Keeping Westchester residents safe from motorists who drive under the influence of drugs or alcohol ...

Deterring illegal underage drinking ...

These are two extremely important priorities to me.

Through the county's Office of Drug Prevention and Stop-DWI, we are involved with a myriad of activities to further these goals, part education, part law enforcement.

We fund programs in the schools to make sure teens understand the risks of underage drinking -- risks irrespective of whether they are also driving.

We fund police programs so those who patrol our roadways have the needed resources to catch those who drive while under the influence of alcohol and drugs.

And we work to change state or county laws, whenever necessary, to make sure society has the tools to deal with this problem.

We cannot do this without the help of everyone.