MADD presentation speaks to heart Published Feb. 27, 2006 By Mara Minwegen 377 Air Base Wing Public Affairs KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. -- Three soft spoken women sat in front of an audience of big, tough-looking young Airmen. By the time those ladies were done with them, some of the Airmen were crying. Mothers Against Drunk Driving presented a panel Feb. 16 in the 377th Air Base Wing's Presentation Center here. Their message was simple and devastating - drinking and driving is a violent crime. Don't be responsible for another mother, sister or daughter sitting behind this table with tears running down her face. Lt. Col. Frank Budd, chief of the community outreach subcommittee of the wing's responsible drinking task force, addressed the audience first. He said that that the purpose of the presentation was not to tell Airmen not to drink, but to have a plan when choosing to drink. "This is to help you understand at a gut level what can happen," he said. Victoria Serna was the first panel member to speak. She thanked the audience for their attention and noted that usually MADD speaks before groups of people already convicted of drunk driving offenses who are much less polite than the Air Force audience. She demonstrated the number of people injured in drunk driving crashes in the last year by emptying a trash bag of 2,500 red ribbons on the floor. On top of the pile, she poured 219 silver ribbons to represent the dead. Ms. Serna explained that MADD members refer to drunk driving crashes rather than accidents because when someone gets behind the wheel of a car while under the influence, they usually know what they're doing. "It isn't something that just happens," she said. With quiet dignity, she told her story. Three blocks from home, on a Tuesday afternoon, her sister and young niece were hit in an intersection by a drunk driver. It took them sixteen days to die of their injuries. "Joanie and Jenna weren't just statistics -- They were my family," she said. She ended her portion of the presentation by showing the Safe Ride cards that everyone had been given. Annjennette Serna referred to material the audience had been given that showed how a person whose blood alcohol count was above the limit at 2 a.m. could still be drunk when he drove to work at 7 a.m. Her story was about how her parents had been killed on a rural road. She said that she didn't hold anger toward the man who hit them, who was 25 years old, married with two children and another on the way. Her parents were burned beyond recognition in the crash he caused. A witness had seen him driving at about 95 mph, she said, weaving all over the road. "I'm sure he didn't get up that morning intending to kill someone," Annjennette Serna said. She read from the autopsy report of her mother to bring home to the audience that drunk driving crashes are not fender bender accidents, but extremely violent crimes. It was at that point that the back door of the auditorium was heard opening and closing as someone had to leave in a hurry. "I know it sounds pretty bad. It is bad," Annjennette Serna said. The last speaker was Tina Romero. She read her story, tears flowing freely. In the most recent accident of the three, her 18-year-old daughter was killed instantly in a head on collision with a drunk driver just a mile from her home in Placitas, N.M. In her own obvious intense grief, Ms. Romero talked about the effect her daughter's death had on the entire family. "There are so many innocent lives ruined," she said. The injustice of drunk driving crashes was pointed out when Ms. Romero spoke of the six-year sentence the drunk driver received. "My daughter's killer cried in court for a second chance - she got six years. We got the life sentence," she said. Each speaker, in her own way, said it again and again: Please don't drink and drive. Was the message received? Reponses to the anonymous post presentation surveys say yes. "The most moving experience of my life." "I don't drink anymore. I won't ever again." "I don't think I will ever drink and drive again." A courageous Airman allowed himself to be identified. Airman 1st Class Christopher Ogle, 377th Comptrollers Squadron, got the point completely. "I wouldn't want to lose my family because of someone else's poor decision about drinking and driving and I definitely wouldn't want to make a decision that would hurt someone else's family," he said.