I wish.

The other day I had a chance to do a Victim impact panel which is basically a meeting that DWI offenders have to attend. There they hear firsthand accounts for DWI victims and/or their families about the effect that another person's choice to drink and drive had on them. There were three of us speaking that night and After sharing our stories we headed for the door one of the guys attending the meeting came up to me. He asked if I had been on TV the week before and if I was the one that was pushing for the alcohol restriction for DWI offenders. I said yes and waited to hear what he was going to say. Just a few minutes before he had shared that this was his third DWI and was facing some serious repercussions for it. So in those few seconds before he spoke I was preparing my defense for the backlash that was about to come. Then these word came from him " I think that's a good idea, I would support that." He went on to tell me that he wished that something like that had been done long ago, me too, I said. And as we walked out of the court house he mentioned how he liked the part that if someone was to buy or gave someone a beer that was on restriction, that that person would be restricted from buying beer too. He went on to say “If someone(on restriction) came up to me and asked If I could get them a 12 pack or something, I’d tell them to go f—k themselves” he said “I wouldn't take a chance to mess up just cause they messed up”   after a few more words we parted, and as I prayed that my truck would start, the thought came to me that maybe he was wishing that someone had done something like the alcohol restriction when he was younger.That maybe his first DWI would have been his last and he wouldn't be in the situation he's in, I wish that it  had been done along time ago too and I'm sure there are lots of others that do too. I was surprised by what he said and  encouraged to keep pushing this forward. I really feel that this is a good Idea and that it would be an effective way to encourage people to take more personal responsibility when they decide to drink. So even though, right now it seems that this effort won’t have a chance at even becoming part of a bill for the legislature to consider this session, I will keep pushing. I will push to get the word out and grow the support that is needed to make this idea a reality. I've got the website to help do that and I’m setting up an “At The Counter” Facebook page that I hope to launch very soon, we’ll see how that goes. Well that all for now, I’ll share more with you later.   

Matthew's Dad

Edward