Flathead boat crash: Drinking and driving entrenched as a deadly Montana tradition
When Greg Barkus roared out of the August night and ran his speedboat into the cliffs on Flathead Lake's northeastern shore, he wasn't necessarily alone behind the wheel.
His hand, some say, was joined on the throttle by the firm grip of Montana culture, a way of life with a strong tradition of drinking and driving.
"Montana's heritage of drinking is absolutely pervasive," said Brenda Simmons. "You can't live in Montana and not be touched by it."
Consider:
The defendant, Barkus (whose blood alcohol content registered twice the legal limit, a finding his attorney has challenged), has a previous arrest for driving under the influence.
The prosecutor's deputy attorney has a previous arrest for DUI.
The original judge's ex-husband - who was city attorney in a nearby town - has a previous arrest for DUI.
Even Barkus' own defense attorney has a previous DUI arrest. The lawyer's case, however, was dismissed, in part because the arresting officer was not available to testify - he had been killed by a drunken driver.
"To have that many people involved whose personal or professional lives have been touched by DUI, that really says something about who we are as a state," said Ken Peterson.
Peterson is a state lawmaker, a Republican from Billings, and he sits on an interim legislative committee charged with finding solutions to Montana's drunken-driving problems. The committee has been hearing a lot from Simmons, who heads a group attempting to change the very ways Montanans think about drink.
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