FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 22, 2006
Contact: Sid Gaulden, 803-896-8409
Office of Highway Safety toll-free at 877-349-7187
Local Highway Patrol Community Relations Officer
COLUMBIA – South Carolina Department of Public Safety announces the following:
Who: Department of Public Safety’s Highway Patrol, State Transport Police and Georgia Highway Patrol.
What: Hands Across the Border, a high visibility joint effort between South Carolina and Georgia law enforcement designed to reduce injuries and fatalities in bordering states during the Labor Day weekend. This is an integral part of the stepped-up enforcement during the Labor Day “Sober or Slammer” mobilization which began Friday, August 18 and will run through Monday, September 4, 2006. It includes sobriety checkpoints at designated locations along South Carolina’s border.
When: Hands Across the Border news conferences start 10 a.m. at Georgia welcome centers unless otherwise noted. Sobriety checkpoints start 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted.
Editor’s Note: There are several media opportunities during Hands Across the Border evening briefings and checkpoints are followed the next morning with news conferences at the welcome centers, in which reports of the previous nights’ activities will be announced. Media is invited to attend the briefings and checkpoints, in addition to the morning news conferences.
Sunday, August 27
6 p.m. Georgia and South Carolina law enforcement invited
Meeting and Checkpoint Briefing
H & H Distributing
Highway 80, Garden City, Ga.
8 p.m. South Carolina Checkpoint (location to be announced at meeting)
Contact: Lance Cpl. Dave Kopenhaver, Ridgeland Police Department
Office: (843) 726-7530, Mobile: (843) 321-0776
Monday, August 28
10 a.m. Savannah I-95 Welcome Center (Georgia side first, then South Carolina)
6 p.m. South Carolina and Georgia law enforcement invited
Meeting and Checkpoint Briefing
Location: 101 Brookside Drive, North Augusta, S.C.
8 p.m. South Carolina Checkpoint (location to be announced at meeting)
Contact: Lt. Tim Pearson, North Augusta DPS
Office: (803) 441-4255, Mobile: (706) 830-2424
Tuesday, August 29
10 a.m. Augusta I-20 Welcome Center (Georgia side first, then South Carolina)
6 p.m. Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina law enforcement invited
Meeting and Checkpoint Briefing
Dillard House Restaurant, U.S. 441, Dillard, Ga.
8 p.m. South Carolina Checkpoint (location to be announced at meeting)
Contact: Lt. Fred Purdy, Anderson Police Department
Office: (864) 231-2272, Mobile: (864) 844-1563
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
10 a.m. Hands Across the Border News Conference
Dillard, Ga., City Hall (no events in South Carolina on this date)
Thursday, August 31, 2006
6 p.m. South Carolina and North Carolina law enforcement invited
Meeting and Checkpoint Briefing
Waterside Market Place
SC Hwy 49 – Buster Boyd Bridge (York County, S.C.)
South Carolina Checkpoint – S.C./N.C. State Line on Hwy 49
Contact: Asst. Chief Dan Yeargin, Winthrop University Police
Office: 803-323-3496, Cell: 803-230-9516
Friday, September 1, 2006
6 p.m. South Carolina and North Carolina law enforcement invited
LEN Meeting and Briefing
Ocean Creek Resort
10600 North King’s Highway
Myrtle Beach, S.C. 29572
8 p.m. South Carolina Checkpoint – S.C./N.C. State Line on U.S. 701
Contact: Capt. David Jordan, South Carolina Highway Patrol
Office: (843) 661-4700, Cell: (843) 992-3025