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Businesses Join Metro D.U.I. Officers In “Designate Before You Celebrate” Campaign

Release Date: December 13, 2004

More than 40 convenience store and drinking establishment operators teamed up with the Metro D.U.I. Unit this past weekend to help in the effort to stop drivers under the influence of alcohol or other drugs.

“We had excellent cooperation from various businesses this past weekend. Our goal is to have no one killed or injured as a result of an impaired driver during the busy holiday season. We'll certainly have a better chance of reaching this goal with the help and support of the people who sell beer and liquor in our community,” said Shelby County Sheriff Mark H. Luttrell, Jr.

This past Saturday night, December 11, 2004, Officers began the “Designate Before You Celebrate” campaign. D.U.I. Squad Officers and Sheriff Deputies personally visited convenience stores, bars and restaurants to remind store clerks that no beer should be sold to anyone below the age of 21.

Customers at restaurants and bars who consumed alcohol were also urged by employees to designate another person to drive them from the establishment.

Late Saturday night and early Sunday morning, the D.U.I. Squad and Sheriff's Deputies were out in force watching for impaired drivers. Target areas included Germantown Parkway, Walnut Grove, Poplar Avenue, Highway 64, the Interstate 240 loop and Bill Morris Parkway. The “zero tolerance” traffic effort yielded one DUI arrest and 38 traffic violations.

The “Designate Before You Celebrate” initiative will be on-going through “Super Bowl” weekend, February 5-6, 2005.

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