Fatal DUI crashes bring way different sentences; what’s up with that?

You can’t blame KXLY’s Robyn Nance for wondering about the sentencing in two similar DUI cases. A drunk, speeding at 120 mph, kills 16-year-old Bailey Roach and severely injures his friend Taigen Balbi in Spokane County – and gets the maximum sentence, about 10 ½ years. Another drunk, driving the wrong way on Highway 95, kills Spokesman-Review contractor Michael Baroni, 33, and his two young daughters, Madilyn, 8, and Molly, 6, in Kootenai County – and gets a sentence of one to seven years, with only one year fixed. Facebooks Robyn: “I get that every case is different and there are intricacies, but, is this an Idaho/WA thing? Is it because of the drivers’ backgrounds? Ethnicities? What? I honestly want to know.” Robyn’s grandfather was killed by a drunken driver. So her questions should carry extra weight.

Time flies

Thirteen years ago today, I started Huckleberries Online with a note to readers that they should get ready for a wild ride. The first year wasn’t that wild until the newspaper added a comment section to the blog. Then, I officially entered a cyber world of trolls, keyboard commandos and unrepentant partisans who won’t say anything nice about the other side. I’ve been called every name imaginable by individuals who couldn’t behave and were tossed in my “cooler.” I’ve survived without suffering an ulcer. I’ve had fun along the way as Huckleberries Online has grown to an annual page-view count of about 2.5 million. Now, the blog has given birth to a four-times-per-week print column. The ride will end, I suppose, when the music in my head stops. But that won’t happen soon.

Huckleberries

Poet’s Corner: “The hot dog’s largely tripe and fat/with snouts and tails and such as that;/because of this some folks eschew them,/but I’m quite pleased to barbeque them” – a poem titled simply “Hot Dogs” that can be found in “The Bard of Sherman Avenue: Poems by Tom Wobker” (available at Well-Read Moose in Coeur d’Alene and Aunties book store in Spokane) … Don Sausser, of Coeur d’Alene, is a no-frills, retired kind of guy. So it wasn’t a surprise that he took his bride of 56 years for a burger to celebrate Valentine’s Day Tuesday. However, it was surprising that he picked McDonalds rather than the customary Hudson’s Hamburgers … No, Huckleberry Friend Emily Walton, Presidents’ Day doesn’t mean that you get a new president. Nice try, though … Poll: My Huckleberries blog crowd is split re: who’s to blame for the 1992 tragic shootout at Ruby Ridge that left three dead. Forty-two percent said the Weaver parents and the federal government were equally to blame. Another 29 percent placed the blame on Vicki and Randy Weaver. Twenty-five percent blamed the gummint.

Parting Shot

Melissa Davlin, co-host of Idaho Public Television’s “Idaho Reports,” had fun tweeting political Valentine’s messages Tuesday. Such as: “If you’ve heard I’m into you, trust that it’s not fake news.” And: “You used civil asset forfeiture to steal my heart.” And: “The only human-related cause of rising temperature in this room is you.” What? You think journalists don’t have a sense of humor simply because President Trump hates us?