Anti-DUI team makes an impact

Just three months since it was founded, a new team formed by Sheriff Bill Blanton to combat drunk driving in Cherokee County has already taken 27 suspected drunk drivers off the streets.

If they maintain that pace, Lt. Tim Clark and Sgt. Todd Parker could theoretically remove more than 100 drunk drivers from the road between them before year's end.

Blanton said the early numbers say little in one respect, and a lot in another.

He hadn't planned to evaluate the effectiveness of the new DUI unit until he had about six months of data. So it's still early to gauge the success of the program, he said Thursday, though he believes his officers are doing a good job and having a positive effect.

But the numbers, which represent only a portion of the DUI arrests being made in Cherokee County, say a lot about how much of a problem drunk driving may be locally.

The new DUI team made 12 arrests in January, eight arrests in February and seven arrests thus far in March.

"That's just for two officers," Blanton said. "That's not counting what other officers (in the sheriff's office, Gaffney Police Department, Blacksburg Police Department and South Carolina Highway Patrol) do," he said.