October 15
October 15, 2007
Ruberta LaCoste
October 17, 2007
Two messages were repeated at a recent press conference held at the State Police Troop C headquarters. Drinking and driving is an epidemic in south Louisiana and Terrebonne Parish will become an example to the state and the nation as to its cure.
The conference was given by a panel of speakers from Terrebonne Parish, which included Drug and DWI Court Administrator Danny Smith, Sheriff Jerry Larpenter, District Attorney Joseph Waitz Jr., school Superintendent Ed Richard, Council on Aging Executive Director Diana Edmonson and the featured speaker, Louisiana Highway Safety Commission Executive Director James E. Champagne.
“This is a mark of a new day in Terrebonne Parish,” Smith said. “Enough is enough. The community will no longer tolerate this (the epidemic).”
A former state trooper, Champagne recalled an experience he had 41 years ago.
He arrived on the scene of a traffic accident. The smell of alcohol was so overpowering, he had to fight to get closer. The man was badly injured and dying.
Champagne held the man, who asked the trooper not to tell his mother he had been drinking. Then, the man died a few moments later in the trooper’s arms.
Champagne said he remembers it like it happened yesterday.
He said when he went to inform the man’s mother, he didn’t have to say a word.
The blood on his uniform and the expression on his face were enough.
“Alcohol and driving in south Louisiana is an epidemic,” Champagne said. “Aren’t you tired of it? I’m tired of it.”
Champagne rattled off DWI numbers.
Of the 42,000 traffic accidents in the United States last year, 16,000 were alcohol related.
And of the 985 people who died in traffic accidents in Louisiana last year, 455 of the deaths were alcohol related.
Champagne said he has received calls from four district attorneys outside of Terrebonne that were interested in the parish’s DWI program.
But Champagne has no plans for franchising the program just yet. He wants to prove to the entire nation it can work before expanding it elsewhere in the state.
Part of his reasoning for this is the fact he wants to try to secure continuing funding for the program in the parish first.
As of now, the program is supported through grants, fees from participants, the Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Office, the Terrebonne Parish District Attorney’s Office and the Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Government.
It has a matching grant for $85,000 each year for three years and has to become self-sufficient by the end of the three years.
“It’s going to work in this state, in Terrebonne Parish. And when it does, we’re going to take it statewide,” Champagne said.
Of the first-time DWI offenders in the parish, Smith said one-third have serious substance abuse problems.
The DWI Court currently has 25 participants. Smith hopes the court will grow rapidly.
But he also pointed out the reality that law enforcement cannot conduct DWI checkpoints and barroom sweeps everyday. It needs the help of the people in the community and the media.
“Law enforcement is not enough,” Smith said.
Paraphernalia from the “Don’t Be a Zero” campaign urges the public to report intoxicated drivers by dialing “*LSP” on their cell phone.
Council on Aging Executive Director Diana Edmonson was struck by a drunk driver a little more than three years ago, on her birthday, July 4. The intoxicated driver ran a red light and broadsided her vehicle.
Today, Emondson gets around in a power chair now.
“We are known for being Mardi Gras 365 days a year. That has to stop,” Edmondson said.
She said she has never put a bumper sticker on her car before, but that is going to change.
She waved a “Don’t Be a Zero” bumper sticker to the audience, showing her support.
A researcher at Florida International University is conducting a three year evaluation of the program to determine its impact in the parish.
“Sometimes, it takes many, many years to turn the corner,” Smith said.
Smith and the other members of the panel believe changing the attitudes of people in their 50s and 60s will be difficult.
However, they agree teaching the next generation – young students in school – about the dangers and heartaches of drinking and driving will bring about change in time.
James C. Champagne, executive director of the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission, unveils the “Don’t Be A Zero” campaign at a press conference last week. Also on the speakers panel were Drug and DWI Court Administrator Danny Smith, Terrebonne Parish Sheriff Jerry Larpenter, parish District Attorney Joseph Waitz Jr., school Superintendent Ed Richard and Council on Aging Executive Director Diana Edmonson. * Photo by BRIAN FONTENOT
