Sign seen at a liquor store on South 10th Street in McAllen. Good taste or bad taste given the recent alleged drunk-driving fatalities? If you do drink and drive this week into next week, be aware the police are out in force. If you don’t want to see your name and photo in this newspaper’s booking report, don’t drink and drive.
December is National Impaired Driving Prevention Month
Month has proven to be a bummer
The season between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day is described by the National Association of Drug Court Professionals as “one of the deadliest and most dangerous times on America’s roadways due to an increase in impaired driving.” Based on the tragic DWI fatalities we have seen here recently at the hands of suspected drunk/drugged drivers, the court professionals would seem to know what they are talking about.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in an average year, 35 million Americans drive drunk, and 10 million drive under the influence of illegal drugs. Inside this issue of The Advance alone there are 118 names listed of those charged with drunk driving.
Actually, the local misery to victims’ family and friends began Nov. 17 when Scottie Lee Ochoa, 21, was allegedly driving drunk when he lost control of his 2015 Mustang and struck a utility pole near the intersection of S. Second Street and Nolana. His two passengers, ages 29 and 21, both died at the scene of the accident. Like so many similar stories, Ochoa had two prior felony convictions related to aggravated assault. He was given a seven-year probated sentence, which included abstaining from alcohol and random testing for alcohol and drugs. Somewhere along the line, the system seems to have failed the two victims, one of whom was the mother of a newborn baby.
Read the entire story on the e-Edition of our newspaper. http://www.etypeservices.com/Advance%20News%20JournalID455/