A few weeks back I was talking with Bob Lenz who works for the Snohomish County Prosecutors office. He took us under his wing during the adjudication process of the woman who killed Sheena and Tony. He mentioned that he knew the director of the Washington Traffic Safety Commission. They had served in the Washington State Patrol at the same time. He felt our story was compelling and he wanted to drive me down to Olympia to meet him. Well, today was that day.

We talked as he drove down there and I found out how he wound up working in the prosecutors office and I filled him in on how we are dealing with Sheena’s loss and I also told him our impression of the process and how much he and the Everett Police officers had helped us through this horrid process and that they had all inspired us and, truth be known, made it possible for us to do what we are doing now.

We got to the offices right on time and were asked to address the whole staff at their staff meeting. It looked like they were kind of bedraggled because they had been discussing…..wait for it…..budget issues and the special session. When my turn came (I hadn’t prepared anything because I wasn’t sure what was expected of me) I told them the specifics of what happened that awful night and of our activities since. I mentioned that Shelly Baldwin was SUCH a help with statistics and trends and that because of their work with the Target Zero Teams about 88 families in Snohomish, King and Pierce Counties didn’t get that knock on the door in the middle of the night. I can’t quantify that. It’s hard to prove a negative. I am SO glad that what these people do IS working.

I also mentioned that because they are professionals quietly working to stop traffic deaths and don’t make a bunch of noise doing it, most people in the state aren’t even aware of who they are and what they actually DO for us. Because they can’t really toot their own horn WE will do it FOR them. WE will point out the FACT that what they are doing is working. In OUR position, there are things we can say and places we can go and things we can do, that THEY can’t. And we will.

This week the WTSC will roll out their annual holiday mobilization effort. Carol and I have been asked and have agreed to be the public face of their effort.We hope that our story may help convince people to plan better when they celebrate. We hope our story and Sheena’s smiling face will make people understand what they are risking when they decide to drive drunk.

I found out that these people think Carol and I are rockstars. They told me that they have never seen a victim’s family react like we have or engage more effectively than we have. We could do nothing else. We owe it to Sheena and we owe it to YOU. WE don’t see ourselves as anything special. We’re just a couple really sad and pissed off parents trying our best to stop the carnage.