SRSO Deputy Honored by MADD

Deputy Lance Bird of the Santa Rosa Sheriff's Office was honored recently by MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) for the arrests of twenty-eight violators during 2007. His arrests were part of 330 taken into custody by the SRSO as compared to Escambia County's 296 during the same period of time. Each year MADD selects law enforcement officers to honor for their efforts in eliminating those that cause needless deaths on the county's highways by drunk and impaired driving. The guest speaker during the ceremony at Chet's Restaurant was Chief Judge Kim Skievaski. The restaurant has become a shrine against impaired drivers since two of their employees were killed by one a year ago. Skievaski pointed out that someone is killed by a drunk driver every thirty-nine minutes and by the time someone is caught for their first DUI they have already driven impaired eighty-seven times. Sheriff Wendell Hall congratulates Deputy Bird for his recognition in a worthy cause.