Coalition Targets Drinking Drivers

A coalition of community members who want to reduce the number of intoxicated drivers in Oxnard and Port Hueneme will meet Wednesday at Oxnard Public Library.

The Oxnard-Port Hueneme Community Action Coalition to Prevent DUI is being formed by the Oxnard Police Department and the Ventura County Health Services Department’s Alcohol and Drug Programs division using funds from a $314,000 grant from the state Office of Traffic Safety. The two-year grant also will pay for sobriety and driver’s license checkpoints in the cities through 1998.

“What we’re hoping we can do is bring together concerned people from the community who can join forces with law enforcement to solve this problem,” said Sharon O’Hara, community services coordinator for Alcohol and Drug Programs.

Coalition members will decide how best to approach their work. But O’Hara said some of the things the group might do is work with events coordinators to ensure events that place less emphasis on alcohol.

Members might also decide to help out at sobriety checkpoints, she said.

For a small department like Port Hueneme’s, the grant and the efforts of the coalition go a long way to help officers do their jobs, said Traffic Officer David Dickey. “The big impact will be making the number of [alcohol-related] accidents go down.”

The coalition will meet at 6:30 p.m. at the library, 251 South A St., Room B. For information, call Alma Korn at 385-8185 or 658-4271.