[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 43 (Monday, April 20, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S3246]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             DRUNK DRIVING

  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, last week, tragically an 11-year-old boy 
was killed in an automobile accident in the Washington, DC, area. This 
young boy was killed by a man who was driving a vehicle apparently 
very, very drunk and hit four cars. In the last car was a small van 
that was driving down the road with this young 11-year-old boy 
listening to his favorite basketball star. He was listening to a 
Chicago Bulls' game, listening to Michael Jordan play basketball while 
seated in this family van driving down the road, when he was hit by a 
drunk driver and tragically killed.
  I have mentioned before that my family has been visited by this 
tragedy on a couple of occasions, and I have a special kind of anger in 
these circumstances when I understand that the person who commits this 
kind of murder is not just the man who got drunk that day and killed an 
11-year-old boy. This happens every 30 minutes in America--every half 
hour someone else is killed by a drunk driver.
  So often, you will discover, as is the case in this particular 
instance, the driver has been drunk before. The first time he was 
drunk, about 6 or 8 months ago, he was fined $50. On March 23, which is 
just a few weeks ago when that young 11-year-old boy was still full of 
life, this driver was again picked up drunk with twice the legal limit, 
over .20. But then someone gave him a special license. Oh, yes, he is 
picked up drunk again but he got a special license to drive back and 
forth to work. I ask the judges who preside over these issues, where is 
the judgment? Where is the judgment that allows a driver like this to 
be on the road again with a temporary license to kill an 11-year-old 
boy?
  I tried to get the judge's name so that I could show my colleagues 
and all those listening who has this kind of judgment. I have done that 
before, and I will again. But where is the judgment to understand that 
when people commit acts of drunk driving, they ought to have their 
privileges of using America's roadways removed?

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