It’s Time to Toughen Laws on Drunk Driving

* A few days ago, Barbara Paull was driving with her best friend, Stephanie Tourikian, and as they were crossing the intersection of Corbin Avenue and Roscoe Boulevard in Northridge, another car broadsided their car, killing both instantly. The driver, who has been charged with drunk driving, survived the accident.

Barbara Paull was a neighbor of mine, someone I’ve known since she was a little girl toddling around with my kids on our front lawn.

Through the years I watched Barbara mature into a young lady. There wasn’t a time we passed each other on the street when she didn’t wave to me with a bright, congenial, pixie smile.

I can’t help getting very angry when I think of the Paull and Tourikian families and how they will never again be able to enjoy a child’s innocent smile or playful touch without recalling their own deep loss.

A drunk driver is no better than the most vicious of killers, and it’s time the laws were changed to bring back some balance of fairness and propriety to this malignancy which destroys the lives of innocent, law-abiding and responsible people.

GREG LEWIS

Chatsworth