According to the US Department of Transportation’s Fatal Accident Reporting System and the National Highway Traffic Safety Admin-istration’s National Center for Statistical Analysis:
• In 1995, 41,798 people were killed in highway crashes. Another 3 million were injured. These crashes cost society $150 billion every year.
• Of those killed on our highways in 1995, 17,274 died in alcohol-related crashes (41%).
• Approximately one million people are injured in alcohol-related traffic crashes annually.
• Alcohol involvement is the single greatest factor in motor vehicle deaths and injuries. Only 4% of all crashes involve the use of alcohol, but 41% of fatal crashes do.
• From 1986 to 1995, alcohol-related fatalities dropped 28% which is generally attributed to stronger laws, tougher enforcement, and good consumer education.
• However, fatalities in alcohol-related crashes rose by 4% from 1994 to 1995, the first increase in a decade. All of this increase involved alcohol-impaired adult drivers over the age of 21.
• Among fatally-injured motor vehicle drivers in 1995, 36% had BACs at or above .10. Since 1992, this percentage has remained in the 35-38% range.
• Many states now are lowering the BAC defining impaired driving from .10 to .08. A BAC as low as .02 has been shown to affect driving ability and crash likelihood.
• Among drivers with BACs above .15 on weekend nights, the likelihood of death in a single-vehicle crash is more than 380 times higher than it is for nondrinking drivers.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration:
• Motor vehicle crashes cost society $150 billion each year in emergency and acute health care costs, longterm care and rehabilitation, police and judicial services, insurance, disability and workers compensation, lost productivity, and social services for those who cannot return to work and support their families.
• Alcohol-related crashes cost society over $45 billion every year. Just one alcohol-related fatality is estimated to cost society about $950,000. Each alcohol-related injury averages about $20,000.
• Almost one quarter of first-year medical costs for persons hospitalized as a result of a crash are paid by tax dollars, about two-thirds through Medicaid and one-third through Medicare.
• Employers pay for approximately half the cost of motor vehicle crashes, through insurance, disability, worker’s compensation, and lost productivity. Eventually, we all bear the costs through tax-payer supported services and programs, higher insurance costs, and higher prices on goods and services.

According to a 1994 study by economist Ted R. Miller of the National Public Services Research Institute:
• Alcohol-related crashes cost society $1.00 per drink or $2.20 per ounce of alcohol consumed. This figure includes drinks consumed in the home.
• Crash costs are $5.54 for every mile driven drunk. This includes $2.34 to people other than the drunk driver. By comparison, crash costs are $.10 per mile driven while sober.
• A drunk driving crash costs each innocent victim $36,000. Comparable crime costs per victim are: assault — $30,000; robbery — $16,000; motor vehicle theft — $4,000. Yet, the drunk driving crash is the only one of these crimes that is often not considered a felony upon the first offense.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) offers the following suggestions to help fight impaired driving:
• Your best defense against a drunk driver is to wear your safety belt and be sure children are properly secured in child safety seats.
• Be a responsible host. Serve food and have non-alcoholic drinks available. Don’t let your guests drive after drinking alcohol and never serve alcohol to someone under the age of 21.
• Never ride in a car with someone who has been drinking–call a cab or ask a friend to drive you home.
• Report drunk drivers immediately to area law enforcement from a car phone or pay phone with the license plate number, description of the vehicle, and the direction in which it was traveling. Keep a safe distance from anyone driving erratically and do not try to intervene yourself.

A second in time on July 26, 1997 changed the lives of Keith Johnsen and his boys forever. Nearly every day in the preceding ten years he and his wife, Mary, often accompanied by their sons, walked a circle of trails, wide shoulders and sidewalks around their Issaquah neighborhood. The fitness benefits of the brisk walk were apparent to the couple as they moved through their thirties. Less obvious to others, perhaps, but of even more importance to them was the family togetherness that developed.

Keith and Mary met 20 years earlier when Keith was a student at Middlebury College in Vermont and Mary was just graduating from Middlebury High School. After carrying on a long distance courtship while Mary attended college, they were married in 1981. They both felt almost from their first date to see Star Wars that they were soul mates and would spend the rest of their lives together.

The couple moved to Washington where Keith was employed in the microbrewery business for about 18 years. Earlier, he had bartended his way through college. Little did he know his working association with alcohol would become a strange irony in the years to come.

The family had moved across the developing neighborhood to their dream home just seven months before that evening in late July. Miles chose to remain at home while his mom and dad walked the loop. They promised they would return by 8:00 p.m. Evan was at work at a nearby golf course. It was 7:00 p.m. on a warm and sunny day, with darkness not advancing for well over two hours. Perhaps partly due to the absence of extended family in the Northwest, Keith, Mary and their sons not only shared close spousal, sibling, parent and child relationships, but also grew into four best friends.

About 10 minutes from the house, Keith and Mary walked hand in hand next to the trees on an exceptionally wide shoulder. Sometimes they would duck into the trails that meandered through the woods, but today decided to remain in the open because the sun felt so good. Their backs were to the traffic passing several car widths away. They recounted their day, walking away the stresses and basking in the weather, each other, and the goodness of life.

Keith has not been able to find words to describe the loud and hideous thump that in a flash ripped Mary from his side and hurled her 140 feet through the air to land with a sickening thud, broken and crumpled on the ground. He still vividly recalls every second of the traumatic event, of every face that arrived on the scene and every word that was said. Among his first thoughts and cries were: "Who was that? Who could possibly have done this and just driven on as if nothing happened? Stop that green minivan!"

A witness behind the van could barely stop shaking enough to dial 9-1-1 on her cellular phone and could hardly talk once she made the connection. A driver who swerved to avoid the van, which had violently careened into oncoming traffic after veering back onto the road, sat shaken and stunned.

Sounds of aid units and police sirens filled the air. Keith and medics valiantly attempted CPR. A helicopter hovered overhead, the pilot and medical personnel hoping to make the short flight to Harborview’s trauma unit with a surviving patient. Finally the decision came to send the helicopter back without landing.

In the back of Keith’s mind was a nine-year old boy who expected his parents to walk through the front door at 8:00 PM. Insisting that an officer drive him home, he met Miles in the doorway, concern and fright registering on the boy’s young face. "It’s Mom, isn’t it?" No more words were said for awhile as they embraced and tried to shut out the reality of the living nightmare. The boy had heard the sirens, the helicopter and other commotion of the accident as he waited.

Keith describes the three to four weeks that followed as filled with incredible anguish –a sorrow and suffering to the depths of his soul as though he might wither and die from the grief. He was no stranger to sorrow, as he lost his mother at the tender age of 13– halfway between the ages of his own boys. However, that far away memory could not assuage his despair now. Then he remembered his father– how he had withdrawn into his work and hired housekeepers and babysitters to raise the children and run the home. No, his boys needed him now. His would expand and manage Mary’s salon, doing much of his work from the home office. He knew how to cook, clean, sew on buttons and how to pack lunches for school–he’d done all those chores and more as he and Mary applied teamwork to accomplish personal and family goals.

In the following months much was revealed about the driver of the green minivan who registered a blood alcohol level of .34–nearly three and one-half times the legal limit–shortly after the hit and run. The van looked as if it had met with an ugly utility pole, not the slim body of a lovely young woman in the prime of life. It was learned that driver, Susan West, had a severe alcohol problem for many years with prior confrontations with the law. However, she never spent a day in jail and continued to fail alcohol intervention programs at the same facility. She also continued to drink and drive, and even had her young son with her on the day she committed vehicular homicide. She is now serving a nine-year sentence in the Women’s Correctional Facility at Purdy.

What is Keith’s life like now fifteen months after the tragedy? Every morning he awakens at 5:00 a.m. and spends an hour going over the incident, where he has been, where he is now and what’s in store for him and the boys. He says he’s learned to have a great deal of empathy for all the struggling single moms out there! But it’s the boys who keep him going–and the work of running, improving and expanding the business Mary enjoyed. He describes Evan as calm, balanced and tolerant for a 15-year-old, and so like Mary. He sees and hears her in his movements and in their conversation. Miles is the opposite with high energy, people power and the ability to make his dad laugh. "Neither one of them let me take myself too seriously," Keith explains. "They are both so supportive and so respectful of me," he adds.

Keith’s Involvement in Changing the Law

About two weeks after burying Mary, Keith answered the knock of Senator Dino Rossi at his door. The Senator, who lived in the neighborhood, asked for Keith’s support in introducing new, tougher drunk driving legislation. Buried in grief, politics was the last thing on Keith’s mind. However, he finally agreed to testify or help in any way he could during the 1998 legislative session, half thinking he wouldn’t be bothered again.

As he continued to take each day at a time, wading through layers of disbelief, shock, horror, anger and even feeling betrayed by his own feelings from time to time, a statement from Mary continually made its way through those feelings. "That’s what you do," Mary would have encouraged and challenged him.

After all, that is the way tough New England stock survives the crises in their lives. Earlier, Mary won a business award for her recycling efforts, because that is what you do for your community and the environment. Several months before the accident, Mary spearheaded efforts that raised over $71,000 in one day to help a young boy in the neighborhood receive a liver transplant, because that is what neighbors do for each other. Just a week before her death, she attended a meeting at the school to help find ways to slow down and divert tandem trucks in the neighborhood, because, again, that is what you do to make your neighborhood safer for your children.

Keith testified in November 1997 before the Senate Law and Justice Committee at the urging of Senator Pam Roach. Senator Roach continued to be a major support to him and he gained confidence and respect for what he was doing to help others avoid his family’s devastation. Senator Rossi was on top of every detail, orchestrating words, feelings and experiences into statute.

It wasn’t too difficult– reading from a prepared statement–words on a piece of paper. In fact, less than six months after the death of his 20-year companion, he found it easier to testify than to pack Mary’s clothes hanging in their closet. Two more times in the next two months he read to less formal groups. Finally, he gave his last report to the House Law and Justice Committee. He thought it was going to be informal but at the last minute was urged to read his prepared statement. Suddenly on this reading, the words jumped from the page to wrap themselves around the many emotions he was experiencing and he broke down.

How Does the New Drunk-Driving Legislation Change the Way We Deal With Drunken Driving?

Washington State, beginning January 1, 1999, will enforce some of the most punitive drinking and driving laws levied anywhere in the United States.

• The legal blood alcohol content (BAC) limit will be reduced from 0.10 to 0.08. Signs were erected in September around the state to remind drivers.
• In most cases, courts will be required to add 60 to 150 days of electronic home monitoring to the minimum sentence of repeat DUI offenders. The cost to the offender for electronic home monitoring is between $8 and $12 per day.
• Courts are required to mandate the use of ignition interlock devices for all repeat offenders, as well as first offenders whose BAC level at the time of the arrest was .15 or higher. The device, which prevents a car from starting if the driver has alcohol on his or her breath, is installed for one to ten years, depending on the offender’s DUI record. Offenders pay $2 per day for the ignition interlock devices.
• Authorities have the right to immediately suspend the driver’s license of persons who fail the BAC breath test for 90 days. The fee for reinstating a revoked or suspended license increased from $50 to $150, effective June 11, 1998.
• If a repeat offender is convicted of vehicular homicide due to DUI, the judge will add two years of jail time to the sentence for each of the offender’s previous DUI convictions.
• DUI offenders will be allowed only one deferred prosecution in a lifetime, as opposed to one every five years as previously allowed. Those given deferred prosecution must participate in an alcoholism treatment program, attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and stay sober for two years.

Additional laws went into effect on June 11, 1998.

• Local governments are now empowered to impound the vehicles of persons whose driver’s licenses have been revoked because of drinking and driving or other violations for 30 to 90 days.
• Law enforcement officers can now pursue drivers apparently impaired by alcohol across Washington State’s boundaries.
• District courts now keep a permanent record of an offender’s DUI convictions, and the Department of Licensing will keep DUI convictions on its records for 15 years, meaning the offender’s insurance rates will be adversely affected for an additional five years.
• Courts are now directed to consider the presence of passengers when sentencing DUI offenders.
• Increasing previous penalties, anyone under the age of 21 who obtains, possesses or consumes alcohol will now be charged with a gross misdemeanor. A law already existed mandating revocation of the driver’s license of anyone under the age of 21 who drinks and drives.

Needless to say, several of these laws, if in place on July 26, 1997, would have prevented Susan West from getting behind the wheel and Mary Johnsen would still be alive. As we near the holidays, it is particularly important to consider our responsibilities as citizens as we attend social events where alcohol is served.

No matter how we try to glamorize it, alcohol is an addictive, potentially lethal, drug. A recent survey among teenagers found that 50 percent thought it was okay if their designated driver drank, failing to acknowledge that it is illegal for teenagers to consume alcohol at all.

It seems the phrase "change is good" has become quite common lately. I hear it often in my agency as management implements this policy, and researches that process. Many of us are resistant to change because it requires us to step out of our comfort zone. Around the water cooler or over your cubicle you might here echoes of "but we’ve always done it that way," or "if it isn’t broken, why fix it?" Sometimes the need for change comes about not because something is "broken" or because we are doing something wrong, but because we need to look at how we can do things better. That is what I asked ICSEW general membership to think about at the September meeting--to brainstorm ideas on how to improve general membership meeting agendas, and how to improve the structure of ICSEW.

Members broke into small workgroups to suggest and discuss ideas. Many of those ideas were common throughout all the groups. Suggestions included: change the general membership meetings from 8:30-4:30 to 9:00-3:00; offer a "jam-packed" agenda including informational speakers; eliminate committee report time; offer diversity training at each meeting; allow membership more input into the formation of the agendas; identify task forces with specific focuses and short-term deadlines; combine the conference and education committees into one training committee; communicate via e-mail and fax; and teleconference when appropriate.

As a result, some of these changes will be implemented at the November meeting. Our meeting time will run from 9:00 to 3:00. The agenda will be e-mailed and faxed two weeks prior, rather than mailed. Meeting packets will be picked up at the meeting. Our agenda will consist of various speakers and presentations, all of whom were suggested and selected by several general membership members. Standing and ad-hoc committee time has been eliminated. (My sincere thanks to Vickie Larkin, Mary Farley, and Mavis McHenry for coordinating our speakers for the November meeting.)

Change takes time. Perhaps we may find that some of these changes are not going to work as well as we had hoped. Perhaps we may need to do things a little differently at our next meeting, and that’s okay. We can continue to tweek our processes until we find what works best for all of us. I want you to leave each meeting more knowledgeable and inspired; feeling as though each and every minute of your time spent at the meeting was worth while. Most of all, I want you to feel good about being a part of ICSEW.

We have also had transition on our Executive Board. With deepest regret, Jan Papiez has chosen to resign as chair of the conference committee. Fortunately, Jan will remain an ICSEW member and member of the conference committee. I want to thank Jan for all her hard work over the last year in laying the groundwork for the 1999 ICSEW conference.

Because of the tremendous amount of time and effort needed to fulfill the responsibilities of the conference chair position, the Executive Board decided that co-chairs would be appropriate. Melissa Clarey and Tami Grant have agreed to step up to the challenge. Melissa and Tami both participated in the 1997 ICSEW conference and that experience, combined with their individual skills and leadership abilities, will make a smooth transition for the conference committee. Melissa will continue to track and maintain the budget for ICSEW. The membership committee, which Tami has chaired, has been dissolved, with those duties being distributed among the other Executive Board members. Also, in an effort to focus more time and energy on conference, the education committee will be joining the conference committee. Joyce Hanna, current chair of the education committee, will continue to work on the upcoming, co-sponsored diversity training with WMS. The health and wellness committee, led by Gayle Heineman, has also been tasked with coordinating health events, workshops, and information booths for conference.

Even though much of our efforts will be focused on conference over the next seven months, pay equity has not taken a back seat. This has been a very tough issue to get our hands around, but we are making progress! The Executive Board has created an action plan for the pay equity issue, which was presented to the Governor’s Office and approved by senior staff. As a result, Candy Oswald, chair of the pay equity committee, and several members of the Executive Board will be working with members of the Governor’s Executive Policy staff to review the plan and identify the next steps for ICSEW and the pay equity committee.

So is change good? I believe it is, but only if all affected are willing participants. I have heard your suggestions and taken action, now it up to you to follow through. Remember, it is not a question of what ICSEW can do for you, but a question of what can you do for ICSEW!

Marty Brown, Governor Gary Locke’s legislative advisor, will address the ICSEW members at the November 10th meeting. Since this is just a week after the November election, Marty will offer his insight concerning the makeup of the new Legislature. Following the primary election, several races emerged which will determine control of the Legislature for the next two years.

Also of particular interest is the outcome of the various ballot measures this fall. How will they affect the budget next biennium? How will the Legislature respond to the many policy choices facing the voters at the polls? Will the Governor and the Legislature be forced to significantly reduce spending or will spending increase?

Have you ever thought about doing someone else’s job for a while just to see what it is like? Perhaps you would like to supervise others but you’re just not sure it is the right thing for you. Or, possibly you want to broaden your job experience. Did you know that Merit System Rules provide for these opportunities?

You can take a training assignment without changing your permanent job classification and without changing your salary. WAC 356-39-040 sets forth the parameters for training purposes, with a specified beginning and ending time period. You may do this for any of three reasons: 1) to perform higher level responsibilities; 2) as a rotational or special project assignment; or 3) as a transfer or reassignment to different job duties and responsibilities within your current job classification.

So, now that you have decided that this is an area of interest for further career development with the state, how do you find more information? More often than not, YOU can be effective in initiating a job rotation or training assignment. Look around, talk to others, and target one or more jobs or projects you’d like to assume for a period of time.

Make a grocery list and review your recipes the night before you go shopping to ensure that you get everything that you need. Keep the menu basic: turkey, stuffing, potatoes, gravy, relish plate, one or more hot vegetables, cranberry sauce, heat and serve rolls, your favorite pie. Check the size of your roasting pan, or buy disposable aluminum. If you do not have one, pick up a meat thermometer.

Frozen turkeys are safest. Defrost your turkey in the refrigerator for several days or by soaking the bird in its unopened bag in the sink in cold water. Plan on 30 minutes per pound to defrost a bird in water. Change the water every 30 minutes. Then store in the refrigerator until ready to cook.

No perishable foods should remain unrefrigerated for more than two hours during preparation or after serving. You should prepare your relish tray the evening before and refrigerate. Make your pie the day ahead if you insist on homemade. You can also get a head start on the stuffing. USDA warns against refrigerating a stuffed, uncooked turkey.

One trick is to combine all of the dry ingredients for the stuffing and separately prepare all the perishable ingredients (margarine, onion, cooked celery, oysters, giblets, sausage, homemade broth) ahead. Wrap the dry ingredients in an airtight container overnight; refrigerate the prepared perishable ingredients. Combine both at the last moment just before cooking the bird.

You can also cook stuffing in a baking dish, which cuts down the time needed to cook the turkey. Plan on 20 minutes per pound for cooking a Turkey. Remember your meat thermometer? A turkey breast is done at 170 degrees; a full bird is done at 180 degrees (test for doneness in the meatiest portion of the thigh). Stuffing is done inside the bird at 165 degrees. Let your bird rest 20 minutes after taking it out of the oven before carving. Pace yourself; and Enjoy!

Last year was my first year (as a working mom) of eliminating daycare expenses and allowing my children to stay home by themselves before and after school. With all the press about "latchkey children" being a bad thing, I will admit to joining the ranks of parents who are trying it. I began this practice during the summer.

Like most working moms, it was a huge relief to give up the expense of daycare. On the other, I was nervous and wondered if I was doing the right thing. I could foresee all sorts of possible disasters, such as the kids not getting up on time, missing the school bus, wearing inappropriate clothing to school, setting the house on fire.....you get the picture. Although my relationship with my children is based on trust, kids are still kids. We’re all familiar with the headlines of disasters that occurred while children were at home by themselves.

The 7-year old balked at going to daycare when her sisters didn’t have to anymore, and there were quite a few "scenes" for the first month when I went through three different daycare centers, trying to find the situation that would meet her needs. This was unusual behavior coming from a very independent girl who has been in daycare since she was two months old.

Finally, we decided to try it for a week or two. The condition was that her sisters would be her boss, and that if she did not mind them, they had permission to tattle on her. I told her she would be responsible for getting out of bed each morning, getting herself dressed, combing her hair, brushing her teeth, and finding her shoes and school backpack. I said that the moment she refused to do as she was told, she would go back to daycare. This proved to be a powerful incentive!

We set other rules; no answering the telephone until the answering machine picked it up, and it was either me or their father calling. No talking on the phone with friends. No cooking on the stove. The first hour after school is homework time. Chores come with the territory, which includes feeding and watering the dogs, dishes, vacuuming, picking up the house.

I was rather surprised to find that they did okay on their own. They didn't missed the school bus all year. They learned to cook, when I was assured they would’t leave the burners on. They clean better than I do, and especially when they really want to do something, like spend the night with a friend. It’s hard to say no to mopped floors, and all the dishes done. The dogs haven’t gone hungry. Their studies and their grades aren’t suffering. And while I might question the wardrobe and the hairdos they come up with, things could be a lot worse! Lately, I’ve come to see that they actually make life a lot easier for me. They call me at work when we’re low on milk, or I need to buy dogfood, or when there are papers I need to sign.

It’s given me a new perspective. Parents worry a lot about doing enough for their children. We want them to have a good childhood. We want them to have the best of everything. We feel guilty if we can’t give them enough material things. But I have begun to wonder if we don’t do our children a disservice when we give them too much, and don’t ask them to be more independent and teach them to work for things. I recently read an article that said one of the problems with our youth in society is that many of them do not have to do chores. This experiment has made me realize that you cannot raise responsible children if you don’t give them responsibility. How do you know if they can be trusted, if you don’t take the risk of trusting? How does one become a good decision maker or problem solver if never allowed to make decisions?