In Altamont

Ed Frank teaches serious lessons during DWI Awareness Month

ALTAMONT — Five hundred and ninety shoes will be displayed throughout December at the community center on Gun Club Road as part of a program to highlight DWI Awareness Month.

Each pair of shoes signifies one person who died from alcohol-related car crashes in 2007 and they are just one of the displays that comprise Choices 301, a program aimed at educating teens and young adults about the dangers of driving dangerously or driving drunk. 

The program is the brainchild of Ed Frank Sr., a retired police officer, who lost his 45- year-old son to bowel cancer in 2005.  Ed Frank Jr., who was also a police officer, enjoyed racing at Saratoga Speedway and had started a program to teach young people that speeding cars belonged solely on a raceway.

After his son’s death, Ed Frank Sr., an Altamont resident, decided to continue and expand the program.

“I was a fix-it guy and I couldn’t fix this one,” he said. “Grief affects people in a lot of different ways.”

The program is named after the younger Frank’s radio dispatcher number for police work, which was also his racecar number — 301.

Along with volunteers, Frank now brings the Choices 301 Program to five counties and local colleges including The College of Saint Rose, Siena, and the Sage Colleges.  He travels with up to three 28-foot trailers filled with pictures and video footage from crash scenes involving drunk drivers.  There are also mock jail cells and coffins with mirrors inside to so that, according to Frank, people can say, “Wow this could be me.”

Frank will kick off DWI Awareness Month on Dec. 1 with a press conference at 11 a.m.  The trailers and other displays will remain on the premises at 6378 Gun Club Road — formerly the home of the Community Caregivers — and will be available for viewing on the following dates: Monday, Dec. 1, from 5 to 9 p.m.; Sunday, Dec. 7, from 1 to 6 p.m; Sunday, Dec. 14, from 1 to 6 p.m.; and Friday, Dec. 19, from 4 to 9 p.m. 

On Saturday, Dec. 13, there will be a victims’ impact panel at 6:30 p.m. where people who have lost someone they love through drunk or dangerous driving will speak about their experiences.  The event is limited to 50 people and reservations may be made by calling Frank at 861-8501 or 423-8426. 

Judges often require those arrested for drunk driving to listen to a victims’ impact panel. Frank says that this panel will be an opportunity for the public to come, “free, of their own volition, instead of being mandated by the court. If parents have a young one giving them problems with alcohol, they can come and see the devastation, legal ramifications, and the cost factors of driving drunk.” 

More Guilderland News

  • The mailer is asking recipients to weigh in on a new Altamont Post Office, stating, “Because of a space deficiency, USPS proposes moving to a building of approximately 6,000 square feet with 30+ parking spaces within the preferred zip code 12009. The proposed new facility will maintain the same level of service and eliminate the space constraints at the current facility.”

  • Two anthropologists will share what they have found of a mid-1800s farmstead on the outskirts of

  • Peter Golden described the optimism he felt in his youth with Kennedy’s election: “The country’s going to move again … we’re going to dance on the moon and all these things people felt when he got elected — and quite the opposite of course is what happened. I wanted to try and explain that feeling of loss to my son and to my daughter-in-law and why their parents would look back in a different way than they do.”

The Altamont Enterprise is focused on hyper-local, high-quality journalism. We produce free election guides, curate readers' opinion pieces, and engage with important local issues. Subscriptions open full access to our work and make it possible.