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Article published Nov 18, 2005
Public Safety recalls Spanish-language flyer on new seat belt law

By MEG KINNARD
Associated Press Writer

Public safety officials handed out and then took away materials intended to educate the state's Hispanic community on South Carolina's new seat belt law on Friday after at least one person pointed out the cards Spanish slogans were full of errors.

In welcome packets for attendees of the invitation-only luncheon, the Public Safety Department included a quarter-sheet flyer with the campaign's "Mission Critical" slogan on it. In Spanish, the flyer also encouraged citizens to "Use your seat belt! Save yourself and your family."

At the program's conclusion, Highway Safety Director Max Young told attendees, "Many of us don't speak the Spanish language. If you see errors, please point them out." At that point, one woman waved the document in the air and said, "The whole card!"

Event staffers were seen removing hundreds of extra cards from a display table at the back of the room. Young encouraged attendees to leave the cards behind when they left.

Young said that his department welcomed suggestions and would work quickly to correct any errors on the card.

Some of the errors are just a difference of dialect, Young said. "It's no egregious error" he said. "It's something that we can clean up real easy."

Latrice Williams of Sunrise Enterprise, the company Public Safety Department officials paid to handle the campaign, said that only a "small percentage" of the $70,000 spent on the PR effort went toward printing the roughly 1,000 cards. Williams said Sunrise used a subcontractor, Sergio Perez of WQVA 1170 AM, to do the Spanish translation for the card.

Ritmo could not be reached Friday for comment.

The rest of the program went smoothly. Highway officials, including Public Safety Director James Schweitzer, encouraged attendees to help authorities "get the word out to the citizens of this state" on the new law, which goes into effect Dec. 9.

"We are on a pace to lose over 1,100 lives on the roadway in one calendar year," Schweitzer said. "We need you to stand beside us, to hold our hand as we go to your communities and vouch for us."

Young spelled out the law, which gives officers the authority to stop a vehicle solely because someone inside is not wearing a seat belt. It will replace South Carolina's secondary law, which meant officers could ticket a driver for not wearing a seat belt only if the vehicle had been stopped for another violation.

Young said that drivers will be fined $25 and that the infraction will not go on the driver's record or be reported to insurance companies.

One official apologized for a trooper who has been arrested and charged for collecting money from migrant workers during traffic stops instead of writing traffic tickets.

"On behalf of the troopers, we're all embarrassed, and we apologize," Highway Patrol Col. Russell F. Roark said. "We realize not only is that wrong, that is illegal, and that will not be tolerated in any level of the Highway Patrol or Department of Public Safety."

Last week, Lance Cpl. Stephen A. Watts, 28, was charged with misconduct in office after taking $40 from a motorist during an Oct. 30 traffic stop. Roark said Watts had been fired from the patrol but would not comment on the State Law Enforcement Division's ongoing investigation.

"I will say that I can never promise that nothing ever will happen again," Roark said. "But I can promise that, should it happen, we'll ferret the problem out and turn it over to the proper authorities."

As for getting the word out about the new law, Col. Anna Amos, commander of the State Transport Police, said that the department would launch a three-week media blitz on Tuesday that would include billboards, press conferences and a Spanish-language radio spot.

Young said that an outreach meeting with the black community is scheduled for Monday at Brookland Baptist Church in West Columbia.