STORM2K

DALLAS, Ore. — Lori Potter apparently made a grave mistake.

Potter, 38, was charged with driving under the influence and providing a vehicle to an unqualified driver — her 13-year-old daughter — who toppled several tombstones during a cemetery driving lesson, according to police.

Potter was arraigned in Dallas Municipal Court and is scheduled for a pretrial hearing on Sept. 12.

Dallas police claim Potter and her daughter visited the cemetery on the evening of Aug. 2 because a family friend wanted to visit a grave site.

Once inside the gates, Potter decided to give her daughter an impromptu driving lesson. The teen apparently lost control of the car and hit about 12 headstones before finally coming to a stop on top of two of them.

Potter, who admitted to driving the car to the cemetery, had a blood-alcohol content of 0.27, police said. The teen driver was treated at a hospital for minor injuries and released.

Three tombstones were allegedly knocked completely over while about a dozen others were partially damaged. Authorities said nobody else was in the cemetery at the time of the incident.

Insurance appraisers are reportedly continuing to estimate the damages to the grave markers. One relative whose great-uncle's tombstone was damaged claims the estimated cost of repairing the marred marker is between $1,000 and $1,500.

Oh dear....that reminds me of the time when Beth (baby sis) tried to learn to drive in her front yard and plowed dad's car into a tree

She wasn't injured, but the car sustained over $1100 in damage.....Believe it or not, Beth ALSO bumped into a tree trying to drive around the house AFTER she recieved her drivers license in 2000 (they live out in the country).

It's not just teenage girls either. My mother once crashed her car through our fence (thought her foot was on the brake...but it was the accelerator :o -- and my young female neighbor backed her new minivan into the SIDE of their carport a few weeks ago, causing quite a bit of damage (tore off a rear view mirror).

I could yell "women drivers"!! -- but I won't (I'm neither that brave...or foolish

When my dad was teaching me to drive eons ago, I felt the most comfortable driving around in a local cemetery. It had so many intersecting roads, perfect for new drivers. But I drove there so much, my dad was getting embarrassed. One of our last times there my dad said - now Mary, isn't it about time you got onto REAL roads? We'd keep passing the same caretakers by. I wanted to go onto REAL roads kicking and screaming. I did slam on the brakes once and my dad flew up and hit the rear view mirror. When he settled back his glasses were on crooked and he had to remind me to pump power brakes, not slam them on. This was before people really thought about wearing their seatbelts then. We laughed years later about that but it hardly compares to hitting a tree. I did manage to keep the car on the pavement.

We're teaching Nina to drive now and I've said a few times, it's a shame we don't have a large cemetery over here!

And Perry - don't you yell women drivers too loudly!!! You'll get feedback I'm sure!!!! LOL J/K

M.

An ideal spot for driving lessons would be an abandoned store parking lot...like for ie...if one were in Roanoke Rapids...the old Wal-Mart lot. During Isabel though that lot was used for power linemen crews and their trucks! :o

Eric

Eric - thanks! Another good time is early Sunday mornings. Before 7 a.m. Roads are deserted then! We did that once. Need to do that more often. Hard to wake up on a chilly Sunday morning just to go driving. We already get up before 6 each weekday.

Mary

I can't yell "WOMEN DRIVERS"!! Miss Mary -- not when I once tore a rear view mirror off my car while backing down the driveway (darn cedar bush!

Large parking lots aren't always the best idea, either...when I tried to give my stepdaughter Lori driving lessons on one early Sunday morning, I had to turn the wheel for her on a "LEFT TURN" (as I kept telling her in a louder and louder voice!) or else we'd have gone through a huge plate glass window storefront... :o

She can drive, now; 13 years later.

JetMaxx wrote:I could yell "women drivers"!! -- but I won't (I'm neither that brave...or foolish

Sounds like you just did say it......lol