Donovan Maldonado tragedy won’t stop drunken drivers

Elapsed time: faster than you can dig two peripheral canals — never mind doing the Environmental Impact Report.

• Further evidence alcohol destroys brain cells: Fresno police arrested 21 people for drunken driving the weekend after an intoxicated driver killed a 7-year-old boy and seriously injured his father and sister. Anyone with a brain bigger than a gnat’s would have known cops would be out in force in the part of town where the boy was killed.

• Judging by the amount of beer consumed on “Thirsty Thursdays” at Fresno Grizzlies home games, Fresno PD ought to do a DUI checkpoint near Chukchansi Park this week. Besides, it’s a short trip from there to the jail.

• Drinking and driving don’t mix. Neither do walking and Fresno. Our city, like many in California, was built to accommodate cars, not to encourage walking.

• But Fresno is on the verge of Rapid Bus Transit, often described as light rail on rubber wheels. Initial plans call for a route between downtown and River Park on Blackstone Avenue and another route between Clovis Avenue and downtown along the Kings Canyon/Ventura corridor. Fresno Area Express would like you to help with planning. They even want to hear from people who don’t use public transit. The survey link is www.surveymonkey.com/s/FAXBRT

• Jose Ramirez of Avenal should be credited with two victories for his opening Olympic bout. Not only did he beat French boxer Rachid Azzedine, but he overcame the judges, too.

• Not saying that NBC is behind the times, but the network’s taped-delayed Olympics coverage is only slightly better than getting results via carrier pigeon.

• The last agency I want reconciling my checkbook is the state Department of Finance — unless they uncover $54 million I didn’t know I had.

• With the state controller and the Department of Finance $2.3 billion apart in their accounting of California’s cash on hand, we now know why politicians invented “special funds.”

• Definition of a special fund: money hidden from public view so leaders can ask for a tax increase.

• Back in 1975, Gov. Jerry Brown said, “This is an era of limits, and we all had better get used to it.” But there apparently is no limit on bond debt the governor is willing to accumulate to build High Speed Rail and twin water tunnels in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

• Time is ripe for people wanting to divide California into separate north and south states. Nothing riles up Northern California citizens like another attempt to take their water.

• Guinness has recognized the 380-gallon smoothie made by Fresno State marketing students on April 13 at PR Farms as a world record. Two other efforts — the university’s 310-foot sundae and 415 people simultaneously uncorking wine bottles — await Guinness sanction.

• Our area didn’t set a record for bone-marrow registrations at a two-day drive in Clovis. But 380 people joined the national registry. “We are hoping that this can become an annual event,” says Rozanne Hug Wille, whose son, Hendrix, is battling leukemia.

By Bill McEwen