Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 19, 1994 TAG: 9406190113
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ALEXANDRIA LENGTH: Medium
"When it gets to the point where you can't question authority, very disgusting things occur," said Allen Young, who was charged with impeding a police officer in the performance of his duties. "Do we want to become a totalitarian state?"
Young, 38, said people should not drink and drive. But police "are approaching it the wrong way" by stopping every driver to screen out the few who are intoxicated, he said.
Legal specialists and the American Civil Liberties Union say Young's arrest raises constitutional questions, particularly because there is no indication that Young used physical force to prevent officers from finding and arresting drunken drivers.
Alexandria police disagree. "There is a civic duty" to let officers do their jobs, said police spokesman Sgt. Steve Mason. "The citizens feel very strongly about the need to stop drunk drivers."
Young pulled onto a side street after passing through the sobriety checkpoint on U.S. 1 in Alexandria about 10:30 p.m. on June 10. He spotted a 2-by-3-foot piece of cardboard near a trash bin. He grabbed an ink marker and wrote on the cardboard, "Sobriety Checkpoint Ahead" - the same three words that he said appeared on a sign posted by police.
Young, who was about three blocks away, displayed his sign for nearly an hour before he was arrested.
The case "does raise a free-speech issue," said Robert Drinan, a former congressman and now a professor of law and ethics at Georgetown University Law Center.
If Young had warned drivers "by word of mouth, I don't think they could stop him," Drinan said.
by CNB