Sixth annual Teddy Bear Toy Drive drop-off location is Time To Chill store on Springbank Ave in Woodstock
Alex's mom, Mary Rodrigues, is now president of London chapter of MADD Canada
By Mark
Schadenberg
The
driver of the car who killed Alexander Fleming is serving jail time,
but the Rodrigues / Fleming family lost their son (and baby brother) and all the time
they would have had enjoyed as he grew up.
Seven
years ago today (Oct 13, 2008), Baby Alex was killed – Thanksgiving
weekend – when the car his Mom was driving was hit by a (now
convicted) drunk driver. Alexander Gideon Fleming was only 4 months
old.
Today,
Mary Rodrigues wants to prevent this tragedy from occurring with any
other family as she is president of the London chapter of Mother's
Against Drunk Driving and has also worked on the organization's
'project red ribbon' campaign, has spoke at high school assemblies,
and organized plush toy collection campaigns – a Teddy Bear Drive –
to donate the new toys to hospitals so children admitted for care at
a local (Woodstock or London) hospital would have a 'friend' by their side.
This
year, the depot to drop off your new unwrapped stuffed animal toy is
the ice cream / bakery Time To Chill in the Springbank Plaza.
Mary Rodrigues (right) and one of the toy drive coordiators Liz Wismer-VanMeer
With
2 young children myself, and from knowing parents Mary and Mike, I
could never comprehend what they have endured. Every family has had its difficult times and moments to endure (Most certainly me included), but the death of an infant by an impaired driver is so tragic.
I know the family
through the local youth dragon boat racing club, and because my children attend the same school as Mike's and Mary's kids. Yes, the family
continues to donate its time to various local activities, tries to
move forward in life, and attempts to heal from an inconceivable event.
“The
grief will never go away, it just gets easier to manage,” said Mary
Rodrigues in a Woodstock Sentinel-Review story in July of this year.
More
from that particular S-R story:
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“MADD
Canada is such a great organization who have over 20,000 victims they
deal with across the country on a yearly basis,” Rodrigues said.
“They have over 100 chapters and community leader groups.”
Rodrigues
said future activities of the organization include a heightened focus
on impaired driving by drugs.
“We’re
going to find new ways to educate,” she said. “Underage drinking
and driving is far less than it was 20 years ago but drug use and
driving is on the rise.”
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One
quote from the MADD page on Facebook truly sews together the thoughts
of a lot of people as the future is about preventing any drunk
driving deaths from ever happening again, and sadly the picture of
Baby Alex represents another statistic in something that is
absolutely wrong – drinking and driving.
Mary
Rodriguez: "My son, Alex, always makes an impact. As soon as
his picture goes up on the screen, people look for me. Strangers come
up to me and give me a hug. I'm so proud of that picture but sad that
he has to be up there."
The
car accident was so severe that Mary herself was injured significantly with 2 fractured
vertebrae – noted in published stories about that day's events.
In
2013, Mary was quoted in a Sentinel-Review story when a picture of
Baby Alex was the focal point of a MADD poster campaign. You could
never guess the amount of grief the family has suffered, obviously
including the couple's other sons Max and Ethan.
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"As
the days after Alex's death turned into weeks and then into years, I
never fully comprehended how Alex's death affected my husband. I only
caught a glimpse of it when he spoke at the sentencing hearing a
little over a year ago," she said.
"(He
said) the most one-on-one time he spent alone with Alex since he was
born was when he held him in his arms as they turned off the machines
and he died. Before that moment, he thought, as most people would,
that he would have plenty of time in the future to have alone time
with his youngest son.
"Max and Ethan have been stripped of
their innocence and their ignorant bliss of the terrible crimes that
people do. It was a right that was taken away from them by one
woman's selfish act and Alex was robbed of so much more."
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Another Event To Support:
Another Event To Support:
Mary and another MADD committee member in a Sentinel-Review photo
Battle Continues
However,
we continue to see published stories about car accidents where the
driver's blood-alcohol level is is 3 times (or even more) above
acceptable (legal) amounts. When looking through the internet for this
writing, I read about a school bus driver who was charged with drunk
driving.
While
police can conduct a road-side test for drinking infractions, there
must also be a zero tolerance for those operating any type of vehicle, who have certain drugs in their system. In the Rogers TV video below,
Mary refers to: “impaired by drugs – addiction while driving.”
To
date, literally thousands of Teddy Bears have been donated. As they
says during any telethon I've ever seen, it's all about 1 dollar at a
time (for education and posters), 1 stuffed toy at a time (to console a victim), 1 red ribbon on your car's antenna (for awareness),
and 1 entire society which eventually has zero impaired drivers.
Everyone
can assist in creating safe roads. As the signs on the road profess:
Report Impaired Drivers. Call 911.
LINKS:
2013 Stories
2012:
Twitter: @MADDLdn
Newspaper Clipping Following 2012 Trial
I can relate to having someone you love killed by a drunk driver. This driver had 5 previous drunk driving arrests, and not only should not have been behind the wheel, they should have been in jail. The judge finally sentenced them to a lengthy jail sentence, but the price I have to pay is far more than the drunk driver ever will.
ReplyDeleteStephanie Waters @ Chastaine Law
Do not make the mistake of pleading guilty thinking the judge will consider that and go lighter on you. My judge was actually aggravated I came without a lawyer and decided to make an example of me. He hit me with fines, loss of license, and community service. My idea definitely backfired and cost me way more than the price of a good attorney.
ReplyDeleteLeticia Holt @ KHunter Law
When I was arrested for drunk driving, I hurt another driver and worried every single day about how she was doing in the hospital. Not only was this a wake-up call for me, I can not thank God enough for saving her life and not destroying mine. I know I was wrong and I will pay for it, but at least she is still alive.
ReplyDeleteModesto Culbertson @ D & Z Law Group