Cinco de Mayo holiday traffic patrols added.

Byline: Jack Moran The Register-Guard

Police don't mind if you want to wake up on seis de Mayo with a nasty hangover after a long evening of celebrating.

What they do care about is that revelers enjoying Cinco de Mayo festivities tonight make it home safe - and avoid getting behind the wheel of a vehicle.

"We don't want people to not have a good time," Lane County sheriff's Sgt. Fred Swank said. "We just want them to be responsible."

Sheriff's deputies will team with Oregon State Police troopers tonight to patrol county roads and state highways for intoxicated drivers.

The heavier-than-usual traffic enforcement is required in Lane and other Oregon counties that accepted federal grant money doled out this year through the Oregon State Sheriffs' Association.

Swank said any county that took the money - which in Lane County's case totals about $40,000 - must send out extra patrols on St. Patrick's Day, Independence Day and Cinco de Mayo.

The funds are also used on Memorial Day and during other events that sheriff's officials deem in need of additional patrols, Swank said.

Cinco de Mayo - Spanish for "the fifth of May" - is a holiday that commemorates the Mexican army's defeat of French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862.

While many who celebrate the holiday do so to honor Mexican heritage and pride, officials say others view it as a chance to party and get drunk.

"It's a big drinking holiday," Swank said.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, about 43 percent of all highway deaths on May 5 and early May 6 between 2002 and 2006 were caused by drunken drivers.

Swank encouraged Cinco de Mayo celebrants to drink responsibly and use designated drivers or take the keys from friends who have had too much to drink.