MADD Urges Passage of Jail Tax Measure : Initiative: Opponents accuse Sheriff Brad Gates of using the group’s endorsement as a ‘scare tactic’ aimed at voters.

SANTA ANA — Two weeks before the final showdown for Measure J, Mothers Against Drunk Driving on Tuesday urged passage of the half-cent sales tax initiative for new criminal justice facilities on the May 14 ballot.

Local environmental groups, meanwhile, were scheduled to discuss Tuesday night whether to enter the Measure J debate by stating which they would prefer in Gypsum Canyon: a 6,720-bed jail or an 8,000-home development. One group, the Tri-County Conservation League, has stated that a jail is preferable.

During a news conference at MADD’s Orange County office, chapter officials joined Sheriff Brad Gates, Dist. Atty. Michael R. Capizzi and a number of police chiefs from around the county in voicing support for the jail tax measure.

“MADD itself has fought for a long time to get tougher DUI laws,” said Sandi Garr, president of the organization’s Orange County chapter, which has supported Measure J since it was placed on the ballot in February. “And without a jail, we’re not going to have any place to put the offenders that we do pick up. Therefore, we’re supporting Measure J.”

If approved, Measure J, a 30-year levy, would increase the county’s sales tax to 7% and, according to one study, raise an average of $343 million annually.

Gates, who has been stumping heavily for the measure’s passage, has been under a federal court order to cap the population at the Central Men’s Jail. Supporters hope that most of the revenue generated by approval of Measure J would pay for building and operating a proposed 6,720-bed facility in Gypsum Canyon, east of Anaheim Hills.

David John Cooper, 23, of Huntington Beach, who was hit by an alleged drunk driver while riding a motorcycle April 1, joined officials at MADD’s press conference.

The accident occurred when the driver of a car made an abrupt U-turn in front of Cooper’s motorcycle. Cooper and his girlfriend were thrown from the motorcycle. The driver, apparently unaware, then put his car in reverse and backed over Cooper, hitting him a second time.

The accident left Cooper and his girlfriend with shattered hips, among other injuries.

Cooper said he was “angry and frustrated” to learn that the driver of the car had been released from jail just days after he was arrested on hit-and-run and drunk-driving charges.

“Someone changed your life and he’s gone, he’s free,” Cooper said. “He’s probably out drinking and driving again . . . having a good time.”

Gates and Capizzi cited a study showing that during the week of Feb. 16 to 24, 80% of the 407 arrested drunk drivers were released from County Jail just hours after their arrests because of jail overcrowding.

“Orange County for years has enjoyed the reputation as being tough on crime,” Capizzi said. “But, it’s tough to be tough when you don’t have jail cells.”

About 850 arrestees are released from County Jail weekly because of overcrowding, according to Gates. Of that number, 14% have serious criminal records, 70% have criminal records, and 3% “immediately commit” another crime after being released, he said.

Bob Zemel, co-chairman of Taxpayers Against J, an anti-Measure J group, accused Gates of using MADD’s endorsement as a “scare tactic” aimed at voters.

“He would like for people to believe that they’re releasing drunk drivers,” said Zemel, an Anaheim Hills resident who owns a mortgage company. “But, (the arrested drunk drivers) must wait at least four hours” for detoxification before being released.

The sheriff said that although he realizes opposition to Measure J is strong, he feels its chances of passage would increase if a fourth member of the Board of Supervisors would support it. The board is divided, 3 to 2, with Supervisor Don R. Roth and Board Chairman Gaddi H. Vasquez opposing the measure.

Vasquez could not be reached Tuesday, but Roth said he is adamantly against a measure that would help place a jail facility in Gypsum Canyon.

“I’ve already told the sheriff when he testified before the board that (choosing Gypsum Canyon) was a very bad mistake,” said Roth, whose district includes Anaheim. “I’m going to the poll to vote no (on Measure J), and I haven’t changed my mind.”

Meanwhile, environmentalists said that while in general they would prefer that Gypsum Canyon stay the way it is, they realize that it is almost inevitable that either a jail or a housing development will be built on the land owned by the Irvine Co.

“We don’t want to see either a jail or a development out there, but one or the other is going to happen,” said Pete DeSimone, director of the National Audubon Society’s Starr Ranch Sanctuary in southeastern Orange County.

“Do we take a hard line and say nothing about it, or do we choose, which is a horrible position to be in, but that’s the reality of what we’re dealing with here,” he said.

“Too often, environmentalists are viewed as shooting from the hip,” he said. “That’s why we want to take a real thorough look at this before we decide.”

Greg Ballmer, president of the Tri-County Conservation League, with members in Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, said his group has decided the jail would be preferable to a housing development.

Ballmer said that while the group, whose members want better protection of river systems between the San Bernardino Mountains and the ocean, will not take a position on Measure J, members have decided to publicly say they prefer a jail in Gypsum Canyon.

“If we had our druthers, we’d rather see a park out there,” he said. “But we think the jail is less obtrusive and less environmentally destructive than a housing development.”