VICTIMS TELL THEIR STORIES

The last time Richard Young saw his wife, Patricia, she was seated at the kitchen table of their dream home in rural Cape Girardeau County near Pocahontas. She was watching the birds eat at the new bird feeder in the cold January air and recording what birds visited in her journal.

Young hugged his wife goodbye and went to Perryville where he and some friends were to spend the Saturday exploring caves.

"I will never know how my wife spent her day," Young said. "I hope it was enjoyable."

Early that evening, as Patricia Young was returning home from church, her car was hit head-on when a truck, driven by Stephen Reed of Jackson, crossed the center line of County Road 530. Reed -- whose blood alcohol content was .212, more than twice the legal limit -- was injured in the accident. Patricia Young was killed.

On Thursday night, Richard Young retold the story of his wife's death, as he does each month, to a gathering of people who have been ordered by the court to attend a Victim's Impact Panel. The people have been ordered to attend because of their convictions of driving while intoxicated.

Young told Thursday's group of 10 men and two women that as he drove home from Perryville that Saturday evening in January 1996, he came across the accident scene 1 1/2 miles from his house. Not knowing his relationship to Patricia Young, the police ordered him to go home a different way.

Even as he drove home, Richard Young knew his wife had died in the accident. When he got home and opened the garage door, Patricia Young's car wasn't there, confirming his worst fears.

"I don't know if any of you have ever gone into shock, but I went into shock," he said. "I went incredibly cold I couldn't cry and couldn't cry out. I was shaking uncontrollably."

A state trooper took him to his patrol car and turned on the heater to full blast, but Young said he still couldn't get warm.

When he went home that night, Patricia Young's glasses were sitting next to a open novel she had been reading and that was waiting for her when she returned home from church.

"Everything was the same as it had been before she left, except she wasn't there and never would be again," he said.

Young was one of four participants in Victims Impact Panel who had lost a loved one in a traffic crash involving a drunken driver. Mildred Held of Olive Branch, Ill., lost her son Randy 12 years ago three miles from home. Charlie and Loretta Wilson's daughter Cathy was killed in an accident nearly 10 years ago. Her neck was broken.

"It was 10 years ago, but it will never go away," Loretta Wilson told the group.

The Victims Impact Panel, sponsored by Mothers Against Drunk Driving and the Cape Girardeau Safe Communities Program, meets the second Thursday of the month and is targeted toward first-time DWI offenders. The judge will sometimes require attendance at the panel as a condition of the sentence. An average of 30 DWI offenders attend each session.

Sharee Galnore, coordinator of Safe Communities, said the purpose of the panel is prevention and intervention.

"We want to give them the opportunity to hear the consequences of drinking and driving and to prevent them from ending up in the same situation," Galnore said.

"Most of them feel that it's going to be ugly, but it's not about that." she said. "It's about what drinking and driving do to families."

The speakers never accuse their audience of wrongdoing or yell. They simply tell their stories about their loss and their struggles to deal daily with that loss.

They never even tell the group members not to drink.

"Think about the decisions you make," Young told them. "Enjoy your alcohol, but for crying out loud, let someone else drive."