Friday, Aug. 29, 1997 | 8:32 a.m.
Bally's hotel and casino has stepped forward in the fight against drunken driving by teaming up with Stop DUI in a unique red ribbon campaign to keep the Labor Day weekend fatality free.
Employees clocking out from their shifts Thursday afternoon were handed strips of red ribbon to tie to their vehicle antennas as a symbol of a united front against the deadly crime which in 1996 killed 144 people in Nevada -- 96 of them in Clark County alone and two over the Labor Day weekend.
"We want to make an impact," said Paul Pusateri, executive vice president of Bally's, which employs more than 3,000 people. "It's an opportunity for us to grab a large number of people and really make an impact."
Bally's staff brought the idea of an anti-drunken driving effort to Pusateri's attention recently. The point was driven home, he said, after hearing that Sandy Biami, employed by Bally's for the past 19 years, lost her son to a drunken driver 11 years ago.
Tony Biami, then a senior in high school, was driving a friend home from a high school football game when he was killed in the intersection of Jones Boulevard and Sahara Avenue on Oct. 17, 1986.
The drunken driver, Sandy Biami said, "drank for five hours after work and then got behind the wheel. He was so drunk when the accident happened that he didn't even know he had a broken neck."
Biami joined Pusateri and other Bally's employees in handing out red ribbons to co-workers as they lined up outside the time office, showing her son's photo as another reminder to friends.
"This probably doesn't mean a lot to people until they have lost someone," Biami said after giving a brief but heart-rendering speech over a microphone to employees clocking out for the day. "If I can help just one person, I'll have made a difference. I can cry at the drop of a hat over what happened to my son. He's gone, but he will never be forgotten."
Sandy Heverly, executive director of Stop DUI which provided more than 5,000 red ribbon strips free of cost to Bally's, is encouraging motorists this weekend to make use of their cellular phones while on the road to report drunken drivers. Toll-free calls can be made by dialing *DUI or *NHP.
"I think the message not to drink and drive is getting through to some people, but unfortunately there are some who choose to ignore the message," Heverly said.
The cost to Nevada from drunken drivers last year was approximately $140 million -- a figure shared by the government, taxpayers and victims, Heverly said.
Just one DUI fatality alone, she added, averages $900,000, factoring costs from medical bills, loss of work, rehabilitation, court fees, prison time and funeral expenses.
A DUI-involved injury accident averages $600,000, Heverly said.
Trooper Steve Harney of the Nevada Highway Patrol said that an aircraft will be patrolling the stretch of Interstate 15 south to the California border to catch dangerous drivers.
Metro Police have planned a checkpoint for Saturday from 10 p.m. to 3:30 a.m. in the area of Lake Mead and Jones boulevards. Motorcycle officers will also be saturating the area of Sahara Avenue and Decatur Boulevard from 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday, concentrating on accident-causing violations, speeders and offenders who commit secondary violations like not wearing seatbelts.
"About 90 to 95 percent of drivers take the same route every day," said Metro traffic Sgt. Tom Conlin. "We want to establish a police presence in areas like Sahara and Decatur where we have so many accidents so that we can reduce the number of accidents and get motorists to drive safely."
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