Free rides home offered to drinkers for Memorial Day

Rebecca Malone

Thursday, May 24, 2001 | 10:21 a.m.

Two weeks from his graduation, 17-year-old Mark Simon was killed by a drunken driver while riding his bike home from work.

That was Memorial Day 1991.

Today, the 10th anniversary of his death, Crockett & Myers and STOP DUI have teamed up to prevent such fatalities this Memorial Day weekend. The two entities will provide free rides home to people who have had to much to drink.

A volunteer will drive the reveler home, followed by a second volunteer, who will drive the reveler's vehicle.

The program is an extension of the "Home for the Holidays" program that has run since 1999 from Christmas Eve to New Year's Day. This is the first year it will run during the Memorial Day weekend.

Home for the Holidays transported 600 people home safely last Christmas season.

"Home for the Holidays shouldn't be limited to just the Christmas holiday," Jim Crockett, of Crockett & Myers, said. "Memorial Day weekend is always a three-day event characterized by barbecues, lake parties and drinking. There is absolutely no reason not to use this program. It's free."

The two companies are considering extending Home for the Holidays to more holidays, such as Thanksgiving and July 4, but said they are waiting to see how well it is used and received this weekend.

Crockett & Myers foots the bill. Without the funding, a ride home with STOP DUI would cost $40.

The free rides will start at 6 p.m. Friday and will last until 6 a.m. Tuesday. Rides will be given only to the person's, not to other parties or bars. The trained and licensed drivers are provided by Designated Drivers Inc., which works closely with STOP DUI.

STOP DUI also gave four police agencies sobriety checkpoint safety kits in Simon's name. "If they had a checkpoint where Mark was killed, he might still be alive today," Joan Eddowes, Simon's mother, said. "I am so excited about the checkpoints and I admire the police who are out there. When they do things like this, it is not only awareness, but it helps people remember Mark. I want people to remember what happened to Mark."

STOP DUI's Executive Director, Sandy Heverly, has lofty goals for the program.

"Every time we do this we secretly hope that someone will come back and say we had no drunk driving accidents this weekend," Crockett said. "That hasn't happened yet."