Thu, Nov 26 2009
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Published November 22, 2007 12:44 am - DODGE CITY, Kan. — Dodge City commissioners are facing increased pressure from constituents to keep up with the Joneses. In this case, it’s Garden City. Kansas: Dodge City eyes ordinance targeting unlicensed drivers The Associated Press
DODGE CITY, Kan. — Dodge City commissioners are facing increased pressure from constituents to keep up with the Joneses. In this case, it’s Garden City. Under a new ordinance in Garden City, those convicted of driving without a valid driver’s license could be fined up to $1,000 and imprisoned for up to six months. Repeat offenders would face mandatory jail time, specifically five days in jail for a second offense. The jail time steadily increases with each conviction, up to 270 days by the sixth conviction. Shortly after the ordinance passed and began to receive press, Dodge City commissioners said they began receiving phone calls demanding to know why Dodge couldn’t approve a similar statute. City officials have said they will consider it, but there are several concerns. Much to Garden City Mayor Reynaldo Mesa’s surprise, he said, he faced a huge division between those on both sides who made it an ethnic issue. “That wasn’t the point of it at all,” Mesa said. “We simply noticed a problem with uninsured and unlicensed drivers and wanted to combat it.” Armando Minjarez, the southwest Kansas organizer for Sunflower Community Action, a low-income advocacy group, said his organization understood Garden City’s ordinance wasn’t targeted specifically at immigrants. “Our concern is that not only is the immigrant community hardest hit,” He said, “It will have larger effects on the community as a whole.” According to Kansas law, even those with green cards or visas who are in the country legally cannot get driver’s licenses if they do not have Social Security cards. These risks haven’t escaped Dodge City Mayor Kent Smoll, who said the commission was reluctant to jump on Garden City’s bandwagon. “My concern is this is going to affect the blue-collar workers of Dodge City,” he said. “I’m not talking about immigrants, illegal or legal. Just workers who will be affected.” Smoll said his concern is that after five days in jail, these people would no longer be able to return to their jobs. Manuel Gomez, a student at Kansas State University, said he was concerned about the law because he is not a citizen and has no license. 
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