The tragedies wrought by drunken and drugged driving continue, despite the knowledge and the ability to easily prevent them in today’s society. Still many believe they are only putting themselves at risk when they chance having a drink and then driving a short distance home. But what about when you are choosing to get behind the wheel of a company vehicle—or a 60-ton semi-truck—after having a few…
March 29, 2011, in Gulfport, Mississippi started out as a cool, breezy spring day along the beautiful Mississippi Gulf Coast. People were busy with springtime activities – proms, gardening and planning summertime vacations—and for Gulfport Police Chief Alan Weatherford, his family was looking forward to a wedding. But this day, one drunk driver changed everything.
The Kelly and Cumberland families had a lot in common. Both “old Coast” families whose roots dated back decades in the Orange Grove area of Gulfport. Coincidentally, both had homesteads on the same rural road in the county. Unfortunately, years of the lack of accountability for the choices of one would have deadly consequences on the other.
North Dakota passed legislation to strengthen DUI penalties in 2013. The deadly 2015 DUI crash you are about to learn about would be the precedent-setting case testing the mettle of the law. Three young women—two of them University of North Dakota students on summer break—met up for a night of fun. What they got was a parent’s worst nightmare. We will also explore why North Dakota and other…
More than 35 years have passed since the crash that would go down in history as the worst DUI in American history. Thankfully, safety protocols have been installed since to prevent the type of horrific explosion that was ignited by a drunken driver that May 1988 day. However, all 67 people aboard the Ratcliff First Assembly of God’s Church bus lives were altered for eternity. Listen to Karolyn,…
For a nation that sprang from Puritanical beginnings, America moved quickly to one that glorified the rough and tumble, hard-drinking of the Old West. We moved into the 20 th century and Americans fascination turned to the glitz and glamour of Hollywood movie stars with a drink in one hand and cigarette in the other…we followed their lead and culture shifted…. Adding automobiles to the mix brought…
We all blame the driver in a DUI crash that injures or kills people or damages other’s property. But sometimes the problem isn’t just one person. With a DUI crash, we typically turn the other way if we aren’t directly affected. We read stories and we get angry at the person who was driving drunk. In this case, it was Shelley Rose who drove drunk and killed innocent people. It’s her fault, right?…
On Thanksgiving Day 2018, Jada Bright, a senior at the University of Southern Mississippi woke up early and headed south from Hattiesburg to spend the holiday with family outside New Orleans. It was Jada’s first trip home since her father died from cancer earlier that year. She had worked late the night before, waiting tables at Patio 44, and was excited to have a couple days off to spend with…
The second season of Telling Lives, I chose to explore the continued societal problem of DUI and impairment in American culture and examine how to affect change. I’ll share stories from around the country—in Mississippi, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Kentucky and other states—going back to the worst DUI crash in American history that killed 27 in 1988—to a police chief and father who lost his own…