St. Andrews Presbyterian College
The Lance p. 5
St. Andrews Students Drink for a Cause
Six beers in an hour and a half
were enough to make Rob Perron
tipsy. Ten Beasley drank four and
a half screwdrivers in the same
time and was equally intoxicated.
But were they too drunk to drive?
“Yes,” said students who
witnessed the performance during
a controlled drinking experiment
at the Belk Center last week.
The demonstration, orga
nized as part of National Colle
giate Alcohol Awareness Week,
was conducted by North Carolina
Highway Patrol Sergeant Ralph
Medlin. The two students, both
21, volunteered for the test. Age
21 is the legal drinking age in all
50 states.
“Alcohol is a depressant,
not a stimulant. It slows every
thing down,” Sgt. Medlin said, ex
plaining why Perron and Beasley
had difficulty following directions
and accomplishing the standard
fieid'sbbfidj^ tests. ^
Both managed to tilt their
heads back, close their eyes and
touch their noses, but they
couldn’t do it without deliberate
effort. Nor could they do it with
out swaying noticeably.
The two struggled
through the heel-to-toe walk and
failed to count their steps out loud,
as instructed. Their speech was
slightly slurred, and they had
some difficulty expressing their
thoughts.
As further confirmation of
their impairment. Perron and
Beasley took two blood alcohol
tests apiece, 75 minutes and 140
minutes after they began drinking.
The results were in the .05 to .07
percent range, just below the le
gal limit of .08 percent for blood
alcohol content.
When Sgt. Medlin asked
the audience whether the two
were too drunk to drive, all agreed
that they were. And, based on
their behavior and the field so
briety tests, both would have
been arrested, Medlin added,
possibly for reckless driving, if
not for driving while impaired..
Conviction for DWI
means loss of license for one
year, stiff fines, jail or probation,
and a 400-percent increase in in
surance rates. Anyone under 21
who is caught driving with any
amount of alcohol in their sys
tem also will lose their license
for a year.
North Carolina’s re
cently revised open container
law also states that the driver,
regardless of age, must be com
pletely alcohol-free if a passen
ger has an open container of beer
in the car. Under no circum
stances are open liquor contain
ers permissible in the passenger
compartment.
During the event, stu
dents watched several Patrol vid
eotapes of fatal accident scenes.
The wrecks were caused by
drunk drivers and, in some cases,
only scrap metal remained of the
vehicles.
“When you think about
getting in that car with a person
who’s been drinking,” Sgt.
Medlin said, “it’s like playing
Russian roulette, except you’re
letting them cock the gun and put
it to your head.”
He empathized with
young people’s desire to have
fun, but warned of the dangers,
too. “I haven’t always been 39.
I didn’t skip 18, 19, 20 and 21,
so I know how easy it is to go
along with the crowd. It’s all
about common sense and how
much value you put on your
life,” he said.
THE WALL
What Do You Think About The World
Series?
‘Did the Braves win?”
-Isaac Coleman
“I think it’s wonderful. My
grandfather would have
loved it; he was a die-hard
Braves fan.”
-Stephen Moody
‘I’m not a baseball fan...’
-Walter Steele
“I loved it. It was their time
to win. Justice was served.”
-George Hall
“It was pretty good. I’m a
big Red Socks fan. Since the
Red Socks didn’t play, then
they didn’t lose.”
-Shin Nohara