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DUIIs may get the boot By Alberto Enriquez Booting cars -- once the bane of Medford's parking ticket scofflaws -- could return to Jackson County as a tool to keep habitual drunken drivers off the roads. As proposed, a new ordinance would authorize Jackson County Court judges to order either the impoundment or the booting of a habitual offender's car by county probation officers. The Oregon Legislature authorized such impoundment and immobilization programs in 1997 by enacting new provisions within the state vehicle code. Impounded cars would be towed and stored at the owner's expense or sold. Booted cars would be immobilized in place with tire locks. Violators would be charged a $75 boot installation fee and a $30 monthly monitoring fee while the cars are booted at the owner's home. The Jackson County Board of Commissioners will hold a public hearing and first reading of the proposed ordinance at their regular board meeting 9:30 a.m. Wednesday. Although not intended as a single solution to drunken driving, similar programs in Portland, Deschutes County and Santa Barbara have achieved reductions in drunk driving, Jackson County Commissioner Jack Walker said. "It's intended as just one more ability for a judge to keep people from driving drunk over and over again," Walker said. "It's at the discretion of the judge -- just one more sanction." Medford Police Lt. Ron Norris said he favored towing over booting, but he plans to attend the county public hearing to offer testimony on behalf of the city that it is extremely difficult to keep a drunken driver off the road. "It used to be with a DWS (driving while suspended) infraction, you would issue the cite, you would drive off, and then they would drive off," Norris said. "I've had people with 40 or 50 DWS cites. With towing, you've got that vehicle. There's no messing around. If friends lend them a car, we take it, too. They find out paying $300 to $400 is not the way to go. Norris said the city of Medford is expected to have impounded 1,640 cars and trucks in 1998 by year's end. About 440 of those vehicles will be auctioned for unpaid fees. City officials are considering establishing a municipal impoundment lot which could bring in an estimated $250,000 annually, Norris said. Asked about the city's experience with booting in the '80s, when parking patrols immobilized cars with tire locks as hefty as boat anchors, Norris said a few determined parking ticket scofflaws did manage to remove the boots, but not without damaging their cars and/or the tirelock, incurring additional expense. The idea of booting cars is not new -- and is enjoying somewhat of a renaissance. Eddy Wilson, inventor of the "Pitbull" tire lock, says his patent search turned up tire locks going back to 1936. Unlike the bulky boots of bygone days, Wilson says, his contemporary design weighs less than 10 pounds, clips on like half a handcuff, and slips on and off in seconds without need of lug wrenches. Wilson says his New Mexico-based company sold its first such lock in May 1997 and has since attracted customers worldwide, including one American district attorney who ordered them powdercoated pink and baby blue -- to clip on the cars of deadbeat dads. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA