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Pag* 6
Graphic by Betsy Charlton
Deaths force woman to act
By Sean Meyers
Of the Emerald
“This was a Sunday in August August 12 My
son and his best friend had ridden their bikes out
beyond Armitage Park,'' Barbara Stoeffler
remembers, her story well outlined and her voice
betraying a trace of pain
"On their way back, they had reached the
straight stretch in the road just south of Armitage,
where a Willamete High Class reunion was just
breaking up.
"One of the class members argued with his
wife about whether he was too drunk to drive He
took the keys, and started up the pick-up
At this point, the Eugene woman pauses to
adjust her glasses She hesitates a moment
before continuing
"I don't know what adjectives to use I get a
little strong with this," she says, and pauses
again "He then drove at a rapid rate of speed to
where my son and his friend were He stated that
he didn't see them
“He hit my son, throwing his body 67 feet
through the air over his best friend's shoulder,
and he landed in a ditch and was killed instantly "
Mark Stoeffler, 15, died in 1973 For nearly
eight years, Mrs Stoeffler stoically accepted her
son's death until a friend s tragedy was fully
realized
Last January, Lisa Strayer, 23, was exiting
Eugene's Washington-Jefferson bridge onto a
one-way ramp, where she met a drunk driver who
was driving the wrong way The resulting head-on
collision killed both drivers
After this accident, Stoeffler went into action
"It was a terrible accident crash Any
collision involving a drunk driver is not an ac
cident," Stoeffler says. "Every weekend there is a
long list of people who have been killed Week
ends are the worst I knew something had to be
done "
In July. Stoeffler and other concerned ci
tizens banded together to form a Lane County
chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Drivers
(MADD)
In September, Stoeffler was also named to
the newly-created Governor's Task Force on
Driving Under the Influence of Intoxicants, which
includes 13 citizens that, through tragedy or
career choice, have become Involved with com
bating alcohol-related traffic offenses
Although it may seem Oregon is just starting
to get tough with drunk drivers, at least one
source thinks the state has had a good record in
the past decade
A Sept. 13 cover story in Newsweek
magazine said "Oregon has had the most exper
ience — its crackdown began in 1971 — and the
most success. During the 70s highway fatalities
dropped 6 percent (while) Oregon's fatality rate
declined 35 percent despite the presence of 46
percent more drivers and 62 percent more vehi
cles
But that "crackdown", says Stoeffler, was
started by the Oregon State Police and met with
heavy resistance from the general public. It was
only recently, she says, that the public began
supporting the program
Even with the efforts, well over 300 people
died in Oregon in 1981 because of alcohol-related
crashes Stoeffler says that number can be sub
stantially lowered
"It is really our biggest crime problem in
Oregon, although it's not identified as being a
crime by most," says Stoeffler "The general
attitude across the nation in the past has been
that it is socially acceptable to drive a car after
leaving a party or tavern "
The new Lane County chapter of MADD
wants to turn those ideas around The self-de
scription of MADD, a national agency with head
quarters in California, is "an organization of
victims, survivors and concerned citizens deter
mined to reduce deaths and injuries resulting
from driving under the influence."
The organization's objectives are to speak for
victims, initiate legislative reforms, increase pub
lic awareness of the problem of drunken driving,
monitor local court programs and procedures,
and to coordinate seminars directed at various
school and public audiences
The group welcomes interested parties
regardless of age or sex Stoeffler is hopeful a
University campus extention of SADD — Students
Against Drunk Drivers — can someday be organ
ized
Stoeffler welcomes inquiries about MADD
She is listed in the Eugene phone book
"If we can just save one person Stoef
fler says, not completing the sentence "But I
know we can do more than that "
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