Madd

I never liked House Speaker Michael E. Busch, and I like him even less now. I have always considered Mr. Busch an arrogant sycophant, and he proved it when his staff called Mothers Against Drunk Driving "a bunch of naive do-gooders who just didn't understand how things worked in Annapolis" ("MADD plays by its own rules in Annapolis," March 14). Most Maryland citizens, including those who support MADD, know only too well how things work in Annapolis. We know that the liquor lobby controls many politicians, particularly the big drinkers, and embraces them and their campaigns with generous contributions at election time.

Even moderate drinking before driving could become illegal if a federal safety panel's recommendation Tuesday is enacted eventually by the states. The National Transportation Safety Board recommended that states cut their thresholds for drunken driving by more than a third — from a blood-alcohol content of .08 percent to .05 percent — to reduce highway fatalities. A 180-pound man would reach 0.05 BAC by consuming three beers in one hour, according to a Wisconsin Department of Transportation online calculator.

MADD can be maddening. In a legislative fight, advocates from Mothers against Drunk Driving don't always play by Annapolis rules. This has been a source of immense frustration to the Democratic leadership of the House of Delegates. While the Senate threw off the influence of the liquor industry last year and voted overwhelmingly for a tough, MADD-backed bill requiring the installation of ignition interlock devices on the vehicles of all convicted drunken drivers, House leaders balked and the bill died.

It might not look that way now, but MADD and its allies won a battle in the war against drunken driving during the General Assembly session that ended a week ago. The bill that passed in Annapolis will increase the number of drunken drivers who are compelled to go on an ignition interlock program, where they must mount a device in their vehicles that won't let them start the engine unless their breath is free of any significant amount of alcohol....

There is a reason that tough drunk-driving legislation has a difficult time passing in Annapolis – that is, besides House Judiciary Committee Chairman Joseph F. Vallario Jr. The problem is that the people pushing for such bills are too nice, too squeaky-clean, too public-spirited. They're do-gooders. They're not in it for the bucks. And that makes some legislators uncomfortable. Sleazy, self-interested industries they can deal with. Ethically challenged lobbyists-for-hire – even those with felony convictions on the resume – are welcome in all the best back rooms.

The Nothern Maryland Chapter of MADD will hold a general meeting at 7 p.m. Feb. 5 in Towson United Methodist Church, at the Baltimore Beltway and Dulaney Valley Road. Baltimore County Executive Roger Hayden is the guest speaker. For information, call 321-6233.

WESTMINSTER - A group starting a Carroll chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving needs volunteers for the red-ribbon campaign and to help with future projects.The group will begin meeting at 7:30 p.m. the first Thursday of every month in Room 101 in the Church of the Open Door on Route 140.The next meeting will be Dec. 6.Last week's meeting was the second for the group. Carroll County is still part of the Northern Chapter of MADD, which is based in Towson and includes Harford, Cecil and Baltimore counties and Baltimore.

From: Mary MacKnightCoordinator, MADD of Harford CountyTo: Judge Stephen M. WaldronHarford County Circuit CourtMothers Against Drunk Driving of Harford County salutes you for your outstanding judgment recently in the sentencing of a 19-year-old man for the death of a 17-year-old girl last July.Although the young man was only 18 at the time of the crash, he was responsible for the death of this girl, as a result of drinking and driving.I am sure that the young man or his family did not expect that he would receivea five-year jail sentence, with three years suspended, nor did they expect all the other conditions relating to his (sentence, such as)

From: Linda A. CollinsTreasurer, MADDWestminsterThe Carroll County Chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving was chartered in April of this year.Since our charter, the chapter has given $500 to the local high schools for their substance-free after-prom parties, (served as) host to six informational booths across the county, established a Victims Impact Panel that will begin operation in October, established a toll-free telephone number -- (800) 427-8484 -- for victims within the state of Maryland and begun the first victim's quilt to remember the people who have been maimed or killed by drunken drivers within the state.

The new president of the Carroll County Chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving is a husband, father and a victim of adrunken driver.Roger L. Schultz, 61, took office July 1."You don't have to be a mother or even female," said outgoing President Shirley Hampt, who helped found the chapter and was its leader for 3 1/2 years.All that is required is a willingness to "help stop the crime of drunk driving and offer support to its victims," she said.Mr. Schultz, who lost part of his left leg when a drunken driver crashed into his car two years ago, has both the willingness and the determination.

I never liked House Speaker Michael E. Busch, and I like him even less now. I have always considered Mr. Busch an arrogant sycophant, and he proved it when his staff called Mothers Against Drunk Driving "a bunch of naive do-gooders who just didn't understand how things worked in Annapolis" ("MADD plays by its own rules in Annapolis," March 14). Most Maryland citizens, including those who support MADD, know only too well how things work in Annapolis. We know that the liquor lobby controls many politicians, particularly the big drinkers, and embraces them and their campaigns with generous contributions at election time.

MADD can be maddening. In a legislative fight, advocates from Mothers against Drunk Driving don't always play by Annapolis rules. This has been a source of immense frustration to the Democratic leadership of the House of Delegates. While the Senate threw off the influence of the liquor industry last year and voted overwhelmingly for a tough, MADD-backed bill requiring the installation of ignition interlock devices on the vehicles of all convicted drunken drivers, House leaders balked and the bill died.

Police wanted criminal charges filed against a woman who they believed supplied alcohol to underage drinkers at her Ellicott City home the night last year that 17-year-old Steven Dankos was killed in a drunken-driving accident, according to prosecutors. A Howard County District Court commissioner refused, and Linda Stapf was given a citation instead. That procedural dispute led to prosecutors' agreeing Wednesday in Howard County District Court to Judge Mary C. Reese's putting Stapf's case on the inactive docket, where it will stay as long as Stapf attends a victim impact panel hosted by Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

There is a reason that tough drunk-driving legislation has a difficult time passing in Annapolis – that is, besides House Judiciary Committee Chairman Joseph F. Vallario Jr. The problem is that the people pushing for such bills are too nice, too squeaky-clean, too public-spirited. They're do-gooders. They're not in it for the bucks. And that makes some legislators uncomfortable. Sleazy, self-interested industries they can deal with. Ethically challenged lobbyists-for-hire – even those with felony convictions on the resume – are welcome in all the best back rooms.

A proposal from Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) to require ignition interlocks for all drunk-driving offenders in Maryland has received a lot of support lately, including in this newspaper. At first glance it might seem like a good way to get drunks off the road, but there is an important argument to be made against the mandatory use of these devices in the cars of all offenders. Ignition interlocks are in-car Breathalyzers that prevent a vehicle from starting if its driver's breath registers above a pre-set blood-alcohol concentration limit.

DETROIT - General Motors Corp., a lightning rod for criticism about everything from air pollution to auto quality, has become a target for, of all things, one of its charitable efforts - its financial and political push to combat drunken driving. A national campaign, MADDatGM, has begun with the backing of 17,000 bars, taverns and liquor stores to attack the automaker and Mothers Against Drunk Driving, mostly for their successful effort to lower the national blood-alcohol standard for drunken driving.

From the driver's seat of the colorful M-Car racer, this is one hot set of wheels.The one-third scale model of a NASCAR vehicle is 38 1/4 inches wide, 88 inches long and 25 inches high. It looks like a Matchbox car with a 3.5-horsepower lawn mower engine and plastic stock car body.But, for the helmeted driver gripping the hand controls between the overhead roll bar and the road 3 inches below, it's all speed and exhilaration. The small car can zip around a road course at 40 mph."This is a toy for grown-ups only," said Kim Schaffel, of the Harford County chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD)

Harford's Mothers Against Drunk Driving group is upset that a convicted drunk driver who killed two police officers has been allowed unsupervised probation and that a woman charged six times with drunken driving was not sentenced in five of the cases.MADD members say they are worried the two cases mean Harford's judges have lax attitudes about the danger drunk drivers pose to the community."It's incredibly frustrating," Kimberly Schaffel, coordinator of the county MADD group, said of the two cases.

Jim Rouse fund elects officers, board members The Jim Rouse Entrepreneurial Fund, a not-for-profit private fund, has elected officers for 2002-2003 and five new members to its board of directors. The fund provides risk-oriented financing up to $100,000 and other support services to small and emerging businesses and helps create jobs in Howard County. Elected as officers are Robert I. Jeffrey of Legg Mason, president; Antonio P. Salazar, Provident Bank of Maryland, first vice president; Diane Battle, Allfirst Bank, second vice president; Edward L. Waddell, Cardoni, Waddell LLC, treasurer; Alice T. Iskra, Patuxent Publishing Co., secretary; and Anthony J. Tangires, Baltimore Gas and Electric Co., past president.

One fact demonstrated time and again in our country's history is our resiliency after tragic events. We eventually recover and get back to "business as usual." Unfortunately, "business as usual" for many includes drunken driving, a crime that results in more than 16,000 deaths and 600,000 injuries annually. While international events grab current headlines, it is critical not to forget that every drunken driving death or injury is 100 percent preventable. This issue is all the more important to America's families as we head into the holiday season, which brings increased travel and a dangerous drunken-driving period.