On March 25, 2007 a man “driving under the influence,’ going in excess of 80 mph, hit my car as my wife and I were traveling to church.

Our lives and our families’ lives changed forever that day.

My injuries were not life threatening. However, my wife, Margaret, was so severely injured that it was a miracle she survived 31.5 months before dying on Nov. 14, 2009.

She was airlifted to ECM, stabilized, and airlifted to the Trauma Unit at Huntsville Hospital. When she got there, her heart stopped from the shock of her severe injuries.

God allowed the doctors to revive her, and she spent 25 days in the Trauma Unit.

Her massive injuries were gradually repaired. The doctors did operations every time she was stable enough to stand a surgery.

She was in a coma and on a ventilator, so they transferred her to Nolan Long-Term Care Hospital in Birmingham to gradually work her off the ventilator. We were warned that if she came out of the coma, she probably would not remember anything that happened before the wreck.

After being in Birmingham for 10 days, Margaret came to, knew me, and could remember things clearly. She began a long, expensive struggle to get well. Her medical bills were over $1,000,000.

When people talk about revenue brought in by legal liquor sales, remember that studies have shown that for every $1 brought in by going wet, $15 must be spent to deal with the problems it causes.

Although Margaret’s memory and thinking were very good, she was bedridden and fed through a feeding tube for the rest of her life. She was in and out of ECM for two bone grafts, aspiration, and many other complications.

Think about these things as you are deciding how to vote in the upcoming wet/dry election.

How would you feel if someone you loved became the victim of one of the DUI drivers?

Would it matter that the increase in DUIs was “almost statistically insignificant”?

How important would increased revenue, new businesses, or better restaurants be to you then?

Could you live with the idea that the person causing the injury to your loved one might never have been DUI if Russellville had stayed dry?

Think about it, pray about it, and put safety ahead of money!  Vote “NO”!

Graton Hester, Belgreen