Almost every Saturday and Sunday morning for the last year, Beth McBride, Carli Seymour or another self-described “Bar Fairy” roam the Flathead Valley looking for abandoned cars in front of bars. When they find one parked from the night before, they’ll slip a $5 gift card to a local coffee stand on the windshield as a token of appreciation for the person not driving home under the influence. Seymour came up with the idea after her brother and McBride’s son, Robert “Bobby” Dewbre, was struck and killed by a suspected drunk driver as he walked across a street outside of a Columbia Falls bar on March 11, 2023. Dewbre was out celebrating his 21st birthday.The man behind the wheel that night, John Lee Wilson, later pleaded no contest to three misdemeanor charges stemming from the incident and is presently serving 18 months in the county jail. Flathead County Attorney Travis Ahner declined to charge Wilson with felonies because he did not think he could win a conviction. Although Wilson was intoxicated, he was not speeding or swerving, and Dewbre had been jaywalking. Instead, Wilson was charged with operating a vehicle without liability insurance, careless driving involving death or serious bodily injury and aggravated driving under the influence.Robert “Bobby” Dewbre was struck and killed by a drunk driver outside of a Columbia Falls bar on March 11, 2023. Credit: Carli SeymourMcBridge said it was evidence of why the state needs to enact tougher laws related to drunk driving — something her group, Montana Bar Fairies, is now pushing for in the Montana Legislature. That push comes amid a recent spike in fatal drunk-driving incidents in northwest Montana, including four fatal accidents that are being investigated as DUIs between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, according to the nonprofit.“We have an extreme drinking culture in Montana,” McBride said. According to the Montana Department of Transportation, between 2019 and 2022, 335 people were killed in crashes involving an alcohol-impaired driver with a blood-alcohol concentration of .08% (the legal limit) or higher; 72% of those fatal accidents involved a driver with a BAC of .15% (twice the legal limit). In 2020, 66% of all highway fatalities were the result of impaired driving, up from 58% the previous year. As a result, Montana has one of the highest fatal drunk-driving rates in the country. In January 2024, Seymour was driving to her mother’s house early one morning when she saw cars parked in front of a Kalispell bar. It was then that she had the idea to start putting coffee cards on windshields to thank those people for not driving and encourage others to do the same. The first weekend, Seymour and McBride handed out 21 cards in the Columbia Falls area. The next weekend they distributed 10 cards in Kalispell and then 29 and 49 cards the following two weekends in Whitefish. In the year since, Montana Bar Fairies has handed out 894 gift cards worth more than $4,400. Many of the cards have been donated by Copper Mountain Coffee, Florence Coffee Company and others, or covered by financial donations made to the nonprofit. Along with the gift cards left on windshields, volunteers include a small card featuring the story of someone killed by a drunk driver. “It’s felt like we have been able to turn our grief into something positive,” Seymour said. “We want to reward good behavior rather than shame people.”McBride said the reaction to the cards has been overwhelmingly positive. The group is now turning that goodwill into action by supporting LC 1340, a bill requested by Rep. Braxton Mitchell (R-Columbia Falls), for consideration this legislative session. The bill, which is tentatively supported by the Montana County Attorneys Association, is still being crafted but would revise state law to include a minimum of three years in prison for anyone convicted of aggravated vehicular homicide while under the influence. McBride said it would also allow prosecutors to consider only a driver’s blood-alcohol content when making charging decisions.  McBride said the changes would mean harsher punishments for people like the man who struck and killed her son. “It’s just wrong that the guy who killed Bobby just got 18 months,” she said. “This is a common-sense law.” LC 1340 is scheduled for a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee on Jan. 27. McBride is encouraging people to attend the hearing in Helena to support it. For more information, visit montanabarfairies.org. The post Nonprofit pushes for tougher DUI laws amid spike in fatalities appeared first on Montana Free Press.