Walworth County is getting it right! Letter written to Gateway’s Protective and Human Services Director.

“I am writing this letter under rather extraordinary circumstance.  After attending the first classes (now complete until the final class at the end of September) in the multiple offender program I felt compelled to write.  The teacher Don Wlodarski was unbelievably gifted and effective.  Some of the things he did, other than truly care about the circumstance of his students and teaching how to avoid such behavior and the effects for the rest of our lives, did some other amazing things.

    1. I now carry a small but very sensitive breathalyzer on my person.  It’s not to test myself, as I have not had a drink now for almost a year since the incident.  I have it because as an accused multiple offender I lost a lot of family trust.  I now have the breathalyzer to be able to prove that ‘no, I have not been drinking’ instead of simply trying to defend myself verbally.  That has helped me a great deal at home and fortified my decision to not drink again, even aside from driving.  If I got out to dinner with friends I also have no compunction in testing the driver, if it’s not me, before we leave a public place where there’s been drinking going on.  I make it a humorous test but there’s really nothing funny about it.  Maybe the best hundred dollars I’ve ever spent.  Twice my wife and I have had to find another way home.
    2. Don put the multiple class members together with a first-time dynamic class nearby at the Gateway facility.  We spent half an hour talking and convincing those class members that they didn’t want to fill our shoes when our own class was over.  It was remarkably effective for all of us.=
    3. Don helped us all form relationships with others in the class to the point where we all have each other’s numbers and addresses (voluntarily) in case we need one another for a ride, or whatever.  That bonding helped all of us not simply endure the course (six hours a class) but truly pay attention and question and then accommodate what Don was teaching.
    4. I will miss not going to the classes every Saturday morning.  I would never have believed, before meeting Don and attending the course, that I would ever write something like that.

This is a letter of thanks and also to let you know that some of what you are doing to help the community, and even those who’ve fallen into trouble with respect to drinking driving is working and effective.

I am sending a copy of this letter to the district attorney simply because I also attended the Impact group that he made a presentation at.  I was mightily impressed with not only his presentation but also the poignant delivery of subjects and victims who’d been hurt by drunken driving behavior.  I don’t think the general public has much of an idea about what the county, and the contribution of people working above and beyond (like Don), is effectively doing to help everyone living in and visiting the county.”

Anonymous Gateway student from County Walworth

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