MARK KIESLING: Memo to defendant: From now on, take the bus

Maybe Michael Temores is a good argument for a regional public transportation system.

The Munster man has racked up more than 100 traffic violations in his relatively brief driving career (he's 24) and finally ended up involved in a fatal accident Dec. 30.

His case is now moving through the Lake Criminal Court system.

Temores got his probationary driver's license when he was 15, the goal of every red-blooded American male. He had his first violation on his probationary license, which was dismissed.

(There are other goals of a 15-year-old, but this is a family newspaper, so we will pass over those.)

Temores then would have had his license for nine years. That's an average of more than 11 violations a year.

"I've never seen anything as bad as this," said Lake County Prosecutor Bernie Carter, who has been in office long enough to have seen a lot of bad things.

"It's like he's going down the street shooting at someone," Carter said.

Well, all right, some of the violations are what some people might consider minor, such as rolling through a stop sign or driving without a seat belt.

But all that superficial flouting of the law came to an end Dec. 30 when Temores was involved in a crash in Highland that killed Fred Skafgaard, 61, of Lansing.

Highland cops were so perturbed by the record Temores had piled up they called Munster police when he moved from Highland to Munster.

"Law enforcement did whatever they could to keep him off the street," said Highland Police Cmdr. George Georgeff, a former town councilman. "They (police) are all talking about this. Their feeling is this should never have happened."

I'm pretty sure Skafgaard's family feels the same way.

"This is one person," said Temores' former lawyer, Randy Godshalk, of Hammond. "It's tragic, true enough, but it doesn't happen very often, fortunately."

For the family of Fred Skafgaard, once was enough. In fact, more than enough.

So where do we place the blame for Skafgaard's untimely demise? Aside from on Temores, which is obvious.

The court system can't take his keys away, Carter said, even if he's driving on a suspended license.

"He's acting in defiance," the prosecutor said. "It's like he's going down the street shooting at someone."

First- or second-time offenders often deserve a break. But he's already had two drunken driving charges, one pleaded to a misdemeanor and the other to reckless driving.

For Temores, a 100-plus-time offender, it's time to tell him to take the bus. For good.

The opinions are those of the writer. He is available at mark.kiesling@nwi.com or (219) 933-4170.