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April 27, 2000
Students get crash course on DUI dangersBy GUY PRIEL Journal Staff Writer NEW ULM -- With students preparing for graduation and prom, officials spent some time on Wednesday warning them about the dangers of driving under the influence of alcohol. It's Friday, June 2 at approximately 7 p.m. Two teen-agers in a pickup truck are heading north on Highway 15. They have been drinking. They cross the center line, hitting a car filled with four teen-agers. Another car, carrying two teen-agers, attempting to avoid the accident, swerves, hitting a telephone pole. The result: two dead teenagers, one arrest for driving under the influence, and four severely injured teen-agers. The above scenario, although potentially quite real, was a mock crash staged by members of the New Ulm and Cathedral High Schools Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) chapters and various emergency response organizations in Brown County. After the scene was set, each step in the process was explained as students watched ambulances, fire trucks, police cars, and funeral homes respond. "There is a difference between impaired and intoxicated," New Ulm Police Commander Erv Weinkauf said. "When you are impaired, the effects are still there, and they are discovered during a variety of sobriety tests." Because there were deaths involved, the accident scene became a crime scene, as possible charges involving vehicular homicide were explained to the students. The program, presented to students at New Ulm High School, Cathedral High School, GFW High School and Minnesota Valley Lutheran, was part of the Reality Check 2000 Minnesota Safe & Sober campaign. It is designed to get students to think about what can happen when they make certain decisions, Weinkauf said. The program will be aired on Time Warner Cable channel 12 at 7 p.m. Sunday, April 30 and Thursday, May 4. "This is a hard topic for any of us to discuss, and I don't have to stand here today and tell you the statistics," MVL senior Nicole Wils said. She spoke as someone whose life had been affected by a drunk driver. Her father suffered brain damage and broken vertebra as a result of a drunk-driving accident several years ago. "You can't imagine what it's like," she said. "My father has changed, but we are the ones who suffer because of what happened. Think about your choices and make the right ones."
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