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State "Booze It & Lose It" enforcement campaign continues through Sunday

Director of the N.C. Governor's Highway Safety Program Mark Ezell at an event encouraging car and boat operators to celebrate the Fourth of July holiday responsibly. Courtesy NDCOT

Director of the N.C. Governor's Highway Safety Program Mark Ezell at an event encouraging car and boat operators to celebrate the Fourth of July holiday responsibly. Courtesy NDCOT

A statewide anti-drunk driving campaign will continue through this weekend. 

The holiday “Booze It & Lose It Campaign” is meant to raise awareness about the dangers of drunk driving. Motorists can expect to see more highway enforcement patrols to crack down on impaired driving.

The campaign started on Monday, with stepped-up patrols continuing through Sunday.

At an event to launch this summer’s campaign, N.C. Governor’s Highway Safety Program Director Mark Ezell urged anyone planning on drinking alcohol to “rely on a designated driver, call a friend, use a cab or a ride-sharing service.”

According to a news release, more than 32 percent of the state’s 65 traffic fatalities for the last five years of published data were alcohol-related.

There is also an effort focusing on North Carolina’s waterways, as law enforcement officials with the state Wildlife Resources Commission increase marine patrols. One study indicates alcohol use is the leading contributor in recreational boating deaths.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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