Warren Guider hopes the brightly colored solemn memorial he put up Monday at the corner of Halls Ferry and North Frontage Road will save a life.
The small sign with pink letters is a roadside memorial to Andrea Michelle “Shelly” Guider who was killed by a drunk driver on Jan. 2, 2012. The sign, which has Shelly’s name, death date, and a don’t drink and drive message, is at the northwest corner of the intersection where Shelly was killed.
“If only takes one person to see it and say ‘by golly, maybe I shouldn’t do this,’” Warren said. “That’s all it takes.”
Witnesses said Julius Hebron was driving north on Halls Ferry when he ran the stop light North Frontage Road, striking the front driver’s side of a car driven by Shelly. Her car struck a car driven by Ann Elliot, who was treated and released from River Region Medical Center.
Shelly was a nurse at River Region Medical Center. She was 34 when a car driven by Hebron struck her vehicle. Hebron had a blood alcohol content of 0.20, according to Warren County court records. The legal limit for driving a noncommercial vehicle in Mississippi is 0.08.
“It terrible. My wife and I are not over this yet,” Warren said. “I don’t know that we’ll ever be.”
In March 2013, Hebron pleaded guilty to aggravated driving under the influence and was sentenced to 20 years in prison for Shelly’s death with a three-year concurrent sentence for Elliot’s injuries. He is serving his sentence at Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in Rankin County and is slated for release in March 2032. At that time, Hebron will be 83.
“Unless he’s let out early, that’s probably the end of his life in prison,” Warren said.
Shelly graduated from Vicksburg High School with honors in 1995. She had a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Mississippi State University and her RN degree in 2007 from Mississippi Delta Community College in Moorehead.
“If you needed a friend, she was your friend,” Warren said. “If you needed to be chewed on, she would chew on you.”
Warren said he was unaware of any other signs placed locally at the site of fatal drunk driving crashes.
“I want people to remember and people to understand that drinking and driving don’t mix,” he said.