Posted by Duh! on Apr 4 2008 6:29PM - HE WAS STILL DRINKING WHILE DRIVING GOVERNMENT PROPERTY!!! Well folks, the standard has been set!

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Posted by aae on Apr 4 2008 10:30PM - Can you imagine that no DUI what a joke the the law can be for some!!!!!!!!! Time to clean house.

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Posted by AD on Apr 5 2008 4:00PM - Per Asst State Atty Feland, Warden Skuza's BAC was at a .05%. The "legal limit" is .08%. The only other evidence of intoxication was the slight odor of alcoholic beverage.

This is NOWHERE near enough to convict someone of DUI.

Who owned the vehicle he was is not relevant to the charge of DUI. The fact that this particular criminal charge was dismissed has NO BEARING on any administrative punishment the warden can still receive from the NDGF dept. for "driving government property" after drinking alcoholic beverages. So the "standard" you have said thats been set is meaningless. The standard that the warden must live up to in that regard is department policy.

Warden Skuza was treated like anyone else, in the criminal case. He did NOT recieve unfair or special treatement. No one would have been subjected to a prosecution under these circumstances.

So all you folks that have it out for this man please just get over it and on with your lives. The evidence wasnt there you all can stop crusifying him.

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Posted by coverup on Apr 9 2008 8:06PM - When the average joe is picked up for a possible DUI they are not charged for DUI until the test results come back over the legal limit, yet why would Skuza be charged, then at court all of a sudden charges dropped because he was under the legal limit, if this were the real truth he never would have been charged in the first place and even if he was mistakenly charged it would never have made it to the courtroom or even the press for that matter. Bottom line, the Mclean states attorney has too much to lose by not having skuza as an ally, The Mclean County sherriffs dept. uses warden skuza for almost all drug related busts and searches, Since the police need probable cause to obtain a search warrant to search a private property, the sherrifs dept uses skuza because under ND Law Game wardens do not need probable cause nor do they even need a search warrant to enter and search private property, all they need is "suspicion" that you are or have broken a law and the warden can be assisted by local police as backup.

Also this case was origionally transferred to mercer County because the mclean county states attorney Ladd Erickson was on medical leave from his job, all of a sudden he was back to work on this case that he never even pressed charges on and kept the case in Mclean county. I guess its time we let the NDGF dept know how disappointed we are in them that they let off duty employees drink and use state vehicles at the same time, And "YES" wardens are allowed to use taxpayer owned ATV's on personal time.


P.S.
Interesting note:
The Mclean County Deputy that was Skuza's arresting officer suddenly quit his job before the court date after serving more than 20 years with the Dept. as a deputy and took a job that pays half as much with less benefits, If this story don't spell corruption I don't know what will.

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Posted by AD on Apr 11 2008 4:27PM - coverup-Your understanding of how a DUI is charged is a bit off the mark. No where is there a requirement that the BAC results must be present prior to charging the offense...
DUI's are charged and often disposed through the courts LONG before the blood results come back. This is most typically seen with those who immediately plead guilty. If the defendant wasnt charged to begin with then they wouldnt appear in court to plead guilty. What are you suggesting would happen if the defendant refused all BAC testing? That the charges will never be filed? While prosecutors certainly would like to be able to submit BAC results at .08% or higher (as the law automatically delcares that driver to be intoxicated) as evidence, there is ZERO requirement to do so. There are other ways to prove intoxication at trial. As would be the case in test refusals. In fact even if the test results came back under the "legal limit", convictions are still possible in criminal courts depending on how well imparment can be proven. In Warden Skuza's case ASA Feland determined that there was not enough supporting evidence to conclude a DUI conviction was possible therefore she was dutybound to drop the prosecution. And weather you would like to believe it or not, the "average joe" is treated the same way.

The only place where BAC's are truely critical are in the DOT adminstrative hearings for license suspensions (completely separate from the criminal trial). Because the BAC level determines how long the suspension lasts. High BAC's are longer than lower BAC's. Thats why test refusals automatically result in license revokations.

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Posted by Duh! on Apr 21 2008 1:14PM - I don't care about the DUI issue. I am just upset about the personal use of Government property and drinking AT ALL during it's use. This is the standard I am reffering to. I hope that the NDGF has learned from this one but probably not. As for him being an asset to law enforcement agencies, I have seen a lot of good people let go from a job because the level of professionalism expected by the taxpayer was not met. In this case we see exactly what I am talking about, this "professional" should have had some ethics training and never been in the situation in the first place.

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Posted by expositor on Apr 21 2008 3:55PM - Forget the DUI, then. If he was off duty, then he was mis-using government equipment for personal recreation. Or is that a job perk? Calculate the depreciation on the 4-wheeler and deduct it from his paycheck. By the way, whose fuel was being burned up for the sake of Skuza's personal recreation with government equipment? Pay that back, too. And how much has this happened in the past, undetected until now? This could be just the tip of the iceberg. I propose an independent investigation into the administration of the ND G&F!

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Posted by listen up on Apr 22 2008 9:53PM - I hate how the internet give idiots a voice. Let the Game and Fish Department handle this, otherwise would would have to investigate everyone for doing anything. If you still don't like it, write a letter to the governor or local state rep. Or just don't talk at all.

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