SAFE RIDES VOLUNTEERS RECOGNIZED TEENS HONORED AT DINNER.

Byline: Daily News

For parents across the Santa Clarita Valley, Safe Rides provides some comfort as the school year, with graduations and proms, draws to a close.

Celebrations mean parties; parties often mean teen drinking. Safe Rides provides free rides home to teens who have been drinking or who had depended on a ride home from someone who subsequently drank too much to drive.

The local volunteers who run the program were honored recently at the Santa Clarita Valley Safe Rides 15th annual recognition dinner.

Members and supporters of the Safe Rides program gathered for an evening of appreciation and awards April 6 at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Valencia.

Following dinner and speeches by the Safe Rides Teen Officers, a ``Safe Rides Movie'' lightened up the evening as guests viewed footage showing the hard work of the volunteers, including scenes of volunteers taking catnaps between calls for rides.

After the movie, each teen member was called to the stage to receive a certificate of recognition and a Safe Rides T-Shirt. Those teens who had volunteered the most hours in 2002 then received certificates from government officials in attendance.

Shannon Thiele, 70 hours, and Melissa Walters, 73 hours, received certificates from the city of Santa Clarita. Joanne Babcock, 77 hours, and Sarah Bowen, 75 hours, received certificates from Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich.

Erin Garey, 84 hours, and Steven Mojica, 84 hours, received a certificate from state Sen. W.J. ``Pete'' Knight, and a congressional certificate was presented to Adrienne Rosenberg, 112 hours, by Linda Lambourne on behalf of U.S. Rep. Howard P. ``Buck'' McKeon.

Penny Upton, Safe Rides adviser and co-founder, also presented Rosenberg with the Safe Rides Outstanding Member plaque and spoke about how the hours that are volunteered by the members are in addition to school, after-school jobs, extracurricular activities, sports, social events, study sessions, volunteer work and all of the other activities that make up the busy life of a teenager.

Upton also spoke about the safety record the teens have accumulated as they chauffeur their peers Friday and Saturday nights.

``Nothing bad has ever happened, you haven't crashed your car or even gotten a ticket - and you're teenagers! That's amazing,'' she said.

Safe Rides officers were then recognized for the extra hours they put in so that the program, established in 1986, can keep operating. The 2002 officers were Co-Presidents Vickie Wagenaar and Stephanie Hodge; Vice President Mojica; treasurer Garey; secretary Rosenberg; and publicity chairman Thiele.