A tragedy, and a reminder for us all

    This is not directly about golf communities, although it involves the resident of one.  It is a cautionary note.  I read this morning about a recent accident between car and motorcycle near my home in Pawleys Island, SC.  A 37-year-old woman was returning to her home at the DeBordieu Colony just south of Pawleys Island after a night out.  I know well the road she traveled, Highway 17, the main north/south route along the coast in the Carolinas.  At night it is lightly traveled near our home, and I have never thought twice about making the few-mile drive home from a local restaurant, even after a few drinks.
    On a night in January, the woman did not see the oncoming motorcyclist, a 47-year old local husband and father of two returning who was returning home from a birthday party.  His blood alcohol level was at the legal limit, but hers was twice that.  She turned into his path, he died, and just last week, in a courtroom filled with heartrending tears for both the living and the dead, the local judge sentenced the woman to five years in jail.  The newspaper reports indicated that the prosecuting attorney broke down while reading a letter from the father of the deceased.
    The woman, who had left the scene of the accident and returned later, will be required to serve a minimum of more than four years of the sentence.