Sacramento – Sacramento is the latest city to be considering what many call, a “crash tax.” It’s a product of the recession. More and more fire departments are charging out-of-town drivers for cleaning up car crashes.

“We’re not reinventing the wheel, ” said Captain Jonathan Burgess with the Sacramento City Fire Department. “It’s already being done so we are following suit, with the economic climate we may see a lot of departments going this way.”

The Sacramento City Fire Department responds to about 3,600 car accidents a year and charging non-residents a response fee ranging from $400 to $2,200 dollars could bring in a million dollars a year.

“Half the people here are probably non-residents, that’s a lot of money,” said Sacramento resident, Nick Burruel.

It’s a growing business for companies that do the bill collecting. They get a percentage of the money collected from insurance companies and individuals. Some of those companies actually approach fire departments with the idea.

“If you’re crashing here I think you should be part of paying the payroll here,” said Sacramento resident, Wayne Adkins.

But Sacramento resident, David Nelson, disagrees, “don’t we pay taxes for those guys to make enough money to take care of everybody? We pay taxes to have things for us when we need them.”

Tourist, David Carson, found the proposed ordinance offensive, “It doesn’t seem right, we’re all taxpayers. We just spent a thousand dollars here.” Carson and his family are visiting from Kentucky.

A city council committee will take up the “crash tax” tomorrow. Representatives from the insurance industry tell FOX40 News they’ll be there to testify against the “crash tax” because they believe this trend to charge non-residents for accident clean-up will raise everyone’s insurance rates.

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Where so many others have found despair, Dominic Cooke found opportunity.

Opportunity to help and opportunity to heal.

As he lay in a Sacramento hospital room following a car accident in December 2001, paralyzed from the waist down, the former Jesuit High School and Cal rugby star couldn’t imagine life in a wheelchair.

Now, from his wheelchair, he’s making a bigger impact than he ever could have on the pitch.

On Saturday, during the 37th Eppie’s Great Race, Cooke, 30, will compete with fellow paraplegic Matt Strugar-Fritsch, 27, and Jon Bik, a 36-year-old above-the-knee amputee, as “Team TFO.”

“After my accident, exercise was the best remedy,” Cooke said. “It has been the best thing for me.”

Since his accident, Cooke has participated in myriad activities one wouldn’t normally associate with a paraplegic, such as skydiving, paragliding and swimming.

“I’m always looking for things people tell me I can’t do,” Cooke said.

TFO, which stands for Try for Others, is the nonprofit organization Cooke formed in 2005 to support athletes who have suffered life-altering injuries and sponsor them for adaptive athletic competition. Money is raised through private donations, sponsorships and the TFO clothing line.

“There are two stages to recovery: immediate assistance (in the hospital),” Cooke said, “but when you get out, the recovery truly begins. That’s where Team TFO comes in.”

TFO is sponsoring four other athletes with physical disabilities in Saturday’s race.

“It’s a great thing that (Cooke) has done,” race founder Eppie Johnson said. “If he’s got the energy to put that together, I have to give him credit.”

Eppie’s Great Race, which takes place on the American River Parkway between Sunrise Boulevard and Sacramento State’s Guy West Bridge, consists of a 5.82-mile run, a 12.5-mile bicycle ride and a 6.35-mile paddle.

The race will feature more than 2,000 athletes as organizers anticipate an all-time participation record. The previous record was set in 1988, when 2,006 people participated in the no-swim triathlon.

“Five-point-eight (miles) is going to kick my (butt),” said Bik, who will run the first stage. “But if it raises awareness for this cause, it’s worth it.”

In January 2005, Bik fell 40 feet from a power pole while working for the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, tearing his left ACL and meniscus while his right leg was dislocated at the knee. Following five unsuccessful surgeries, the right leg was amputated above the knee.

Ten months after the accident, Bik, sporting a prosthetic running leg, participated in the Run to Feed the Hungry. In 2007 and 2008, he finished second in the Triathlon World Championships in the above-the-knee amputee division and won the U.S. title in 2008.

Strugar-Fritsch shattered two vertebrae in his back after falling from a 10-foot drop while mountain biking in Michigan on Aug. 30, 2003.

Cooke believes that Eppie’s Great Race, which has always included an adaptive division, is the perfect avenue to promote TFO’s cause.

“We want to integrate adaptive sports everywhere,” Cooke said. “We want to show people that these are athletes just like you. They just have a different situation.”

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SACRAMENTO – In his first television interview since a DUI conviction that led to his public outing as a gay man, California Senator Roy Ashburn apologized to the gay community and acknowledged that he lived a double life.

“The hypocrisy is true, I lived a double life,” Asburn said in an interview broadcast by News10 Monday evening. “The Republican Party is the party that believes in limited government and individual freedom. The government shouldn’t get involved in private lives.”

Ashburn was arrested for a driving while intoxicated offense March 3rd. The arrest took place just blocks from a popular gay nightclub, and a male passenger reported in the vehicle led to speculation about Ashburn’s sexual orientation.
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FOLSOM, CA – Four teens were injured, three seriously, in a rollover crash in Folsom late Wednesday night in which police say alcohol and drugs appeared to play a role.

Officer Jason Browning with the Folsom Police Department said officers responded to several calls received at 11:40 p.m. that a sports utility vehicle had overturned on Heritage Place. Browning said officers found three teens, two boys and a girl, who had been ejected from a crushed 1997 red Ford Explorer. Browning said the driver, a 17-year-old boy, was still belted in the driver’s seat clutching the steering wheel.

The four youths were transported to area hospitals for medical care.

As officers investigated, they found broken bottles of whiskey, marijuana and marijuana paraphernalia scattered along the path the SUV took as it rolled several times on vacant, sloped home lots, Browning said.

The Folsom Police Major Accident Reconstruction Team was called out and determined the SUV had been speeding on northbound Heritage Place when the driver appeared to swerve onto the sidewalk on the east side of the road and lost control, Browning said. Tire marks suggested the SUV then crossed over the center of the road and plowed over the sidewalk on the west side and down the empty lots.

Browning said the driver, who did not have a license and appeared to be the only one wearing a seatbelt, suffered minor injuries. The teen was arrested for driving under the influence causing serious injury and booked into Sacramento Juvenile Hall.

Due to the ages of the teens, 16 and 17 years old, their names were not released.

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The Citrus Heights police department will conduct a DUI and driver’s license checkpoint at Madison Ave. and San Juan Ave. on Friday. The checkpoint, which will run from 7:30 p.m. to 2 a.m., is part of an effort by the police department to lower the number of deaths and injuries caused by drunk driving, according to a press release from the department.

Several police departments have the same goal in mind. The Sacramento Police Department held a checkpoint Friday in Del Paso Heights. Five arrests were made, department officials said.

On Sunday, the holiday itself, three people were arrested for drunken driving in Sacramento. The arrested included a driver who sped away after getting into a fight and a driver who hit a parked car and then crashed into a garage.

In 2008, nearly 8,000 people were reported injured or killed during the months of June, July and August.

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SACRAMENTO — Seattle Seahawks running back Quinton Ganther of Richmond was arrested Saturday morning on suspicion of DUI in Sacramento.

Ganther, a John F. Kennedy High of Richmond graduate, was booked into the Sacramento County main jail at 6:50 a.m., according to the Seattle Times. The California High Patrol arrested Ganther around 3:15 a.m. in downtown Sacramento.

Ganther, who turns 26 on July 15, joined the Seahawks as a free agent during the offseason after playing last season with the Washington Redskins. The Oakland-born Ganther is expected to compete for a role as a backup running back and special teams player. Ganther spent his first three seasons with the Tennessee Titans as a role player.

His best performance as a pro came Dec. 13, 2009 while returning home to Oakland. Ganther rushed for a career-high 50 yards and scored the first two touchdowns of his career during the Redskins’ 34-13 victory over the Raiders.

The Seahawks released a statement on his arrest: “We are aware of the situation, and in the process of gathering information. No further comment at this time.”

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Q You have discussed the problem of recidivism among drunken drivers, concluding that harsher punishments would solve the problem. It turns out there is another way. In New Mexico, there is a program that has dramatically reduced the rate of recidivism as well as crashes, injuries and fatalities due to drunken driving. Courts can order the installation of an ignition interlock on cars of first-time convicted drunken drivers. The interlock uses a Breathalyzer to determine if the car can be operated. I think California is long overdue for this program.

Dan Arias

Santa Cruz

A And one is coming. First-time and repeat DUI offenders in Alameda, Los Angeles, Sacramento and Tulare counties must have an interlock device installed on vehicles they own or operate under a new law that takes effect Thursday. It’s a five-year pilot program that prohibits a driver from being issued a license following a suspension or revocation for any DUI violation until that person provides proof that an ignition interlock device has been installed. These drivers will not be able to start their vehicles if there is even a slight trace of alcohol in their blood — even from as little as one drink. More than two dozen states require these devices for repeat offenders, and 11 others require them for anyone convicted of driving drunk. These laws are credited with reducing repeat DUI offenses by 70 percent in West Virginia and 60 percent in New Mexico.

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Already arrested for DUI in Sacramento, California?

After two DUIs, Jose Angel Becerra had two options. One was to have his license suspended.

The other was to change his life so he could continue to drive his 10-year-old son to school.

He chose his 10-year-old son.

Months after he earned his second alcohol-related conviction, Becerra voluntarily installed an ignition interlock device. He hasn’t had a drink since.

Beginning July 1, people convicted of a DUI in Tulare County won’t get the choice. They will be required by law to install the equipment.

The pilot program focuses on counties with high numbers of drinking problems. Tulare County was most likely chosen because it adds a rural setting with high DUI conviction rates, Department of Motor Vehicles officials say.

The law also affects Sacramento, Los Angeles and Alameda counties.

“Alcohol has been around for a very long time, and we are still trying to find a way to handle it,” said Superior Court Judge Walter Gorelick. “The problem now is people are getting into cars with the potential of killing someone.”

Becerra contacted the DMV earlier this year and decided to install the Smart Start device in his Nissan in April. The Avenal man says he is happy the program is starting, saying he hopes others will learn from their mistakes.

“This has changed everything for me,” Becerra said. “I will install one in my son’s car when he can drive so I can sleep at night and feel safe.”

The DMV estimates that more than 3,000 offenders will be subject to the new law in the first year in Tulare County. That is more than 30 times the number of offenders who currently have ignition interlock devices installed.

It’s estimated that more than 45,000 Californians will be required to install devices in the first year of the pilot law, which runs through 2016.

The question is, will the device work to deter drinking and driving?

“The alcohol classes don’t seem to work that much. We get a lot of repeat offenders,” said supervising probation officer Chris Dushane. “But this might actually work. It’s not a bad thing.”

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North Bay Assemblyman Jared Huffman is sponsoring a bill to get tough with repeat drunk drivers. “Melody’s Law” is named for Melody Osheroff, a 9 year-old Novato girl who was run down and killed by an intoxicated motorcyclist with eight previous DUI convictions. Huffman’s law would prevent anyone with three convictions from owning or registering a car.

It’s odd. In Florida they are again making it possible for a fourth time offender to regain license reinstatement, but in California they are trying to make it impossible for a 3rd time offender to drive again. Florida lawmakers along with MADD’s support felt that when a drivers license is taken forever they will almost always drive illegally and drunk again. The new law requires the installation of an ignition interlock device.