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DUIIs: good news -- and a memorial Photo by Bob Pennell Deanna Wilson, left, and Lesley Steringer, both 22, place a cross at Poplar Drive and Morrow Road in memory of their friend Summer Frost, who was killed at the intersection a year ago in an alcohol-related crash. Fewer drunken drivers, but... Hopeful sign in Medford comes a year too late for Summer Frost By JULIE SWENSEN A year ago Sunday, 21-year-old Summer Ann Frost was killed in a car crash at Morrow Road and Poplar Drive in Medford. The man who was driving the car, Michael Duane Goyette, was charged with driving under the influence of intoxicants, second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. He faces trial next month. To remember her, and to remind people not to drink and drive, Frost's friends Deanna Wilson, Lesley Steringer and Kelli Curtis, all 22, put up a white cross at the intersection Friday. They added sunflowers, her favorite flower. They remembered her big, blue eyes, her huge smile, how she was always happy, how she enjoyed writing poems and being active in her church. Despite Frost's death, they say people they know are still drinking and driving, believing that what happened to their friend won't happen to them. "You think you're invincible, and you will always believe that until it happens to you," Curtis said. But accidents such as the one that killed Summer Frost now have a better chance of not happening at all. Drunken driving arrests have declined significantly in Medford in the past year, and police and others are working to continue that trend. About a year ago this month, local police, some bar owners and the Oregon Liquor Control Commission came together to try to curb the problem of drivers with especially high blood alcohol levels. Police were seeing blood alcohol content test results in the high teens and even above the .20 mark, far above the legal limit of .08. The average blood alcohol count for a drunken driver in a fatal crash in the U.S. is .15, said Sandy Nelson, traffic safety coordinator for Jackson County. Police hoped that by reducing the figures, they'd also reduce the likelihood of a crash. While police knew that not all drunken drivers were served at bars, they knew that a bar was one place they could work to control the problem. And bar owners could use some help in reducing their exposure to legal trouble. The Guadalajara, which served alcohol to Frost and Goyette, is under criminal investigation by the district attorney's office. So the three groups formed a task force to look for solutions. Meeting monthly, they came up with signs to post in bars, explaining that bar employees are forbidden by law from serving any visibly intoxicated person. They started a newsletter, and bar owners chipped in to pay for TV commercials. Bar employees learned how to tell when a customer is drunk, and to document when a patron is cut off from alcohol in case the bar is later sued. In turn, police got a new perspective on how tough it is to be a bar owner these days. A year later, DUII arrests show a downward trend: In 1998, Medford police arrested 530 people for drunken driving, down from 623 the year before -- a decrease of nearly 15 percent. Also, the number of DUII arrests of drivers who said they drank at OLCC-licensed establishments dropped to 162 in 1998, down more than 28 percent from 227 the year before. Medford police officer Steve Furst, co-project manager of the task force, said he thinks there's a correlation between the task forces's work and the drop in DUII arrests. While there are a lot of factors in those statistics -- including how many cops are on the street and how many of them are seeking DUII arrests -- "you don't make a jump like that after a consistent increase in previous years," he said. According to OLCC statistics showing where drunken drivers said they'd been drinking (some drivers lie), patrons of the Timeout sports bar in the Kmart Plaza were the subject of 12 DUII arrests in 1998, down from 27 the year before. Patrons of Le Dolls, a nude dancing establishment on Central Avenue, had nine DUII arrests in 1998, down from 23 the year before. "That's a remarkable improvement," said Janet Ouellette, an OLCC inspector. Nelson called the reduction an important change. "Those establishments that were overserving, that shows they're applying some of the techniques and resources and information we share with them," Nelson said. "We're saving lives." Bar owners on the task force couldn't be reached for this story, but Furst said owners are starting to seek out training now, and they're realizing what their responsibilities are. Some are even developing stricter rules than the OLCC's. For instance, Ouellette said the Timeout now requires that employees undergo alcohol server training within two weeks of starting work, instead of the state-required 45 days. Not all bars have seen a reduction in DUII arrests; some have seen more. And some bar owners haven't shown up when invited to training sessions. Although 14 or 15 establishments have gone through training, Nelson said, there are 300 licensees in Jackson County. "We've got a long way to go to train owners and managers," she said. Furst, who was hit by a drunken driver last year, said task force members hope to do more commercials and get some grant money. At Poplar and Morrow Friday evening, Summer Frost's friends said they planned to leave the cross in place over the weekend, in hopes that people would visit the site and leave their names on the cross. Steringer said she thinks the task force is a great idea. "We know a lot of people who drink and drive," she said. "We try to remind them it's not the safe thing to do." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA