Drinking and driving -- a wrong decision to start the New Year

"I believe that we are solely responsible for our choices, and we have to accept the consequences of every deed, word, and thought throughout our lifetime." -- Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

While some people make New Year's resolutions and take the opportunity to make the upcoming year better than the last, some people make the decision to drink and drive and often change someone else's life forever.

Some statistics show that someone is involved in an alcohol-related accident every two minutes in the Unites States. And sadly people are often injured or killed in these accidents.

I am surprised how many people we arrest for driving while intoxicated that try to convince us that they are different than everyone else, and that they can handle driving drunk.

They say this while they are stumbling back and forth and slurring their words to the point that it is hard to understand what they are saying.

There is always a story, a reason, and an excuse as to why they should be let go, or should not have been pulled over, but there is one thing they all have in common. They go to jail.

I wish that every person who climbs behind the wheel of a car after drinking could be brought to the scene of the "accident" so they could see firsthand the broken, bruised, and bloody bodies being pulled out of the smashed up vehicles.

Children, grandparents, and other loved ones are often the ones being pulled out. It is not a game, and it is not something to try and get away with. I have no pity on anyone who puts themselves in a situation that will cause them to be driving a vehicle after drinking.

If you know you will be drinking alcohol this New Year's Eve, take the time now to plan ahead. Make sure you can stay home after drinking, or if you are going somewhere else, make sure you have a ride or can stay there.

Do not take the chance of thinking you are only going to have a few and then drive home. It is not worth it when you are sitting in jail and someone else is in the hospital.

The Sheriff's Office wants everyone to have a Happy New Year, but we also want people to be safe. Extra Sheriff's Patrols will be out this New Year's Eve, patrolling the streets and helping to make sure people are being responsible and safe when they get behind the wheel of their car.

Be smart about what you do and have a good time; but if you drink and drive, you will spend the beginning of 2014 in the County Jail.