Stiffer Terms : Drunk Driving Loophole Ends for the Marines

An agreement between court officials and the U.S. Marine Corps should assure that all drunk driving arrests of military personnel by civil authorities will be reported to the corps, officials said Monday.

Under an agreement to be signed today by Maj. Gen. Clayton L. Comfort, commander of the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, and Presiding Municipal Judge Jacquelyn D. Thomason, military personnel who come before the court on drunk driving charges will be referred to the base’s more stringent 40-hour alcohol and drug counseling program instead of a 16-hour civilian program for first-time offenders.

Bid to ‘Deglamorize’ Liquor

In rare cases, the previous lack of communication made it possible for some Marines to get transfers and avoid court appearances and mandated rehabilitation altogether, officials said.

The referral program, in effect informally for several months, dovetails neatly with the Marine Corps’ effort to “deglamorize” liquor, Gunnery Sgt. Rusty Broderick said Monday.

“The Marine Corps is trying to deglamorize its reputation for being a drinking organization,” Broderick said. “We are aware of the problems of substance abuse, especially with drugs, and we are trying hard to stamp it out.”

Manuel Armando Valenzuela, court liaison officer for the National Traffic Safety Institute of Orange County, said he realized the need for better communication with the military last year when a soldier told him he preferred his base not be notified of his drunk driving conviction or he would face severe penalties.

Can Lose Privileges

“Ranking officers say they want to go to the civilian rehabilitation program because they don’t want to hurt their careers,” Valenzuela said.

A Marine arrested for drunk driving can lose base driving privileges for a year and must attend the base’s intensive alcohol and drug counseling program, which meets eight hours a day for a week. In certain cases, a commanding officer can impose additional fines and demote the offender, Broderick said.

Under the new program, a Marine sentenced by a Municipal Court judge to attend rehabilitation classes will be referred to the base counseling program instead of the 16-hour course offered by the institute at a cost of $150. The Marine is given a certificate of completion, which he must then forward to the court.

“There have been a few folks who slipped through the cracks, so to speak, who would come into court in civilian clothes and disguise themselves for fear of jeopardizing their military record,” Broderick said.

The problem from the military’s perspective, Broderick said, was that the Marines were not getting the necessary counseling.

“We had one man in his 30s, who had a severe drinking problem,” Broderick said. “He had had four driving-under-the-influence convictions, and only one of those--the most recent one late last year--had been reported to the base.

“We got this sergeant into rehabilitation once we found out what was going on. I’m real glad he got the help he needed.”

Valenzuela estimated that about 10% of the 15,000 people who appear in Central Municipal Court in downtown Santa Ana are from the El Toro base. He said he did not know how many are arraigned for alcohol-related offenses.

Maj. Cathy Jaggars, director of the Joint Drug and Alcohol Counseling Center at El Toro, said the referral program so far has meant an increase of five to 10 cases above the previous average of 90 cases a month.

Valenzuela said the Marine Corps counseling program is “better than any one private organization in California.”

Broderick, a family counselor for the center since October, 1982, said the counseling program grew out of the Marine Corps’ effort to move away from the historic stereotype of hard-drinking men.

‘Only Thing They Know’

“You get a lot of Marines, especially younger Marines, who are away from home for the first time in their lives, and the only thing they know is go to the club and drink,” Broderick said. “If they get blue, they may learn they can forget about their troubles by having a few drinks.

“We’re saying, ‘If you drink, use discretion. Be responsible. But if you drink and drive and you get caught, you’ll get in trouble because it is just not tolerated by the Marine Corps.’ ”

The referral agreement will be formally signed at 1:30 p.m. today in Division 201 by Judge Thomason and Maj. Gen. Comfort, commander of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing.

Valenzuela said the feedback from Judge Thomason and other jurists was that “we should have done this a long time ago, but nobody had the time or cared enough to do it.”