GRIM REMINDERS ABOUT DRINKING, DRIVING

They never mean to kill.

But those who drink too much and drive may unwittingly turn their vehicle into a weapon. And a car can kill just as effectively as a gun.

This is the season of celebration. Oftentimes that revelry includes alcohol. But drinking and driving don't mix.

Just ask Norma and Herb Holder of Scott City.

Their daughter Tracy had just delivered a Christmas present last Dec. 21 to a friend when her car was struck head-on by a drunk driver. It was the last kind act she would perform on this earth.

Just ask Loretta Wilson of Oak Ridge.

On Nov. 5, 1988, her daughter, Cathy, tried to avoid a drunk driver who had already run another car off the road. The 21-year-old cosmetology student died in the crash -- just three weeks from graduation. Her waiting job would be filled by someone else.

These parents are members of the local MADD chapter, which sponsors a red-ribbon campaign each holiday season. The ribbons were hung on local ambulances as a sobering reminder of the effects of drunk driving.

MADD members recently hung 22 snowflakes on a Christmas tree in the lobby of the Cape Girardeau Police Department, one for each of the men and women who were killed or maimed by drunk drivers since 1986 in Southeast Missouri. They pray no additional ornaments will be needed next year.

Drinking is a prime cause of accidents, especially deadly ones. About 25.5 percent of all fatality accidents in the state last year involved alcohol.

Consider this:

-- One person died or was injured in a drinking-related accident every 1.2 hours in Missouri last year.

-- One in every 72 accidents in Cape Girardeau involve alcohol.

-- Drinking-related traffic accidents is the leading cause of deaths for adolescents and young adults in the U.S.

But parents and friends of drunk driving victims want the campaign to be more than statistics. They want people to know the names of those who have innocently died at the hands of drunk drivers. That image may go a long way to stopping someone from driving drunk.

Here's another consideration against driving drunk: The criminal justice system is dealing with drunk drivers much more harshly these days. Nearly 75 percent of all persons convicted of felony drunken driving in Cape Girardeau County were sent to prison. Cape Girardeau County Prosecutor Morley Swingle is hoping that percentage gets closer to 100.

Drunk drivers don't get behind the wheel with the intention of hurting someone. But they do. And that's a mistake that can never been erased in the hearts and minds of the families left behind.