TO DRINK OR NOT TO DRINK

Alcohol at New Year's Eve celebrations is a longtime tradition -- one that can lead to tragedy that changes people's lives forever or brings death.

In recent years, efforts have been stepped up to crack down on holiday alcohol abuse, both from increased presence by police officers and from a greater awareness by partygoers, hosts and bar owners to promote designated drivers or programs to keep people intoxicated from driving.

Many bars on New Year's Eve will be providing free soft drinks for designated drivers or will provide transportation to customers who have too much to drink.

Party hosts are also encouraged to give people the option of drinking non-alcoholic beverages, not pressuring guests to drink more, and to make sure guests who have had too much to drink don't attempt to drive home.

Many organizations also provide parties on New Year's Eve where celebrations exclude alcohol.

"If someone is planning on drinking, which is traditional for New Year's Eve, they just need to make other arrangements for transportation," said Sgt. Carl Kinnison of the Cape Girardeau Police Department.

Kinnison said that just about every law enforcement agency is aggressive in patrolling for drunk drivers on New Year's Eve. In Cape Girardeau officers will be stopping vehicles to check for the influence of alcohol.

"We normally have a DWI patrol working on the weekend anyway, but have only two officers," said Kinnison. "But on Friday we will have three officers where they will be doing nothing but looking for persons who may be under the influence of alcohol."

Despite the stepped-up efforts, Kinnison said he does not anticipate a large number of DWI arrests, mainly because people are aware that police are looking for problems and are taking other precautions.

While a number of cars may be pulled over, Kinnison explained, "on New Year's Eve and early New Year's morning we don't make a significant amount of arrests. Some years we don't make any, and many times it is only two or three.

"With all the publicity and people knowing law enforcement is out there being aggressive, most people make plans if they are going to be drinking, which is the proper thing to do. We'd love not to arrest anybody."

Kinnison cited statistics from two years ago which showed that of the 133 New Year's holiday fatalities in the nation, 103, or 77 percent, were alcohol related. That percentage is considerably higher than most other holidays. For example, on Christmas 47 percent of the vehicle fatalities are alcohol related; Memorial Day is 61 percent; the Fourth of July 56 percent; Labor Day 54 percent; and Thanksgiving 52 percent.

New Year's Eve and the entire holiday season is a particularly difficult time for people who are recovering from problems with alcohol or drug abuse, says Mary Shepard, clinical director for the Gibson Center in Cape Girardeau.

Said Shepard: "It is a very difficult time for those recovering because, if new in recovery, they may not have had the experience of being able to celebrate the new year alcohol or drug free. It seems that our society says the new year should be celebrated with chemicals."

Generally, holidays like Christmas and New Year are a time of depression and loneliness, which only adds to the problems of people who are in a recovering stage, Shepard says.

"Holidays can be a time of high relapse, at least from people near recovery who are not close to support systems. They may be alone, holidays cause more depression, and people want the mood alteration," said Shepard.

She said many of the community-based organizations that help people who are recovering from alcohol and other problems are planning special New Year's functions to provide group support. She encourages anyone who has a problem to try and attend these functions.

In addition, the Gibson Center telephone line at 334-5513 is staffed 24 hours a day for anyone who wants to talk or has problems, Shepard said.

"A lot of times this is just a real lonely time for people who don't have a lot of personal support developed yet," she said. "There are a lot of options out there for people who don't want to spend the holiday alone. I would encourage people to just reach out to somebody. Chances are other people are feeling the same kinds of feelings and may need that person's friendship just as much."

After the holidays, Shepard said the Gibson Center has an increased number of referrals of people who were involved in alcohol-related accidents or received a DWI citation.

Many people who have too much to drink on New Year's Eve seek out taxis for transportation.

A spokesman for the Yellow Cab Co. in Cape Girardeau said that there are many extra calls on New Year's Eve. Instead of having one person in the office to process calls they will have two or three; and instead of the normal staff of five drivers he indicated the company would have at least 10 working Friday night.

Some tips for parties where alcohol is served include: serve food with alcohol, especially high protein and carbohydrate foods like cheese and meats, which slow the rate at which the body absorbs alcohol; make non-alcoholic beverages available; don't allow people to mix their own drinks to control the amount of alcohol, and use small cups for beer, wine and champagne so that consumption can be monitored; stop serving alcohol about two hours before the party is over, but continue serving food and other beverages to allow time for the body to absorb alcohol; and, if a guest has had too much to drink, give them time to sober up by staying overnight or provide transportation home.