New C.O. Facebook group takes aim at DUII driving

Last Saturday, Bend resident Morgan Freeman created a Facebook group with the mission of reducing the number of drunk- or drugged-driving incidents.

The group, called “1DUI2MANY” was created in response to the tragic death in late December of Marika Stone, a local dentist who was struck and killed by a car while riding her bike on Dodds Road, east of town.

The group already has more than 250 members, who joined with the hope of eliminating DUII incidents, in part by making laws tougher on offenders.

Freeman’s father, Phillippe, a former co-worker of Stone’s, said he thinks the DUII laws in Oregon are too soft and don’t do enough to deter people from driving drunk.

“In Oregon, you’re allowed to take an online class, maybe have a Breathalyzer,” Phillippe Freeman said Wednesday. “But you hear those stories all the time, and there’s just not enough of a stigma to prevent the loss of life for people.”

Freeman said he’d like to see Oregon adopt DUII laws like those in Sweden, where the first offense gets you license suspended for a year, and a second brings a lifetime revocation.

The lawyer representing the driver who allegedly struck and killed Stone agrees the DUII numbers need to go down.

“I think that if we could, either by enacting laws or changing punishments, eliminate all DUIIs, I think that would be phenomenal,” Donahue Law Firm managing attorney Bryan Donahue said. “If we could make it so that there was no need for DUII lawyers, put all the DUII lawyers out of business, that’d be great.”

Donahue also said the clients that come through his office, even the ones who are eventually found guilty, can come out the other side better for the experience.

“Over the course of the case, you start to see a change in the person,” Donahue said. “You start to see a change in the way they talk, in the way they present. Their eyes seem to lighten up over time. They seem more energetic. They seem more positive. It’s really neat to see that happen over the course of a case.”

Donahue also added that not everyone accused of impaired driving is guilty.