18—The Daily Collegian Thursday, Dec. 16, 1982
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Drunk and Drugged Driving Week set
Thornburgh signs drunken driving bill with mandatory jail sentences
New Year's Eve can be one of the most fun nights
of the year; it can also be one of the most dangerous
nights•to be driving, even if you are sober.
To make people more aware of the dangers
involved in driving under the influence, Gov. Dick
Thornburgh has proclaimed Dec. 12-18 as Pennsyl
vania's Drunk and Drugged Driving Awareness
Week.
The awareness week got a big boost at 2:45 p.m.
yesterday when Thornburgh signed a tougher
drunken driving bill. The law requires mandatory
jail terms for all levels of offense and stricter
enforcement of fines and license suspensions.
Centre County's drug and alcohol specialist,
Bellefonte
By BRIAN MAGEE
Collegian Staff Writer
Because of the results of a comput
er-aided study, Centre County will no
longer have a regional office of the
Department of Environmental Re
sources after Dec. 20.
The DER is consolidating four of
fices, including the one in Bellefonte.
They Will be temporarily relocated in
Philipsburg until construction of a
permanent office in Hawk Run, five
miles north of Philipsburg, is com
pleted.
The DER expects the new office,
now being converted from a water
Michael J. Barrett, said, "Drunk and drugged
drivers on our county's roadways cause death and
injury to innocent victims and to themselves."
Centre County's Drug and Alcohol Program in
Bellefonte has used local radio publicity to caution
against drunken driving.
Area citizens can help by raising public interest
to combat the problem, he said. 'Barrett encour
aged all citizens to:
• Use safety belts, which have been proved
effective protection in accidents.
• Designate a driver who will refrain from
drinking to ensure group safety,
• Remember that "Friends don't let friends
DER office to close Dec. 20
treatment plant, to be completed in
llk years.
The Hawk Run and Bellefonte of
fices will be consolidated with offices
in Dußois and' Coudersport, in Potter
County, for "budgetary purposes,"
said Richard E. Ayers, DER regional
business manager.
The decision to consolidate was the
result of a computer study that deter
mined the best location with respect
to the work being done in the region,
Ayers said.
Some regional offices only had two
or three employees, he said. No jobs
will be cut because of the consolida
tion.
However, the general feeling at the Bigatel said the computer study
Bellefonte office is that service in this may have been weighted toward relo
area may suffer from the move. cation in Philipsburg because of the
"It will be inconvenient for all of
. mining work done there. But monitor
mg such things as water quality, air
us," said Alan Bigatel, air quality
quality and solid waste in the whole
engineer at the Bellefonte office.
region may be more difficult from the
Bigatel said the move will decrease new location, he said.
efficiency in Centre County because Bigatel was also concerned about
of the time it will take DER employ- the costs of converting the water
ees to travel to and from Philipsburg. treatment plant to office space and of
mean
will be more difficult to respond renting temporary space in the mea
time.
to calls or to make routine inspections
in the State College-Bellefonte area The new office is at 103 Presqueisle
where most of the region's population St., Philipsburg. The phone number is
lives, he said. 342-6421.
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drive drunk."
The National Highway Traffic Safety Adminis
tration reports that 250,000 Americans lost their
lives in alcohol-related crashes in the last decade.
More than half of all fatal crashes involve a
drunken or drugged driver, Barrett said.
The county's alcohol-related accidents numbered
166. Of those, 163 people were injured and 10 were
killed.
"Impaired driving costs the public as much as
$25 million each year," he said, "but emotional cost
to the family of the victim is incalculable."
—by Bonnie Mortar