Sacto 9-1-1: Roseville plans seat belt crackdown through month's end

Sign In
Join

Logout

Sacto 9-1-1

The Sacramento Bee's Crime blog is a comprehensive report of crime news, trends and information for your community and beyond.

November 13, 2008

Roseville plans seat belt crackdown through month's end

From David Richie:

Avoiding preventable deaths and injuries is the goal of a crackdown on seat belt and child safety seat violations planned by Roseville police Monday through Nov. 30.

"Hundreds are still dying every year because they didn't buckle up," Police Chief Mike Blair states in a news release on the special enforcement effort. "Our officers will not accept excuses or give warnings. It really is 'Click It or Ticket.' "

California law requires seatbelt use by every passenger in the car, as well as the driver. Tickets range from $80 to $91 for adults, but then may increase for children 15 and younger, depending on the county. Those fines can range from $330 to $401.

Studies indicate that teen drivers and occupants of cars traveling at night are the worst offenders.

The Roseville Police Department is one of more than 280 police agencies statewide participating in the Thanksgiving holiday "Click It or Ticket" mobilization. The program uses officers working overtime. Those costs are covered by a federal grant, administered through the state Office of Traffic Safety.

About Comments

Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "report abuse" button below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.

What You Should Know About Comments on Sacbee.com

Sacbee.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. (See our full terms of service here.)

Here are some rules of the road:

• Keep your comments civil. Don't insult one another or the subjects of our articles. If you think a comment violates our guidelines click the "report abuse" button to notify the moderators. Responding to the comment will only encourage bad behavior.

• Don't use profanities, vulgarities or hate speech. This is a general interest news site. Sometimes, there are children present. Don't say anything in a way you wouldn't want your own child to hear.

• Do not attack other users; focus your comments on issues, not individuals.

• Stay on topic. Only post comments relevant to the article at hand. If you want to discuss an issue with a specific user, click on his profile name and send him a direct message.

• Do not copy and paste outside material into the comment box.

• Don't repeat the same comment over and over. We heard you the first time.

• Do not use the commenting system for advertising. That's spam and it isn't allowed.

• Don't use all capital letters. That's akin to yelling and not appreciated by the audience.

You should also know that The Sacramento Bee does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "report abuse" button to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at feedback@sacbee.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.

If you submit a comment, the user name of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them, but you may ask our staff to retract one of your comments by sending an email to feedback@sacbee.com. Again, make sure you note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us your profile name.

Q: What happened to the former boxing champ who murdered a prominent lawyer in the 1990s?

A: Timmothy Howard Harris was sentenced to 58 years to life in prison on Dec. 4, 1997, for the murder of Sacramento attorney Francis W. "Bud" Zilaff, according to Bee reports.

Harris, then 41 and a former boxing champion, was convicted of invading Zilaff's midtown Sacramento office July 3, 1997, and fatally shooting the 68-year-old attorney, who represented Harris' former wife in a long, bitter divorce case that left Harris in debt. Harris also was found guilty of assaulting five office employees.

The month long trial, which drew a steady stream of onlookers, ended Nov. 6, 1997, with jurors rejecting Harris' claim that police officers had "gotten the wrong guy."

Judge Greta Curtis Crossland, who had little discretion under California's sentencing laws, used what little latitude she had to give the former state welterweight champion an extra five years in prison, The Bee reported.

Crossland said she was doing so because of Harris' callousness in threatening employees with a loaded 9mm handgun and because of his deceit in using a disguise and gloves.

Zilaff was shot at his desk with no time to even "plead for his life before he was executed," Crossland said.

Deputy District Attorney Tom Johnson said Harris received "basically a life sentence."

214 questions answered | Submit a question