LETTERS: GOOD COULD COME OF RICHARDSON ARREST

To the editor,

Last Friday there were reports that Mark Richardson, minority leader in the Missouri House, was arrested in Arkansas on May 14 and charged with DWI, driving left of center and endangering the welfare of a child. From an article in the Missourian and other news reports I assume the following facts are true: while at an outing with friends and family, Richardson drank several light beers; he was taking medicine for a cold; he didn't have much to eat. Later he got in his pickup truck with his two-year old daughter to drive home. He apparently dozed off and a highway trooper saw him cross the center line. He had a blood-alcohol content of.13 percent.

The comments attributed to Richardson denying he was impaired and that he endangered his daughter were nearly unbelievable. However, he repeated them in a television interview that appeared on KFVS TV. His remarks were a total denial; he even appeared to be defiant. He considers himself a good citizen; he loves his family; he serves his community and the state by being in the state legislature; he is a boy scout leader; and he certainly doesn't consider himself a criminal.

If ever there were a person who could benefit from drug and alcohol awareness education, it would be Richardson. He should have known that the effects of alcohol are stronger if you don't eat well. The medicine he was taking (a St. Louis radio station reported that it was antihistamines) certainly had a warning on the label that cautioned that it had an additive effect with alcohol and that he shouldn't drive because it could cause drowsiness.

Richardson ignored all this and after dozing off and crossing the center line, he still insists that he wasn't impaired and didn't endanger his daughter. He apparently has a different meaning for those words than the rest of us. He goes on to compare his situation with that of his political opponent Bob Griffin. Richardson says Griffin was drinking whiskey instead of light beer - you can get drunk on beer as easily as on whiskey. Griffin got his drink at a bar rather than an outing - they were both drunk. Griffin was arrested at 3:00 am rather than 5:40 p.m. - there are many more drivers on the road at 5:40 p.m. than in the wee hours of the morning. Griffin was driving a state car rather than a pickup truck - a pickup will kill just as easily as a car.

I am writing this letter because there is much good that can come out of this situation. Richardson should volunteer to take the drug and alcohol course. He could offer to plead guilty to the single charge of crossing the center line in exchange for a pledge that he will use his influence to pass new laws in Missouri similar to those in Indiana that decriminalizes DWI. Instead it is a zero-tolerance law that takes away a driver's license if he is arrested for DWI until he has completed the education course.

Further, Richardson could make a public awareness video where he says that he was out with friends and family and had a few beers. Later a trooper saw him cross the center line and stopped him. At first he claimed he wasn't impaired (showing the TV interview). He could then say how wrong he was. Now he thanks God for that trooper because he probably prevented a tragedy. He could never live with himself if he would have had an accident and injured his little girl. Richardson could then end with asking people to learn about alcohol's effects and make smart choices about drinking and driving.

If Richardson will do this, I will help raise the money to make that video. Certainly the Democratically controlled Missouri State Legislature would never vote to spend public funds to make a tape that would feature Richardson so well. But then, maybe they could get Bob Griffin to make one too.

Larry Loos,

Cape Girardeau