Proposed Oklahoma law would mark the driver licenses of convicted drunk drivers

Glynn Birch, the President of MADD.
He may be against drunk driving, but he's nobody's mother.

Oklahoma City, OK

A proposed law in Oklahoma appears to be among the first in the nation that would require convicted drunken drivers to have a special mark placed on their driver's licenses.

Lawmakers hope the designation, which would remain on licenses for up to four years, will induce bartenders and others to refuse to sell as much alcohol to those with previous drunken driving convictions.

But the proposal has been criticized by civil liberties advocates and questioned by activists.

"I think it is yet another example of an attempt by the legislature to put a scarlet letter on some of its citizens," said C.S. Thornton, the legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma. "It seems like they are trying to stigmatize someone just to heap on punishment. But the effect of that particular punishment is questionable. What is that really going to do to reduce drinking and driving?"

States have tried a variety of ways to combat drunken driving, including suspending licenses and using car ignition locks that require alcohol breath tests. Three states require some drunken drivers to use special license plates. Virginia and New York have proposed to do same, but other states have a tried and abandoned similar license plate measures.

No states currently require convicted drunken drivers to have a notation on their licenses, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

In a statement, Mothers Against Drunk Driving president Glynn Birch said, "MADD focuses on research-based, scientific efforts that will result in reduced repeat offenses." MADD supports such measures as ignition locks and license revocation as the best ways to reduce drunken driving. More >>

Mother of MADD leader edits, self-publishes daughter's journal

Millville, NJ

The diary was 600 pages. The book is 66 pages. The diarist, "spent years taking morphine and Valium." Coincidence? I think not.

Hopefully, she wasn't driving.

In the time between her untimely death in May 2000, and the car accident that changed her life nearly 20 years prior, Debbie Jerrell both accomplished and suffered.

Jerrell, who died at the age of 41, in Millville, had been studying to become a dental hygienist at the University of Louisville, in Kentucky, when she sustained severe brain injury in a car accident involving a drunk driver. The next 20 years would be marked by efforts to "put her back together," according to her mother, Gertrude.

She suffered seizures from the near-constant pain, and spent years taking morphine and Valium, prescribed after hospital visits that would last for up to 30 days at a time in New York City and Philadelphia.

However, she was also a driving force in the community, founding the Cumberland and Salem Chapter of the Mothers Against Drunk Drivers in 1982. Jerrell later became the state chairwoman for MADD in 1994, opening the first state office for the organization in Vineland.

A recipient of the Cumberland County Bar Association's Liberty Bell Award for community service, Jerrell was offered personal congratulations from President Ronald Reagan, and was the only person Paul Hunsberger has ever interviewed more than once on his radio show "Off the Cuff."

Throughout all this, Jerrell kept a journal where she would pass the long hours spent inside various hospitals, chronicling her accident, recovery, and activities within the community.

MADD leader speaks about cops' arrests for driving while intoxicated (DWI)

Sacramento, CA

The MADD leader's first name is Matthias. Wouldn't that make him a FADD. Shouldn't they just change the name of the organization to MFADD (and I mean mothers and fathers against drunk driving? Is there a reason this guy wants to be head mother?

The leader of Mothers Against Drunk Driving in California said police need to set an example after two recent drunken driving arrests involving law enforcement officers. Daniel Rouse, an off-duty Sacramento County deputy, was arrested Saturday morning at Highway 50 near the Capital City Freeway.

The 22-year-old is expected to face a misdemeanor driving under the influence charge. Rouse's arrest came two weeks after a California Highway Patrol lieutenant was arrested in northern Merced County on a drunken driving charge.

Lt. Deborah Pierce flipped her car onto an embankment along Highway 99, police said. She was arrested at the scene.
Pierce works for the Bakersfield-area CHP and is a 17-year veteran of the agency.

"Please remember that we look to them not only to save our lives but to show the community that they march to a higher tune," MADD's state executive director Matthias Mendezona said. "They have certain accountabilities there that go beyond the average citizen," he said. More >>

MADD pushes for tough new DUI law, ignition interlock devices for first-time DUI convicts

Sacramento, CA

MADD mothers urge California lawmakers to make first-time DUI offenders to "Blow Me" each time they get behind the wheel.

MADD is urging California lawmakers to implement a law that would require an ignition-locking device be placed in the vehicles of first-time DUI offenders.

Interlock devices prevent a vehicle's ignition from working if alcohol is detected. A person breathes into a handheld device. That breath is passed over an electrical chip and when there is alcohol in the breath, the ignition system won't work.

MADD Chief Executive Officer Charles Hurley said first time offenders should be treated harshly. "First offenders aren't really first offenders," said Hurley. "It's first time caught. The science indicates that people that have been arrested on a first offense have driven drunk 87 times before."

New Mexico, Arizona, Illinois, and Louisiana all have ignition interlock laws on the books for first time DUI offenders.