Letters From Readers

15 Jul 2002

RosieWandTiff writes,  “i have a poem about my father that died from drinking and driving. he was drinking and driving and hit a tree and died. it is called
Dead Or Alive You Choose
Drinking and driving is a bad thing
Did you ever have a friend or family die of drinking and driving?
Well I did and it isn't pretty
He was my biological father never knew him much.
My dad's girlfriend kicked him out because he didn't have any money
And he went and got drunk and smoked some crack, and drove home wherever that was
He had a heart attack and hit a tree
One half of his truck was on the other side of the truck.
So before you get in a vehicle drunk or with a friend that has been drinking.
Think to yourself is it worth it to die over something stupid,
Or if you decide to drive drunk or with a friend, think of your family and friends what would they say if you did it. —Rosie Wright.”

15 Jun 2002

bwill37x writes,  “Hello. I remember getting this poem passed to me in jr high, in 1984-86. It was one of the poems that all the girls copied and passed around to each other. I was talking to a former student of mine tonight and asked her if she had ever heard the poem "Class Ring". I started to recite it to her and told her I'd take a chance and type it in the search engine. Voila, it hit here. I never new the author or the story behind the poem. I have prob copied it 50 times in my lifetime, by hand. Thank you for the memories and the message. I am glad that the real author now knows he is part "Urban Legend", and a part of many lifetimes.”

26 April 2002

Lisa writes,  “my name is lisa, i'm 20 yrs. of age, i heard the poem "death of an innocent" on my graduation night. i had a best friend that died on our graduation night by a drunk driver. he's name was chris. the time i seen chris he was headed for his truck. he gave me a hug and a kiss and then he looked back at me and said see u at ur party, i love u lisa and then he got in his truck and drove away. that's the last time i saw chris. i miss him dearly, and in my heart he shall stay forever....”

5 March 2002

Don writes,  “DUI laws need to only be a fine as a traffic violation which only is a misdemeanor. We need to stop thinking that strict laws are going to stop the problem, because it has not worked so far. What's next? Are we going to sentence to death people who drive drunk. The MADD mothers and other prohibitionists have gone to far. The problem of driving drunk needs to be looked at rationally. Trying to change society has never worked even with the most severe penalties. There are still drug dealers in Singapore and thieves in Iran. People are going to die in motor vehicle accidents whether or not it involves drunk drivers, sleepy drivers, reckless drivers, or just plain bad drivers. Let's not penalize people for what they could do but penalize people for what the have done. Laws that penalize for what people could do are not good for our basic freedoms and ideas within this country. If a wreck occurs you should be charged with the wreck if it is your fault whether or not your condition dictates the cause of the wreck. You have a choice to drive whether you are tired or drunk and you should only be penalized if that leads to a problem. Another problem with the system is the you are judged on BAC and not on individual ability which can vary from one person to another. We have stopped judging people on their race, sex, and religion but now we judge people on their internal makeup not on their ability. These drunk driving laws that are being promoted by the modern prohibitionists are looking for a scapegoat to blame their problems withthe world on. It did not work in the 20's and it will never work. Possible solutions need to be looked at that are not trying to change people but trying to change the dangers associated with people driving drunk. Perhaps designating hours that drunk driving is allowed so others can steer clear of the drunks. Another idea would be to get bus routes that run by bars at closing time to try to get home the drunks in a safe manner. Whatever the solution may be it can not be tougher sentencing and building bigger prisons.”

6 February 2002

jal6351 writes,  “Alcoholism is a disease. An attitude of get tough does not solve anything. All Dui/Dwi should have to have breathalizers in their cars, monitored for drug abuse for one year and mandatory AAA meetings for two years, and check ins to see that they do this or 1 week in jail if they fail and $500.00 fine, then month if they fail their checkin and $1000.00 fine, and then we could stop auto casualties and deaths, getting tough after someone who is innocent gets hurt does not solve the problem. A second dui and automatic three months in jail, but make it a jail for strictly substance abuse and rehab, past this they be treated as a felony. If you really care get legislation past to stop all alcohol at sporting events and step up chrcks with people comiing out of all bars and public events. MADD gets money from beer manufacturers, what a payoff, I was going to join them but they don't want to stop the selling of alcohol at these events, they just want to punish after another victim gets killed. In my opinion worthless. They want the money from the beer manufacturers.”

2 February 2002

Thimblewolf writes,  “I am very angry, not at the drunk drivers as much as I am about the police officers and laws that protect them, smoking causes cancer but it does not effect ones ability to think, how many congressmen are driving drinking? oh but you say that that is our government, they are allowed. how many police officers drink and drive while off duty? oh you say,that is our law enforcement and while on duty they pull over a drunk driver only to discover oh I went to school with you or oh I know you, how sad but true. If you call the police on a drunk driver and even tell them which direction they are going in oh once again they just can not seem to catch them, even when you tell them they are driving not only drunk, but on suspended Listens for drunk driving, when a drunk driver goes to jail he can be picked up by a friend and if the drunk driver gets behind the wheel of a car and has an accident the person that could not have control over the drunk has to go to court on charges ("John Elliot's Law") the jail should not release anyone that is in the drunk tank, the same goes for the hospitals, they do the same thing, the drunk should only be released from the hospital when sober or to the hands of a police officer. I know what IM talking about because I've been there with a brother and maybe if the police or laws would've done something with him early on he would not be an alcoholic today, thank God no one has ever lost a life at the hands of this problem including my brothers own children, finealy he did get nailed two times within two weeks in two different states and one state only gave him 24 hrs. in jail and the other gave him jail time and suspended his license for ten yrs. with five yrs. suspended, but guess what after all the rehab and jail and license suspended now for three yrs., he drinks more now then ever and to think that he will be behind the wheel in another two yrs. I can only hope and pray that no one will lose a life at the hands of my brother, I also pray for all the families of loved ones lost and to the families of the person with the drinking problem, lets just hope and prey that either one of the two never happens to either us or anyone that we love. LOVE AND PRAYERS!!!!!!!!!!!”