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New organization needs community support
By Sherrie Norris
People in Watauga County are going MADD.
And it’s a good thing, but community support is vital to
the success of a program that was designed to decrease drunk driving.
“MADD is here for the benefit of our community. The more
we get involved the more we’ll get back. This really is an
excellent organization to be a part of,” said Ian Wang, who
represents the Watauga Alcohol/Drug Council and ASU as campus
and community organizer for SPARC (Study to Prevent Alcohol-Related
Consequences).
Wang, who has helped spearhead the local organization of MADD,
said, “I invite all members of the community to attend our
next meeting on Thursday, May 1, at 5:30 p.m. at the Watauga County
Sheriff’s Office”
Late last year, the Watauga County Alcohol/Drug Council and local
law enforcement made a push to bring Mothers Against Drunk Driving
to Watauga County. The interest was contagious and accompanied
by strong emotion in light of a fatal accident involving a drunk
driver, who claimed the life of a young Boone man and changed
the lives of his family members forever.
Since December, a small group of MADD enthusiasts have met monthly
to organize the local chapter, with hopes that its efforts will
have a long-range and positive impact upon the community.
Having earlier identified three of the most pressing needs in
Watauga County, the group appointed a leadership team to oversee
those areas: Eliza Hagaman (support for law enforcement); Candy
Winebarger (court monitoring); and Jeni Wyatt (support for victim
Services).
“We are still in the beginning stages, but beginning to make
great strides,” Wang said. “Jeni Wyatt has received
a scholarship to go through victim’s training. Candy Winebarger
arranged for the N.C. MADD director to come to Boone to provide
court monitoring training, and we plan to help law enforcement
with their next DWI checkpoint.”
Watauga County is fortunate to have MADD representation in the
area, state director Craig Lloyd said in an earlier visit to Boone.
“MADD has become a productive and unified effort between
concerned citizens, community leaders and law enforcement throughout
the U.S., regardless of gender,” Lloyd said. “Currently,
our CEO and president are both men.”
ADC council members and law enforcement officers have received
support in bringing MADD to Boone by Ronny Holste, prevention
director at the Western Youth Network (WYN), and Kendal McDevitt,
ASU’s coordinator for off-campus community relations, as
well as others who have a vested interest.
The mission of MADD is to stop drunk driving, support its victims
and prevent underage drinking.
While MADD is opposed to the criminal act of drunk driving, Lloyd
had said, “We are not trying to be prohibitionists, we’re
simply providing grassroots leadership to create major social
change in attitudes and behavior toward drunk driving.”
Since 1980, the year Mothers Against Drunk Driving was founded,
statistics indicate that alcohol-related traffic fatalities have
decreased by about 44 percent, from more than 30,000 to under
17,000, and MADD has helped save more than 300,000 lives, he said.
Community members serving as MADD volunteers are able to serve
in their chosen areas of interest, whether offering victims and
their families a shoulder to lean on, monitoring drunk driving-related
cases through the court system, raising money to help fund unbudgeted
needs of law enforcement, or providing meals to the officers during
lengthy checkpoints, etc.
“The list is endless,” Lloyd said.
He said that community sponsorship from local businesses, churches,
etc., is vital to the program’s success. “The spark
is here, it’s easy to see. We’re all about partnerships
… We’re all in this together. ”
Lloyd promised the support of MADD as Watauga moves forward in
getting established and making a difference in the lives of young
and old alike, assuring that proper training and assistance will
be available as needed.
Watauga County ranks among the state’s 16 top counties with
the highest rate of alcohol-related crashes; North Carolina is
seventh in the U.S. for drunk driving deaths,
MADD was founded in 1980 by Californian Candy Lightner following
the death of her 13-year-old daughter Cari, who was struck by
a drunk driver while walking to a school carnival. The driver
had three prior drunk driving convictions and was out on bail
from a hit-and-run arrest two days earlier.
For more information, contact Wang at (828) 262-7558, or fax (828)
262-3182.
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