August Newsletter

New Virginia Laws

Effective July 1, 1999, two important DUI laws took effect. The first makes a third DUI offense within ten years a Class 6 Felony. The second is the Child Endangerment law which increases the fine for transporting a minor while under the influence of alcohol to a fine of between $500 and $1000. Both of these laws were supported by MADD during the legislative session earlier this year.

MADD needs YOU Volunteers are the lifeblood of MADD! Most jobs are fun and can fit your schedule. There are many one-time opportunities coming up that will be fun for kids or families as well as adults. Will you give one or two days to make our roads safer? Call 703-352-3944 to volunteer today!

Two other pieces of legislation that MADD supported failed to be enacted. The first of these concerns carrying a open alcohol beverage in a vehicle, known as an "open container" law. Unfortunately, despite our strong efforts, and despite the potential re-allocation of federal highway construction dollars, none of the open container laws survived the session. The second unsuccessful issue concerned primary or standard enforcement of the seat belt law. It is already illegal to drive in Virginia without a seat belt. This law would have allowed police to stop a vehicle simply because an occupant was not wearing a seat belt.

MADD will be back at the Virginia General Assembly again next session supporting tough DUI laws and seeking to get those laws passed that failed. If you have an opportunity to talk with your Virginia representative, let him or her know that you want strong DUI laws, primary seat belt enforcement, and that you do not want people driving around with open beer cans in the car.

Now that we have a tough third DUI felony law, it is important that everyone do his or her part. MADD strongly encourages law enforcement officers and prosecutors to make sure that, if it is a person's third DUI, the defendant be charged with a third DUI. We also encourage judges to convict drunk drivers of DUI so that drunks do not get four or five chances before getting their deserved DUI convictions. We must continue to advocate loudly that society will not tolerate drunken criminals on our roads.

National Sobriety Checkpoint Week

On Labor Day, our nation celebrates the freedoms that our country offers: freedom of speach, of worship, of the press ... and many others. But with nearly 16,000 Americans dying on our highways every year in alcohol-related crashes, we have a long way to go to guarantee some other vital freedoms: freedom to travel in safety, to drive without fear of disabling injury, to be safe from the threat of dying in a violent crash. Again this year, MADD and several local police agencies will be working hard to help secure these other vital freedoms.

National Sobriety Checkpoint Week is August 30 - September 6, 1999. A recent poll showed that a vast majority - more than two-thirds - of the Americans surveyed favor increased use of sobriety checkpoints to get drunk drivers off our streets. And the police in Northern Virginia are going all out to make sure that Labor Day 1999 is safe for all of us. There will be many sobriety checkpoints all around the area this year. MADD volunteers are needed to help with literature distribution and other tasks at this year's sobriety checkpoints. If you are willing to help out at a checkpoint, please call the MADD office and let us know. As soon as we have the schedules from the various police agencies, we will let you know where you are most needed. The reports from the volunteers who have helped at checkpoints in the past is that they are very interesting and exciting. So, if you can help, please let us know at 703-352-3944.

Difference Makers

Throughout MADD's history, there have been many special people who have had a positive impact on our organization. As we celebrate our twentieth anniversary as a national organization, we would like to honor these Difference Makers. Difference Makers are volunteers who have made a significant contribution to MADD's mission during the past twenty years. By their actions, they have helped stop drunk driving, worked with young people on underage drinking prevention or have supported the victims of this violent crime. These actions could be direct "hands on" activities or support activities that have enabled others to make a difference. It doesn't matter if the activity was small or large, what does matter is that a difference was made somehow, someway, somewhere. You know who these volunteers are - there are many in our chapter! The national selection committee's goal is to have a "difference maker" from all 50 states! 366 Difference Makers will be selected and one will be announced each day during 2000 - our anniversary year.

Help celebrate MADD's 20th anniversary by recognizing the Difference Makers in our community. Nominees must be current members of MADD. Nomination forms must be submitted to the chapter office no later than September 15, 1999. Listed below are examples of possible Difference Makers. This list is by no means inclusive.

• Helped develop our chapter.
• Personally handed out red ribbons.
• Cut and carded hundreds of red ribbons.
• Served as victim impact panel panelist
• Developed a new efficient system.
• Coordinated a public policy initiative.
• Handled a crisis situation effectively.
• Spoke at numerous speaking engagements.
• Coordinated a successful fundraising event.
• Took a day off work to support a victim.
• Diligently reported chapter activities.
• Faithfully and effectively served as an officer.
• Testified at the legislature.
• Coordinated youth initiatives.
• Encouraged and inspired volunteers.
• Effectively served as a victim advocate

MADD Awards Go To Students and Civic Leaders

As we mentioned in the last issue of the newsletter, Odyssey Cruises generously donated the use of their cruise ship for the 1999 MADD Awards and Recognition Ceremony. MADD gave awards to several local officials. Fairfax Supervisor Bob Dix received the MADD "Leader of the Year" Award; Virginia Delegate Brian Moran received the "State Legislator of the Year" Award; and Arlington Police Chief Edward Flynn received the "Excellence in Enforcement" Award. In addition, Bob Gore and Madelaine Morgan were awarded "Lifetime Achievement" Awards for their volunteer work with MADD's Northern Virginia Chapter. For their work to help reduce underage drinking among students in the schools of Northern Virginia, Students Jessica Agunsday of Brentsville District High School and Kendra Sands of Madison High School received 1999 "Outstanding Community Service Awards." Also receiving these awards were Arlington Police Officer Leo Cabrales and Fairfax Police Officer Steve Bouton and school faculty members Peggy Brennan of Yorktown High School, Barbara Dragos of Brentsville District High School and Don Roth of Madison High School. As a way to get young people involved in MADD's efforts to prevent drunk driving and underage drinking, MADD's annual PosterESSAY contest provides students from Kindergarten through Twelfth Grade an opportunity to demonstrate their creative abilities. This year's theme was "Strong Enough To Say No." In order to qualify for judging by MADD, the student's work had to win the local contest at his or her school. If your school doesn't get the 2000 PosterESSAY contest details to students by January, call us.

This year's First Place PosterESSAY winners were Meghan Barnett of Alexandria, Joanna Lilley of Gainesville and Hanan Maarouf of Fairfax. The Second Place winners were Susanna Arnold of Vienna, Eileen Orsini of Alexandria and Rahini Shankar of Manassas. Receiving Third Place ribbons were Felicia Caramat of Lorton, Heather Downie of Arlington and Laurence Kim of Springfield.

Executive Director's Letter

I hope that you are having a fun, relaxing and safe summer. This is the time that many of us are able to visit friends and relatives as well as being the time to get caught up on the many chores that have been put aside during the busier times of the year. That is true here at the MADD Northern Virginia Chapter Office also. With the help of several volunteers, we are compiling a catalog of the videotapes that we have in our library. This catalog will be very helpful to members who want to check out a videotape on a specific subject as we will now be able to describe the contents of our videotapes. We have also found that a few of our videotapes are either very dated in their information or no longer reflect the current laws. Thus we will be keeping in stock only accurate and appropriate videotapes.

We have also been updating our volunteer and membership mailing lists. This newsletter is being sent out using our old list as we have not completed the conversion of our old lists to our new "Goldmine" software. So if you have any corrections to make to your listing or if you do not get the next newsletter in early November, please call the office so that we can correct our new list.

Speaking of lists, we are changing our fax number so if you have our fax number recorded somewhere, please change it to 703-379-1930. Because our Falls Church office does not use the same telephone switching office as did our Fairfax office, we have had our numbers forwarded for the past several months. We will continue to use our basic voice telephone number but have decided to stop forwarding the faxes. This change will save us about $500 per year.

Since last fall, we have been in the process of looking at all of the possible ways to reduce our expenses while still serving the needs of our members and fulfilling our mission. Because we did not receive the full amount of funds that we anticipated last fiscal year, we had to dip into reserves as our expenses exceeded our income. While this can happen once or twice, we cannot continue to do this forever and we have cut our expenses to the bone.

In order to get back on a sound financial footing, we need your help. If every person who receives this newsletter would send in a donation of forty or fifty dollars, we would make up for the amount that we have taken from reserves. I know that summer is a bad time to ask for contributions as many of the people who receive this newsletter are on vacation and may not read this as thoroughly as they would at other times of the year. So if you do read this, please help us out with a donation. We really appreciate it. As you read through this newsletter, think about the progress that has come about because MADD has been working to save lives for almost 20 years. Just think, MADD will be 20 in 2000. Although we have done a lot, there is much more to do. Together we can make our streets and highways safer.

KKRAD Is Back

Have Fun and Help MADD

Its "Kids Race Against Drugs" time again. Be sure to set aside October 23 and 24 for this fun event. Last year more than 7,000 kids in the Northern Virginia area participated in the Kmart Kids Race Against Drugs (KKRAD) at stores where MADD had volunteers. KKRAD is free to the kids, ages 7 - 12, who participate and Kmart donates $5 to MADD for each participant. Not only do the kids have a great time, but they can win valuable prizes, every participant gets a free t-shirt and hat, and both the kids and their parents get to hear about MADD and our programs.

Although we need a large number of volunteers, this event is one that is really fun for everyone. At some of the sites -- we had 5 sites last year -- our volunteers get to help operate the track and act as safety riders during the races. This is a great opportunity for older teenagers as well as adults. Even if you are on our volunteer list, please call the MADD office (703-352-3944) to make sure that we have you on the KKRAD volunteer list. This is a great way to help MADD, to promote safe alcohol-free driving, and to have a fun time with a bunch of happy kids. So call us today to get on the list.

MADD Mission Statement Updated

For the past several years, leaders of MADD have advocated adding the prevention of underage drinking to our mission statement. After a thorough review of this matter over the past year in conjunction with a comprehensive strategic planning process, and after careful consideration of field input, the Board of Directors at its meeting in June voted unanimously to revise MADD's mission statement to read as follows:

A tremendous amount of MADD's resources and energy is currently dedicated to preventing underage drinking. This goal is wholeheartedly embraced throughout the MADD organization. Increasingly, adults, youth, the media and policy makers are viewing MADD as a national leader in the fight to prevent underage drinking. Thus, this goal was already de facto part of MADD's mission.

The formal change to MADD's mission statement is a natural progression that will further underscore the importance of this aspect of our mission, contribute to increased recognition of MADD as an underage drinking prevention organization, help attract more adult and youth volunteers and financial support, and provide greater justification for much of MADD's activity in this area. While society should see many benefits from MADD's increased ongoing embrace of this as part of our mission, adding this prong to our mission statement also has a close relationship to the first prong of our mission and should in the long-run help to stop drunk driving and reduce the number of deaths and injuries from alcohol-related crashes.

As MADD prepares to commemorate our 20-year anniversary next year, and looks for ways to make even more progress in the next 20 years, it is fitting that we make the prevention of underage drinking a formal part of our mission statement. The adage "children are our future" is a profound truth in MADD's mission.

President's Letter

This November, all of our state representatives in the House of Delegates and Senate are up for re-election. While MADD cannot endorse any particular candidate, we would like to provide you with information about how they voted on our issues during this past legislative session. These grades were primarily determined on voting records, with adjustments made for bill sponsors and actions taken to help pass bills MADD considered a priority.

In our last newsletter we outlined what happened during the past legislative session. As a recap, two of MADD's four legislative priorities were passed and signed into law. Today, a third drunk driving charge is considered a felony. In addition, the fine for driving drunk with a minor in the vehicle was doubled. Alexandria Delegate Brian Moran sponsored these bills for MADD and passed them without major opposition in either chamber.

Delegate Moran also sponsored MADD's other priority legislation last session: a measure that would make it illegal for anyone to have an open container of alcohol in the vehicle as well as a bill that would allow police to give motorists a ticket solely for not wearing a seat belt, like we do with all other traffic violations. While these bills ultimately failed, MADD intends to pursue them again next session.

We strongly believe that everyone should take part in the electoral process. However, it is your responsibility to know where candidates stand on issues. Hopefully, you will at least know where Northern Virginia candidates stand on drunk driving issues. If you see candidates handing out literature or going door-to-door this fall, ask them where they are on issues concerning our community, including impaired driving.

Also in this newsletter you will find a notice about a general membership meeting later this month in Arlington. Our chapter is one of the largest in the country, representing almost 2 million people. In an attempt to serve our membership better, we will be holding these general membership meetings across Northern Virginia. We hope this first one in Arlington will help us determine how we can best serve the people of our region. If you are in the area on September 27th at 7:30 pm, please drop by and join us at the Arlington County Central Library.

MADD Seeks Applicants for National Youth Summit 2000

MADD is seeking high school student leaders from across the country to represent their communities in Washington, DC, at the MADD National Youth Summit to Prevent Underage Drinking 2000. One high school student from each of the 435 U.S. congressional districts will be selected to attend the historic MADD summit in the nation's capitol to address youth alcohol use, the No. 1 drug among young people.

During this second MADD National Youth Summit, September 29 through October 4, 2000, youth delegates will develop a series of recommendations for preventing underage drinking and present their solutions at a Capitol Hill national news conference and directly to policymakers. The youth summit is sponsored by the GuideOne Foundation and Alamo Rent A Car.

Area students interested in serving as delegates at the MADD National Youth Summit and volunteers to be adult advisors must complete an application and return it to MADD Northern Virginia by December 1, 1999.

Throughout the event, students will work with their peers as well as the individuals who influence the laws that affect minors - from the legislators who pass the bills and the law enforcement officials and federal agencies who monitor the laws. Most delegates will meet with their elected members of Congress.

Student applicants to the summit must have a strong commitment to addressing the problem of underage drinking and be able to work with their local MADD chapters and community leaders to implement their recommendations when they return from the youth summit. Adult advisors from each state will also be chosen to attend the event. Northern Virginia delegates must pay the $100.00 registration fee. Lodging, meals and local transportation will be covered by MADD. Area students interested in serving as delegates at the MADD National Youth Summit and volunteers to be adult advisors must complete an application and return it to MADD Northern Virginia by December 1, 1999.

"Drunk driving deaths and injuries are only part of the problem associated with underage drinking. Studies reveal that youth who drink are more likely to become alcohol dependent than those who wait until they are of the legal drinking age. They are also more likely to use other illicit drugs," said Brendan Brogan, MADD National Youth Board Member and a New Jersey representative at the 1996 MADD National Youth Summit.

Underage drinking is one of America's most pervasive problems, causing death and injury to far too many young people every year. According to one national survey, 9.5 million drinkers are under the legal minimum drinking age of 21. MADD believes that young people must be an integral part of the solution to this serious problem. The National Youth Summit is a part of a continuing focus MADD has placed on underage drinking.

"Drunk driving deaths, combined with the current rate of underage drinking and the projected increase in young inexperienced drivers on our roadways causes MADD great concern," said MADD National President Karolyn Nunnallee. "MADD believes programs like the National Youth Summit will produce long-term change in behavior and lead a new generation of activists who will help change social norms about underage drinking and drunk driving." Despite the progress that has been made in reducing alcohol-related deaths among those under the age of 21, youth are still over-represented in impaired driving crashes. Combined with the fact that there will be a tremendous increase in the youth population during the next decade, Nunnallee says, it is evident that we must continue our commitment to the prevention of underage drinking.

Twelve policy-level recommendations were created by the youth delegates at the 1997 MADD National Youth Summit, including automatic loss of license for those under 21 on their first alcohol-related offense; strong enforcement and sanctions for "Zero Tolerance" laws for those under 21, which are now the law in all states; and requiring alcohol advertisers to pay for public service announcements, one to counter each alcohol advertisement shown during prime time. In addition, the delegates met with more than 300 members of Congress and participated in hundreds of media interviews. Applications to serve as a youth delegate or adult advisor can be obtained by contacting the MADD office at 703-352-3944.

Court Monitors Needed

As you may have read in the newspaper or seen on television, your MADD chapter has criticized the Arlington General District Court for being soft on drunk drivers. We held a press conference in June to report that Judge Thomas Kelley had, on June 8, 1999, reduced the guilty pleas of four admitted drunk drivers from DUI to Reckless Driving.

Because we have heard for some time that the Arlington courts are much more lenient on drunk drivers than the other courts in the area, we felt that we should publicize the specific actions of this judge. But, because we have not routinely had Court Monitors in the Arlington courts, we have not been able to quantify the magnitude of the problem except with the specific example that occurred in early-June. That is where you come in. One of the more interesting volunteer opportunities that MADD offers is the chance to watch our courts in action. After completing a brief training session, you can become a MADD Court Monitor. The schedule is flexible and requires only that you fill out a simple form for the court sessions that you attend. After all of the Court Monitors' forms are collated, we will then have the data necessary to see just how well, or how poorly, our judges are handling drunk drivers. If this project interests you, please call the MADD office for further details.

Even Deactivated Cell Phones Reach 911

I recently received an e-mail telling us about an FCC ruling that requires the cellular phone industry to provide 911 access to deactivated cell phones. Now, when a motorist is threatened on the roadway by an alcohol-impaired driver, that moterist can call 911 for help. Even if the motorest's old cellular phone is no longer activated it can still place a 911 call for reporting drunk drivers and all other 911 emergencies.

The e-mail included an article from the Toledo, Ohio, MetroNet by Bob Seybold that included the following: "- About 50,000 times a day, someone in America reaches for a cellular phone to make an emergency call to 911, according to the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association. Having a wireless phone to make emergency calls is the No. 1 reason cited in surveys that ask customers why they want cellular service. In advertisements, cellular service providers have used testimonials to claim that the average $20 cost of monthly service is a small price to pay to be able to call for help anywhere in an emergency. But what carriers like Alltel and Airtouch Cellular don't mention in any ad or on any Web site is that you don't need their service to dial 911 from a cellular phone.

Since Dec. 1, 1997, the Federal Communications Commission has mandated that all wireless carriers must connect all 911 calls from any phone, whether or not it has a service contract. The order came in reaction to a number of tragedies in which cellular-phone users could not connect to 911 during an emergency because carriers did not provide universal service. In one incident, a California woman being pursued by carjackers was shot after failing to connect to 911. In another case, a driver died of injuries when he was unable to reach 911 from a cellular phone after his family van careened down an embankment. The order mandating 911 service from any cellular phone has opened the door to a new safety option for everyone, and a new business opportunity for a few savvy companies who have figured out how to peddle cellular phones to people who only want 911 service."

Important Notice:
MADD will be having a very informative public meeting at 7:30 pm on Monday, September 27, 1999, at the Arlington Central Library, 1015 North Quincy Street, Arlington, VA 22207 (703-228-5990). Learn about all of the exciting programs and opportunities that MADD offers to Northern Virginians. This meeting is not just for those from Arlington; everyone is welcome. Please help us to have a good turnout.