Offenders get sobering advice

Most of the audience didn't want to be there.\nBut last night, the Binford Elementary School auditorium was filled to capacity with drunken driving offenders who had been court-ordered to attend a panel discussion as part of their probation agreement.\nThe panel was sponsored by the local Mothers Against Drunk Driving Community Action Team, in conjunction with the Monroe County Probation Department and the Monroe County Prevention Coalition. Panel members shared personal experiences and perspectives on the effects of drinking and driving.\n"You've been told what alcohol does to your body," said panel coordinator Leasa Farkas, also a music school employee. "If you've gone through the court system, then you've had to pay fees and fines, and you've had to live your life carefully. What we want you to do tonight is one more thing -- just open your minds and open your hearts. Put yourself in the shoes of the victims and others who are going to be sharing their stories this evening."\nFarkas began the panel program in 1990, after reading about several incidents that alerted her to the seriousness of drunken driving. \nThree of the evening's five panelists recounted stories about family members who had been killed by drunken drivers.\nOn the morning of Sept. 14, 1989, Carl Hancock's granddaughter Nicole was playing outside with her step-brother when a car veered off the street and through their front yard. In a matter of seconds, Nicole was rammed by the front bumper of the car and dragged more than 40 feet down the road, where her body finally fell to the pavement. \nWhen she lost control of her automobile, the woman behind the wheel had been reaching into the backseat to grab another beer -- her eighth of the day.\n"She thought she hit a dog, so she just kept going," Hancock said. As he spoke, albums filled with graphic photos of Nicole's mangled body circulated through the auditorium.\nFor Hancock, the tragic loss of his first grandchild quickly became a legal battle as well as an emotional struggle. Despite the fact the woman served five years in jail, Hancock went after a greater goal.\n"There was no law against (the driver) reaching back in her seat for that eighth beer," Hancock said. "So guess what I did for the next nine years?"\nAlong with other victims, Hancock lobbied to change the open-container law in Indiana. The law was eventually rewritten, but Hancock said he wants people to understand there is more to drunken driving than crime and punishment.\n"Whether you're the person who commits the crime or you're the victim, everyone around you becomes the victims," Hancock said. "Your parents are victims. Your children are victims. Your whole damned community becomes victims." \nHancock's statement seemed to ring true for the audience, where friends and family members sat beside those who were court-ordered to attend the panel.\nOne woman said with a hint of pride that her roommate has not had a drink since his arrest. Another man who had come out to show support for his friend said the panel "both helps and hurts" him.\nAnd some of the panelists themselves had stories to tell about their personal struggles with drinking and driving.\n"I am a drunk driver," Gus Matthias stated at the outset of his speech. "I have offended hundreds upon hundreds of times. I've driven drunk in 42 states and 13 foreign countries. The fact that I'm here at all today is a miracle."\nAfter sharing dozens of harrowing statistics about drunken driving, Matthias took a moment to tell a side of the story he said he knew well from experience.\n"Those of you who are here because you committed an offense for drinking and driving," he said, "chances are you were not committing the first offense when you were arrested."\nHe vehemently condemned the three offenders who came to the panel and were arrested for being under the influence, calling them "a pitiful commentary on American standards."\nAnd he issued an appeal for the future.\n"Pay attention to what you're doing to yourselves," Matthias said. "If you want your children to follow in your footsteps, be careful where you place your feet."\nStill, Monroe County probation officer Brier Frasier said drunken driving continues to be "a huge problem."\nFrasier said the more than 400 people court-ordered to attend this panel were arrested only in the last few months.\nMatthias agreed in his speech, reiterating the evening's theme: "Don't drink and drive. Don't drink and drive. Don't drink and drive. How many times do we have to tell you"