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WEdNEsdAy, M ay 29, 2002
ThE CI ac I camas P rínt
Through the eyes of victims
JENNIFER KANE
Staff Writer
On Tuesday, May 21, about 30
people convened in the Gregory
Forum for a special presentation
put on by Oregon Impact, a non
profit organization that provides
diversion classes to drunken driv
er offenders. The goal of Impact
is to reduce the number of lives
lost by intoxicated driving. A
small handful of people volun
teered their time to warn listeners
about the effects of driving while
under the influence of alcohol.
Jeff Gibson, a medical examiner
for Clackamas County, began the
session by giving the audience
some frightening statistics.
Gibson’s job is simply to figure
out how and why people die, and
he also gives death notifications.
“I’m not here to preach to people.
I’m just here to give you straight
facts,” he said. In the past 20
years alone there have been about
400,000 people killed in drunk
driving accidents, which were
totally preventable.
He then showed a short video
entitled “Carl and Carlie’s Story.”
Carl McDonald is a Sergeant for
the Wyoming Highway Patrol,
and he lost his 5-year-old daugh
ter, Carlie, to a drunk driving
accident. Carlie’s mother got
behind the wheel of her car after
an evening of drinking, and
Carlie climbed into the passen
ger’s seat. Her mother was driv
ing well over the speed limit
when she slammed into the back the house, he offered to be “des
of a semi-truck, and drove under ignated driver,” and take his two
neath it. The car then rotated and friends down the road to the
hit another vehicle. Carlie had ■store.
It was about 9:15 p.m. on a
her seat belt on, but it severed
when the roof of the car peeled foggy night when her son hit
back after the car went under some gravel while driving too
neath the semi. Carlie did not fast. His car went between a
make it out of the car alive. Her mailbox and telephone pole and
flipped upside down. He wasn’t
seat belted in, and his head flew
out of the car window, and
smashed underneath the car. His
friends were wearing their seat
belts, and walked away from the
crash without a scratch. “What he
didn’t realize,” Julie said, “is that
Salena De La Cruz/The Clackamas Pnnt
designated driver means .00 -
Sign posted during Alcohol
nothing.”
Awareness Week.
Tammy was the next speaker.
mother, however, did. She was She began her short story by
driving with an alcohol limit of telling the listeners that her
.22 (the law is .08), and in turn biggest fear when she was a child
pleaded “no contest” in court. was getting the back seat of a car
Carl never had the chance to see when her father had been drink
his young daughter grow up. ing. She recalled a time when her
“No, I didn’t think it would hap dad handed her 14-year-old sister
pen to me. Of course not,” he the keys and told her to get them
says, “I’m here to tell you it can home. He then proceeded to pass
out in the passenger’s seat of the
happen to anyone.”
After the video, three people car. Today, Tammy does not
graciously told of their personal maintain a relationship with her
experiences with drunk driving.
father. She last talked to him in
Julie’s son was the last to arrive 1999 to tell him he was a grand
at a friend’s house one night, father. She believes that he still
where they had all been drinking drinks and drives this day.
Ron was the third speaker to go,
for a few hours. Wanting to catch
up, her son threw back a few in and was able to give a different
quite a short amount of time. The view on the drinking and driving
boys then became hungry and experience.
wanted to go out for food. Since
In January 1988, Ron stopped
her son had been the last to get to by a local pub to have a few beers
after work with some friends. He
ordered a small pitcher (which is
a little over 2 beers) and had
made a promise to himself that it
would be all he would drink.
Friends then proceeded to buy
rounds for the group, and Roh
continued to drink, blaming it on
peer pressure. “The next thing I
remember from the tavern was
racking the balls at the pool
table,” Ron told the listeners.
“Next I woke up in Emanuel
Hospital with two people I didn’t
recognize standing over me.” It
was his mother and sister. They
told him about the car crash, and
that three people died. Going
around a sharp turn at 70 mph, he
hit a car straight on, and killed
three of the four people inside. A
wife and two daughters. The hus
band survived the collision.
Charged with manslaughter,
assault, and driving while intoxi
cated, Ron served just less than
eight years in prison. “I used to
think I could drive safer [while
under the influence]. This safe
driver went around a comer at 70
mph.”
Ron’s final words of advice to
the audience were simple, and
surely rang in everyone’s heads
as they made their way to the
door and back to classes. “Don’t
drink and drive. You have big
careers ahead of you. Take
advantage of it.”
To reach Jennifer Kane e-mail
jenk403@aol.com or drop by B-
104.
Lives shattered by drinking, driving
De La Cruz
■
Design Editor
“I haven’t had too much to
drink. I can drive.” That is
probably what many of the
400,000 people who have been
in traffic fatalities thought
7
before they got behind the
wheel of their cars while under
the influence of alcohol.
It’s funny how many of us
think we are invincible and it
will never happen to us. Then
one day, everything we love
and hold dear is taken from us.
Now, I’ve never lost someone
in a drunk driving accident and
so I cannot begin to fathom
what the victims, survivors,
persons driving under the influ
ence and their families could
possible be thinking, but I will
say many times I’ve heard on
the news of another accident
involving
alcohol.
I was watching “Cops,” one
day and saw a story highlighted
about a woman who hit a tele
phone pole because she was so
drunk and passed out at the
wheel. When she woke up the
police were there and she didn’t
even realize it or that she’d
even been in an accident. It
was then she tried to start her
vehicle. Of course it wouldn’t
start, the engine was practically
sitting in the front seat with her.
What could have happened just
astounds me. How many peo
ple can say they’ve had a few
drinks and swore they could
drive and then ended up in the
same, if not worse, predica
nt
e
n
t
?
I’ve read many stories online
and in the news and I’ve come
to one conclusion: Everyone
must think before they drink. I
don’t mean think, “Yeah, I
shouldn’t drink,” and then for
get about it once they start. I
encourage everyone to do a
search online for survivors of
drunk driving. The stories are
devastating. I sat on the com
puter for a few hours and just
read and cried. Peoples lives
were severely altered. They
lost brothers, sisters, mothers,
fathers, daughters and sons.
I would like to make a plea to
everyone who has ever gotten
behind the wheel of a car or
boat. DON’T DO IT.
The
next time you get behind the
wheel of a motorized vehicle
you may not be so lucky, you
may hurt yourself, or walk
away, but worst of all if you are
in an accident, the person you
kill could be someone you love.
To reach Salena De La Cruz
e-mail
salenadelacruz@netscape.net
or drop by B-104.
Somebody Should Have
Taught Him
Retold By Jane Watkins
I went to a birthday party
but I remembered what you
said.
You told me not to drink at all,
so I had a Sprite instead.
I felt proud of myself,
the way you said I would,
that I didn't choose to drink and
drive,
though some friends said I
should.
Lknew I made a healthy choice
and
your advice to me was right
as the party finally ended
and the kids drove out of sight.
I got into my own car,
, sure to get home in one piece,
never knowing what was
coming,
something I expected least.
Now I'm lying on the pavement.
I can hear the policeman say,
"The kid that caused this wreck
was drunk."
His voice seems far away.
My own blood is all around me,
as I try hard not to cry.
I can hear the paramedic say,
"This girl is going to die."
I'm sure the guy had no idea,
while he was flying high,
because he chose to drink and
drive
that I would have to die.
So why do people do it,
knowing that it ruins lives?
But now the pain is cutting me
like a hundred stabbing knives.
Tell my sister not to be afraid,
tell Daddy to be brave,
and when I go to heaven to
put "Daddy's Girl" on my grave.
Someone should have taught
him
that it's wrong to drink and
drive.
Maybe if his mom and. dad had,
I'd still be alive.
x.
My breath is getting shorter,
I'm getting really scared.
These are my final moments,
and I'm so unprepared.
I wish that you could bold me,
Mom,
as I lie here and die,
I wish that I could say
I love you and good-bye.
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