THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 15, 1994 TAG: 9407140161
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY GARY EDWARDS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
When Frank Starr lost his brother, he gained a purpose.
Volunteer off-duty police officer George Starr was helping with an accident on the Virginia Beach-Norfolk Expressway on Aug. 31, 1991, when he was struck by a car traveling 85 mph. The driver was drunk. Starr, 24, died instantly.
Frank Starr became involved in the battle against drunken driving after the driver of the car, Sean Armao, was given a lighter sentence than Starr believed he deserved.
Armao was sentenced to 20 years in jail for manslaughter. Ten years of the sentence were suspended. When Frank Starr learned that Armao could be paroled after serving 18 months, his grief turned to anger. He made a commitment to his younger brother that his death would not be in vain.
In the nearly three years since his brother's death, Frank Starr has spoken to hundreds of groups about the perils of drunken driving. He produced a 29-minute video on his brother's life and death. And as a lieutenant in the Navy, Starr has been active in the military's anti-drunken driving program.
For his efforts, Starr recently earned two awards. In May he received the Governor's Transportation Safety Award in the Impaired Driving category and two weeks later received the Governor's Award for Volunteering Excellence. Starr had previously been awarded the John T. Hanna Award for traffic safety activism.
Lillian DeVenney, president of Virginians Opposing Drunk Driving, met Starr shortly after his brother's death. DeVenney understood Starr's grief and anger. She lost her only daughter to a drunken driver in 1979. Her daughter was 21 and a bride of two months at the time she was killed.
``We became quite close,'' DeVenney said of Starr. ``We've been able to share a lot of feelings about losing someone close to you. Frank has definitely turned a painful situation into a positive cause, to help others.''
The work of people like DeVenney and Starr has helped bring the illegality of drunken driving to the forefront in legislative bodies throughout the nation. Earlier this year, the Virginia General Assembly passed tougher laws for driving under the influence of alcohol. Those changes took effect this month. Provisions include a lower blood alcohol level to convict drunken drivers (down from .10 percent to .08 percent), vehicle impoundment and zero tolerance for those younger than 21.
``Thanks to bills like the Omnibus Alcohol Safety Act of 1994, people are starting to understand that drinking and driving are criminal activities, not mistakes,'' said DeVenney.
Starr was unavailable for comment because he left last month on a six-month deployment overseas.
The Starrs grew up in a small Alabama town, Frisco City. Before he left home the last time, George Starr planted roses in front of his parents' house. He told his parents that if they ever missed him, they could just look at those roses and know he was with them.
The roses and Frank Starr's promise to help others avoid such tragedy both serve to keep his brother's memory alive. ILLUSTRATION: George Starr, a volunteer off-duty police officer, was killed by
a drunk driver while helping with an accident on the expressway in
1991.
by CNB