Supervisors consider OWI court resolution

The Marathon County Board of Supervisors on Thursday took up a resolution calling on the state legislature to reverse penalties for fifth and sixth offense drunk driving in order to keep the county’s OWI court.

In February 2020, the legislature mandated at least a one year prison term for people convicted of fifth and sixth offense drunk driving.

The resolution, approved by the county board’s Public Safety Committee, argues that this minimum mandated sentence will take away any incentive for offenders to sign up for the OWI Court, which boasts an 88 percent success rate among its 77 participants since 2011.

Supervisor Brent Jacobson, Mosinee, a member of the committee, said he was “impacted” by the testimony of seven OWI Court graduates who said the court’s required therapy was key to their recovery from addiction and living sober lives.

Committee chairman Matt Bootz, town of Texas, said he generally frowns on sending resolutions to the state government, but, in this case he agreed with telling the legislature that their sentencing law will effectively shut down the county’s OWI court.

A spokesperson for Sen. Kathy Bernier (R-Chippewa Falls), a key cosponsor of Act 106, said the senator supported giving judges flexibility to impose mandatory treatment pro­ for drunk drivers up to their fourth offense, but opposes treatment programs in lieu of prison for people convicted of five or more OWI offenses. “They are out of chances,” the spokesperson said.

Rep. John Spiros (R-Marshfield), chairman of the Assembly Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety, was asked for his opinion on the county board resolution. He, however, did not return a phone call.