MADD Orange County - Fall 1996 Newsletter

Though we have many public awareness campaigns and educational programs to stop drunk driving, one of our primary concerns is providing support services to the victims and survivors of this crime.

Coping with the trauma of a drunk driving crash is difficult. Please remember that the following services are available to you:

Literature
Emotional support
Information about court proceedings and your rights
Court accompaniment (under most circumstances)
Advocacy - speaking on your behalf
Referral to community resources

From the Top DUI Officer in Orange County …

There is more to enforcing the drunk driving laws than putting offenders in jail.

In the two and one half years that I have been assigned to the Santa Ana Police Department's Drunk Driving Team, I have arrested over 900 people for driving under the influence. I would not be able to do this if I did not have the support from my coworkers.

Due to the number of arrests that I and my coworkers have made, we have reduced the number of fatalities and persons injured in driving under the influence crashes dramatically.

Early on in my career I realized that making a DUI arrest was the only way that I could prevent a homicide from occurring. I realized that gang members would always kill each other, and narcotic users eventually kill themselves, but a person who is driving under the influence kills and hurts many people.

For every DUI arrest that I make, I feel that I save someone from being killed. I will never know who that person is. This is the reason I chose to work DUI enforcement.

As I stated at the beginning, arresting bad guys is only a portion of the DUI effort. I work with private industry giving talks on the effects of driving under the influence. The most important time that I use to prevent drunk driving is the assistance that I give to MADD.

I speak at least once a month at victim impact panels, where offenders learn that driving under the influence has a wide reaching effect. I also have participated in Sober Prom programs and other MADD activities.

I feel that the education that people receive at these functions hopefully will stop them from being under the influence and driving. I feel that being arrested is a hard learning process and that the other educational programs are an easy learning process.

Arrests and community education programs are the keys to making any DUI enforcement program successful.

From the Executive Director:

MADD's reply to a Los Angeles Times Magazine article "The Accident" (written by J.R. Moehringer) was recently printed in their Letters to the Editor section. The article was about the crash in Victorville that resulted in 4 boys being killed and 3 others injured as a result of their friend, James Patterson, driving under the influence. Many of you called to tell us you read this eight page article. We want you to know our response in case you missed reading it:

"The writer of the article made a huge leap in reasoning by stating that I want James Patterson to suffer and be used as an example. This is faulty reasoning and untrue. Believing that consequences must be faced for drinking and driving is not an attack on any individual. There is no need to make an example of James Patterson; sadly, plenty of examples already exist.

Much suffering is caused by an all too frequent mix of alcohol and driving. One trip to the Mojave Desert and many lives are changed forever. It is not a matter of which "side" one is on, it is an issue of lives and taking a stand that preserves the laws that are intended to protect us all. Regardless of the emotional issues and complications involved in this case, the law sets the standard for behaviors. Upholding and enforcing the law is the only way civilized society can protect itself from dangerous behaviors.

This was not "The Accident" which was the title of your article. This was "The Choice." The word "accident" implies that something just happens, is beyond control and possible could not be avoided. Driving impaired is not excusable, even if the passengers are friends and/or consumed alcohol themselves. Also, we need not "pass-the-buck" for the results of James' crimes to the families. They struggled, came together and, despite their pain, helped create sentencing conditions which are designed to increase the likelihood that James will change his dangerous behaviors."

Reidel Post
Executive Director, MADD Orange County

Message From the President, MADD Orange County Chapter:

In July, I became the President of our chapter's Advisory Board, after serving as Treasurer for 3 ½ years. In this newsletter, we are trying to give a more personal emphasis to the people who work with MADD here in Orange County.

My first encounter with MADD's mission actually occurred before MADD existed. Let me explain. In the late 1970's, my older son attended Bowie High School in Bowie, Maryland. Within one academic year, a dozen teenagers in that school lost their lives in crashes involving alcohol. Nearby, another single crash took the lives of 10 more local teenagers on a lonely country road.

Our community was appalled! With the help of the high school principal, local newspaper and interested parents, a community education program was initiated to help save our children from the horror that had taken the lives of these young people so suddenly.

The parents of one of the children who died heard about the efforts of MADD in California and started a local chapter. Those early efforts formed the beginnings of what has now become one of the most widely known and respected efforts by a non-profit group in this country.

After moving to California, my path crossed MADD again in the mid 1980's. Looking back, I can clearly see the dramatic increase in awareness of the dangers of drinking and driving. As a country, we can see the decrease in deaths and injuries due to drinking and driving since the early 1980's.

The problem is not solved. Every day, needless injuries and deaths occur. Whatever your reasons for being part of the MADD family, we must all remain vigilant in continuing to educate people about the dangers of combining alcohol with the deadly power of an automobile.

Do whatever you can, where ever you are, to continue the awareness, particularly among the most vulnerable group - our youth.

MADD is an organization of people - people who care and people who are willing to take action to protect their loved ones. Without you, there is no MADD. Without you, there is no reason for MADD to exist. Please join us in whatever way you can.

Barbara Taylor
President, MADD Orange County Advisory Board

Contents: