A Stettler man was sent behind bars for two months after he was stopped for impaired driving — twice on the same day.
Miles Eric Hepper, 25, was given a global sentence of 60 days in jail and suspended from driving for two years, after appearing in Stettler Provincial Court last Thursday via closed-circuit TV from the Red Deer Remand Centre.
The sentence was for two impaired charges and two charges of driving while suspended.
Hepper was stopped by Stettler RCMP on May 3, first at 2 a.m., and then at 11:31 a.m., when his lower reading was 120 mg.
“I know I’m an alcoholic and I want to do everything so I don’t come back to court,” Hepper told Judge John Holmes, who also warned the accused.
“When you’re drinking, it’s like waving a match over fuel,” Holmes said.
— Wilfred G . Courchene, 67, formerly of Donalda and now of Saskatchewan, was fined $1,750 for impaired operation or blood alcohol exceeding .08 mg. after he crashed into the rear of a school bus with two students on March 2, 2011.
“I have no reasonable doubt that he was impaired at the time,” said Judge Holmes, who handed down the verdict for the trial last Nov. 8.
During the trial, police officers told court that the accused recorded breath samples of 100 and 110 milligrams.
“He admitted he had two drinks about 45 minutes before the crash,” Stettler RCMP Const. Amanda Bodnaryk said in court Nov. 8.
“I had suspicion to believe his driving was impaired by alcohol.”
Courchene was also suspended from driving for one year.
— Dylan Stephen Benjamin was fined $1,100 for unauthorized possession of a firearms and careless use and storage of a firearm.
— Raymond Doyle Skelton was fined $500 for discharging firearms on a county road, after he fired a rifle within 200 metres of a residence in the direction of a porcupine.
“Circumstances are disturbing to me,” Judge Holmes said. “It’s irresponsible behaviour.”
— Clyde Joseph Wooden, 31, was fined $400 for possession of a controlled substance.
— Phillip Kenneth Eggins was fined $250 for causing a disturbance when he was intoxicated “and passed out” in a chair at Canalta Hotel in Stettler.
— Cole Michael Nichols was fined $402 as the owner of a motor vehicle seen stunting.