...on 0.08 legislation

By Shannon Lohrmann and Joe Gerrety,
Journal and Courier

Indeed, state Sen. Ronnie Alting, R-Lafayette, said he cast his vote Tuesday to move the measure forward after looking at billboards put up recently in Lafayette by Dan Towery, whose daughter is Sarah.

"It was very difficult for me to vote any other way when you see those billboards," said Alting, who two years ago led the charge against 0.08 percent legislation, saying statistics did not support the change.

At least three billboard locations in Lafayette feature Sarah Towery. Two are at Eastway Plaza on Sagamore Parkway, one is on North 36th Street behind the Eastside 10 cinemas, and one is on U.S. 52 South, just north of County Road 350 South.

The billboards feature a black and white photo of Sarah Towery and white wording against a red background: "Sarah Towery, age 24. Killed by a drunk driver. WHO'S NEXT?"

Sarah Towery and her boyfriend, Chip Smith, 20, were killed in a head-on crash that was witnessed by her parents on County Road 350 South. Jeffrey Trout, the drunk driver who caused the wreck, also was killed.

Those three were among 29 people killed in alcohol-related crashes that affected the Lafayette area in 1999. In 2000, at least 20 people with Lafayette-area ties died in crashes involving drivers impaired by alcohol or illegal drugs.

Since Sarah Towery's death, her parents, Dan and Margie Towery, have become advocates for drunken-driving reform in Indiana. Dan Towery recently testified before a legislative committee supporting legislation that would lower the drunken-driving threshold in Indiana.

On Tuesday, the bill sponsored by Sen. Tom Wyss, a Fort Wayne Republican who's been pressing the drunken-driving measure for a decade, was approved by a vote of 42-8 in the Senate.

"What we're talking about is not the falling-down drunk, but the impaired driver," Wyss said. "I've said it before ... This is not the silver bullet."

Congress passed a bill last year requiring all states to adopt 0.08 percent as the limit to continue receiving full federal highway construction dollars. Those states who did not would lose tens of millions of dollars a year.

Gov. Frank O'Bannon has expressed support for the measure, and in his State of the State address he urged lawmakers to pass it this year. Nineteen states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico use the 0.08 standard.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving has pushed for the 0.08 legislation many years without success, said Mary Tremmel, MADD area coordinator.

"It's a very big step," Tremmel said of the bill passing the Senate. "Statistics tell us up to 30 lives will be saved every year with the legal limit going down to 0.08, so I don't see why anyone would want it to not go through."

And she said she's optimistic about the legislation's future this year.

"It's never gotten this far before, so we anticipate it will make it the whole way through," Tremmel said.Towery also is happy with the bill's advancement out of the Senate, but cautioned about the long process before 0.08 percent is state law.

"Once it is passed, then begins the education awareness," he said. "It sends the message that drinking in excess and driving is illegal."

-- Beth Hlavek
contributed to this story

What's next?

With the Senate's 42-8 vote on Tuesday following the House's approval of similar legislation last week, the case to reduce the state's drunken-driving threshold moves on.