding on Montauk Highway when he struck an embankment and his Subaru Forrester became airborne. The vehicle cleared a four-foot residential fence and struck a utility pole head on before coming to rest in the backyard of a house.

Police said Shaw and the child were not hurt.

Shaw also was charged with endangering the welfare of a child and violating "Leandra's Law" for driving while intoxicated with a child less than 16 years of age.

Limo driver charged in deadly Brooklyn accident

NEW YORK (WABC) -- A limousine driver who was involved in a deadly accident in Brooklyn has been arrested and charged in the death of a passenger.

Investigators say 50-year-old Yan Krainert was behind the limo with a 53-year-old man when he realized the car was in gear.

He jumped back in to stop the car from rolling, but accidentally hit the gas instead of the brakes.

The passenger was pinned under a second car and later died.

Krainert was charged with vehicular manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and drunk driving.

DWI suspect tries to get out of trouble

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Albuquerque police make thousands of DWI arrests every year. Some of them take a lot of work and are just downright strange.

You didn't have to be a DWI expert to see Misty Yates would probably fail a Breathalyzer. And while she even gets the cops laughing at one point there's nothing funny about her being behind the wheel.

From the second an Albuquerque cop spots Yates he knows things aren't right.

A tipster alerted cops to Yates at the Family Dollar near San Antonio and San Pedro earlier this month. It's around four in the afternoon.

“Have you been drinking?” the officer asked.

“Not since 7 o'clock this morning,” Yates said.

“Well, your voice is really slurring and your eyes are...” but before the officer can get the rest out Yates interrupts, saying, “I am diabetic.”

She starts in with the excuses right away. When another officer tries to get her to blow into a field Breathalyzer she tells him she’s got pneumonia and is a smoker.

When cops ask her to get out and perform field tests one of the officers can't help but laugh at Yates. Even Yates seems to notice it and starts smiling during the tests.

When it comes time to walk the line, Yates has another excuse; the boots she’s wearing. They let her take off the boots, but the antics don't stop.

When it’s her turn to perform the test she tells the officers, “Lord, you're making it hard on me.”

She doesn't do too well on the test.

When the officer arrests her, Yates says, “Really? I can't have somebody come get me? They are just two blocks away. Please work with me on this, officer.”

Inside her truck, a pint of whiskey.

Linda Atkinson with the Victims' Rights Project says even though it may seem shocking to see someone this blitzed at this time of day, “A lot of our high (blood-alcohol content) offenders are getting arrested or in crashes middle of the afternoon.”

In fact, she says that's when the most serious alcoholics are on the road, “for the high BAC drivers in the analysis that we did it was one and two in the afternoon.”

Since Yates had so many excuses, cops have paramedics check her out and even let her do the field tests again.

Yates was charged with aggravated DWI because cops say her blood-alcohol level was at least twice the legal limit. This was Yates first DWI.

Her DWI arrest was just one of forty-three APD made over the first weekend of this month.

15 People Busted For Underage Drinking At Middletown Party

Several people face charges after Middletown police bust an underage drinking party. The arrests were made Tuesday morning at two neighboring apartments in the 1800 block of Howard. Local 12 reporter Larry Davis has more on why police are growing concerned about the latest incident involving teens and booze.

A neighbor called police complaining about the underage party. When officers arrived on the scene, they rounded up 15 people under the age of 21, including two juveniles. Police say two other juveniles took off and were never caught.

"I heard the beer cans last night hit the road." And those beer cans were still littering Howard Avenue where Middletown Police busted up the underage party early this morning. Donna Runyon lives across the street. Runyon says, "They were doing a lot of cussing and partying and running up and down the street here."

Police have charged 19-year-old Charles Allen with violating the city's keg law and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. "I hate it, I really do."

Kenny Linton owns the Howard Avenue property and was shocked to hear what happened. Linton says, "I know it's real bad. You've got underage kids drinking, and it's a total surprise to me what happened."

Linton says Allen lived in this efficiency and was remodeling an upstairs apartment to move into. Last night's arrests come just weeks after a 14-year-old boy was struck by a car on Oxford State Road. Police say he had been drinking and was seen staggering in the middle of the road when he was hit. Fortunately, the teen was not seriously hurt.

Middletown police say underage drinking is a problem that has to be taken seriously. Middletown Lt. John Magill says, "I think a lot of people look at that as harmless or kids are going to be kids, but the truth of the matter is we do have keg laws, and the bottom line is there is a danger to the safety of children and underage persons."

"Kids these days have no idea, they have not the slightest idea anymore. It's sad, and it's scary."

The landlord said Allen had a job, paid his rent and was helping fix up the other apartment that ended up being used for a party. He says Allen will be evicted, and from now on, will be careful about who he rents to.

Even though he was arrested just this morning, Allen's case has already been heard in municipal court. He pleaded guilty to the keg law violation and to one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Allen was given a suspended jail sentence, fined 350 dollars and ordered to pay court costs