Way back in 2003, I was in a crowded banquet room in Mountlake Terrace to hear a powerful person acknowledge disgrace. The stinging message began like so many expressions of regret, with the words “if only.”
“If only I had heeded the advice I repeated over and over as a mother and as a judge: If you drink, don’t drive,” then-State Supreme Court Justice Bobbe Bridge said.
Bridge spoke that day to the Rotary Club of Lynnwood at Ballinger Lake Golf Course. The jurist’s talk on Dec. 11, 2003, was one of several public appearances required by the state Commission on Judicial Conduct after Bridge was arrested in Seattle and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol.
I thought of Bridge, who retired from the court in 2007, as I read Thursday’s apology from Randy Dorn, state superintendent of public instruction. Dorn was charged with drunken driving Wednesday after being arrested early Sunday in Orting. “I now know that drinking any amount of alcohol before driving is an extremely poor choice,” Dorn said in a statement.
The recent spate of news about drinking and driving shines a glaring light on an equal opportunity destroyer. The risks to lives and reputations cross all social and economic boundaries. Dorn’s statement was one more reminder that those risks are too great — no matter your station in life.
It wasn’t the worst kind of reminder. Wednesday’s Herald not only detailed Dorn’s arrest. Another article reported the death of 20-year-old Marcos Lopez Silva, an Everett landscaper, in a suspected drunken-driving crash on I-5. According to the story, police allege that the driver of the pickup in which Silva was riding, Enedino Margarito Mendez, was drunk.
Lives are lost, and other lives are destroyed.
On March 16, Matthew McDonald, 28, was sentenced in Snohomish County Superior Court to eight years in prison after causing a drunken-driving crash that killed two Clearview couples on Highway 9 in Marysville. McDonald pleaded guilty in January to four counts of vehicular homicide.
Charges have not been filed, but alcohol is also suspected in a wrong-way crash that killed two young people last month on Broadway in Everett.
A raw wind blew Thursday when I visited the DUI Victims Memorial Wall at McCollum Park in Everett. When the brick wall was dedicated in 2001, it had the names of 45 people killed as a result of others driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Today, there are 112 tiles, 112 names, 112 people.
Some were familiar to me. I interviewed the family of Matthew Rubio, who was killed by a drunken driver on Aug. 29, 2004, when they were organizing a toy drive for Christmas House in Matthew’s memory. I spoke with Jenny McCollum’s husband after the antique seller was killed in Everett on Feb. 23, 2003. Standing at the wall, all I could hear was the flowing water of North Creek. The voices of those listed are now silent.
At Sultan High School, 17-year-old senior Stephanie Morrill is busy this week preparing for an “Every 15 Minutes” program. Under the guidance of school counselor Rik Morris and Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Thomas Dittoe, a school resource officer, the program will include a “Grim Reaper” assembly next Wednesday to raise awareness of impaired driving.
“It’s a two-day event,” Morrill said Thursday. “The first day, every 15 minutes, a Grim Reaper will go into a classroom, and a student will be painted white to symbolize that they’re not alive. A police officer will read a mock obituary.” The national program takes its name from past drunken-driving fatality statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Sultan’s program will include a speaker from the Snohomish County DUI Victim Panel and a wrecked car on display at the school. What’s a good lesson for teens might just as well be aimed at adults — even powerful people who ought to know better. Morrill knows all about Dorn’s arrest.
“They’re supposed to be role models for all these young people,” she said.
Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460, muhlstein@heraldnet.com.
Dorn’s apology
The following is a statement from State Superintendent Randy Dorn, who was charged with drunken driving this week:
I understand the public wants to know more about my recent citation. I am not at liberty to discuss the legal aspects of this case, but I can now share more information.
First and foremost, I want to apologize for what happened last Saturday night. My wife, our sons and I attended the annual crab feed and dance at Swiss Sportsman Club Park in Bonney Lake. My family has long supported the club. As members, we stayed late to help clean up the hall. I drank beer during the event, but I thought I was capable of driving home. I now know that drinking any amount of alcohol before driving is an extremely poor choice.
Today, my attorney has asked the city of Orting to release all the documents regarding this case because the public has a right to see this information. I am pleased the court has moved my hearing date from Monday, April 5, to Friday, April 2, to begin to address this matter sooner.
This week, I have continued to do the job the people of this state elected me to do. This morning I attended an important meeting with Gov. Chris Gregoire regarding our state’s application for the federal Race to the Top grant. Next week, I will take a long-planned vacation with my wife — a school librarian who will be on spring break.
Again, I want everyone to know how sorry I am for what happened on Saturday. I have caused hurt and embarrassment to my family and I have disappointed my supporters and my staff. I work hard every day for the school children of this state and it pains me deeply that I have not set a good example for them. I will work hard to earn back your trust and I pledge that I will never make this mistake again.
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