Red Ribbon Event has Deep Meaning for Monroe Woman

Eva Smith, a representative with Mothers Against Drunk Driving, was joined at Loganville City Hall Wednesday by members of the Loganville Police Department, attorney Sheryl Fambrough, and Loganville Mayor Ray Nunley to observe Red Ribbon Week. She had done the same in Monroe with Monroe Police Chief Keith Glass a few days before.

Red Ribbon Week is observed in the U.S. in October each year to create awareness of the dangers of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs. But for Smith it is so much more than just a once a year event. It is a lifetime commitment.

On Memorial Day in 1992, Smith lost her husband to a drunk driver. Her son nearly died in the accident as well. Since then, Smith has used every available opportunity to educate people about the dangers of drunk driving. For Smith, it is about preventing anyone else from experiencing what she did 20 years ago.

“I still think about it every day of my life,” Smith said. “Every day of my life. My son was nearly decapitated in the accident too. It was devastating.”

As reported in The Walton Tribune in 2010, Smith spoke to her husband, Thomas Prather, on the phone just 30 minutes before he was killed. When she was told of the accident by the Georgia State Patrol, she knew that one of them had had died, but she wasn’t sure whether it was her husband or her son. She also was not aware that the man sharing the hospital waiting room with her as she waited to hear whether it was her husband or son who had died was the drunk driver responsible for the accident.

“He served 10 years and is now out and facing another drunk driving charge,” she said.

Smith remarried two years after the accident and said she has the support of her husband in her work with MADD. Accompanying her at Wednesday’s Red Ribbon event was her youngest son and a friend of his, Joelie Thompson, 14, whose brother is another victim of a drunk driver. Thompson said her brother, who was 25 at the time, has been left with a traumatic brain injury after being hit by a drunk driver while walking alongside the road.

“The driver was an ex police officer. He had just come out of the bar down the street when he hit my brother,” Thompson said, adding that although he lost his license for life, the driver who hit her brother didn’t serve any jail time. Thompson now works with MADD, helping Smith spread awareness about the devastation that could result from driving drunk. Fambrough said Smith is dedicated and works tirelessly on the awareness campaign.

“She goes out with people on license checks and talks to people about not drinking and driving, she does programs at the schools, she helps the sheriff’s departments get Alco Sensors,” Fambrough said. “She has worked tirelessly since her husband was killed by a drunk driver.”

Information about MADD can be found on the web at www.madd.org. It is a nonprofit organization in the U.S., started by a mother who lost her 13-year-old daughter to a drunk driver more than 27 years ago. It has grown into a national organization dedicated to stopping drunken driving, supporting the victims of drunk driving and preventing underage drinking.