Anheuser-Busch Announces Contest.

ST. LOUIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 17, 1999--

Anheuser-Busch Announces Contest to Find Best 1999 News Media Stories

on Need to Focus Greater Attention on Hard Core Drunk Drivers

Statistics Show Hard Core Drinking Drivers Are Highest Risk,

But Public Policy Efforts Don't Focus Enough On Them, A-B Says

The latest government reports show drunk driving is at its all time low nationally, with the number of motor vehicle deaths involving a drunk driver falling from about one in two in the early 1980's, to nearly one in four by 1999. However, traffic safety experts believe continued progress in this area will be achieved by focusing more attention on hard core drinking drivers, who are associated with nearly 8 in 10 fatal drunk driving crashes.

To help ensure continued focus against hard core drinking drivers -- frequent offenders typically apprehended with a blood alcohol content of .15 or higher -- Anheuser-Busch today announced a contest to find the best 1999 news media stories examining the problems presented by these high risk drivers and policy solutions to deal with them. To enter, reporters or freelance writers are invited to submit news articles or broadcast media stories which appeared this year which illustrate the need to focus legislative, judicial and law enforcement resources against hard core drunk drivers. "The facts arguing for a tighter focus on hard core drunk drivers are overwhelming," said Stephen K. Lambright, group vice president and general counsel for Anheuser-Busch Companies. "There's no question more efforts should be directed toward these individuals, and we'll make the greatest improvements in highway safety by doing so."

After identifying the top stories, Lambright said winning stories will be selected in print and broadcast media categories. The winning entries will be selected by a panel of traffic safety experts, including those from the Traffic Injury Research Foundation.

Winning entries will be announced by March, 2000. Lambright explained Anheuser-Busch will donate $5,000 to the journalism school or college of choice selected by winners in the broadcast and print categories. The donations will be made in the winner's names.

The company also will pay travel expenses for winning journalists to personally donate the funds. Officials at the universities will be charged with providing the grants to a journalism student who intends to specialize in public policy matters. In addition, Anheuser-Busch plans to distribute copies of the winning stories to legislators and other government officials in states expecting to address drunk driving in their respective legislative sessions in 2000.

Since it first unveiled its Safe Driving Platform legislative agenda in the mid-1990s, Anheuser-Busch has worked with groups in more than one dozen states to push for passage of targeted laws to address hard core drunk drivers. For example, in 1998, Anheuser-Busch helped secure passage of a new law in Arizona to keep drunk drivers off the roads. The company also has supported research to help better understand the hard core drinking driver problem.

For more information, interested journalists should contact Anheuser-Busch's Industry & Government Affairs Communications department 1-314-577-9625 or call (toll-free) 1-877-263-8771. Entries must be accompanied by a copy of the newspaper or magazine story, or copy of a radio or television broadcast. All entries are due by January 31, 2000.

Based in St. Louis, Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. is the world's largest brewer and one of the largest theme park operators in the U.S. The Company also is a major manufacturer of aluminum cans and the world's largest recycler of aluminum beverage containers.

SOURCE: Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc.