By Cliff Bellamy

cbellamy@heraldsun.com; 419-6744

DURHAM -- At twilight Sunday on the steps of the Old Courthouse, candles were lit, and as each candle was lit, those gathered for the vigil named a friend or family member who had been killed in an accident involving alcohol. Others lit candles in memory of all who have been victims of a drunken driver.

The brief vigil and moment of silence marked the end of the annual Candlelight Vigil of Hope & Remembrance, put on by Mothers Against Drunk Driving and the Crash Prevention Network of North Carolina.

Vigil participants listened to a number of speakers Sunday afternoon, including Bahama resident and NASCAR driver Scott Riggs. Before Riggs' address, Lt. Adam Clayton of the Durham County Sheriff's Office, who has known Riggs for many years, recalled a time when he was watching Riggs on television and the driver's car flipped several times.

For a brief moment, during which Clayton said he could hear his heart beating through his chest, he wasn't sure if his friend was dead. "I want to relate that accident to how it would feel to lose a loved one," Clayton said. "Enjoy the day, is the message. We're not promised tomorrow."

When people ask Riggs about NASCAR driving, he tells them the scariest driving takes place in the real world. NASCAR vehicles have state-of-the-art safety equipment, and the drivers know the risks and are trained for them.

"How many times have you heard of a race car driver hitting a tree? ... You don't hear about these kinds of things in race [car] driving," Riggs said. "The real world is the most dangerous world," he said. He cautioned the audience not to become complacent about the dangers in everyday driving, where the course is not mapped out.

Riggs said he was not always the most responsible driver when he was 16, when he wrecked cars because he was going too fast. He is trying to instill good judgment in his children so they do not make those mistakes. He urged those gathered for the vigil to "teach our kids and everyone around us about how responsible we need to be."

Also at the vigil, Rebecca Pope, whose granddaughter Megan Dail was killed in February 1997 by a drunken driver, advocated for passage of tighter and stricter laws. In that wreck her daughter, son-in-law and two grandsons also were injured. Her grandsons are still trying to recover from that time. "It has been a long and difficult 12 years," Pope said.