The answer to the question seemed obvious.
"What is your stand on drunk driving?" Dennis Beaver asked.
State Sen. Ed Pugh, left, talks with Dennis and Linda Beaver about the state's drunken driving laws. Pugh met with the family Saturday in Atchison. The Beavers' 23-year-old son, Casey, was killed last summer in an accident involving a drunken driver who was a repeat offender.
"Well, I'm opposed to it," State Sen. Ed Pugh replied.
But Beaver wants more than talk. He's not convinced Pugh is pushing hard enough for a bill that would strengthen penalties faced by offenders with multiple drunken driving convictions.
Beaver confronted Pugh on the issue at a legislative forum Saturday almost exactly seven months after Beaver's 23-year-old son was killed in a collision with a drunken driver who had eight previous DUI arrests.
Casey Beaver, a recent Kansas University graduate, had planned a float trip in Missouri with two friends before moving to Chicago to attend the Illinois College of Optometry. The trio was traveling last Aug. 4 on U.S. Highway 71 near Neosho, Mo., when they were struck head-on by a car driven by Vencen Gilmete.
Gilmete, of Neosho, had been driving in the wrong lane for a half-mile. He ran two other cars off the road and sideswiped a van before the collision.
Pugh, R-Wamego, is chairman of the judiciary subcommittee handling Senate Bill 215, which would require second- and third-time offenders to spend at least 10 days and 120 days, respectively, in a county jail. Fourth- and fifth-time offenders would face a minimum sentence of 15 months in a state prison. Fifth-time offenders also would have their driving privileges permanently revoked.
The bill also would strengthen punishments for those who refuse Breathalyzer tests.
But midway through the legislative session, the bill still hasn't reached the full Judiciary Committee let alone been passed along to the Senate or House floors. Pugh said he hadn't studied the bill enough to pass judgment on it.
"I'm not sure how to stop drivers from killing people," he said. "I don't know how to do that."
Beaver and his wife, Linda, sat with Pugh after the legislative forum, held at the old Santa Fe Depot. They showed him pictures of their son's car and photos of Gilmete's body, lodged in his car with a beer can nearby. Pugh agreed to let the Beavers speak at an upcoming committee meeting.
"These people have suffered a terrible injustice," Pugh said. "They had something terrible happen to them."
Meanwhile, the Beavers are continuing their crusade for tougher laws.
"The biggest argument we hear is that this happened in Missouri, not Kansas," Linda Beaver said. "Don't try to tell us as grieving parents this isn't happening in Kansas."
Dennis Beaver admits he'd like a law passed that is even tougher on drunken drivers than Senate Bill 215. He is pushing for "truth in sentencing" laws that would require offenders to remain in jail during their sentences, without a chance for parole or probation. And he is an advocate for taking away an offender's vehicles after a second drunken driving conviction.
But, he said, the Senate bill would be a step in the right direction.
"Linda and I should feel safe," he said. "Our children should feel safe. It's such a random act. He was going to a doctor, for Christ's sake. The other guy, he was a professional drunk."
Casey Beaver's story will gain national attention this summer, when two of his friends, Bob Nichols and David Dearth, ride their bicycles across the United States to raise awareness of drunken driving. They will start in Eugene, Ore., on May 23 and end in Washington, D.C., where they plan to propose tougher DUI legislation to Congress.
"We are not going away," Dennis Beaver said. "I have the rest of my life to work on this. ... I'm going to fight for my best friend, my son."
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