DWI statue finds a home in Eisenhower Park

After 13 years, an unlikely journey ended Saturday in Eisenhower Park for a life-size statue born in anguish.

The statue of three people - symbolizing a victim of drunken driving, a caregiver and a person affected by the tragedy - was originally at State Supreme Court in Mineola. When defense attorneys said it unfairly prejudiced juries on DWI cases, it was taken to Nassau County Medical Center in 1998. It remained there for about a decade, until expansion forced officials to move it again.

That's when little bits and pieces of a project came together for Denna Cohen of Coram, chairwoman of MADD Long Island.

A search for an alternate site turned into a plan to build a garden in East Meadow. Legis. Norma Gonsalves (R-East Meadow) got $12,000 from the county for materials. A landscaper and landscape designer donated a design and plantings. In September, East Meadow Kiwanis president Jim Mancuso got dozens of his members to volunteer to build the park.

Usually, for projects, "we just buy something," Mancuso said. "This was hard work."

Cohen became active in MADD about 20 years ago after her daughter, Jodi, 21, was killed in a drunk-driving crash

That driver had gotten four convictions for drunk driving, she said.Nassau Executive Ed Mangano and other officials dedicated the Garden of Hope Saturday.

Sculptor Michael Alfano said his girlfriend's death while he was in college led him to create the statue.

It took years to develop the skill to make it and raise funds.

"We have angels that come together," Cohen said. "Because of them, this gets done."