Cheryl Turck has a goal.
She’s wants to make sure people get home safely after a night out at a bar.
Turck, a Sherburne County Probation Officer, is also a member of the Minnesota Safe Ride Committee, an organization dedicated to the same goal.
Turck was instrumental in helping organize the safe cab program in Sherburne County that started on May 15, 2015.
Under the program, bartenders and wait staff hand out $10 Safe Ride vouchers to patrons who look like they may need a cab ride. The bartender calls a cab company taking part in the program. When the cab arrives, the bartender or staff fills out all the information on the voucher and hands it to the driver. Then the patron gets a ride home. The first $10 is covered by the voucher. The rest is picked up by the patron.
When the program began, four county establishments originally signed up to take part: McPete’s Sports Bar & Lanes, The Friendly Buffalo, Trail’s Grill & Sports Bar and Racks Bar & Grill.
And it’s been growing ever since. Five more establishments signed up in 2016: NIX Bar & Grill and The Hideout in Becker, the 3rd Rail in Big Lake, the Sunshine Depot in Elk River and Angeno’s Bar & Grill in Zimmerman.
There are also plenty of cab companies involved: Only1Taxi, PROCAB, Yellow Cab of Elk River, A+ Taxi, Christie Cab, and the latest to sign on - Princeton Cab, that will cover rides in Princeton and Zimmerman.
“We had a meeting Monday night to get a Mille Lacs County program started,” says Turck. “It went really well. There were five bar representatives there. All five were interested and four of five took information and vouchers.”
The committee voted to give Mille Lacs County $500 in start-up money for vouchers and advertising. The Safe Ride Committee already covers Pine, Kanabec, Isanti and Sherburne counties in the program.
Turck says she’s willing to mentor anyone who wants to start a program in their area. But her ultimate goal is to get every bar in Sherburne County on board.
In the first year, the Safe Ride program in Sherburne County gave 49 cab rides to 81 people. Many of those would probably have gotten behind the wheel, risking their lives and the lives of others if there was no program available.
As part of her duties as a probation officer, Turck deals with pre-trial cases.
“I’m dealing with drunk driving, alcohol testing and alcohol monitoring,” she says. “So my position really ties in with this program.”
She gets to see the results when people don’t use Safe Rides. There’s a high rate of DWIs in Sherburne County. A DWI can run between $5,000 and $10,000 for a first offense, and that doesn’t include potential injuries and lawsuits.
Turck wants to expand the program to every bar and make Safe Ride a countywide program, “If you go to a bar, there’s a $10 voucher and there will be a cab waiting when you’re ready to go to pick you up and get you home safely,” she says. “In my opinion, it’s a win-win. You get your patrons back and you get them home safe.”
“It’s a win for the communities, the bar owners, the cab companies and the patrons.”
For more information, or interest in getting involved in the program, businesses are encouraged to contact Turck at 763-765-4572 or cherylturck@co.sherburne.mn.us.
