Recently Team DUI delivered its vital message through presentations to seventh and eighth grade students at Lucerne Elementary School.

Team DUI’s facilitator, California Highway Patrol Officer Kory Reynolds, and our messengers, Karen Petz, Kathy Testa and Wendy Jensen, reached out to these students with their efforts to teach our youth the dangers and consequences of driving under the influence.

This young audience listened with their minds and their hearts.

Each speaker reached deep into their hearts to help secure the future safety of the students.

As one speaker said, “It is not easy for us to stand in front of this class, reliving painful memories that expose our painful tragedies due to bad decisions.”

Officer Reynolds spoke with the students about what they can do in the event they are ever in a situation involving alcohol and how to be prepared beforehand with an exit strategy.

He encouraged the students to have conversations with their parents in order to prevent undesirable situations should the students end up in a potentially dangerous situation involving alcohol.

He also shared with the students the affects poor decisions have on many lives including first responders.

He helped the students to understand that even though first responders are trained to respond to various situations; it does not mean that they are not affected by the tragedies they see as many of the casualties of DUI will stay vivid in the minds of first responders forever.

Kathy Testa recounted how her son grew up in an environment of alcohol and drugs which ultimately resulted in his poor choice to drink and drive, causing a man to die as a result of that decision. She spoke about how his poor decision affected so many lives in so many ways.

Students heard from the heart of a mother of the consequences of a tragedy she and her son will live with for the rest of their lives. Kathy said she will tell this painful story everyday of her life if it would save just one child.

Wendy Jensen drove two hours to deliver her presentation to these students. Her presentation was emotionally powerful, having been a prior teacher’s assistant at Lucerne Elementary.

Wendy made a poor choice about drinking and driving.

In 2007 she drove 100 miles per hour the wrong way on the freeway. Her blood alcohol level was .20, which is more than twice the legal limit. She hit her victim’s vehicle head-on, nearly killing an innocent man. Her victim spent an entire year in the hospital.

Wendy was sentenced to jail and lost everything that mattered to her in her life. She told the students it all began at a very early age, sipping alcohol as a child and continuing to conceal her drinking throughout her childhood.

She shared with them her enduring struggle to rebuild her life all because of a bad decision.

Karen Petz, retired from the Northshore Fire Protection District, brought to life the painful memories of the death of her son on his 25th birthday due to an alcohol-related tragedy.

She and her husband, Ken, EMTs with the fire department at the time, were among the first responders on the scene, only to discover their own son.

Twenty-six years have passed, but through the everlasting grief within this mother’s heart, students saw and heard first hand the devastation that will never go away because of a wrong decision.

These four speakers bared their souls in order that these students could have a chance at life. It is not easy to do this, as each time a messenger speaks; the wounds in their hearts grow deeper.

No one is immune from DUI. You don’t have to be driving to be a victim. Everyday innocent people are injured or lose their lives at the hands of a DUI driver.

Drinking and driving is no accident; it is a poor choice that is completely preventable.

Alcohol is the No 1 cause of death among teenagers.

For readers who are parents, please have that important conversation with your child before tragedy strikes.

Share with them the exit strategy that could save their lives. Make a plan that can save their lives.

Lake County is fortunate to have the dedication and courageousness of all the members of Team DUI. Because of the message Team DUI delivers, lives will be saved; maybe even your life.

Team DUI welcomes speakers and volunteers. For more information about Team DUI call 707-994-4886.

Judy Thein is founder of Team DUI. She lives in Clearlake, Calif.