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 The story behind the story

   By Maggie Rhynes
   IV Leader Editor

    As the Editor of the IV Leader, there have been a million things I’ve thought about doing. I thought about writing news stories on this or features on that. Heaven knows plenty of other folks have told me what they thought I should be writing about. (Just as a side note: If you have an opinion for goodness sakes have enough nerve to sign your letter, you, and I, know who you are.) But of all the ideas, one has proved a reality: the recreation of a 1993 Apache alcohol use-survey. I stumbled upon the article when looking through old issues of the Apache. Just six years later, in a 1999 issue, is the story of three IVCC students killed in a drunk driving accident. I figured maybe the first survey didn’t sink in.
    Surveying nearly 500 students and tallying their responses was no easy task (though I had quite a lot of help and I’m very thankful for that). I know, however, that all the time I’ve invested was worth it and I hope you all take the time to look over the results of our survey and think about what they mean. Is it any surprise that alcohol use is so frequent at IVCC? Of course not. My intention was never to shock folks with percentages or attempt to scare students out of tipping the bottle...I’m a little bit more realistic than that.
    But here’s the story behind the story. In 1996 my grandparents were killed by a drunk driver. Ten years later, I know far too many people with a similar story and I have to wonder, why does this keep happening? I don’t condemn drinking. I drink, most of my family members drink. I don’t take issue with alcohol use. I take issue only with folks who drink alcohol and drive cars. When you drink and drive you are gambling with the lives of people you don’t even know. Quite simply, that is ridiculous. If you stood in a parking lot, and a friend pointed to a stranger and said, “Kill that man.” Would you do it? Of course not. Then why would you drive a car while drunk? It isn’t any different.
    Since, I’ve heard almost every response to this argument, let me just put a few things out there. You are NOT a better driver when you are drunk; It WILL happen to you; and my grandparents were killed on a back country road so don’t tell me that makes it safer.
    There is not an excuse, there is not a reason and there certainly is not forgiveness for killing a friend or someone you don’t even know.
    My grandparents didn’t get to see me graduate, they didn’t get to meet their great-grand children and they won’t be at my wedding. For what? For a few beers and good time? That just doesn’t add up. So before you toss back a few and hop in the car, add up the costs. The 10 minutes it takes to find a safe way home will without a doubt spare someone else’s family, maybe your own, a life time of pain. That’s the only thing that adds up.

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