Hats off and a Salute

By Stephanie Denham, Editorial Assistant

I do as part of my job, the "cop shop" which is who is arrested for what each day in the paper. I would like to say a hats off and a salute to the law enforcement officers, Meridian Police, Lauderdale County Sheriff's Department and the Mississippi Highway Patrol Troop H, for the "Click it or Ticket" campaign and also for the overall diligence of DUI enforcement over the years. I have said many times to many people over the years all over this country, that I was proud of our DUI enforcement here. I have also told many that I believe that for every DUI person that they arrest, it was a good possibility they saved a life. Just because a drunk driver killed my daughter, I know that I do not have an invisible shield or bubble around my family now and that it could not happen again. I know that it can. I pray daily that it doesn't and I pray daily for our men and women out there on the front lines if you will combating DUI. I dream of the day that we wake up on New Year's Day and the news is....No One Killed by Drunk Drivers Last Year!" The only way that this dream will come true is through education, legislation and diligence by the law enforcement officers. I can not imagine why anyone who is drinking would get behind the wheel of a car and drive. The laws must not only be passed but they must be enforced in courts. But I am thankful that the officers who are diligent and aware of the drunk drivers out there. I wrote the incident reports last weekend, and saw where they arrested five or six suspected drunk drivers on one stretch of highway over like a three night period! Thank you and my hat is off and I will not only salute the officers when I find out who they were, but you can rest assured, I will also hug them when I see them, for the great job that they did, protecting my family and me and countless unknown families out there from the potential heartbreaking and devastating results that drunk drivers cause. Please, to the drinking public out there, please, don't drink and drive! I will beg of you as one mother who has had the greatest loss of all....a child.