BLOOMINGTON - Shirley Pringle said "thank you" to each of the 10 officers and one prosecutor. The Galesburg woman lost her daughter, Lisa Stone, when a drunk driver's car collided with Stone's in 1989. She said it was humbling to see Friday morning the McLean County officers who were working to arrest drunk drivers.

"I said thank you to every one of them because of the job they're doing," Pringle said.

Pringle, as well as four other people whose relatives died in drunk driving-related crashes. stood nearby as honorees received plaques at the annual Mothers Against Drunk Driving Heroes of the Highway awards ceremony.

Assistant State's Attorney Karle Koritz said DUIs have been the main focus of his work for the last eight or nine months. The county had between 800 and 900 misdemeanor DUI charges last year, and he expects a similar amount this year, he said.

Koritz said that, with such a high volume of cases, it's possible to lose sight of how serious the offenses are and how more could have gone wrong. But he said seeing the impact on people affected by drunk driving crashes is invigorating and a reminder to treat such cases "individually passionately."

MADD volunteer Ruth Ann Lipic said the annual ceremony is used to honor and thank people who are working to keep streets safe.

"It's a community effort," Lipic said. "Nobody stands alone in stopping drunk driving."

State Rep. Dan Brady said the county owes the officers a huge debt, and he was familiar with the effects of drunken driving from his work as county coroner.

Among those honored was an Illinois State Police lieutenant retiring the same day. Ted Kerrn said he has worked for 22 years with the state police and more than 30 years overall in law enforcement.

Emery said Kerrn made hundreds of arrests yearly during his tenure with the Normal Police Department and he continued as a state trooper working to reduce drunken driving.

"If someone swerves in front of him, I guarantee he'll take the time out of his schedule" to make a traffic stop, Emery said.

Capt. Sue Jansky, who had four department members honored in the ceremony, said DUI arrests are "absolutely foundational to what we do for traffic safety." She said two of her officers were honored for exceptional arrest counts, one for targeting times and locations for enforcement and Kerrn for doing both during his career.

Some state and county officers receiving the awards had more than 50 DUI-related arrests each in the last year. Others had department-high numbers of arrests.

LeRoy Police Chief Gordon Beck took plaque for Officer Brian Taylor, who has been with his department about 8 years and was responsible for at least 11 of the 22 DUI arrests by the department last year. He said Taylor and an officer-in-training made two more stops, and Taylor likely gave credit to the other officer.

Though there were more than 50 people at the ceremony, nobody was present from the Bloomington or Normal police departments. One of Normal's officers was recognized in the ceremony.

Normal Assistant Police Chief Rick Bleichner said his office submitted nominations for the awards, but department members weren't present because of a coordination issue. He said he didn't know who was at fault, but his department still supports MADD.

Bloomington Police spokesman Duane Moss said he didn't immediately have an explanation for his department's absence.

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Heroes of the Highway

The following officers and prosecutor were honored Friday by Mothers Against Drunk Driving as Heroes of the Highway.

Illinois State Police District 6

Lt. Theodore Kerrn

Master Sgt. Randall Vedder

Trooper Ryan Albin

Trooper Scott Ahrens

McLean County Sheriff's Department

Deputy Joe Reidy

Deputy Ryan Homan

McLean County state's attorney's office

Karle Koritz, DUI prosecutor

Normal police

Officer Kendra De Rosa

Illinois State University police

Officer Tammy Peasley

Heyworth police

Officer Alex Lovell

Hudson police

Officer Michael Kemp

LeRoy police

Officer Brian Taylor