Sgt. Scotty Carrier of the Johnson City Police Department has forgiven the driver of the car that killed his sister and a friend in 1999.
Carrier says his sister, a 21-year-old student in Knoxville, was sober, but the driver of the other car was not. “DUI is a preventable thing,” he said at the National Alcohol Awareness Week Program held Tuesday.
The event, sponsored by the Counseling Center along with Bucs Against Drunk Driving, attempted to highlight the negative effects of alcohol and drug abuse with the help of guest and campus speakers.
“We would like to thank all of the volunteers,” said Richard Metcalf, BADD vice president.
BADD had 1700 bright gold stars along the plaza to represent the number of college students between the ages of 18 and 24, killed every year in alcohol-related accidents.
“It’s helpful and informative,” said Jacob Chandler, a freshman who perused the booths lined with pamphlets and information about drug abuse.
“I didn’t know there are so many items that are so readily available,” he said after touring the Meth-trailer, sponsored by the National Guard. The trailer featured illustrations and models of drugs such as marijuana, ecstasy and a semi-home methlab.
The anti-smoking presen-tation using real lungs and a manual pump device drew a lot of attention. “They are real impactful and it’s just incredible that people would still want to smoke after just seeing that,” said Melissa Evans, junior.
But there is still more to be done to prevent drunk driving said Carrier, who compared the situation to that of 9/11, the war in Iraq and other crimes. “We lose soldiers and it’s front page news, lose dozens and dozens of people a day to impaired driving and the world will go on,” he said. “We don’t grasp it because it’s so spread out.” The solution in his opinion is stricter legal penalties and more effective preventative methods.
“What would really prevent people from doing it is if they can go to the scene of the crime and see the dead person,” he said, ” and then say by the way you’re gonna go tell the family with me.

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