By BY CANDLELIGHT Haley Daugherty, a senior at West Lauderdale High School, lights a candle for one of 379 memorials representing each person who died in Mississippi last year in alcohol related accidents. Daugherty is a member of the Lauderdale County Student Advisory Council. Photo by Paula Merritt/The Meridian Star.
By Steve Gillespie/The Meridian Star
Dec. 8, 2001
It's not only mothers who are against drunk driving.
Cornish and other family members lit candles in memory of his brother, Glenn, a resident of Little Rock who was killed along with two other people in an automobile crash on Aug. 11, 1990.
A computerized slide presentation was made during the ceremony, showing photographs of loved ones killed in alcohol related accidents. About 30 people were present, including some students from area schools who work to inform their peers of the dangers of drinking and driving.
Since then Cornish has been to the MADD candlelight vigils nine of the past 10 years.
For Carole Moseley of Clarkdale, the vigil was a first for her, even though she lost her 3-year-old son to a drunk driver in 1969 in Stonewall.
Like Cornish, Moseley said no charges were ever filed in connection with the death of her son, Barry Robert Oglesby.
Moseley's son had gotten onto the side of the road as a toddler and was hit by a car. The driver was drunk.
Along with the faces of loved ones lost, the large screen in the Union Station hospitality room flashed statistics while "Silent Night" softly played in the background. Statistics, such as "there were 14,386 total alcohol related fatalities in the United States last year" and that "alcohol is the most lethal killer of young adults age 17-24."
Steve Gillespie is a staff writer for The Meridian Star. Call him at 693-1551, ext. 3233, or e-mail him at sgillespie@themeridianstar.com.