The 6 Stages of Drunkenness - Forget Me Not Mission

Fatality Mini-Stories
On May 31, 1999, Ray Fine lost control of his truck while fumbling for a dropped cigarette, killing Lyman
Reese Smith, who was riding a motorcycle with his 10-year old grandson at Earth Quake Park. Smith’s
grandson spent three days in the hospital. Fine had consumed at least a six-pack of beer and had a BAC level
of .08. Superior Court Judge Larry Card sentenced Fine, 30, to consecutive terms of five years for negligent
homicide and four years for assault. He also received a one year sentence for drunk driving. (Court View)
“You’re going to jail for a long time,” Judge Beverly Cutler said Friday as she handed down Vickie Pusich’s
18-year sentence. Pusich caused the drunken crash that killed three people on July 4, 1993. Pusich was
drunk when her pickup slammed head-on into a Chevrolet Blazer on the Parks Highway in Wasilla. Killed in
the crash was Mark Langley, his 13 year-old son Brian, and Brian’s best friend, Jamie Farr. Nancy Langley,
Mark’s wife was seriously injured. Mark Langley was the Soccer Coach for his son’s team.
(Anchorage Daily News: June 18, 1994)
Judge Phillip Volland sentenced Paul Evon, 55, to 12 years in prison for running a red light and killing
Martha Grace Brown, 41, in July 2006. The two strangers met at the intersection of Debarr and Lake
Otis. Evon’s blood alcohol level was almost five times the legal limit—high enough to render most people
unconscious and to kill some. Evon’s BAC measured 0.377. Martha Grace Brown, an Athabascan-Aleut, was
born near Dillingham. She moved to Anchorage 20 years ago and worked for the Southcentral Foundation
for 14 years. She left behind three children, Crystal Hamilton, 19, Tatiana Brown, 14, and Randall Brown,
10, and two foster sons. (Anchorage Daily News: July 18, 2006)
What was Daniel James Bushey doing behind the wheel of a car? On that day in March 1994, when he fled
from an Alaska State Trooper and crashed into the rental car of Leigh Ann Barnes and her daughter Lindsey
Hurst, he had five previous drunk driving convictions and nine convictions for driving with a suspended
license. A pathologist estimated Bushey’s BAC level at the time of the crash at .349. He also tested positive
for cocaine. Bushey’s drivers license had been suspended until the year 2025. He also was wanted for
escaping a halfway house two weeks earlier. Leigh Ann and daughter Lindsey had come to Anchorage, from
Cordova, for a Judo meet. (Court View)
An Anchorage man with seven previous drunk driving convictions was driving drunk on Minnesota Drive
again (with a four year old child in the truck with him) and hit a car, then drove over the sidewalk where
Jessie Withrow, 20, was riding her bicycle home from a movie. It was July 3, 2000 when Russell Carlson, 40,
killed the college student Jessie. Carlson had a BAC level of 0.24 and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
He was charged with: Murder, Driving While Intoxicated, Driving with License revoked, and Child Abuse.
(Court View) (AHSO)
Drinking and driving is never, ever worth the risk.
(Alaska Native Medical Center)
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