And while we are on the subject of being dangerous driving, I want to gently scold Frank Coletta, the genial host of anchor of NBC Channel 10's News Sunrise show, for his reporting on a recent story about a drunk.

Specifically, Bernard Kilroy who drove his car into the Hyannis Package Store on the Cape earlier this month, smashing some 2,000 bottles of wine.

Coletta treated the story as a "bright,' as we used to call them when I worked at Reuters' New York office (which had its fair share of alcoholics), or short, amusing story to round out a report.

That is often the case with drunks whose behavior is ridiculous. But if Kilroy had killed someone during his inadvertent drive through, I'm sure Coletta would have treated him as a major jerk rather than a clown.

Yet the difference is merely one of consequence. And while intention may be moot in the case of drunken drivers, isn't that the point?

Peter C.T. Elsworth