My blog has been pretty light-hearted so far, but not today.

If you read our print edition or Web site this morning, you know that an 18-year-old has been charged with drunk driving in a car accident before dawn Saturday in Woodstock that left a 19-year-old dead. It's not my role, or that of any newspaper, to pass judgment on the suspect. That's what the criminal justice system is for. And the district attorney notes the arrest was based merely on observations at the scene; that blood tests still could prove the suspect didn't break the law. So we'll wait and see how this plays out. But as we enter high school prom and graduation season, the time of year when far too many young people across the country are injured or killed in car accidents, it's worth repeating the age-old anti-DWI mantra: If you drink, don't drive; if you drive, don't drink. Yeah, I know, it's corny, cliched and simplistic. But it makes so much sense. And if everyone lived by it, the number of drunk-driving arrests, injuries and deaths in our society would fall to zero.

My passion about this subject is twofold:

First and foremost, I have a teenage son. He's only 13, but he'll be a passenger in some other teen's car within a year or two, and he'll be driving in three years. It's not too early to start pressing the "don't drink and drive" message, and my wife and I already have told him it would be better for him to call us for a ride at 2 a.m. than to get behind the wheel drunk or get into a car being driven by a friend who's been drinking. We'll remind him again next year, and the next, and the next. Whatever it takes to keep him safe.

To understand the other part of my passion, you need to know only three names: Julie Brown, Ruth Yudelson and Debbie Chesler. We grew up in the same town outside of Rochester. Julie was dead at 16, Ruth at 14, Debbie at 19. Debbie, in her car, and Ruth, on foot, were killed by drunk drivers; Julie, also a pedestrian, was killed by a hit-and-run driver believed to be drunk but never caught. These girls should be grown women now, perhaps married with teenage children of their own to worry about, but stupidity -- irresponsible, criminal stupidity -- denied them the opportunity.

We can't bring back Julie, Ruth and Debbie, or anyone else killed by a drunk driver. But we can -- and we must -- do everything in our power to prevent tragedies like this from ever happening again.