Close call
DWI teaches lesson
without tragic cost
MARK ZMARZLY is a senior
English and speech communica
tions major and a Daily
Nebraskan columnist.
Last Thursday, I pleaded guilty to driving
while intoxicated.
You are supposed to start a column with
something that grabs the readers attention, so
there it is.
This semester I have been writing columns
that were tun and interesting for me. They were
directly related to events in my life. This is one
column I wish I had no personal experience with.
For two months I’ve debated even writing it
Immediately after the incident I was deter
mined to pass on my experience so that some
of you out there would think twice about
drunken driving.
After Laura Cockson died in March, I want
ed to forget this column idea. I didn’t want to
put myself in a category with Jeffery Ireland.
After thinking about it further, I decided this
column would do more good for die campus than
it would cause personal embarrassment for me.
This article is in no way meant to downplay
the death of Laura Cockson. Her unfortunate
death has made the people of this campus see the
pain and suffering that drunken driving can cause.
I hope this campus has since taken the
issue of drinking and driving to the level of
seriousness that it deserves. If you haven’t, I’m
noinn to teach von some facts that minht ele
vate your thinking on this issue.
On Feb. 7,1 was pulled over by a Lincoln
police officer. I had been out drinking with my
friends earlier that night and was on my way
home. When the officer approached my car I
had my license and registration ready for her. It
never crossed my mind that I was intoxicated.
I was asked if I had been drinking that night.
I told the officer I had had a couple of beers. I
went through the alphabet and through a series
of other tests. At the conclusion of these tests
the officer told me she would like me to consent
to a Breathalyzer test. I blew over the legal limit
for operating a motor vehicle.
Every year you see countless statistics
about drinking and driving; statistics that tell
you about the amount of money and the num
ber of lives drunken drivers cost this country.
These statistics were meaningless to me
two months ago. I had never known anyone
who was injured by a drunken driver; I had
never experienced any loss because of alcohol.
These statistics were meaningless to me
because they were just that -statistics.
Statistics did nothing to sway me from
drinking and driving in February. I’m sure I
even drove past a billboard that reminded me
to “designate a sober driver.” These items
aren’t as effective as the organizations teaching
them would like them to be.
Having a personal experience with drink
ing and driving is not something I enjoyed. I
have learned to deal with my mistake and see
the outcome of such an offense on a personal
level. I would like to pass on this information
to those of you who don’t know the particular
punishments that go with a DWI.
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to detox. If you want to see what hell is like,
just go down to detox for a while.
You enter the holding cell, and all you can
smell is urine. The walls are all concrete, and it
is freezing in the cell. I took a seat on the floor
in the corner while I waited for my roommate
to pick me up. Thank God the other occupants
of the cell were sleeping.
About 10 minutes into my stay, a guy stum
bled out of the sleeping area and began to
pound on the door. He was yelling about his
constitutional rights and about false imprison
ment. I looked up from the comer at this guy
ami saw something missing in his eyes.
The kind of something that stops a man
from killing a guy like me who looks at him
funny. Some of the guys running the detox
center came in and physically subdued the
man. After he calmed down, they left. They left
him in there with me. He attempted to make
me his new friend. Right about when he was
getting irritated again, the door opened and I
saw my roommate.
If you ever experience some time in detox,
! you’d think it was punishment enough for any
crime. The next week I hired a lawyer at the
bargain price of $250. When I say bargain, I’m
not being sarcastic. I got a half-price discount
I because my lawyer is an alumnus of my frater
nity.
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After being charged with a DWI, you get a
temporary license for 30 days. After die 30
days are up you lose your license for 90 days,
according to the Department of Motor Vehicles
policy. This suspension is automatic unless you
can prove the officer didn’t have reasonable
cause to pull you over.
At the end of these 90 days you get to apply
for a license reinstatement. The reinstatement
fee is $95 plus $ 15 for a new license. You must
take both die written and driving test again.
These above mentioned punishments are
just from the DMV The court sanctions are as
follows: For a first offense you can get proba
tion. The probation is anywhere from three
months to a full year. You can get probation
only if you have no previous infractions, other
wise it is a minimum seven days in jail.
The fine for your first DWI is a minimum
of $200 to a maximum of $500. It is my under
standing that the state legislators are now try
ing to raise the minimum fine to $500. The
courts also have a minimum license suspen
sion of 60 days. This can be served simultane
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Probation is done on a case by case basis.
You have to go down to the probation office
and fill out this 150-question test to analyze
your alcohol and drug problem. The questions
on this thing are quite scary.
Here’s an example: Recently I have felt like I
was: a) a danger to myself (suicide); b) a danger
to others (homicide); c) both a and b; d) neither.
Probation consists of a minimum of six
Saturday morning alcohol education classes.
The same people who answered “c” to the
above question are now sitting to your left and
right every Saturday for a month and a half.
All of these punishments are nothing com
pared to the fact that you now have a DWI on
your criminal and driving records.
A lot of employment opportunities are now
shut off to you. Your car insurance is going to
skyrocket. People you know won’t look at you
in the same way they used to.
Mentally, you are going to be beating your
self up over the mistake. I am smarter than my
behavior that day would indicate.
Your mind replays that night. If you had just
stayed at your friend’s place; if you had been
driving slower; if you hadn’t even gone out that
night. It takes a long time to accept the situation
and the fact that you can’t do anything about it.
I am thankful for two things about this incident
The first thing is that I didn’t hurt myself
or others on that night. In February, a 23-year
old man from Kearney was charged with two
counts of vehicular manslaughter. He was dri
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his Chevy Suburban and rolled it. The two
friends who were with him died that night. His
life is forever changed.
The second thing is that I have the type of
personality that allows me to live and learn from
my mistakes. I will never consume alcohol and
drive again. The punishment you go through is
not worth sleeping in your own bed for one night.
I am on day 32 of 90 without a driver’s
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No pity
Getting ‘hammered’
proves nothing
KLAUS MAKKE is a senior broad
casting major and a Daily
Nebraskan columnist.
“The other night I went on a bar crawl, and
it was so awesome. I mean, I had 20 shots - at
least that’s what my friends told me the next
morning because I passed out and don’t really
remember a thing.
“Then I went to some party, I think, and
made out with this chick. I forget her name. I
think we might have shagged, but I’m not really
sure. All the guys said I can drink a lot That was
the best, man.”
“Oh yeah? Well, I got so trashed in high
school, I threw up on my mom. Man, she was
pissed. I had at least half a bottle of vodka, and I
needed my stomach pumped. I can drink even
more now, you should have seen me die other
night... ”
“That’s nothing, dudes. The other night I got
so hammered I couldn’t even drive straight but
I was like ‘What the hell!’, got in my car and
killed this UNL student.”
Of course, these are all made up, but I have
heard variations of similar stories for the last 10
years.
I guess they are called war stories. People
telling each other how much they^an drink and
tales ot whiskey bottles and keg stands.
All these accounts and stories share one
commonality: They mate me sick. In Germany,
with its lenient drinking laws, I have been
around alcohol since I was in sixth or seventh
grade. It was “cool” to drink.
I remember a friend of mine getting his first
“Don’t drink and drive” lesson when he tried to
ride his bike home after a party and slammed
into a street light We were both 12, and it was
the time when peer pressure started building on
me because I have never had a drink in my life.
The pressure still has not stopped. On
countless occasions people here have tried to
sway my opinion on drinking and told me we
should go out and have a beer or two or 20.
I could tell you it was very difficult to stand
against what everybody else was doing, but it
would be a lie. Most of the time saying no to
alcohol was fairly easy, simply because I
despise the product and disrespect anybody
abusing it.
In my opinion, nothing good comes from
alcohol.
In my entire life I have not had a single good
alcohol experience. I pity people who need to
drink to be able to interact with otters (or what
ever other lame excuse they have for drinking). I
despise aggressive and abusive drunks who get
in other people’s faces.
But, most of all, I am concerned for all the
alcohol consumers out there who don’t see they
have a problem.
I’m not talking about everybody who
drinks, I know many people who consume alco
hol responsibly and do not depend cm it in any
way. Still, there is the majority of others who
have an alcohol problem.
Maybe it is not what a doctor would call
....
aiconousm, yet ins a prowem.
It is a social disease that some people have
to drink to feel happy, cool or secure enough to
interact with others. If you have to chuck a cou
ple shots to get in a good mood, maybe you
weren’t supposed to be in a good mood that
night.
Everybody knows consuming alcohol has
physical and psychological effects. The brain
slows down and people get careless because
defense mechanisms, which I assume we have
for a reason, are switched off. *
Most of the vandalism crimes and the
majority of assaults and sexual assaults on this
campus take place when alcohol is involved.
The first time I heard about “women drink
free” at some fraternity parties, I laughed. I
thought it was kind of fiinny. In my opinion, the
invitation could have said, “Women, get trashed
for free and maybe later we can hook up or take
advantage of you in some other way.”
See, I thought it was a joke, fraternities
making fun of themselves and their bad reputa
tion. Then somebody told me it wasn’t a joke,
and I stopped laughing.
It should be clear to anybody that you don’t _
get something for nothing. Strike two, 1 was
wrong again. Free booze seems to be very
appealing to some, no matter what the cost
might turn out to be at some other time.
On one hand, I really don’t care. If you drive
drunk and kill yourself-too bad, your fault, I
don’t care. If you get hammered and do some
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who loses control and gets date raped - I’m
sorry for you, but you should have kept your
guard up and stayed sober, so don’t come to me
for pity.
On the other hand, I’m worried about all the
innocent victims of alcohol abuse. Children,
spouses, the guy who wanted just one drink at a
bar and got picked on by a bunch of drunk guys,
or all he other people who are hit on, mplested
or whose freedom is interfered with in any way.
I’m especially concerned about the bhes I
love and care for.
I didn’t know Laura Cockson, but I have he
utmost sympathy for her family and friends. She
died a needless death and should still be alive.
I’m afraid it could happen to someone I
know. I’d hate to see hem end up as victims, but
I’m just as scared hey would get themselves in
trouble because heir minds are clouded by
alcohol.
I’m worried every time I know one of my
friends goes out to get drunk. I hope hey do not
make he same mistakes others have made. I
hope they will not get raped, fight or aid up dri
ving and killing someone. It is the type of agony
that cannot be described to someone who has
never experienced it
In some ways, I disrespect anybody who
drinks too much because I have no respect for
people who knowingly do something to hem
selves that is bad for them.
In my opinion, getting hammered is just
what he word indicates. It is like taking a ham
mer and hitting yourself in he head a few times,
jus i uccauscu
is “the cool
thing to do”
and it makes
you “happy
and it is easier
the brain cells
lost in the
process?
Still, the
disrespect and
pity is out
weighed by
concern.
As much
as I might
hate to see the
people I love
go out and get
drunk, I’m
just that
happy and
relieved when
they don’t
wreck their
lives or the
lives of others
that night
Melanie Falk/DN