Emily Harris, like most of
us, loved finding bargains. Having some free time, this young Alaskan
chicken-hypnotist-cyclist jumped on her $1,800 bicycle and pedaled off to shop
for bargains. Journeying through the streets of Edinburgh, Scotland took Emily
past a Charity Clothes Shop. Thinking to find something she could add to her
wardrobe, she jumped off the bike she rides in her circus act, parked it just
inside the shop where, according to a Reuters Reporter, she leaned it rather
discreetly against a mannequin.
Unfortunately, before
Emily could finish her bargain shopping, a shopkeeper mistakenly sold her
expensive vehicle to a lucky customer for $15. Emily lost her bicycle, found
herself without transportation, and received nothing in return … simply a
profuse apology. Her bargain search had suddenly taken the shape of a terribly
“bad bargain.”
Equally bad for American
families like my own was the Health Report relayed by Dr. Phillip Lee, which he
delivered to the United States Congress while serving as Assistant Secretary of
the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. “Nearly one-fourth of all
persons admitted to general hospitals have alcohol problems,” concluded
Secretary Lee, “or are undiagnosed alcoholics being treated for the
consequences of their drinking.”
Alcohol consumption remains the fourth leading cause of
death in the United States. It becomes a major risk factor in treating every
injury and every trauma. Heavy alcohol
consumption by Americans threatens to
provide an exceptionally bad bargain potentially affecting the birth of a vast multitude of our children. Medical
authorities describe this capability of alcohol as “teratogenic.” The verb form
“terato” is highly suggestive :“a combining form meaning monster, (or) monstrosity.”
Webster’s New World Dictionary, (Second Edition, 1970), describes
teratogenic as an agent like a chemical or disease “that causes
malformation of a fetus.”
In other words, alcohol
consumption creates the potential capability of congenital defects, growth
retardation, and learning disabilities among prenatal infants. This
significantly increases the risk factor within the family circle for more than
seventy-five million American family members currently affected by alcoholism.
It ups the ante while offering no bargains!
Malik Sealy and Kevin
Garnett discovered this the hard way when they were young members of the
Minnesota Timber Wolves basketball franchise. Their worst scenario came while
returning from Garnett’s twenty-fourth birthday celebration. Souksangouane
Phengsene, a forty-four year-old impaired driver from Minneapolis, smashed
head-on into Garnet’s Range Rover, while driving the wrong way on southbound
Highway 100.
Sealy died on impact! The
Prosecution charged Phengsene with choosing to
personally drive his car although impaired. The Judge found him guilty
and gave him the maximum sentence of four years in prison, while still
determining whether or not to deport Phengsene back home to Laos.
Alcohol is a depressant.
Beginning with that first drink, the consumer’s inhibitions gradually decrease.
There is, however, no legally defined point at which a person becomes legally
unaccountable for drunken behavior (Dui). Consequently, more than ten states
have already slammed the door on the “too drunk” defense. In attempting to clear
the legal fog. Additional states continue to pass laws that define consumers of
alcohol as guilty by reason of choosing to drive.
As this relatively new law
becomes more widely used, it eliminates virtually all hope of defense by reason
of intoxication. It correctly categorizes consumption as an obvious personal
choice. It makes our highways a much safer place on which to drive and it
accurately defines drinking and driving as anything but a good bargain.
From Warner’s World, this
is walkingwithwarner.blogspot.com
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