Light snow was falling as Sheila Johnson, 45, drove her SUV on Highway 13 near Manchester last December, headed home from her job as a karaoke host.

Suddenly, a Dodge truck smashed into the front of her car. The man driving the truck had a blood-alcohol level of 0.22 &045; more than twice the legal limit, a report from the state patrol stated. Both drivers died.

Johnson’s husband, Todd, said they had planned on living the rest of their lives together. Sheila had two children and four grandchildren, and one of them is too young to have any memory of her. Although Todd said he feels sympathy for the man who hit his wife, he also feels anger.

&uot;I think (the accident) could have been avoided,&uot; he said. &uot;There’s still anger because my wife’s gone, and I blame him.&uot;

Todd, an Albert Lea resident, said he does not want anyone else to go through the same pain.

&uot;I know it happens every day,&uot; he said. &uot;But if more people are aware of it, maybe we can stop it.&uot;

His desire to spread awareness publicly comes at the same time that Minnesota law enforcement officials are cracking down on drunk drivers with added patrols this month.

Lt. Randy Slinger of the Minnesota State Patrol said while drunk drivers will face more of a risk this month of being caught, the consequences are not as dire as getting into serious or fatal accident.

He said people need to realize the impact driving drunk can have on others’ lives. &uot;It’s a personal choice that can cause life-long pain and suffering for someone else. I think it’s a terrible crime.&uot; He said it’s important for people to decide not to drive drunk before they begin impairing their judgment with alcohol.

Johnson was one of the 5,652 alcohol-related crashes in Minnesota last year, and one of the 259 fatalities caused by drunk drivers. Alcohol was related to 4,221 crash injuries, 627 of them severe, according of the Minnesota Department of Safety.

Dan Wrolson, Sheila’s brother, said one of the things he’ll miss about his sister is the way she always tried to make people feel comfortable. He said if there was room full of people, and someone was alone, she would go up and talk to the person and make them feel welcome.

Todd said there were too many things to list when asked what he’d miss.

One thing he still wants is justice. He wants to know who served liquor to George Neilsen of Mason City, Iowa, the man who hit his wife. But a private investigator stopped searching for the answer because he had no leads, Johnson said.

When Sheila first died, Wrolson said he couldn’t talk to the state troopers about the accident. &uot;I basically broke down and didn’t know what end was up.&uot;

But he said now he wants to talk about it because, along with support from friends and family, it helps him heal.