On July 11, I was standing a few feet from a borrowed GMC Terrain parked in front of my house on Auburn Avenue. It was late afternoon. My back was to the street. I was contemplating some temporary measures to keep the deer out out of garden.

I did not see the tan Lincoln sedan swerving down Auburn at about the speed limit or a bit faster. It collided with the Terrain and careened off the rear, street-facing quarter-panel. The wheel was slammed 5 or 6 inches forward into the wheel well. I heard the crash and about hit the ground, it was so loud. It almost sounded like an explosion. My brain processed what had happened as I realized the Terrain was violently shaking from the impact. Then I saw the sedan kept driving as plastic pieces skittered across the street. I attempted to run after it, but could not due to a medical condition and pursued as best as I could. Luckily, my neighbor saw it all happen and pursued the vehicle with his car as I was connecting with 911. The driver stopped a couple of blocks from my house.

The police arrived quickly. The driver was arrested. They arrived after the driver sheepishly gave me an incoherent explanation that they didn’t realize it was that bad so kept driving.

That person is a local resident that is a fairly well-known 83-year-old with a suspended license and no insurance. He lives a few blocks away.

And the driver was inebriated — driving drunk on a typical busy weekday afternoon. Auburn Avenue is busy with plenty of bicyclists, pets and pedestrians passing by my house. Less than an hour earlier, I had chatted with my neighbors as a pack of kids rode by on their bikes a few feet from the very spot of the accident. I waved to the elderly couple that I don’t know but see cross Aurburn twice a day. They are part of the daily bustle and passers-by that endear me as I dink around in my yard. I love my neighborhood and community.

Nobody was killed but every of those people I see pass by daily, could have been.

Too many make that decision my neighbor made to get behind the wheel. And they kill people. It’s in the news and I have more than one friend grappling with the loss of loved ones due to people that make this tragic decision. I see drunk driving arrests way too frequently in this paper.

Please, if you drink, don’t drive. It’s your choice. Make the one that doesn’t have the potential to kill.

Your children, neighbors, and community should not have to worry about the danger drunken driving poses to their LIFE, liberty and pursuit of happiness.

Again, don’t drink and drive.

It can’t be said too often.

Joshua Dillen

Baker City