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Don't Drive Drunks Home. You'll Get Arrested

Jonathon Schoenakase, an entrepreneur from Quincy, Illinois, had a business idea, inspired by the tragic death of one of his friends, which could not fail: he decided to start a service providing courtesy rides to people who had a touch too much to drink. The bankruptcy-proof business worked like a charm since 2008. Until last Saturday.

Schoenakase's business apparently upset the local cabbies, who saw their preferred prey, drunks with no means of transportation, jump in the entrepreneur's small bus rather then in their back seats. So they made a complaint to the Quincy City Council.

The Quincy City Council looked into the matter and decided Schoenakase, who in the meantime began operating two buses thanks to the lucrative business, is operating an actual cab service. With no license.

Despite the fact that Schoenakase does not charge anything from his clients and only takes what is given to him, he applied for a license. The city decided to deny his request because he “needed to clear up some outstanding legal issues.”

According to quincynews.org, the pinnacle of the story took place last Saturday, when the city's police decided to sting Schoenakase. A plain clothed officer went under cover, got drunk (or faked it), called Schoenakase, asked to be driven home and... arrested him.

This is the second time Schoenakase is the target of a police sting. Although released, he faces a jury trail in October on account of violating the taxi ordinance.

Local police say they are only doing their jobs and, after all, Schoenakase did not receive his license because he still has unpaid “fines and restitution he still owed from a 1997 forgery case he was convicted of.”

The Mother's Against Drunk Driving (MADD) organizations hopes however the arrest will be a signal for Schoenakase example to be adopted by more people.

"We hope that sometime soon Courtesy Rides or some other organization can come together and provide the service to get people home safe and alive,"
MADD member J.T. Dozier told connecttristates.com.
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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