by Tad Johnson
Thisweek Newspapers-Dakota County Tribune
May 23, 2003
Though the Kenwood Trail Junior High School auditorium was filled with ninth-graders last Tuesday, it was absolutely silent as Mary Kay described how her daughter was killed by a drunk driver 16 years ago.
Many of the students held their hands to their lips as they stared at a poster-sized picture of her daughter’s mangled car with the roof torn off.
As Mary Kay told how the drunk driver lost control of his vehicle while cleaning the seat after he vomited earlier, some gasped when she detailed how his car went airborne after crossing the Interstate 35 median, ripping through her daughter’s vehicle.
She was killed instantly.
Mary Kay’s real story drove home the dangers of drinking and driving to the students, many of whom will be earning their driver’s licenses in the next 12 months. Her talk was part of a 90-minute long annual presentation in Lakeville’s junior high schools about the issue of drinking and driving.
“This is not the way to spend the holidays,” Mary Kay said pointing to another oversized picture of her granddaughter kneeling next to her mother’s grave.
“That was really sad,” said said Courtney Maas, a ninth-grader at Kenwood Trail. “I couldn”t imagine being in her place. It really makes me think about not drinking and driving.”
Before Mary Kay related her story, students, teachers and parents acted out a mock trial where a teen-ager is caught drinking and driving. During the play, Jenny discovers the consequences of her decision to get behind the wheel after drinking.
The students watch her wreck her parents” car, fail a sobriety test, get booked at the local jail and call her parents to explain what happened.
Courtney, who played Jenny, said “it would be hard to tell my dad that and the way it was with her best friend not talking to her after the accident, it would be difficult not to talk to her.”
In the play, Jenny is sentenced to probation, fined, and required to obey rules set by her probation officer.
Jenny and her father talk to their insurance agent who says their rates will double to $5,200 annually, in addition to other costs associated with a DWI on a teen-ager’s record.
With the violation on her record for the rest of her life, Jenny is ordered to enter a drug rehabilitation program and attend a victim impact panel, where people like Mary Kay tell their stories to those convicted of DWI.
Consequences
Death is one of the many possible consequences of a decision to get behind the wheel after having just a few drinks.
From 1998 to 2000, in Minnesota’s 13 deadliest DWI counties (including Dakota County), 315 people died and 8,424 were injured in 11,146 alcohol-related crashes. There were a staggering 44,502 DWI arrests (about 40 per day) made in those counties during the same time frame.
The costs to families far exceeds the estimated $478 million taxpayers paid to enforce, prosecute, and monitor those with DWI convictions.
Mary Kay’s daughter had a wedding date set before she was killed by a drunk driver. But instead of their church organist playing wedding music, she played for a funeral. The catered food, planned for the wedding, was served at the funeral.
“It makes an impact when they hear from a mother who lost their child to drinking and driving,” said Jim Puncochar, Lakeville police officer who played the arresting officer in last Tuesday’s presentation.
The mock trial brings a different perspective to the issues.
“With the students playing the actual roles, it makes it a very powerful presentation,” Puncochar said. “The students tell us they didn”t think so many people would be affected.”
“I didn”t realize what happens when you drive drunk and how an officer would test you,” said Courtney.
For those students and parents who think it is never going to happen to them or their family, they better think again.
The 2001 Minnesota Student Survey, found that 42 percent of Lakeville High School senior boys reported driving while under the influence in the past year. That was up from 34 percent in 1998 and 4 percent higher than the state average. On the same question, 30 percent of girls responded yes. That was down from 33 percent in 1998, but 1 percent higher than the state average.
Organizers hope mock trials like this are not limited to the one students saw in the auditorium. The trials are planned to be acted out in classrooms with smaller groups of students. They aim to address such issues as fetal alcohol syndrome, violence as a result of drinking, and date rape.
The program is all part of Lakeville public schools” effort to curb underage alcohol and drug use. Mock trials are part of a four-year Project Northland grant earned through the cooperative efforts of Dakota County and Farmington schools. Most of the efforts associated with drug- and alcohol-use prevention in the schools was detailed in a story in last week’s edition.
Curriculum in the schools aims to teach students to recognize underage alcohol use as a community-wide problem. Through it, they hope students learn about the social, emotional, economic and legal consequences of underage alcohol use.
“Please use your best judgment when making decisions like these,” Dr. Jerry Pederson, Kenwood Trail principal, told the students after the presentation.
If not, the students will face a law enforcement and judicial system that is becoming increasingly tougher on drunk driving.
Dakota County Judge Richard Spicer, who participated in the presentation, said since he started practicing law in 1971, the state has gone from having two levels of DWI offenses to 16. The newest is a felony level DWI for four-time offenders, which went into effect Aug. 1, 2003.
Sen. Leo Foley, DFL-Coon Rapids and a former Minnesota State Trooper, has proposed legislation repeatedly to lower the legal blood-alcohol limit from .10 to .08. Getting tougher on offenders means increased costs, but if it helped to reduce the incidence, the roads will be safer, he says.
“This takes a tremendous financial drain on our prisons a drain on society and an emotional drain on people like the woman who spoke here,” Spicer said.
“I want you to take from this information you heard today about drinking and driving,” Puncochar said. “You can have fun, but make sure you make good decisions when you are having fun.”
Tad Johnson 