Baker officials discuss DUII risks with Baker High seniors ahead of graduation
By Joe Hathaway on Friday, May 31st, 2024 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
BAKER CITY — The Chief of the Baker City Police Department and the Baker County District Attorney spent a day discussing a very important topic to Baker High School seniors.
Chief Ty Duby and District Attorney Greg Baxter spent part of Wednesday, May 29 at the school talking to students about the dangers of driving under the influence.
According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, about 37 people in the United States die in drunk-driving crashes every day — that’s one person every 39 minutes.
Baxter says he and Chief Duby showed the seniors a slide show of the aftermath of crashes, including graphic crash scene photos. The two then discussed different penalties for DUII’s, but really emphasized how drunk driving crashes have changed and ruined people’s lives.
Baxter says with Baker High graduation coming up on June 1, he wanted to hit home the point for students to be safe if they decide to imbibe.
“We’re not dumb, we know some of these underage kids have consumed alcohol before and will probably choose to drink this weekend,” said Baxter. “If they face that decision and choose to drink, we want them to be smart. Have a gameplan in place. Have a parent or a friend to call if you’re too drunk to drive.”
Baxter says he and Duby said they also honed in on the point that now that the students will graduate and move on in life, they’ll continue to face that decision if they choose to drink.
“We weren’t there to lecture. These kids aren’t 21 but we weren’t there to preach, we’re realistic that some of the kids drink. We just told them that these decisions have real life and sometimes deadly consequences. If not deadly, then certainly legal and financial if you get arrested for driving under the influence,” Baxter said. “If you’re out there drinking, have a plan beforehand and help others make a plan.”
The high school also put on display for the senior class a district school bus that was hit by an alleged drunk driver in Redmond in March. The bus was carrying Baker FFA students coming home from the state convention when it was hit by a woman under the influence. Several students were hurt.
“Baker FFA members (and their families) who were involved in the recent collision where their bus was hit by an intoxicated driver really want some good to come from that horrible event and were part of bringing additional education around the topic to the senior class,” said Lindsey Bennington-McDowell, spokesperson for the Baker School District.
The driver that hit the bus, 34-year old Katrina Nicole Dacus of Culver, is set to enter a plea June 3. She is charged with 26 Class A misdemeanors, including eight counts of fourth-degree assault, 15 counts of recklessly endangering another person and single counts of DUII, reckless driving and second-degree criminal mischief.
