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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1987-02-25, Page 61Entertainment *Features ®Religion ®Fi:lr r ily .More for GODERICH SIGNAL -STAR, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1987 PAGE IA er ire 1s h r st 13Y 11'ILLIA'.1. 1'11()'1 AS ry BY PATRICK RAFTIS While it is easy to understand, in theory, why a person who has consumed alcohol or drugs should never be allowed behind the wheel of a vehicle — that knowledge is not always brought into play when a person is leaving a bar or a party after having a few drinks. Police accident and impaired driv- ing statistics, which although decreasing, remain high, indicate that for many people the cold facts are not enough — they seem to require a more graphic lesson. A quadriplegic former -model, an On- tario Provincial Police officer and a member of the Goderich Police Force endevored to provide such an example during a program at the Bluewater Centre for Young Offenders, on Feb. 17. Wendy Crawford, who's promising modelling a career was .cut short in a car accident in- volving an impaired driver and OPP Con- stable Gary Gaeler, who lost a brother to '.an drunk driver, told residents of the cen- tre and groups from area high schools their tragic stories. Goderich Police Con- stable Jay Coulter added to the lesson by warning the young audience of the conSe- quences of mixing drug, and alcohol abuse with driving. "Crawford, an attractive 22 -year-old, told how her modelling career was practically ended on the night of July 4, 1984, when the car driven by her boyfriend was struck from behind on Hyw. 401 near Guelph. She was on her way to the airport, headed for a modelling assignment in Japan. She never made it to that assigment and has has gmodelled only a few times, photographed from the neck up, since. NEEDS A MIRACLE "Modelling is a really active, job, it's very physical. I could go back tom it, but I I can only do face shots and the money isn't very stable," she said. So instead, in'the employ of the Ministry of the Attorney General, she travels the 1 province telling her story and warning 1groups, mostly high school students, about the dangers of drinking and driving. Since thse accident, she has regained some strength and mobility, but will .re - I main' confined to a wheelchair, "unless a miracle happens.' , "Physically, I need someone to help me do .everything," she said. Crawford was asked a wide .v,.priety of questions, from her feelings for the driver who hit her„ to whether she is still able have a family. ' The answer to the latter question is yes, 1 although,she said she would have to go off Ithe medication she takes daily and the whole process would 'be very painful. So, Crawford, and her finace Scott Cobian, are considering adoptingchildren when they're ready for a family, she said. .. As for the driver who hit her, he got off his impaired driving charge on a technicality. Crawford has never seep him, but she thinks about him all the same. "This was his third time being charged i ( with impaired driving ). The thing that ' makes me mad is this guy wanted to party ' — and now I'm in a wheelchair. I guess the thing that really bothers me isthat he slip- ped through the system," Crawford said. "•I'm'not here to lecture anyone. I was no , angel in high school," she told the au dience, admitting that she often let her friends drive impaired and even did so ,herself once. "It took,my accident and a broken neck tomake me change. Luckily, I had a drunk driver to blame it on — it could just as easi, ly have been my fault." LOST BROTHER Constable Gaeler, of the Mount Forest. OPP detachment also has a personal ex- perience to back up his statement th "the consequences of drinking and drivi can be very dangerous." . Six years ago, his older brother was crossing the road in front of Gaeler's house around.12:30 a.m. one "nice clear night," 1 when Gaeler and his 14 -year-old son heard the thud of a vehicle crashing into his brother at 55 miles -per -hour. "I heard the brakes screetching and then the thump and I knew he was dead," said Gaeler. "In 25 -years of law enforcement I've seen a lot of the kinds of disasterous things that can happen when people drive drunk. You almost become quite cold-hearted about it until it happens to someone close to you." f Local y.uths, ear abo dan;ers of k rnnkrn d driving Former model Wendy Crawford addressed -residents of the, Bluewater Centre for Young Offenders and ,students from three 'area high schools on the dangers off drink- ing and driving,at a recent program held at the centre. Crawford, shown here with her fiance Scott, Cobien, had a promising modelling career until an accident involv- ing an impaired river left her unable to walk. She now tours the province working "for the Ministry of the Attorney General, speaking to various groups on her ex- perience. Also addressing the gathering were ,OPP Constable Gary Gaeler, of Mount Forest (shown above) and Goderich Police Force Constable Jay Coulter. (photos by Patrick Raftis) Today, says Gaeler, "my son does .not drink and drive. "I don't know if that experience is what made my son decide how to treat alcohol, but I do know I appreciate not having to worry about him if he's out on a Friday or Saturday night." The thing that bother's Gaeler the most about drinking and driving accidents is that they are so unnecessary. "It's one of the few things perhaps we have control over. We have control not to abuse alcohol and we have control not to get behind the wheel," `he said. CAR BECOMES WEAPON "The most dangerous driver on the road is the one who doesn't realize he's im- paired,'" said Constable Coulter, o£ Goderich. Coulter asked scene many of countered befor on a sunny after oe the car. Then he ad child appearing with the vehicle he th 0 audience to envision" m had probably en - riving down the road, with a case of beer' in ed the twist of a young the road and colliding "Think about ''ow you're going to ,feel about that," he +rged them. Coulter explained how a drinking and driving accident can quickly become a nightmare forthe impaired driver. High insurance rates, court appearances, fines, jail terms and court awards, are just of few of the things that could be in store for the impaired driver, he said, He also said alcohol is not the only substance which could get a driver into serious trouble. "It can happen just as easy if you're smoking a few joints, ,or popping a few Pills, as drinking the alcohol," Coulter warned. As soon as the driver takes a substance which could hinder his control, " th. car becomes a weapon," he said. All the .speakers agreed that the time to do something about impaired driving is before an accident happens, not after. "I always go back to the day of my acci- dent and try to figure out how I could, change it. But the thing is, it happened and you can't change what happened," sed Crawford. MACOMIMu`ti'£1 51': M=tu�'"v'. nl atl, ',fid'' 11.rti t' Baa.. Education is the key to teenage alcohol problems OTTAWA - Teen drinking and driving is a complex issue, involving the problem 6f im- paired driving and underage drinking. This is a dangerous combination because, at the teenage level, drinking is experimental and driving is inexperienced. While parents may want to believe that children are not drinking, the fact is that many young people first sample beverage alcohol (beer, wine and.spirits) while still in their early .teens, even though the legal minimum drinking age is 18 or 19 in every province. A recent survey by the Alberta Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Commission. revealed that roughly 64 percent of teenagers aged 1'2 to 19 had consumed alcohol within the previous year. This is not to say that teenagers are drinking more to- day than in the past. In fact, a steady percentage of high school students report consuming alcohol. Yet the problem still exists. While there ate no easy solutions, there are steps to be taken to counteract teenage impaired driving 4 According to the American Council on Alcoholism the most productive means of prevention is education. The council States that education on the topics of alcoholism and alcohol abuse is currently the best known method of creating acknowledge base on which a teenager can decide responsibly about drinking in the future. Making them aware of the facts about alcohol now can help assure that teens make the right deci- sions about drinking later in life. Perhaps the most important fact to know is that there are equivalent amounts of pure alcohol - 0.6 ounces - in standard servings of beer, wine, and spirits. Standard servings are 12 oulrces of 'beer,, five ounces of table wine, and one and one-half ounces of spirits (rye, rum, vodka, gin, for example) . The message .of alcohol equivalency is supported by such groups as the Addiction Research Foundation and the Ontario Pro- vincial Police.. Still, according to a survey conducted by Canadian Gallup Poll Ltd. in March 1986, only 38 per cent of Canadians know the facts about alcohol equivalet cy. One reason this percentage is not higher is the myth that beerand wine are not alcohol. Dispelling this dangerous myth is vital to the safety of young consumers, as beer is the beverage alcohol of choice among teenagers and young. The lesson of alcohol equivalency is that moderation is a prac- tice, not a beverage type. Just as essential as the knowledge of alcohol equivalency is the need to "know your limits." This means that a person should know and observe the legal drinking limit as well as one's own personal drinking limit. Legal intoxication is determined by a per- son's blood alcohol concentration level (BAC), that is, the per cent of alcohol pre- sent in that person's blood. An individual's blood alcohol ,concentration is determined by: the amount of alcohol' consumed, body , weight, time over which the alcohol was consumed, and the amount and type of food consumed. The legal Whit tn Canada is ,08 per cent., Therefore, a drdvelts who BAC level is at or above this level" is presumed by. law to be drivilig while intoxicated. It is important,to note that the legal limit may vary from an individual's safe, per- sonal limit, pa>`ticularly in the case of the young consumer whose personal limit is likely to be less due to lack of drinking ex- perience. Naturally, the safest bet is not to drive after drinking. Discussing these facts about alcohol with teenagers and setting a good example for them can help save lives. Thanks to increas- ed public concern about unpaired driving, alcohol education programs have been im- plemented in schools and comnittnities across the country. Groups such as SADD (Stbdents Against Driving Drunk) and BACCHUS (Boost Alcohol Consciousness Concerning the Health of University Students) are helping teenagers and young adults recognize the "dangers of drunk driving and alcohol abuse. As a result, alcohol-related traffic fatalities have decreased since 1980, and there is good reason to believe this trendtwill continue. A achelor's guide to goo housekeeping In the last year I've had so rnany'.clean- ing ladies corse and go at my house, they've set up <r 'rake A Number' system at the kitchen door. Only one has come back a second Brite and then only to pick up slippers and cloche. 1 can't understand it. I'rn not a real stickler for neatness. A little dusting, a little vacuuming, scrub and polish a few floors, take my clothes home and bring them hack clean, replace the odd shingle on the roof - where else are you going to earn 10 easier dollars.' Knowing what I now know about housecleaning, if I -were sefting up -house to live alone r solitary confinement with .unlimited day atnd night passes r there are a few • general rules 1'd follow faithfully. • First and foremost, buy all your fabric furniture, pillows and rugs in the same colour. Make sure that colour perfectly matches the colour of 'your cat.• You can save yourself years of vacuuming and eventually if left -to thicken and mesh, the furry fa.hric•s will take on an expensive angora look. Have an artistic friend 'come in and paint landscapes on all yqur windows. That way, when the dirt and grime builds up on ths.glass it just looks like the near- by countryside is dirty. • Beat the build-up ofdishes in.thc sink - keep only one table setting of everything, That way when all your cutlery and all your china have been used., it still looks like you've just had a light snaC'k. Paper and plastic are fine for guests,. after all when you're single the object is to get in- vited out to dinner, notto play. host to the . masses. Remember "take-outiood" cern also apply at home. Instead of risking your neck on. rickety step ladders and doing your ,lesse Bar- field impersonation with a broom on the top rung, why not, take rare of those cobwebs on the ceiling the easy way'`.' Place a.gird feeder several feet inside-- the nsidethe frcint door and leave the door open long enough to attract va Small flock of sparrows. Clrtse the door. The landscapes on• the windows will confuse•the birds and after a half hour of bouncing off the walls, those cobwebs will disappear, spiders and all, Dirt that collects in those tiny, hard -to - see nooks and crannies need not be clearf- ed up because they're tiny and•hard 'to see. For single people, the refrigerator becomes the chilling museuin. A few simple'rules apply. If it's green and showing vital signs of life but not in the vegetable crisper - toss it. Anything in the freezer tagged with a claim check from our local burn centre should go. Anything wrapped in newspaper headlines "1'r'udeau To Divorce" ought to be carefully examined before consumption. When fruit shrivels up to the point • where you: can't tell your oranges from your McIntosh apples, throw them in a high• speed blender, add white rum and call them - daiquiris. If all your cheeses JOok like blue cheese but you don't, buy blue cheese, you might consider making a , deposit at your nearest bacteria research bank. Pet control is important to singles because when there's only two of you, who wants to he in second place:' You ran easily keep the,cat from sleeping at the foot of the bed by spraying that arca with heavy doses of W1)-40. After he slips off a few tunes in his sleep, he'll find an alter- nate spot at ground level. '1'o combe those telltale cat odours: i regularly add a little 1)hl Spice ccil.ognc to his drinking water and I crush one or two Certs tablets into his Seafood Srrpresrne. • 1{esourCofulness is next to cleanliness and we live in a recycled, hand -rite -down world. Used coffee grounds for instance make a good substitute for liter to the cat's box. Ile may not ttrefer it to the store bought brand but it sure keeps the little begger awake and on his toes 'all `day. Dust balls, if lacquered and thread- ed with string can made inexpensive and interesting cat toys. Small rugs and gnats can be easily and quickly cleaned by hanging their on y'onr car aerial before you drive through the car wash. A clogged chimney that pours smoke into your living room can look like a disasterous problem until you start hang- ing fresh sausage and hams from the ceiling. Some people mill actually believe that to be, its intended function. Sometimes a change is as good as a real housecleaning. For instance if you don't have time to do a thorough room -to-room purgation on the place, 1 find that merely moving the pizza boxes and the empties from one room to another can give you a fresh new outlook on things. Occasionally things will get beyond your control, You're in trouble when the cat prefers living in the toolshed and it's February or your friends ask you to meet them at the corner for a drink, when the party's at your place. At that point when the painted land- scapes look Tike spring in Sudbury and the starving sparro s won't come in to feed you have three options. Seal off certain rooms with "Time Cap-# sule" signs, sandblast your house froxti the inside dr host a family dinner. Turn to page 5A •