MADD to host event during awareness week

BOARDMAN -- MADD will be holding an open house in conjunction with National Alcohol Awareness Week at its Boardman office April 21 from 6 to 7:30 p.m.
Rebecca Biggs, a recent college graduate and director of external relations for Mahoning-Trumbull Counties Mothers Against Drunk Driving, is trying to show people a new face of MADD.
She and chapter president Brian Tallion describe themselves as "twenty-somethings" who are trying to reverse the stereotype that MADD is only for mothers.
MADD has helped pass legislation reducing the legal intoxication limit to 0.08 in Ohio and most of the country.
"Lowering the legal intoxication limit to 0.08 saves an estimated 500 lives each year," Tallion said.
They also have an internal program of trained victim advocates to help victims of drunken driving. MADD talks to people convicted of operating vehicles while intoxicated to try to persuade them to change their ways.
"We certainly don't isolate people who are convicted of drunk driving," he said.