Monday is New Year’s Eve, a traditional party night when folks dine and drink, celebrating the impending start of a new year.

Nothing wrong with that.

What is wrong is so many of those people who have had a little too much to drink will then climb behind the wheel of a car and attempt driving home. If they are lucky, they’ll reach their destination without mishap. If they are unlucky, they’ll see blue lights flashing behind them, or they’ll get caught at a checkpoint, and spend a good portion of the rest of the night in jail facing DUI charges.

If they’re really unlucky, those folks will end up in a wreck.

And none of it has to happen this way.

If you are partying on New Year’s Eve, or the next day, or any day for that matter, and you drink alcoholic beverages, get someone else to take you home. Driving while inebriated is selfish, dangerous, and just plain dumb. And if any of you do, our sincerest hope is that you are caught and are hit with the stiffest penalty possible.

Our most ardent wish, however, is that no one tries driving while under the influence, that everyone has the good sense to make other arrangements to get home, and that local law enforcement finds patrolling the highways during this New Year’s season among the most uneventful times in memory.

That would be a wonderful New Year’s gift to the community.