Soberfest to provide reality check
By Randa Anthony
The Student Government Association is sponsoring a sobriety celebration on April 13 and 14.
The Soberfest will feature a 50 by 80-foot obstacle course demonstrating driving capabilities while intoxicated. Golf carts, with seatbelts, will be provided for students to drive while wearing Fatal Vision Goggles, a pair of virtual reality glasses that give the perception of what an intoxicated driver sees.
An official of the Illinois State Police, which will set up the course, claimed that over 10,000 driving tests had been given to people wearing the goggles, and no one has passed yet.
The obstacle course will be in the circle drive between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. both days.
Other activities planned for the Soberfest are demonstrations of sobriety tests in the Blood Alcohol Testing Van or BAT used in road blocks between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m., and a display of a car that has been involved in a drunk driving collision.
Student Trustee Chris Smith said, "We know there's no way that we can tell college students not to drink. What we're trying to do is tell the students, if they're going to drink, don't get drunk, or at least don't drink and drive."
Smith said there will also be a "mocktail" bar serving non-alcoholic drinks and hot dogs between 11a.m. and 1 p.m. both days.
On April 13, Gary Hanna, Princeton firefighter, will speak about his experiences with alcohol related automobile accidents in the Cultural Centre at 11 a.m. He will also be telling about responding to a call that led him to his own brother's body in a drunk driving accident that left his brother's wife and child critically injured.
"I would really like to see the students participate in this," said Smith. "We're hoping we can get the faculty to also support this by bringing some of their classes to see the speaker."
SGA advisor Cory Tomasson said, "I hope that the students will get an overall sense of the consequences that come with irresponsible drinking -- both the legal consequences and the consequences to the lives of themselves and others."
Among those sponsoring the activities are the Illinois State Police, North Central Behavioral Systems, the LaSalle County Health Department, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and the Illinois Community College Board Student Advisory Committee.
April 8, 1999 the Apache