<p>People who post questions often get unasked for advice. Sometimes that advice may be very helpful and be about important things that the OP had never thought to consider. If the OP doesn’t find such advice helpful, she always is free to ignore it. Sometimes such advice may even be useful to the members who are in similar situations or will be in similar situations. Those are the plusses and minuses of using anonymous message boards to get advice about one’s life.</p>
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<p>Momofthreeboys - Actually if you loook at momofWildChild’s posts, she does not, She is arguing that someone driving just a little over the legal limit is not putting anyone in danger. Sorry, but that is not taking driving under the influence seriously. There are reasons why we have legal limits. Above those limits, one’s abilities are impaired. I don’t care if you are at .08 or .18 or higher - if you are over the legal limit you should not be driving and if you do drive, you put your life and that of others on the road in danger.</p>
<p>The fact remains that for many people who have commented that the OP’s kid may in fact, only have a “technical” DUI, the law does not make that distinction. Whether or not the kid was impaired, has a substance issue, should be taught a lesson, should go to CC and do penance-- not relevant.</p>
<p>But for god’s sake, don’t let your son show up in a criminal proceeding in a court of law without a lawyer. You will have plenty of time to teach him a lesson, and plenty of time to extract the money and your pound of flesh. But he needs a lawyer and frankly, it will be money well spent.</p>
<p>Once you’ve paid the retainer, you can ask how to handle the college application issue- it won’t cost you a nickle more. But to worry about the applications when your son has this looming in front of him is a little short-sighted. A good lawyer will advise you on all the other steps to take-- counseling, rehab, volunteering in a rehab hospital to see people who are paralyzed after their bikes or cars were hit by a drunken driver-- the gamut.</p>
<p>And I think people who make distinctions between “technical” DUI’s and the other kind should also spend time in a rehab hospital but that’s my own soapbox and not relevant to the OP. You can weigh 120 lbs or 350 lbs and frankly, once you’re behind the wheel I’ll thank you not to drink, not to text, and not to try and eat your lunch while on the interstate.</p>
<p>While not directly responding to the OP, I’d like to give him/her support in trying to figure out the right course of action to ensure the best outcome for his kid, both behaviorally and educationally.</p>
<p>As an avowed relativist, I believe the circumstances of the infraction absolutely matter as to what the consequences should be, legal and otherwise. No one here is in a position to know the circumstances and therefore make an absolute judgement as to the appropriate penalties. </p>
<p>And as far as his future prospects, I wouldn’t be too worried, after all, our recent past president had a DUI conviction and that didn’t seem to be a drag on his career.</p>
<p>But without having further details, I will put in my two cents and say that if a DUI convict at age 30 can go on to become president in our society, I think we can have a little understanding of the 17-year-old with a similar mistake who just wants to go to college.</p>
<p>A DUI arrest is very serious. I never said otherwise. My kids knew all along if there was ever a drinking/driving situation there would be no more car. Period. </p>
<p>berryberry is imposing his/her own fabricated scenario on the forum. I am simply pointing out that we do not know that anyone was endangered. The kid might have been driving down the block where there were no other cars and no pedestrians. Just the police officer. 
Doesn’t make the DUI arrest less serious, but I’m not willing to send the kid to the slammer just yet.</p>
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<p>Except this kid may have been at .03-not impaired at all.</p>
<p>In our state, anything other than .00 for a driver under 21 is considered impaired. Period.</p>
<p>Again, get a lawyer. Do not be penny wise and pound foolish. This is the time you really do need one to understand your S’s options.</p>
<p>Ditto CountingDown for my state, and in my state a DUI stays on your license forever and cannot be expunged which is a good enough reason to hire an attorney …lots and lots of very good reasons to have an attorney no matter where you live.</p>
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<p>Agree… The question of college applications become somewhat secondary to what is immediately in front of him. However, I think some posts are “anticipating” that the parent who puts college concerns ahead of personal and social responsibility is missing the boat. Having said this, there is no indication that this is what will happen in this case, whether the kid was falling down drunk or had a beer four hours before he got in the car. However, what I thnk we have all heard and/or seen from other parents over the years is that the family often doesn’t impose consequences regardless of whether or not the kid is legally not found guilty. Not good for anyone but perhaps the reason why people are quick with judgement. </p>
<p>Frankly, I would try very hard to make sure I was the one punishing my kid for his mistakes instead of the courts. DUI fines and fees can run thousands upon thousands of dollars. and technically, only punishes the parents who are writing the checks. So I would work like a dickens to make sure my kid was taken care of legally but I would still lower the boom at home. I don’t have to agree or support the behavior in order to try and save my kid from the wolves.</p>
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<p>MOWC - au contraire. There is nothing fabricated about anything I posted. After all - I am quoting YOUR own words where time and again, you consistently made light of driving under the influence if it was just a little over the limit. It is unfathomable of you to continue to say “we do not know that anyone was endangered”.</p>
<p>Anytime anyone over the legal limit gets behind the wheel of a car - they endanger themselves and anyone else they may see on the road. So even using your extreme of a trafficless, pedestrian free street - a driver over the legal limit endangers themselves and the police officer who stops them at a bare minimum.</p>
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<p>Wrong - if .03 is over the legal limit in that state - he is impaired. There is a reason some states have lower limits for drivers under 21 or 18. Young drivers are less experienced and statistically worse drivers than adult driversl - so their margin for error is less. Hence even a lower level impairment than that of adults may cause a young driver to put himself and others in danger</p>
<p>berryberry- Your incorrect assumptions are tiresome. There is NO evidence that anyone was in danger. What the kid did was wrong in many respects, but you can’t keep inventing the fact pattern. Did you flunk your logic course?</p>
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<p>I saw young people drive at ranges of .03-.08 (my estimation) probably over a hundred times when I was in high school. Heck, I did it myself plenty of times. There is almost no impairment at all at that level-even amongst young people. After witnessing it countless times over a period of two years, what were the end results? A grand total of no accidents, no DUIs, and no foul, which is better than the stone-cold sober people I knew did in the same period. I even knew of several cases in which friends of mine were pulled over after having a drink or two, and the police let them go on their way because they didn’t want to ruin their lives over a law that makes no sense. </p>
<p>Don’t get me wrong, I strongly believe that it should be illegal for people under 21 to drink and drive, even if they blow less than a .08. I don’t believe that anyone should be able to get a DUI for blowing less than a .08, however. It should be a ticket-underage consumption, perhaps, plus whatever caused them to get pulled over in the first place (speeding, seatbelt, whatever). </p>
<p>When I was in high school the state alcohol agents came to my school and gave a “warning” speech about the dangers of alcohol. The agent speaking specifically stated that designated drivers who remained sober would most likely be charged with aiding and abetting a minor if they were pulled over and underage drinkers were in the car. End result was that the DD’s that we did have backed out, and people ended up driving drunk. The bogus attitude that many of us have towards drinking in this country is probably responsible for a good portion of our DUI problems.</p>
<p>I thought this thread was about how the OP should handle their kid’s college apps. Don’t remember seeing a question regarding the heinousness of drunk driving…</p>
<p>…or the wisdom of going without a lawyer. Still, we CCers are not above giving opinions about other related topics that we think would be useful to OP or which catch our fancy.</p>
<p>Well, the lawyer-issue is directly tied into the handling of the applications because the determining factor is whether there is a CONVICTION. A lawyer can help avoid a conviction and help the OP’s son navigate the court system.</p>
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UNLESS you carry a CDL - then here in PA it’s a .04. CDL drivers charged with a first-offense DUI in Pennsylvania are faced with a possible one-year CDL suspension, even if they were off-duty and driving a non-commercial vehicle at the time of their arrest and even if they are accepted into the ARD program. </p>
<p>I, too, echo the sentiment that the first thing to do is contact an attorney.</p>
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<p>Or to drag out the soapbox to persuade and secretely hope that a kid would never inevitably end up at their kids’ school and then corrupt said kids with drinking when THEIR kids would never have touched the stuff otherwise (but of course cannot be persuaded by peer pressure). :)</p>
<p>MOWC - are you really this obtuse. You want to keep pretending that people can be driving under the influence without putting anyone in danger. that is a flawed and incorrect belief. The only one who has failed logic class is you</p>
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<p>I was waiting for this from you. The grand old me and my friends have driven under the influence lots of time with no one being hurt. All I have to say is you and your friends and both very foolish in your actions and beliefs and very lucky with the results to date. I guarantee you though that your luck will not continue if you persist in driving under the influence</p>