THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 23, 1995 TAG: 9502210115
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SCOTT McCASKEY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
Barbara Babb's real-life stories and graphic slides of drunken driving tragedies left students in the Lake Taylor High School auditorium with sobering thoughts.
``What I heard and saw on those slides didn't look very pretty,'' said Edward Hughes, a junior at Maury High School. ``It puts it in a real perspective.''
More than 700 students from Norfolk's five high schools attended Babb's Feb. 16 program on underage drinking and drunken driving. The presentation drew a large crowd at Norfolk Academy earlier in the day.
A former helicopter flight nurse, Babb has given more than 1,000 presentations at high schools and colleges all across the country since the mid-1980s. In 1988 she received the Distinguished Public Service Award from the Department of Transportation for her work.
Her crusade began in 1985 when she was called to an alcohol-related accident involving two teenagers. That event changed her life.
``One girl was decapitated, and the other sustained permanent brain damage,'' Babb said. ``After 19 years of nursing, I got tired of seeing so many kids making mistakes with alcohol. I said, `That's it. I need to get on the prevention end as opposed to treatment.' ''
Babb's approach is to lay it on the line, without lecturing. Her anecdotes - sometimes shocking - are detailed accounts starting from the moment of the accident, to the hospital and sometimes on to the grave. Her slides reveal those who made it and those who didn't; grisly accounts of torn and bloodied faces, broken bodies and victims paralyzed in hospital beds.
``My message is straightforward,'' she said. ``I talk about how alcohol affects your judgment, that it's illegal under age 21 and that people 21 and over must exercise responsibility if they drink. I also emphasize the importance of wearing seatbelts.''
Parents play a role in the problem of teenage drinking, Babb said.
``For some reason, many parents look at alcohol as a lesser evil than drugs, and this sends the message that kids are predisposed to do something bad.''
Babb, 45, is a St. Louis native with a son, 22, and a daughter, 20.
The presentation was sponsored by Hoffman Beverage Co., the local distributer for Anheuser-Busch products. The seminar is part of the company's Consumer Awareness Education program to fight alcohol abuse.
``We're in the business to sell beer, but alcohol abuse is bad for business,'' said Kim Tamburino, alcohol awareness coordinator for Hoffman. ``No product manufacturer benefits from the misuse of its product.''
Students said the program had an impact.
``I thought it was very good,'' Granby sophomore Ken Hewett said. ``The pictures were pretty gross but effective. I'll never drink and drive - it's stupid.''
``She (Babb) knows the deal,'' aid Tanya Levinson, a Booker T. Washington senior. ``I got really upset with my ex-boyfriend one time when he almost crashed us drinking.''
While Babb noted that drunken driving fatalities have dropped 62 percent among persons ages 15 to 24 in the last 10 years, she said obstacles remain.
``Two of the problems are peer pressure and kids thinking it will never happen to them,'' she said.
Babb said many students have written and told her that she really helped them take a serious look at drinking.
``The kids are starting to realize drinking isn't funny anymore,'' she said. ``Throwing up and getting in fights isn't cool, let alone getting killed. If I can just reach one or two people in each audience, then it's better than what we did when we started the day.'' ILLUSTRATION: Barbara Babb
Her crusade began in 1985
KEYWORDS: UNDERAGE DRINKING by CNB