Your July 4 editorial "Back and Fourth, Safely" equated drunken-driving highway deaths and "alcohol-related" highway deaths. They are not the same at all. The misnamed "alcohol-related" term has nothing to do with drunken driving. All it means is that those involved in the accident had some level of alcohol in their system. It does not mean that they were legally impaired or at fault. The victim could have been sitting at a bus stop after having one beer and been crushed by a careless though sober driver.

Real drunken-driving deaths are tragic, but those numbers are much lower than the silly "alcohol-related" statistics bandied about by those seeking to scare the public, raise money and make drinking all but impossible. In addition, these pied pipers are behind efforts at criminalizing non-impaired drivers and supporting Soviet-style checkpoints that are a gross waste of taxpayer money as well as an infringement on our basic rights as Americans.

-- Michael McGuire

MADD really is out of control. If you look at their legislative priorities, they are pushing all sorts of laws that look like neo-prohibition efforts rather than anti-drunk driving initiatives. They want to ban happy hour, to impose liability on private individuals who have parties, and to require keg registration.