Lettie still lives with the guilt of causing one person's death and leaving another paralyzed from the waist down.

At age 16, she caused a drunken driving accident that has plagued her for the last four years.

"I lay at home and cry," she said.

But instead of a jail sentence, Lettie lectures students about the dangers of drinking and driving.

Lettie spoke before an audience of 10 people in the HUB Assembly Room Monday night, as a part of the Campaign for a Safer Penn State, sponsored by USG Department of Safety and Centre County's chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

Lettie, who withheld her real name from the audience, is unsure whether or not her sentence of public service has been the most appropriate sentence for her crime.

"I don't know how I feel anymore -- if this is working or if jail would be better," she explained, choking back tears.

Don Smith, co-founder of Centre County's chapter of MADD, experienced the unfortunate results of drunken driving on April 13, 1985.

On that day, Smith's daughter Tammy, then 21, was killed by a drunken driver.

Almost immediately after the death of their daughter, Smith and his wife, Dot, founded Centre County's chapter of MADD to prevent similar tragedies from happening.

"I knew that no family should have to go through this alone," he said.

The Smiths speak at area high schools and colleges about the dangers of driving while intoxicated. Educating others to prevent further tragedy help the Smiths bring something positive out of their loss and help them deal with the grief.

As the victims coordinator for Pennsylvania State MADD, Dot Smith is often called by family members of victims to provide support.

The Smiths believe increased education is the way to prevent further loss of life. Deaths caused by people who drive while intoxicated are called accidents, but the Smith's reject calling these deaths "accidents."

People killed or injured by drunk drivers are not accident victims, but victims of a violent crime, they maintain.

"It wasn't an accident. An accident cannot be prevented. But driving while intoxicated can be. It is a crash, not an accident," said Don Smith.

Dot Smith added, "They call DUI a non-violent crime, but the violence they did to Tammy you can't call non-violent."

The Smiths advocate three simple rules to live by to prevent alcohol-related automobile accidents: don't drink and drive, never get into a car with someone who has been drinking and always wear a seatbelt.

Alcohol-related crashes killed 811 Pennsylvanians in 1988, and 23,351 were killed nationwide, according to information distributed by MADD. Every 23 minutes a person is killed by a drunken driver.

"It made me cry a couple of times . . . It opened my eyes with the personal experiences of DUI being expressed. It was really moving," said Melissa Keller (junior-health planning and administration).