LIFE

MADD launches red ribbon awareness campaign

Angelia Davis
davisal@greenvilleonline.com

It took Colleen Sheehey-Church a year after the loss of her son to realize that drunk driving truly is a 100 percent preventable crime.
The solution is simple, said Sheehey-Church, the national president of the nonprofit Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). "If you're drinking, don't drive."
That's what Church and other members of MADD are asking people in Greenville and across the nation to do as the organization launches its annual Tie One On For Safety holiday red ribbon awareness campaign.
Church, who lives in Texas, was in Greenville Tuesday to help launch the campaign.
Tie One On For Safety urges drivers to display red ribbons on their vehicles until New Year's Day as a visual reminder to plan ahead and designate a non-drinking driver if their holiday plans include alcohol.
The red ribbon campaign is also a way of showing support to law enforcement officers and first responders and to tell them, "thank you."
"They're out there in force all the time, but between Thanksgiving and New Year's, when drunk driving fatalities just spike, it's a huge thing," Sheehey-Church said. 
"Law enforcement is quite literally our first line of defense against drunk drivers. Their sacrifice matters. They are our heroes," she said.
MADD South Carolina held its second annual Chili Cook-off at Runway Cafe in Greenville as part of the 29th annual launch of the Tie One On For Safety campaign and to honor law enforcement officers and first responders.
The cook-off was presented by Hot Spot convenience stores.
The first prize winner was Project Host for their Crack-Shot Chicken Chili. The second place winner was the Greenville Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws Coalition for their Curtis' Bear Chili.
Nationwide is the presenting sponsor for the Tie One On For Safety campaign.
Sheehey-Church, who shared her story of losing her 18-year-old son, Dustin, after an under-aged drinking and drugged driver lost control of her car, said MADD was founded 35 years ago.
"Our challenge is to continue to make sure people know that we're looking for ways to have no more victims each and every day," Sheehey-Church said.
Law enforcement officers are doing likewise, according to Cpl. Bill Rhyne, spokesman for th state Highway Patrol. They are striving for zero fatalities, he said.
Already, he said, there have been 813 traffic fatalities across the state, up by 113 from this time last year.
Last weekend in the Upstate, he said, five people died in vehicle collisions within 15 hours.
Alcohol-related fatalities are preventable, Rhyne said. "It's a choice."
"This is a war that we cannot fight on our own. It takes every single one of us out here to buy into the same concept of zero fatalities," Rhyne said.

Greenville Co. Sheriff's investigator Stephen Perron and Sgt. Wes Hiott of the state Highway Patrol get a sample of chili during MADD SC's second annual Chili Cook-Off presented by Hot Spot.