San Luis Obispo Sheriff spends $6k+ modding its 94 Viper

[PhoenixGTS]

$3,866 for a new hard top, and $2,417 for emergency vehicle lighting.

New Times SLO | Publishing Local News and Entertainment for over 20 years in San Luis Obispo County

$3,866 for a hard top!?! Jon B did they buy that from you?

But worse yet, they are estimating maintenance cost for the Viper will be $5,500/year. There is some budget request inflation going on there.

 

[Camfab]

Well it looks like an aftermarket top right? Not a Chrysler top, and Gen II wheels. Maintenance costs seem to be extremely exaggerated though. Seems to me flaunting the car as a drug dealers car would actually encourage kids down the wrong path, rather than teaching them the opposite, jmho.

 

[Voodoo Rob]

Maybe that yearly maintenance also includes insurance and fuel?

 

[sun diego]

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Now that's a Viper look I haven't seen before.

 

[99 R/T 10]

That actually looks really good, but I will bet just about anything they "confiscated" (stole) it from an upstanding citizen for going 5 MPH over the speed limit.......

 

[cfiiman]

That actually looks really good, but I will bet just about anything they "confiscated" (stole) it from an upstanding citizen for going 5 MPH over the speed limit.......

Word..........

 

[DrumrBoy]

As much as I like driving mine, I can't imagine being in one all day...every day....on the job. Maybe its just used promotionally

 

[Bird325]

The article stated that it was used for the DARE program, so it's really just a show car that is taken from school to school. Probably not much time actually driving it.

Maintenance costs don't surprise me when you consider that they spent $1,900 for an EZ-Up.

 

[Ricketts]

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Now that's a Viper look I haven't seen before.

I like it! I see whoever owned modded it a little bit being it has 99-02 wheel's.

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

That actually looks really good, but I will bet just about anything they "confiscated" (stole) it from an upstanding citizen for going 5 MPH over the speed limit.......

True. But I don't even care if it was a drug dealer, ****** or OJ Simpson, the government should not be allowed to confiscate property ever unless it is to compensate a victim...which they never do.

 

[justingeer82]

poor sucker probably had a small bag on him, just got his paycheck etc. sorry pigs are entitled to all your cash (drug money) whether you earned it legitimately or not.

 

[georgethedog]

This is like saying... "Hey kids, if you're a drug dealer you to can own a Viper."

 

[JohnnyViper]

i think the dare program is secretively creating drug dealers for their own job security i do think it sends a bad message to show off a drug dealers super nice can and then tell the kids "but if you have a honest life and work yourself to death you can drive this beat up 20 year old honda civic just like mom and dad"

 

[eucharistos]

the dare program is a proven failure and waste of money

 

[eucharistos]

STUDIES FIND DRUG PROGRAM NOT EFFECTIVE

Yet high-level supporters argue "it's better to have it than not have it"

by Dennis Cauchon

USA TODAY, 11 October 1993

In just 10 years, D.A.R.E. has grown into the USA's No. 1 drug education program, reaching 5 million fifth-graders in 60% of school districts.

The Drug Abuse Resistance Education logo -- "D.A.R.E. To Keep Kids Off Drugs" -- is on bumper stickers, T-shirts, even Kentucky Fried Chicken boxes. Police, taxpayers and business give $700 million a year. It's also a favorite of dozens of members of Congress.

But a raft of scientific studies says D.A.R.E., the 17-week course taught by uniformed police, doesn't achieve its main long-term goal: stopping kids from smoking ***, drinking booze or using other drugs.

"I've got nothing against D.A.R.E., but we need to get some white light on this issue so we can wisely decide how to spend our money and on what programs," says Tom Colthurst, who recently organized a national conference on drug education at the University of California-San Diego. But D.A.R.E. executive director Glenn Levant calls the studies flawed and not comprehensive: "Scientists, will tell you bumble bees can't fly, but we know they can."

Levant says a proper national study would cost $3 million-$5 million and take seven years to finish.

Studies have focused mostly on specific cities, and cost several hundred thousand dollars each.

Experts agree recent research on D.A.R.E. is not perfect: It is difficult and expensive to measure the behavior of large numbers of children over several years. But they say the research is better than studies on other drug programs. "Almost every researcher would agree there's enough information to judge D.A.R.E.," says Rand Corp. researcher Phyllis Ellickson.

"It's well-established that D.A.R.E. doesn't work," says Gilbert Botvin of the Institute for Prevention at Cornell University Medical Center.

viper looks cool though

 

[redtanrt10]

2 articles from the local paper

Updated: Nov 20, 2008 2:42 PM PST

11/6/08
ATASCADERO - Law agencies in San Luis Obispo County have arrested six people, and seized thousands of marijuana plants in Atascadero.
Officials say they found a total of 2,848 plants, and eighty pounds of processed marijuana.
The street value is around $300,000.
They also confiscated two vehicles they say were involved in the operation. One was a 2006 Honda Ridgeline, the other a 1994 Dodge Viper.
The six suspects arrested include Derek Ahia, Rebecca Trammell, George Manseil, Davern Freeman, Brair Weippert, and Jack Carpenter Jr.
Carpenter is said to own the three homes in connection with the drug bust.
All suspects face charges of conspiracy, cultivation and sales of marijuana.
Their bail is set at $100,000.




Its previous owner was a drug dealer.
Narcotics detectives seized the car nearly two years ago, during a major marijuana bust in Atascadero.
"Any proceeds that we get from an arrest or conviction on drug dealers, we try to use in a positive manner," said Commander Brian Hascall, San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Department.
Los Osos Auto Body fixed up the car for free, so deputies say the Viper did not cost taxpayers a cent.
"It had a clear title, which meant it was owned by the drug dealer," said Sgt. Rex Reece, San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Department. "We were able to establish that that vehicle was purchased with drug proceeds and we sent it through the federal asset forfeiture program."

 

[Red Snake]

The previous owner was a DRUG DEALER. Screw him. I hope they took everything else he owned too.

It's nice to see the car being put to good use.

 

[DrumrBoy]

The article stated that it was used for the DARE program, so it's really just a show car that is taken from school to school. Probably not much time actually driving it.

Maintenance costs don't surprise me when you consider that they spent $1,900 for an EZ-Up.

Makes total sense.

Hey, maybe they can enhance their DARE program, first time offenders have to sit in that car 12 hours a day, with the engine running and no AC for an entire week.

 

[GuitarSteve]

This is like saying... "Hey kids, if you're a drug dealer you to can own a Viper."

"Kids, drug dealers drive Vipers."

Now really, is this the message we want to be sending to the public? NO! Instead, they should be explaining why the drugs are bad in the first place. Instead of showing pictures of malfunctioning brains or somebody's infected arm from shooting up, they're showing people the greatest car in automotive American hissstory saying "Yes, a drug dealer drove this car." Impressionable young minds could then easily assume that everytime they see a Dodge Viper, that its a dealer or user driving the car. It's all in the way you present the problem.


Well, after reading the article and thinking about how these officers present drug education, I have come to a few conclusions and I am joking when I mention number 1.

1. Vipers are bad cars. Afterall, drug dealers drive them.
2. If you want to buy a Viper fast, sell drugs. You'll be caught and most likely get the car reposessed.
3. If you want to buy a Viper and enjoy it because they're the most kickass vehicle ever built, save up for it, and enjoy.

 

[Twister]

I just dont get why a drug dealer would drive a viper....why not a car that would blend in like a porsche 911 or a vette......ok maybe 911 isnt the number they want people thinking of when they drive by..but still vette would be better

 

[HHI VIPER]

This is like saying... "Hey kids, if you're a drug dealer you to can own a Viper."

George, maybe on a positive side it says...Hey kids, stay off drugs, be a cop and maybe you can drive one of these one day??? At the very least you could drive a hopped up Charger! Heck, I went skiing in Aspen back in my 20's and they drove Saabs and BMW's. In South Carolina a couple years back the highway patrol was driving SS Camaro's. I helped pay for them!!!

 

[PatentLaw]

I just dont get why a drug dealer would drive a viper....why not a car that would blend in like a porsche 911 or a vette......ok maybe 911 isnt the number they want people thinking of when they drive by..but still vette would be better

Because they are not the sharpest tool in the shed?

 

[musclenutz]

Everytime our school system tries to teach your chidren what not to do,it only causes them to do it more. Sex education,say no to drugs and all the other programs were only created to take parental control from the parents. More teenage pregnancies,more drug use,more violence now than in history. Do not trust the Government to teach your kids anything! Government is way to powerful already. It may have been thought of as a good idea but it just isn't working and never will. jmho

 

[WOT!]

D.A.R.E = Drugs Are Really Exicting

 

[bluesrt]

good comments so far

 

[bluesrt]

anybody know why they make *** illegal, doesnt it grow naturally in the earth all by itself dont they have to make booze? why is it not illegal?

 

[HHI VIPER]

anybody know why they make *** illegal, doesnt it grow naturally in the earth all by itself dont they have to make booze? why is it not illegal?

If there is one plant on earth, there has to be another!!!??? Now don't everybody go around and start experimenting on your house plants!

 

[J&R3xV10]

anybody know why they make *** illegal, doesnt it grow naturally in the earth all by itself dont they have to make booze? why is it not illegal?

Forgive me for not remembering the names or dates but in High School I wrote a paper (something about government control through non conventional means) about the illegalization of Marijuana. In the 1800s or early 1900s (high school was a long time ago) **** was Americas largest cash crop for textiles and hundreds of applications at the time, many of the original US documents were written on **** paper. There was a politically connected business man in the lumber mill and cotton refining industry that realized if he could spin marijuana, the spanish word for ****, as a dangerous drug and potential revenue for Mexico, he could eliminate his competition. The US congress illegalized "Marijuana" not realizing that it was the same as "****" which many of them made much of their money growing.

Another interesting note along those lines is that New York was originally colonized by the Dutch and was founded as New Amsterdam.

Also the majority of the early US politicians and socialites were stoned on ***** as that was the common drug of the day. Almost everyone that could afford the habit during that era carried "***** boxes" which contained *****.

**** as a textile is one of the strongest must useful naturally made fibers. during the 1800s it was used in almost every form you could imagine from clothing, furniture, ropes and ship rigging, paper, baskets, etc.