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Their kids killed by drunk drivers, mothers against lowered drinking age

Posted at 6:18 PM, Nov 10, 2017
and last updated 2017-11-12 12:42:43-05

It's a parent's worst nightmare. 

For two mothers, it's a terrible reality that came just a month apart.

On October 7, 2016, Dawn Church hear police knock on the door.

"They told us that our daughter was dead," she said. 

"I lost my son November 2, 2016," Marla Hall said. "I don't have a lot of memory of that day."

Hall's 26-year-old son, Clenton, was killed by a drunk driver going 90 miles per hour the wrong way.

"Always wanted to be Brett Favre," she said. "He met Brett Favre when he was six."

Church's 16-year-old daughter, Hannah, was also killed by a drunk driver. Her killer was twice the legal limit.

"She was my life," Church said. 

Now, linked by their tragedies, Hall and Church are advocating for change.

"I'm not going to let my son or anyone else be a statistic," Hall said.

Both mothers are part of the Eliminate Drunk Driving Education Foundation. Their new focus is opposing a proposal being circulated by three Republican lawmakers that would  lower the state's drinking age to 19.

"When I saw that, I just couldn't believe it," Hall said. "Here we talk all the time about the problems we have with OWI's, where they're working on bills out there. And now all of a sudden it's, 'oh lets lower the drinking age', I was appalled."

Hall and Church say they're ready to fight this bill.

"Just because the pain that I feel, I don't want anyone else to ever feel this way," Church said.