Kansas: Dodge City eyes ordinance targeting unlicensed drivers

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November 21, 2007

Anonymous The Joplin Globe Wed Nov 21, 2007, 11:44 PM CST

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.

Gomez said he would previously drive home to Garden City to see his family. Now, with four citations under his belt, he said he was afraid of going to jail.

“I missed my little sister’s birthday for the first time in 11 years,” he said. “I could have up to six months in jail. There would go my scholarship, my school, my grades.”

Southwest Kansas cities are notoriously short on modes of transportation other than driving. There is no regular public transit or regular cab services that would allow those without licenses to travel around the city.

To circumvent some of those issues, Garden City recently launched a public bus system. Part of the purpose of the bus system, Garden City Manager Bob Halloran said, was to avoid leaving those without licenses without any means of transportation.

Dodge City officials are also reluctant to take similar action because the potential strain so many arrests would put on the jail. With the number of those cited in Dodge City without licenses or insurance — 752 citations were issued for no driver’s license in Dodge City in 2006 — the jail would be stretched beyond its current limits.

Police Chief John Ball said an increase in arrests for no driver’s license and insurance wouldn’t affect the police so much as it would the city’s budget. The city currently pays the county a certain amount of money each day for prisoners housed for violating city codes. that amount could more than double.

“Something obviously has to be done,” Smoll said. “I just don’t know if what Garden is doing is actually practical.”

Mesa said he stood by Garden City’s decision; although he said the ordinance is still too young to see if it is having any positive effect.

The commission is expected to begin discussion of an ordinance at its first December meeting.

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Kansas: Dodge City eyes ordinance targeting unlicensed drivers

Joplin City Manager Mark Rohr wants the city to distribute weather radios to all Joplin homes that don’t have one. That’s 11,000 radios. Do you think that’s a good use of $300,440?

Joplin City Manager Mark Rohr wants the city to distribute weather radios to all Joplin homes that don’t have one. That’s 11,000 radios. Do you think that’s a good use of $300,440?

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