Park's DUI Enforcement Sweeps Result in 13 Arrests

Date: September 23, 2010
Contact: Bob Miller, [phone]

A series of Great Smoky Mountains National Park DUI enforcement actions over the past three weeks resulted in 13 arrests – 10 for DUI and three for Public Intoxication. The initiative is part of a national effort funded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to reduce the number of drug and alcohol-related traffic crashes.
 
Rangers conducted enhanced DUI enforcement at two locations. Over the weekend of September 12-13 National Park Rangers were assisted by the North Carolina Highway Patrol and the Cherokee Police Department in conducting sobriety checkpoints along Newfound Gap Road, just inside the park’s Cherokee Entrance. During the course of the contacts, three drivers were arrested for DUI.
 
On the evenings of September 17-18 Rangers conducted saturation patrol along the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge Spur. This second round resulted in seven DUI arrests and two arrests for Public Intoxication.
 
In addition to these special operations, rangers made four other DUI arrests within the same time frame during the course of their normal patrols.
 
Great Smoky Mountains National Park Chief Ranger Clayton Jordan said,” These DUI enforcement actions may well have saved somebody’s life by getting dangerous drivers off the road.”