Chapter5
"You're going to jail Mr. McGarrett. For how long, I will determine shortly," the judge declared as Mac stood with absolute trepidation next to his retained lawyer. Albeit the range granted the judge by law in Colorado to pass judgment was known to be very broad, this judge had developed the reputation of being a hanging judge. Whether the story of her daughter being killed by a drunk driver years ago was apocryphal in nature, it was one not to ease any convicted defendant, and one instilling the idea that leniency would not be shown. "There are millions of you in this country alone, Mr. McGarrett; millions of you struggling daily with an alcohol problem; millions of you the source of such tremendous financial waste and emotional turmoil. The money lost due to lost productivity, the family strife caused by alcoholism is staggering. It is an epidemic currently plaguing this country. This is your second DUI conviction Mr. McGarrett, and if any prior attempts were taken beyond those mandated by your first DUI they have without question been abandoned. What steps have you chosen to confront your drinking problem, Mr. McGarrett?"
Mac was at a loss. Never did this question being posed by the judge enter his mind before he pled guilty. "You are correct, your Honor. I did begin attending AA meetings shortly after my first DUI but quit going and unfortunately began drinking again. I plan this time to make more than earnest attempt at AA, to establish myself within a group I relate to and feel comfortable with, and to secure a sponsor, your Honor."
"For your sake, I very much hope you do. I have personally experienced the so many horrors and terrible consequences of alcohol abuse not only in my courtroom but in my family as well. I am all too familiar with seemingly insurmountable problems that alcohol abuse creates. I am also familiar with the fact that alcoholism can be treated, and the persevering alcoholic can and will, by being tenacious, revert to their once productive and fulfilling mode of life. I therefore fine you two hundred dollars, and sentence you to two weeks jail followed by eighteen months of supervised probation. Good luck Mr. McGarrett."
Convinced his lawyer called in at least one very good favor, Mac felt extremely lucky not to be sentenced to the prescribed and condign punishment of a mandatory six months jail time, let alone the possible maximum one year sentence. As the cuffs were put on and he was taken straight away to jail to serve his time, he nevertheless breathed internally a huge sigh of relief. Mac was to realize shortly after his release how very well Joe the counselor knew his DUI's. Enjoying his first cigarette in two weeks, Mac decided to walk to the mini-mall, where tucked away discreetly near the node of the min-mall's ells, was located the unit in which Mac had to complete the necessary paperwork for his probationary period. This completed and not yet ten in the morning, Mac next went the courthouse, paid his two hundred dollar fine, and later that afternoon learned from the alcohol abuse counselor his final punishments of one hundred and twenty hours of community service, twenty four hours of driving education classes, and one hundred and twenty four hours of group therapy. Being unemployed and without a license for at least one year, Mac kept out of his mind Joe's premonition of what Mac learned to be termed an interlock device-the mechanism, like a breathalyzer, installed on a motor vehicle's dashboard requiring a .00 reading to turn the motor over.
One punishment Joe did not mention, nor did Mac foresee-Antabuse. The drug, when in one's system, intended to assist the problem drinker's urge to drink by creating an unpleasant reaction when drinking the smallest amounts of alcohol. As part of Mac's state supervised treatment he would have to be first examined and authorized by a doctor to allow the prescription and administration of Antabuse; the administration being monitored b