• Kids struggle to break alcohol's grip
• 'I don't have a problem, and if I do, so what?'
• Maine kids and alcohol
• The parent's role
• Schools arm children with arsenal of 'life skills'
• Wounded adolescents find Focus
• Program extends hand to hardened youth

Alcohol contributes to hundreds of deaths of Maine people each year. The following is a selected listing of deaths from fires, accidents, motor vehicle crashes and suicides from 1994.

In each of the fatal fires, alcohol played a role in either causing the fire or preventing victims from escaping their burning homes.

FIRES

May 29, 1995

A gas stove flash fire destroyed a two-story camp in Island Falls, killing 21-year-old Kevin Hunt and 18-year-old Roger Stevens Jr. Firefighters found Stevens' body in the kitchen and Hunt was found near the camp's rear entrance. Stevens' blood-alcohol level was 0.29 percent; Hunt's was 0.19.

June 9, 1995

In Howland, Sheila M. Bean was killed in a fire that started in a stuffed chair in the kitchen of her apartment; investigators said a carelessly discarded cigarette was to blame. Bean, 46, was found on the bedroom floor. A partially consumed half-gallon bottle of vodka was found in the kitchen freezer. Her blood-alcohol level was 0.37 percent.

Dec. 20, 1995

In South Bristol, Shannon Buddy Gilbert, 32, was found in the middle of the remains of his 18-foot mobile home, which was destroyed by the fire. Investigators pointed to several possibilities for the fire's cause, including careless smoking and faulty wiring. His blood-alcohol level was 0.27 percent.

Dec. 30, 1995

Fifty-four-year-old Royce Witham died in a fire in his house in Rome, after heat from a basement wood stove ignited first-floor joists. His wife and daughter, thinking that he was right behind them, managed to escape the flames. Investigators were unsure whether Witham became disoriented while trying to escape or if he was trying to rescue people he still believed to be in the home. Witham's blood-alcohol level was 0.13 percent.

ACCIDENTS

• A 44-year-old man died of alcohol poisoning in Portland on Sept. 25. His blood-alcohol level was 0.73 percent.

• A 48-year-old man died in a fall down stairs in his home in Portland on Feb. 17. His blood-alcohol level was 0.40 percent.

• A 26-year-old man drowned after his all-terrain vehicle rolled into a pool in Cushing on Nov. 25. His blood-alcohol level was 0.35 percent.

• A 48-year-old man died of hypothermia and blunt trauma after falling down an embankment in Auburn on March 9. His blood-alcohol level was 0.32 percent.

• A 51-year-old man died of alcohol poisoning in Windsor on June 21. His blood-alcohol level was 0.32 percent.

• A 48-year-old woman was killed in a fall down stairs at her Augusta home on June 2. Her blood-alcohol level was 0.29 percent.

• A 23-year-old man drowned after falling from a pier into an Augusta river. His blood-alcohol level was 0.27 percent.

MOTOR VEHICLE ACCIDENTS

• A 36-year-old man died when the pickup he was driving rolled over in Woodland on March 18. His blood-alcohol level was 0.31 percent.

• A 55-year-old man died when he crashed his car into other vehicles in Portland on July 26. His blood-alcohol level was 0.29 percent.

• A 29-year-old man died when the car he was driving struck a tree in Lebanon on March 24. His blood-alcohol level was 0.28 percent.
  
• A 26-year-old man died when the vehicle he was driving struck a guardrail in a chase in Gardiner on July 13. His blood-alcohol level was 0.26 percent.

• A 32-year-old man drove his car into a utility pole in Bethel on Sept. 12. His blood-alcohol level was 0.25 percent.

• A 50-year-old man was killed when the pickup he was driving rolled over in Canton on Sept. 16. Her blood-alcohol level was 0.25 percent.

• A 23-year-old man died when the car he was driving struck an embankment in Cumberland on May 6. His blood-alcohol level was 0.24 percent.

• A 41-year-old woman died after driving her car into a tree in Wilton on May 13. Her blood-alcohol level was 0.23 percent.

SUICIDES

• A 32-year-old man died of carbon monoxide poisoning in Northport on March 19. His blood-alcohol level was 0.32 percent.

• A 44-year-old man died in a drug and alcohol overdose in Sanford on Feb. 13. His blood-alcohol level was 0.25 percent.

• A 49-year-old man died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in Anson on May 16. His blood-alcohol level was 0.21 percent.

• A 25-year-old man died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in Denmark on Dec. 24. His blood-alcohol level was 0.21 percent.

• A 33-year-old man shot himself in Warren on June 18. His blood-alcohol level was 0.20 percent.

• A 41-year-old woman overdosed on drugs and alcohol in Augusta on Dec. 6. Her blood-alcohol level was 0.19 percent.

• A 34-year-old man died in a drug and alcohol overdose in Gray on June 19. His blood-alcohol level was 0.18 percent.

• A 41-year-old man died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in Scarborough on July 18. His blood-alcohol level was 0.17 percent.