Council holds off on designated drivers

Thursday, June 19, 2003 | 9:06 a.m.

Members of the Las Vegas City Council acknowledge that drunken driving is a major problem but are apprehensive about creating an ordinance to mandate that promoters of special events be singled out to hire designated drivers for their large gatherings.

"Why just special events -- why not casinos and taverns?" Councilwoman Lynette Boggs McDonald said. "We need more analysis."

That's what the City Council called for by a 6-0 vote Wednesday, directing the city attorney's office to look more closely into the issue and perhaps put together a committee of city staff, anti-DUI forces, promoters, tavern owners and others to hammer out a solution. Councilman Larry Brown was absent.

Councilman Michael Mack said that while he is sympathetic to the victims of drunken drivers, he is concerned that because there are so few designated driver companies, the council could, in effect, wind up legislating a monopoly for Billy Smith, operator of Designated Drivers Inc.

Smith and Stop DUI President Sandy Heverly are the driving forces behind the measure that would apply to promoters who serve alcohol at events attended by more than 1,000 people. Smith's company provides two drivers who take both the drunken patron and the person's car home for a fee of $40.

"Public safety is the bottom line of this program," Smith told the council, saying that national statistics indicate that 17,000 people are killed each year in America by drunken drivers.

Mack said that while Smith may be sincere, he noted, "you are the only game in town." Smith responded that at least three companies of his kind are registered with the secretary of state's office and that more competition will arise, especially if a mandatory designated driver ordinance is passed.

Mack countered that two of the companies Smith was referring to are owned by Smith.

City Attorney Brad Jerbic told the council that another option is to require promoters who obtain special event liquor licenses for one-day events, such as the St. Patrick's Day downtown block party, Cinco de Mayo and rock concerts, to provide free booth space at their events for designated driver companies and require patrons to pay for the service, not the promoters.

Joseph Bifano, special events coordinator of the Italian-American Club of Southern Nevada, which plans to host the first local Columbus Day Parade since 1995 on Oct. 9, 2004, said a committee of interested parties should be formed to study the matter and "come back to the council with a full package."

Mayor Oscar Goodman, who has voluntarily used Smith's service at his Martinis with the Mayor events downtown, said the real problem lies in the state not passing legislation to make sellers of liquor at all levels more responsible for patrons who drive from their establishments inebriated and injure and kill people.

Goodman reckoned it was an issue of politics in which the liquor interests used powerful lobbying to thwart the passage of such laws that would create legal problems for the resort industry.