Observations by Santa Fe Community College Student, Dana McIntosh Long After
Santa Fe DWI Victim Impact Panel #82 October 1, 2008

DWI IMPACT PANEL JEMEZ ROOM AT SFCC OCTOBER 1, 2008 I arrived at the Jemez Room at SFCC at 5:45 and stayed until around 8:45 for the DWI Impact Panel. I sat at a long desk with Lidya and we received intake forms from DWI offenders who had been ordered by a judge to attend this meeting. Approximately 68 people came that night: all types of people, some young and some in their late 70's. And there were people from all walks of life. You could tell some were hard-core drinkers and had led a pretty rough life. But there were also young people, mostly men, and 'soccer moms' too. A video narrarated by Dick Roth was shown as he was not there to attend that evening. Then Margaret, a woman with grown children, moderated the live portion of the meeting. She began by educating the attendees about the effects of alcohol. She had visual props with glasses of wine, bottles of beer and glasses of mixed drinks to demonstrate just how much alcohol would exceed the legal limit. For example, if a person has 8 drinks, they are 256 times more likely to be involved in a vehicular accident than if they had not been drinking. The likelihood of having an accident expands geometrically as a person increases the number of drinks they consume. The statistics were startling and scary. She also mentioned that young male drivers are more at risk in general of having a driving accident for the following reasons: 1. They are new to driving, and therefore, inexperienced behind the wheel; 2. Science now knows that the frontal lobe of the brain, which accesses and determines risk, is the last part of the brain to develop and isn't fully developed until a person is well into their 20's; and 3. In young men, testosterone has been shown to play a role in aggression and risk taking. Margaret stressed to the group that drinking and driving is a crime whether you harm anyone or not. She gave an example of three guys each drinking (5 drinks) and each driving separately. Two got home safe but one got into an accident and killed someone. She pointedly asked the question: "Who is guilty of a crime?" She was able to demonstrate that all three guys in this example were guilty of DWI, and that the other two just got 'lucky' that night by getting home without killing someone. Next, she told her personal story about the evening that her 17 year old son left home to pick up his 15 year old sister from her part time job, and did not make it home because a serial drunk driver crashed into their car and killed her daughter. Her son was critically injured and required several surgeries. She spoke emotionally about the horror of receiving the phone call and going to the hospital to identify the body of her beloved daughter and then having to lie to her son, telling him his sister was OK, before the doctors wheeled him in to surgery because she was afraid if she told him the truth he might not survive the surgery. The man was convicted and sentenced to (I think) 9 years in prison. But since he was a repeat, serial offender, the judge added one year for each of his previous convictions for a total of 17 years in prison. He died in prison from Cirrhosis of the liver and Hepatitis C due to drug and alcohol use. He was a drug trafficker who showed no remorse for his crime as he continued using alcohol and dealing drugs in prison. During a Power Point Presentation, slides were shown of beautiful, sexy women wearing bathing suits or next to nothing, advertising beer, especially Budweiser and Corona. Three Olives, a vodka brand, also does this type of advertising. The message is that if you drink the beer, you get the girl. But after each advertisement, they would show a slide of a horrific accident with mangled, bloody, smashed bodies and cars. It was quite graphic and disturbing. Theresa Klemmer spoke that evening about surviving being struck head on by a woman driving drunk. four years ago. She was in a coma for a month and still has a poor memory. Both legs were in a cast and she had to be cut out of her car. She had a brain hemorrhage, a lacerated liver, broken legs, ankles and crushed feet. After two months in the hospital she spent four months in a wheelchair and eight months in physical therapy. The costs for her injuries exceeded $300,000. The offender had $30,000 in Bodily Injury coverage with her automobile insurance. The company Theresa worked for paid #150,000 of her bills. She still has severe physical pain, gets fatigued and because her job requires her to be on her feet often, has quite a difficult time dealing with pain on a continuous basis. Next, Mike Martinez spoke. His father was killed by a drunk driver who had 14 previous DWI convictions and only received 18 months in prison. The offender got his GED in prison and is still driving drunk. He was ordered to pay $25 a month in restitution to the family. Mike's sister-in-law was killed a few months later by a drunk driver with 14 DWI convictions and had, in fact, just been released from prison for DWI the very day he killed her. She left behind Mike's brother, an 11 year old daughter and a 13 month old son. This offender received nine years but only served five years in prison. Seven years ago Mike's brother was killed. He was beaten up and dragged to death by his killers, who were drunk. The killers are still loose - they have not been identified or brought to justice. A man named Kenny was the next to speak. He was an offender - big time offender. Kenny said he has had more than 4 DWI's and have driven innumerable times drunk. He began drinking underage and at 18 was a heavy drinker. Every day after work on his construction job site, he and the guys would go drink beers til it got dark and then they would all drive home drunk or go to someone else's house and keep drinking, then drive home. Kenny and his best friend, Peter, got drunk up at the ski basin one night and on the way driving down in Pete's truck, rolled the truck. Kenny realized Peter had been thrown from the truck and searched frantically for him in the dark. He finally came upon his friend several yards from the truck and realized his friend was bleeding from his nose, ears and mouth. Kenny tried to clear his air passage, but Peter was bleeding so profusely that it didn't help. So Kenny began to literally suck the blood out of his mouth and spit it out. He slipped his hand under Peter's head, only to realize that his hand went right up into the man's skull, and in fact was crushed. Needless to say, Peter died in Kenny's arms that night. But Kenny only drank more to kill the pain and the nightmares. Kenny eventually went to prison for a DWI and described it as pure hell - a very lonely, harsh environment. He realized how he had broken his Mom and his family's heart by his actions and that he was the only person in his family to ever go to prison. He was mistakenly put in a level 3 facility with murderers, rapists, robbers and other violent criminals, so he could not touch his family during visits. They were conducted behind glass by phone. Upon getting out on parole, he began drinking again and was discovered drunk on the job by his parole officer. Back to prison he went, but after release, he only began to drink more. Finally Kenny realized he needed help and went to Juan's Sober House. He credits his current sobriety with having a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ, and says that continued AA meetings and bible studies helps him as well. He has been clean for 2 years. He was homeless prior to getting sober but is getting his life back together and is now a proud homeowner. It looks like Kenny may be one of the few to make it. There were a couple of others who spoke at the meeting that night and all the stories were very moving. I believe that this forum is very good for many who attended. I intentionally watched the faces of the people in the room that night to try and gauge their reactions to the speakers' stories. Some, like myself, were visibly moved to tears. Others were also strongly impacted by these emotional and moving stories. My hope and prayer is that those who attend these meetings will seriously consider stopping drinking all together or, at the very least, not drive while drinking. Dana McIntosh Long