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The statistics are staggering. Almost everyday it seems we hear reports of tragic incidents involving a drunken driver maiming or killing innocent victims in Oswego or a nearby county. Most everybody who reads this column can identify with at least one incident involving a drunken driver. Last year alone, local and state law enforcement officers from across the county collectively stepped up efforts to aggressively go after drunk drivers. It worked, and the statistics speak for themselves.

In Oswego County last year, the number of alcohol-related arrests increased by almost 100, from 709 in 2003 to 806 in 2004. Most tragic is the number of lives lost to alcohol-related crashes. That number doubled in one year in Oswego County -- from four in 2003 to eight last year. Even one death is one too many.

As County Legislators and leaders in our communities, we must do our part in the battle against drunk driving to deter the would-be offenders from committing such horrible offenses and to protect county residents from senseless deaths at the hands of intoxicated drivers. A large part of that effort is making sure that we have supplied our criminal justice agencies with the tools needed to fight drunken driving. Intoxicated men and women who choose to get behind the wheel and endanger their lives or the lives of our citizens must be held accountable.

Our County Legislature takes this responsibility very seriously, and we are standing strong against this destructive crime. That is why two legislative standing committees have already approved a proposal to add an Assistant District Attorney to assist in prosecuting DWI cases in the District Attorney's Office. Adding another full-time Assistant DA will help move DWI cases through the justice system more efficiently, while still providing sufficient staff to continue effective prosecutions of all the other crimes against our citizens such as child abuse, robbery, burglary, murder, assault, and many more.

The measure will be considered by the full County Legislature during our monthly meeting Thursday afternoon, Feb. 10. It is my hope that legislators will pass this unanimously.

Our District Attorney, Donald Dodd, and Paul Stoner, Administrator of STOP-DWI, together remain firmly committed to devoting all the efforts they can to assure that every step of the prosecution is completed proficiently. Prosecuting DWI cases are time consuming. Each case requires hundreds of hours on the part of the prosecution, law enforcement, the courts, the probation department, and the families that are affected. An additional prosecutor will help carry that load.

I am pleased that our legislators stand strong against drunk drivers. That's the theme I have personally heard from so many of them lately. I am even more pleased that we will seek to fund for this position entirely with fines collected from other drunken drivers. Not one penny of this new position will be paid by our county's taxpayers.

Oswego County's STOP-DWI program is fully funded from fines collected from convicted offenders. Administrator Stoner has stepped up to the plate once again to help the legislature hit a homerun for the taxpayers. For that I am grateful. The message is clear: If you drive drunk and get caught, you will help pay the justice system to help prosecute you, as well as others like you.

I am urging all legislators to support the new full-time prosecutor position. An additional prosecutor will not prevent another tragic death; it will help the DA's Office bring cases to justice more quickly in Oswego County. It is estimated that the cost to house one inmate in the Oswego County Correctional Facility is about $85 per day. I'm hopeful that it will help deter drunken drivers from getting behind the wheel again, and I know that it will help free up other prosecutors to dedicate more time and resources to other serious cases.

When a person dies in a drunken driving incident, many lives are destroyed. The victim's family is forever changed. Their lives will never be the same. The driver's family must also come to terms with the fact that their loved one caused a senseless and needless death. We owe it to the victims -- and their families -- to do all we can to thoroughly prosecute each case as quickly and effectively as possible.