MADD Hawaii 35 Milestones
MADD Hawaii Milestones 35 Years
- 1983: “Organizing Committee” is formed to plan for starting chapters of Mothers Against Drunk Driving in Hawaii. Honolulu Advertiser editor, George Chaplin, agrees to produce a five part in-depth series about the problem of drunk driving in Hawaii. Journalist, Donna Reyes, writes the series.
- February 1984: MADD National founder, Candy Lightner, charters three chapters of MADD in Hawaii: Honolulu County, Maui County and Hawaii County. MADD Hawaii and the Hawaii Medical Association Auxiliary sponsor a community seminar: Drunk Driving: Everyone’s Problem; Candy Lightner is keynote speaker.
- 1984: Court Monitoring program is initiated and is active in district and circuit courts.
- December 1984: First Candlelight Vigil to remember victims is held at Holy Trinity Church in Niu Valley. Jon K. Raneses, 22 years old, is killed that evening just a few miles down the road.
- 1985: SADD (Students Against Driving Drunk) is started in Hawaii with MADD Hawaii’s guidance.
- 1985: Honolulu Chapter of MADD holds first fundraising event, The MADD Roundup, a western barbeque party on Fort Street Mall.
- 1984-86: MADD Hawaii wages campaign to raise Hawaii’s drinking age to 21; Legislature passes bill to raise drinking age.
- 1986: 1986 Legislative session adopts measures to:
- Create protocol and guidelines for Sobriety Checkpoints
- Create the offense of driving under the influence of drugs
- 1985-86: MADD Hawaii works with DOT and DOE to sponsor statewide Project Prom/Graduation workshops for students.
- 1986: MADD Hawaii begins an Impaired Driving Poster & Essay program in schools statewide.
- 1986: Holiday awareness campaign, Project Red Ribbon begins and develops into an annual program which becomes the national Tie One on for Safety campaign 10 years later and 500,000 ribbons are distributed state-wide. This program continues today albeit on a smaller scale.
- 1986: First annual MADD DASH Fun Run is held in downtown Honolulu.
- 1986-87: A Designated Driver Awareness program was established with the support of several local corporations. Key chains, table tents, information cards, bus advertising cards and other materials were distributed.
- 1987: Victim Bill of Rights incorporated into Hawaii statutes by the 1987 Legislature.
- 1987: Jon K. Raneses Library, within the Honolulu Chapter office, is dedicated in memory of the son of Bob and Eleanor Raneses who raised money for MADD Hawaii by organizing two golf tournaments in 1985 and 1986. A drunk driver on the roadway near Sandy Beach killed Jon in December in 1984.
- May 1991: MADD National conducts its first survey assessing the nation’s attention to the problem of impaired driving – Rating the States. Every state submits data to produce a report card for each of the 50 states and the country as a whole. No letter grade given to states in this first assessment. MADD Hawaii holds press conference and maintains that Hawaii deserves an “F” because of its unwillingness to repair the “Flaw in the Law” which removed penalty section for refusing to take the chemical test from Hawaii statutes.
- 1991: “Administrative Driver License Revocation” (ADLR) statute passes after an eight-year campaign. New law is flawed and MADD Hawaii wages community to “Fix the Flaw in the Law”. A special session of the legislature is called by Senate President Dickie Wong after he received 3,000 calls. Senator Wong calls MADD Hawaii a “Giant Killer”. This effort becomes an example of successful “media advocacy” in a high school textbook.
- 1993: Victim Impact Panels initiated as a pilot program in State Judiciary’s Driver Education DUI “Counterattack” course and continued until 2004. Victim Impact Panels are currently conducted regularly for small groups of offenders – often from other states.
- 1994: Governor’s Impaired Driving Task Force is established works as part of Task Force to pass key measures:
- .08 BAC is illegal per se level (Hawaii is 13th state to adopt this level)
- Habitual offender law (class C felony) for people with three prior convictions
- 1996: MADD Hawaii’s Youth in Action program started. Hawaii is one of six pilot selected to try the YIA student concept.
- 1997: Impaired Driving Task Force works to pass several key pieces of legislation:
- Zero tolerance for minor drivers under the age of 21
- Police given authority to test drivers for the presence of drugs
- Medical personnel in hospital emergency rooms required to report illegal BAC levels to police
- December 1998: MADD Hawaii sponsors a New Year’s Eve alcohol-free downtown event: Starbuck’s Starlight MADDness.
- June 1999: MADD Hawaii celebrates its 15th anniversary with a luncheon at Washington Place, hosted by Governor and Mrs. Cayetano. Island Insurance sponsors event and makes lead gift of $15,000 to begin building a memorial to victims of impaired driving and to celebrate anniversary. The Carol H. McNamee Volunteer Award is initiated at this celebration.
- 2000: MADD Hawaii sponsors Hawaii Youth Summit to address issues of prevention of underage drinking and driving. MADD Hawaii then sends two delegates to the National Youth Summit in Washington, DC, and follows up with a Town Hall held at Washington Place in October, with First Lady Vicky Cayetano as hostess.
- August 2002: Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws (Project Pau) program begins to reduce underage drinking through legislation, law enforcement, and public and youth activism. Program is funded by Hawaii State Department of Health, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division and two Youth Program Coordinators and a part-time program bookkeeper were hired.
- September 2002: Street Smarts and Fake ID, national multi-media presentations to prevent underage drinking are presented to public and private schools statewide. Project is sponsored by Hawaii Department of Transportation and MADD Hawaii brings two more presentations to Hawaii; 45,000 students view the shows.
- March 2003: MADD Hawaii Victim Memorial is unveiled and dedicated at Kaka’ako Waterfront Park. Governor Lingle, former First Lady Vicky Cayetano, National MADD, Wendy Hamilton, MADD Hawaii Founder – Carol McNamee, and victims Gore and Theresa Paulette are speakers.
- March–April 2003: MADD Hawaii launches statewide underage drinking prevention media campaign. Underage drinking messages featured in print publications, TV ads/PSAs, radio spots, theater ads and milk carton panels. MADD Hawaii hosts first Annual Alcohol Conference on Prevention of Underage Drinking.
- December 2007: MADD and DOT submit report on Interlock to legislature on behalf of the working group. In January 2008 12 Ignition Interlock bills are introduced and MADD Hawaii conducts briefings for legislators. In June 2008 Ignition Interlock bill is signed into law by Governor Lingle (Act 171) and a Task Force is authorized to work on expansion of Act 171 to provide for implementation of the interlock system in July 2010.
- April 2010: MADD kicks off its new underage drinking prevention program, The Power Of Parents (POP).
- July 2010: MADD Hawaii sponsors its first Walk Like MADD with the help of a Navy victim family. Walk is held at Kakaako Waterfront Park – the location of the Victim Memorial. State Farm was major sponsor. In 2014 the venue for the Walk Like MADD moves Ala Moana Center.
- October 2010: MADD Hawaii holds the first MADD Cab Affair. The MADD Cab Affair is a 1920’s Speakeasy party at a secret venue with all guests arriving and departing by cab. The successful event was a fundraiser and a late celebration of MADD Hawaii’s 25th anniversary.
- January 2011: Hawaii’s Ignition Interlock program goes into effect after three years of passing enabling legislation. One year later, over 1,200 interlock devices are installed statewide.
- January 2017: Start of strong support and partnership with Leeward Oahu (Westside) victim families – including working on a Legislative measure to strengthen the negligent homicide statutes when the defendant has failed to render aid.
- October 2018: MADD Hawaii sponsors a conference: Drugs and Driving – A Call to Action and project components to educate the community about the problem of drug impaired driving among younger drivers (ages 16 to 28). The project is grant funded. The conference speakers include 4 knowledgeable mainland presenters.