Have you ever been drunk while driving??

Tweet

I have here a story wherein we can get lessons with or we can relate especially those teenagers that are not yet allowed to drink. So, here goes the story.... No one at Barron High School seemed to know exactly when the four ducked out of class on the morning of Feb. 27, 1996. High school juniors Wonzel Crowe, Jeremy Whitman, and Jasper Stamper, and a senior Saulo Rodriguez were not problem students. In fact, they were some of the highest young achievers in this rural community of about three thousand people in the northwestern Wisconsin. Rodriguez reigned as the conference wrestling champion at 119 pounds and had recently placed fifth in the state meet. Stamper looked forward to improving on his school record 6-foot, 5-inch high jump during the spring track season. Crowe had earned a reputation for working hard and was being primed to tkae over the beef cattle farm that had been in the family for five generations. But for some reason, the four in a reckless part mood on that frosty winter morning. On their way to school, Crowe and Stamper had stopped by the home of 17-year old Joshua McEwen. There they purchased a bottle of whiskey and a bottle of brandy for $20. Sometime, after reporting for school, Crowe, Stamper, Whitman and Rodriguez took off in Crowe's 1989 Ford Ranger. At about 10:45 that morning, John Elam drove his community sanitation truck out on the ighway on his daily rounds. About a mile northeast of Barron, he came upon Crowe's vehicle, which was approaching at a high rate of speed from the east. The Ford Ranger swerved from its lane and then spun out of control. It slid several hundred yards on the ice-covered road before slamming broadslide into the garbage truck. The impact was so devastating that it knocked the heavy truck on its side. Elam suffered only minor injuries. But amid the shattered glass and twisted wreckage of the pickup, all four high school boys lay dead of massive injuries. Finding glass from a beverage bottle in Stamper's lap, investigators immediately suspected that drinking was the cause of the accident. State laboratory blood tests confirmed that all four had been drinking. Crowe, who was driving, had a blood alcohol content of nearly twice the level at which a driver is legally considered intoxicated. News of the tragedy stunned the Baron community. More than a thousand people crammed the high school gym to pay their last respects to the victims. When the shock began to wear off, they began to ask how such a thing could have happened to these fine young men. How could this senseless slaughter have been avoided? Who was to blame?Legal authorities zeroed in on JOshua McEwen, who had supplied the four with alcohol. McEwen eventually pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The court sentenced him to six months jail, three years' probation, and $2000 in restitution. Alot of things can happen to someone who chooses to drink and drive and almostall of them are bad: death, serious injury, suspension of driving privileges, the weight of a guilty conscience, or nightmares that will not go away. Worst of all, by ignoring the risks of drinking and driving, Crowe, Witman, Stamper, and Rodriguez brought unspeakable anguish to those who loved them. ROdriguez's father, Nicolas, pleaded with young people to wake up to the dangers of drinking and driving? Unfortunately, despite many such warnings and strict laws that prohibit the consumption of alcohol by teenagers, teens continue to drink and drive. Every year, thousands of parents and siblings have to go through the anguish that gripped Nicolas Rodriguez. Thousands more will have their lives shattered when a loved one is an innocent victim of someone else who drinks and drives.