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Law enforcement kicks off DUI campaign
Posted: 08.15.2008 at 7:22 PM
Tonya Brown

Tonya has been reporting stories out of the Pee Dee for 10 years.

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Friday is the start of the "Sober or Slammer" campaign across South Carolina highways.

Read more: Local, Crime, Automotive

Troopers say no matter if you're a teacher or a preacher, or anyone else, if you're caught drinking and driving you're going to jail.

Law enforcement held a news conference Friday morning in Florence to announce the campaign.

Friday, the conference took place in an eerie setting, but officers say there's a purpose behind the location. Several police officers hunkered under a tent and held anti-dui banners and pictures of a victim. This all took place in the middle of Mount Hope cemetery in Florence.

Ed Harmon, of the Office of Highway Safety, says "The number of people killed on our roadway each year as a result of DUI related crashes is enough to fill at least one new cemetery annually."

So, for several years they've held the "Sober or Slammer" campaign to combat drunk driving. It starts Friday, August 15, and ends September 1. During this time, Highway Patrol will triple their manpower on the roads.

"We have arrested every stereotype from the town drunk to the soccer mom," Captain Melvin Warren of the South Carolina Highway Patrol, said.

Lisa Radvansky is a mom who lost her 17 year old son , Chad, to a DUI related accident five years ago. She says her son had been drinking when he lost control of his car.

"My son made several poor choices the night of his collision. I believe that through his death other lives can be saved," Radvansky said.

She wants to prevent any other mom from visiting her child in a cemetery.

"The final consequences to many drinking and driving accidents are resulted here in the cemetery. It's something we see too much," Trooper Sonny Collins said.

During the "Sober or Slammer" campaign, troopers will use message boards, television ads and digital billboards to help convey their message.

With the extra officers on the roads, they'll also hold sobriety checkpoints.

More than 160 law enforcement agencies are taking part in the campaign.