On Friday, March 9, Karnes County Judge Barbara Shaw and County Attorney Robert Busselman announced that beginning this weekend, March 10, a new "no refusal" policy would begin for DWI arrests made within Karnes County.

The policy means that when a driver is arrested for DWI, the driver can no longer refuse testing for their blood alcohol concentration.

If they refuse the breathalyzer test requested by the police officer, the officer will then deliver paperwork to a justice of the peace who will then immediately sign a warrant ordering a blood test administered on the driver at Otto Kaiser Memorial Hospital.

County officials explained that the reason why many times DWI defendants are acquitted by local juries is due to the fact that there has been no breathalyzer or blood test evidence that could be presented to the jury by the prosecutor.

Under the new policy, that will no longer be the case as there will be conclusive scientific evidence showing jurors the exact blood alcohol content of the defendants in virtually every DWI case.

County officials say this new policy will hopefully improve public safety and reduce the number of drunk driving related injuries and fatalities in Karnes County.

See next week's newspaper for a more detailed story about Karnes County's new "no refusal" policy.