- Governor Jim Doyle
- Page Five
- August 29,2008
change laws. And I don't think we'll feel safe until those laws are changed."
Governor, any system that cannot protect a family from the murderous impulses of a Mark Benson is irretrievably broken. This tragedy was not a surprise. It was absurdly predictable.
I was so moved by the tragic death of the Bukosky family that I contacted Jennifer's parents, Judith and Paul Jenkins, of Mequon, to offer them my condolences. As the quote properly reflects, the Jenkins family, while racked with grief, aren't only looking back and reflecting on the measure of their daughter's and granddaughter's lives. They are looking forward, towards change. In our subsequent meeting, they voiced their willingness to meet with anyone, any legislator, any professed public servant, to strengthen impaired driving enforcement in our state. Their signatures below attest to their strength, and resolve. I have looked them in the eye, Governor, and they aren't going to quit this crusade. There are thousands more like them out there, and they need a champion.
There must be a sense of urgency about this situation. Drunk driving is visiting havoc, a word that I do not use lightly, on our citizens. Norman Y. Mineta, US Transportation Secretary from 2001 to 2006, called highway deaths a "national epidemic." I couldn't agree more. In a March 2008 column in the Wall Street Journal, he described the culture of our roadways thusly:
"Last year, 965 people lost their lives in air crashes around the world. But more than 3,000 people will die on the world's highways today. More than 1.2 million people die each year from traffic injuries, a toll comparable to the number of people killed by malaria or tuberculosis. For every death there are at least 20 serious injuries. This is an epidemic in every sense of the word. Yet it is a hidden epidemic. It doesn't make the news because these deaths occur one or two at a time; because nine out of 10 fatalities occur in the developing world; and because in many countries we don't have accurate statistics to measure the problem. But mostly it doesn't make the news because we are numbed by a sense of fatalism, by a feeling that these are just accidents, unpredictable and unpreventable; we see them as a fact of life, an accepted side effect of our modem mobility."
Governor, I implore you to use the power of your office to call for the legislature to allow sobriety checkpoints in Wisconsin, and publicly affirm your intention to sign such legislation if delivered to your care. I sense that the time is ripe for the public to support sobriety checkpoints. I am strident in my resolution to take advantage of what I perceive to be a groundswell of support. The time is now. Now. Now.
Sincerely,
David A. Clarke Jr., Sheriff
Milwaukee County
Kari Kinnard, Executive Director
MADD Wisconsin
Mrs. Judith Jenkins
Mequon
Mr. Paul Jenkins
Mequon
