Please learn from these tragedies, don’t drive drunk

One of the most tragic homicides that I have ever covered happened 20 years ago.

Mark White is Editor of The News Journal.

Please, please learn from the mistakes that lead to it.

On Aug. 20, 2001, Lisa Rains was a 28-year-old Oak Grove Elementary School teacher, who had recently found out that she was pregnant.

It should have been a jubilant time for her.

Then tragedy struck.

Lester Cook was driving drunk and too fast when he struck a guard rail, lost control of his Corvette, and ran over Rains, who was looking at flowers in her front yard. His estimated blood alcohol level at the time of the crash was about twice the legal limit.

The accident happened less than half a mile from Cook’s home, and on the same road, where Cook was driving drunk nearly 32 years earlier and ran over a young boy killing him.

There are two other tragedies that I would also like you to consider.

In 2007, Raymond Garner, whose license had recently been suspended for drunk driving, was barreling up I-75 in his pick-up truck hauling a rickety old trailer with all his worldly belongings as he was moving from Tennessee to Kentucky. Black box data from the truck showed he had it floored when he lost control, crossed into the median and went airborne striking two vehicles.

In one vehicle, the impact killed a pregnant 25-year-old woman named Cindy Haas, and her unborn child, whom she planned to name Nathan. In another vehicle, it decapitated eight-year-old Gus Pontikis. At the time of the crash, Garner had a blood alcohol level nearly three times the legal limit.

On April 13, 2016, Adam Childress had been drinking when he drove his vehicle and ran over and killed Richard Perkins, who was walking his dog along a Williamsburg sidewalk. Childress kept going and didn’t stop until he wrecked a second time going off the road and down an embankment. His blood alcohol level was nearly four times the legal limit.

By all accounts, neither Cook, Garner nor Childress are evil people, and were probably decent enough folks when sober.

Two were old alcoholics. The other was a younger man, who had a substance abuse issue.

I suspect that, if given the chance, all three would gladly have switched places with the people they killed.

I don’t say this to excuse or in any way mitigate what these three men did. Instead, I bring this up in hopes that people will think twice before they drink and drive.

One thing these three men have in common with nearly everyone, who drinks alcohol and then drives, is that they had no intention of hurting anyone on those fateful days, let alone killing them.

Their lack of bad intentions didn’t change the tragic outcomes. Innocent people got killed because of their poor decisions and actions, namely Lisa Rains, her unborn child, Cindy Haas, unborn Nathan Haas, Gus Pontikis and Richard Perkins.

I would encourage those reading this to think before you drink and drive, and ask yourself these three questions before you even put your key in the ignition after you have been drinking.

“Would you want your young child, or grandchild, or niece or nephew riding in a car with someone, who has drunk as much as you have?”

“Would you want your father, mother, husband or wife to be out on the road with someone, who has drunk as much as you have?”

“Knowing what they know now would Lester Cook, Raymond Garner or Adam Childress tell you that it’s OK to drive after having drank that much?”

If you know without hesitation the answer to those questions is yes, then you are probably OK to drive.

If you answered no to any of these questions, or even hesitated before answering yes, then it’s probably a good idea to call a friend to come pick you and take you home, or take a cab or an UBER.

I think we can be sure that in hindsight, Lester Cook, Raymond Garner and Adam Childress all wished they had gotten a designated driver.

Don’t let the deaths of Lisa Rains, her unborn child, Cindy Haas, unborn Nathan Haas, Gus Pontikis or Richard Perkins be in vain.

Please learn from the mistakes that caused their untimely deaths and don’t cause more tragedies this upcoming Labor Day weekend.