Letter of the Week

I’m sure the Daily Pilot won’t allow me to nag them forever regarding

their systematic publishing of names of persons accused of driving under

the influence of alcohol, to the exclusion of those accused of other

offenses. In my recently published letter to the Pilot [“Feedback: Why

print DUI arrests, but no other offenses,” Dec. 21], I had asked for a

“thoughtful explanation” to justify this practice. The editor’s note

underneath my letter explaining that it’s because DUI can lead to death

is embarrassingly shallow.

If that were the sole reason then we would see other law breakers’

names published. Red-light runners endanger lives, big time, but you have

no systematic need to embarrass them in print. Let’s face it. Isn’t there

a “moralistic” tone involved when we speak of drunks?

Many DUI arrestees are addicted to a substance that impairs their

judgment. If newspaper editors subscribed to the theory that alcoholism

is an illness, then it isn’t a moral issue.

Soccer moms, students and other users of residential streets who storm

through intersections under the influence of nothing more than an

attitude problem and the self-absorbed belief that the whole world is

about them and where they are going are more deserving of having their

sense of morality questioned.

So keep on publishing your list of those accused of DUI if you must.

Just try getting honest about why you do it.

GARY E. DRIES

Costa Mesa