Advocate fights for tougher DUI laws

Becky Sturdevant still has what she calls “black days,” spans of time when grief overwhelms her and life seems to move in slow motion.

They have occurred sporadically since the August night in 2008 when her 29-year-old son Evan Schneider, a Montana Highway Patrol trooper, was killed in a head-on crash involving an impaired driver on U.S. 2 near Columbia Heights.

Two years later, the topic of her son’s death still elicits tears. When asked when she thinks life will return to normal, she takes a moment to contemplate an answer.

“I’m there some days and other days I’m not,” she says, pausing briefly. “But ‘normal’ is always relative.”

The new normal for Sturdevant is a life of lobbying legislators and patrolling courtrooms while advocating for tougher sentences and stronger safeguards against drunk drivers.

As a nurse practitioner at an occupational health company in Kalispell, she confronts issues of marijuana and alcohol abuse in her professional life as well.

She moved to Kalispell in 1999 from Del Rio, Texas, where she worked a similar job. She hasn’t returned to full-time work since Schneider’s death.

But the darkness that occasionally creeps into her mind is countered by a growing sense of optimism that her goals — and the goals of others who have suffered similar losses — could be realized, at least in part, with the January gathering of the Montana Legislature.

Sturdevant, who went to high school at Hellgate High School in Missoula and later graduated from the pre-med program at the University of Montana, is the most visible and vocal representative of Mothers Against Drunk Driving in the Flathead Valley.

In January, she will travel to Helena to testify in favor of a number of bills that would impose more severe penalties on those who choose to drive impaired, plus install safeguards to prevent an epidemic of repeat offenders.

“There’s no reason for anyone to die in an impaired driving crash,” she says.

Even before the tragedy that changed her life, she had been a familiar face in Helena where she testified against medical marijuana at the Legislature.

But in 2009, she returned for the first time since Schneider’s death. She vividly recalls the frustration of being unable to control her emotions.

Sturdevant is stoic when she says her tears in many ways rendered her ineffective.

“I would just get up there and just cry,” she says. “After a tragedy, your brain doesn’t work the way it used to.”

Sturdevant said she is now more capable of harnessing those emotions. She still sheds tears, but her sadness is accompanied by a growing platform calling for legislation that would change Montana’s alcohol culture.

Last year, she said she was dismayed when nearly every single proposed bill dealing with the issue failed to make it through the Legislature.

“I was shocked,” she said. “Last session, everything got shut down.”

Since then, she has continued her work on several fronts.  One of her primary responsibilities is developing a Drug Free Workplace program. In addition, she’s following hundreds of Flathead County DUI cases as part of a statewide court-monitoring program administered through the Montana Common Sense Coalition.

In the Legislature, her goals are broad: She wants a bill requiring Interlock devices for all DUI offenders, the ability for businesses that sell alcohol to prevent intoxicated patrons from leaving, and a measure that would allow law enforcement officers to obtain a telephone warrant to conduct blood-alcohol tests.

She acknowledges that much of the difficulty in passing the laws has been the perception that any new legislation will infringe on the rights of Montanans.

“Public safety is what we’re talking about, though,” she says. “We’re not talking about rights. You do not have the right to kill me.”

Flathead County Sheriff’s Deputy Travis Bruyer shares many of Sturdevant’s views, and says she is on the front lines of the issue along with law enforcement officials.

Bruyer coordinated the first alcohol enforcement and underage drinking task force in Montana, a group consisting of about 50 officers from seven agencies. He and Sturdevant have fought for the same causes, especially in the aftermath of a two-year period when three Montana High Patrol troopers in Flathead County were killed in the line of duty. Two of those crashes involved impaired drivers.

Bruyer said tragedies often are followed by a period of unity, times when the community seems resolute in the goal of fixing Montana’s problem with drunk driving. As time passes, so too does the united front, Bruyer says, which is why people like Sturdevant hold an important role.

“After a couple weeks pass, then it all goes back to normal,” Bruyer says. “Becky has said ‘No, I’m not going to let things go back to normal. I am going to keep the issue out front.’”

Sturdevant is in contact with lawmakers from across the state, and is keeping a steady eye on proposed legislation ahead of the start of the Jan. 3 session.

She implores citizens who share her views to contact their local legislators.

“They need to be on your speed dial,” she says. “You need to be in their face, getting them to talk to you and telling them how you feel about things.”

Sturdevant says the climate is ripe for change, and is optimistic it will come next year. If not, she says she will continue fighting.

“I can’t see myself quitting anytime soon,” she says. “But one thing I’ve learned is life can change on a dime, in a moment.”

Reporter Eric Schwartz may be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at eschwartz@dailyinterlake.com.