On Dec. 18 I read the article “New bill targets drunken drivers.”

What a joke.

State Sen. Bill Diamond and District Attorney Evert Fowle should be nominated for the dumb and dumber award for 2006.

Anyone convicted of drunken driving should be given the maximum punishment allowed. If caught a second time, the minimum sentence should be jail time. Allowing people five offenses before “throwing the book at them” is ridiculous. Other drivers on the highway could be killed just as quickly on the second, third, fourth or fifth time a drunken driver gets behind the wheel of a “two-ton” weapon.

Maybe voters should elect people who want to protect the innocent, instead of protecting the drunks and dopeheads who drive.

Jim Eaton, Mexico