Julia Russell finds purpose in speaking out against drunk driving
The wife of the late Nim Russell is joining with Rome police for the annual Prom Promise campaign.
The wife of the late Nim Russell is joining with Rome police for the annual Prom Promise campaign.
Determined to turn a tragedy into something positive, Julia Russell announced Monday night that she planned to team with Rome Police Lt. Chris DeHart to spread the word against drunk driving.
Russell’s husband, Nim Russell, was pastor at Thankful Baptist Church for more than 20 years, until he was killed in a wreck on Ga. 140 in March of 2014. The car the two were in was struck virtually head on by an allegedly drunk driver.
“I don’t look at myself as a victim, I look at myself as a voice now,” Russell told the Rome City Commission.
She said she and DeHart will be taking the message against drinking and driving into the local schools. Contacted later, DeHart said the late pastor’s wife would be the speaker at the Rome High Prom Promise program this year.
“Any time you can put a local face with the program, where it has a local impact, the students can always relate more closely,” he said.
Russell told the board she and DeHart — head of the Selective Enforcement Unit — struck up a relationship based on combating drunk driving
during the Jan. 30 DUI Awareness Day March initiated by her family.
More than 200 people participated in the march from Thankful Baptist Church to the Freedom Garden at the Carnegie Building, 607 Broad St., she added.
Russell also presented city commissioners with a plaque of thanks for allowing the march.
In other action Monday, the board approved a $125,000 local commitment to go with a Northwest Georgia Housing Authority grant application seeking $1.5 million for improvements in the East Rome community.
Commissioners also recognized the Rome-Floyd County Critical Incident Stress Management Team for assisting
Gordon County officials during a tragic ATV wreck that claimed the life of a 10-year-old in January.
City Manager Sammy Rich also extended thanks to officials in the public works, street, and water and sewer departments for yeoman’s work during the flooding that occurred at the end of December into the first week of January.