CAPE COUPLE FIND SOLACE IN MADD GROUP

On Aug. 28, Judy and Ed Dambach received a late-night phone call from St. Joseph's Health Center in St. Charles informing them that their daughter-in-law had been hurt in an accident.

"At first I wasn't really alarmed," said Judy. Her daughter-in-law's job as a makeup artist at Famous-Barr often required her to work nights.

But when they pressed for information about their son Kenneth, a doctor was put on the phone.

"That's when I knew my son was dead," Judy said.

Not until they reached St. Louis did the Dambachs discover that it was a drunk driver who killed their son Kenneth, 31, and his two-year-old daughter Kaela. Their daughter-in-law Angie was critically injured.

Drunk drivers are responsible for this month's annual Mothers Against Drunk Driving Red Ribbon Campaign.

Fifteen thousand red ribbons have been distributed through schools, churches, hospitals and law enforcement agencies. Motorists are asked to tie the red ribbon on their vehicle's antenna or mirror as a reminder to everyone not to drink and drive.

Corporate sponsor Procter and Gamble Paper Products has made the ribbons available at its Comfort Station in the West Park Mall. Ribbons also can be obtained at the Cape Girardeau and Jackson police departments and at the Cape Girardeau Sheriff's Department.

Sharee Galnore, coordinator of the Community Traffic Safety Program for the Cape Girardeau Police Department, is the volunteer coordinator for the MADD Community Action Team.

Galnore said the holidays are an especially dangerous time of year because so many people are traveling and so many are celebrating.

"We want to remind people not to drink and drive, and to not let their friends drink and drive," she said.

She pointed out that two out of three persons killed by drunk drivers are riding with the drivers.

"Don't let them on the road," she said.

Drunken driving arrests, which peaked in Cape Girardeau about 10 years ago, have leveled off. And alcohol-related accidents actually are decreasing. "We like to think that's due to better awareness," Galnore said.

Kenneth, Angie and Kaela Dambach had just left a family picnic in St. Charles at about 9:30 on that Friday night in August.

Ken and Angie had been married five years. A 1979 graduate of Cape Central High School, he was a free-lance draftsman for architectural companies.

They'd just bought a house in the St. Louis suburb of Winchester, where Ken tried to grow bigger tomatoes than his father's and played Mr. Fix-it. "Every Christmas he asked for another power tool," Judy said.

Headed toward the Dambachs on the two-lane county road that night was Michael Dean Juern, a 31-year-old construction worker.

Juern's Ford Bronco sideswiped another car and was in the wrong lane when it met the Dambachs' car head-on as they crested a hill. Both Ken and Kaela were killed instantly as Juern's Bronco climbed the hood of their car.

Juern, whose injuries were minor, had a blood alcohol level of .16, the Dambachs said. The legal limit is .10. He had had two previous DWI convictions, and was driving without a license.

Juern was arrested on two counts of involuntary manslaughter and one count of assault. The maximum penalty for each count of involuntary manslaughter is five to 15 years.

He was released on $75,000 bond, which was paid by his employer. No trial date has been set.

Judy and Ed Dambach have been married for 33 years. She works for the Drury Lodge, he for Drury Construction. They said their faith in God and their membership in MADD have helped get them through these past few months.

They are bewildered by the seemingly random taking of their son and granddaughter.

"It seems inappropriate that a man who loved his family so much should be taken out of this world," Judy said. "I know He'll forgive me for asking, but I have to ask why."

Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's deputy Keith Dambach, their son, put them in touch with the local chapter of MADD.

They almost immediately were able to talk to MADD members Loretta and Charlie Wilson, whose daughter was killed by a drunk driver.

"We've been with people who have walked in our shoes," Judy said. "It's helped enormously."

The monthly MADD meetings provide an atmosphere where people can talk or not talk. "My salvation has been to talk about it," Judy said.

In recalling their loved ones' lives and deaths, both Judy and Ed wept for them once again.

"I've been able to talk now more than I was," Ed says.

He'd had a breakthrough, Judy said. "Today I heard him say Ken's name for the first time in three months."

Thankful for the comfort MADD has offered, the Dambachs also support the organization's call for stricter laws against drunk driving. "First-time offenders need to be taught they can't keep doing it," Judy said. "Don't aim your car at innocent people."

Thirty-year-old Angie, who suffered a crushed knee, a broken collar bone and a ruptured spleen in the crash, is living with her parents in St. Louis. She is undergoing a difficult rehabilitation, and faces at least four more months on crutches.

The Dambachs, who have three other sons and three other granddaughters, face the holidays with a huge hole where a young man and his little daughter once were.

"The pain goes to anger, and the anger goes to pain. With the holidays coming, it seems to go to pain again," Judy said.

"...It's going to be a tough Christmas for us. We lost a little girl who should be getting toys instead of having flowers put on her grave."