Eastern Connecticut |
When one thinks about alcohol-related deaths, fatal crashes often come to mind.
Take the case of Brianne Colonna, for example. The then-27-year-old was drunk and driving 60 mph through Waterford in December 2016 when she crossed the double-yellow line and slammed into another vehicle, killing 24-year-old Stephanie Turowski of Waterford, an aspiring teacher. Colonna, a licensed clinical social worker whose sister died by heroin overdose in February 2018, offered a weeping apology when she was sentenced to 7½ years in prison in December last year, saying she wished she, herself, had died instead. In handing down her sentence, Judge Kevin P. McMahon said drunken driving cases are the worst cases because everybody involved loses. "Welcome to my world of drunk driving death," he said. "It sucks." But fatal crashes are just one part of the story. Per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, alcohol kills about 88,000 people annually — more than fatal overdoses on all other drugs, combined — through cancer, liver cirrhosis, pancreatitis, suicide and other ways. Yet Jane Ungemack, an assistant professor in the Department of Community Medicine and Health Care at the University of Connecticut, said the topic doesn’t always garner the attention it should. “Because we’re so involved in fighting the opioid issue, I’m afraid we're forgetting about things like alcohol and that it’s dangerous,” said Ungemack, who has been doing research and tracking data for state agencies since the 1990s. “We’re not appreciating that we’re living with another, more prevalent potential issue.” Read more at https://www.theday.com/local-news/20190714/alcohol-use-steady-but-still-high-in-connecticut.
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ABOUTA selection of stories I wrote as a breaking news and police reporter for The Day in New London, Conn. Archives
July 2019
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