Drunk drivers to get sobering message on Missouri roads

By: Ashley Yarchin  

KSDK -- A Florissant woman who lost her brother to a drunk driver is behind a new message you will soon see along Missouri highways.

It was June 27, 1984, on Highway 270 when David Poenicke was killed by a drunk driver on his way home from a Cardinals game.

"From that time on, I just decided I want to make a difference and I feel this is one way I can do it," said Gail Rehme, who was 10 years old when she lost her 19-year-old brother.

Just this summer she got to governor to approve David's Law. "Oh, my goodness, that was huge, that was a huge day, I think that I cried for probably about an hour," she said.

It allows victims' families, like her own, to display MODOT-approved memorial markers at the site where their loved ones died. On them are the victim's initials, the month and year they died and a sobering message - 'Think About It.'

"If one person stops and makes that good choice and decides not to drink and drive, then it's all worth while," Rehme said of the signs that will begin to be displayed this spring. "I want people to step back and say it's not so much a distraction, it's part of making a difference, it's raising that awareness."

Saturday, Nov. 14, her non-profit organization, Who's Next, is holding a fundraiser to help families cover the $600 cost of a sign. It is at St. Louis Community College on the Florissant Valley Campus in the student center from 2 - 4 p.m.

For more information, go to http://whosnext.us/