I do not know either Greg Banks or Kelly Barlean personally and have only dealt with each of them on a limited but equal basis. However, as a lawyer with 10 years of experience, much of it in criminal law, I must take exception to the mistaken assertion by certain individuals at the candidates’ forum that the Island County Prosecutor’s Office under Greg Banks reduces DUI’s on frequent basis. Quite the opposite is true.

Statistics in Washington back up the fact that both the guilty plea and conviction rate in Island County is higher than the statewide average for DUI’s. Anecdotally, in my experience, the surrounding counties in which I have spent much of my practice appear to reduce DUI’s noticeably more frequently than in Island County.

Daniel B. Fosso

Zylstra Beeksma Waller & Dale