Kansas: Dodge City eyes ordinance targeting unlicensed drivers
Nov 22, 2007
— The Associated Press
DODGE CITY, Kan. — Dodge City commissioners are facing increased pressure from constituents to keep up with the Joneses. In this case, it’s Garden City.
Under a new ordinance in Garden City, those convicted of driving without a valid driver’s license could be fined up to $1,000 and imprisoned for up to six months.
Repeat offenders would face mandatory jail time, specifically five days in jail for a second offense. The jail time steadily increases with each conviction, up to 270 days by the sixth conviction.
Shortly after the ordinance passed and began to receive press, Dodge City commissioners said they began receiving phone calls demanding to know why Dodge couldn’t approve a similar statute.
City officials have said they will consider it, but there are several concerns.
Much to Garden City Mayor Reynaldo Mesa’s surprise, he said, he faced a huge division between those on both sides who made it an ethnic issue.
“That wasn’t the point of it at all,â€