One of
the most notoriously bad characters that ever lived in New York was Orville
Gardner. He was the trainer of prize-fighters and companion of all sorts of
hard characters. His reputation was so thoroughly bad that he was called “Awful
Gardner.”
Have you heard the story of Waylon Prendergast? The man from
Tampa, Florida, had been out drinking when he decided to rob a house on his way
home. The drunken man forced his way into a house, filled a suitcase he found
there with the valuables he discovered, and made his way to the living room. In
his stupor he decided it would be a good idea to set a fire to cover his
tracks, so he ignited a blaze before making his way out the back door.
Mel Trotter, the famous rescue mission worker, was the son of a bartender who “drank as much as he served.” Trotter followed in
his father’s footsteps, losing job after job because of his addiction to
drinking and gambling. Each time he lost a job, he promised to reform and start
doing better, but each time he failed. After the death of his baby son, Trotter
made his way to Chicago where he intended to drown himself in Lake Michigan.
Abraham Lincoln was well known for total abstinence from
alcohol. According to one well known story, he was once offered a drink by a colonel in the military. Lincoln responded by telling the man that when his mother was
on her deathbed, she had summoned him as a nine year old boy and asked for his
promise that he would never take a drink. He then said, “I promised my mother
that I never would, and up to this hour, I’ve kept this promise! Would you
advise me to break that promise?”
1. I enjoy vomiting. 2. My wife likes my breath and bleary eyes. 3. My children respect me more. 4. I hope to win the safe-driving award. 5. I plan to encourage juvenile delinquency. 6. I want to provide more good citizens such as
bartenders and pub operators. 7. I can think so clearly. 8. I collect bottles. Drinking saves the cost of
buying them. 9. I look forward to retiring in a “flophouse” on
Skid Row.
Silas Caldwell accidentally killed his best friend, Larry Slusher, on June 21, 1998. Both men had been drinking when Larry, put a beer can on top of his head and told Silas to shoot the can. Silas missed the can and hit his friend.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that over 17
million Americans drive while they are drunk at least once a
year. That figure is about the same as:
1. The amount
of students enrolled in higher education (18 million)
2. 1 in 18 Americans
3. 1 in 5 drivers
Source: National Survey of Drinking and Driving Attitudes and Behaviors, NHTSA, August 2010
By the time young people reach the 10th grade, only three in ten are
non-drinkers. Results of a study indicate that about a third of high school
students are moderate to heavy drinkers in the classification of scientists
who organized students into six categories: abstainers, infrequent, light,
moderate, moderate-to-heavy, and heavy drinkers. Ease of availability is
related to heavier drinking. Those states that allow 18-year-olds to purchase
alcohol have heavier drinking.
