Nothing about this newspaper’s online poll is scientific.

Though the new Web site design has made it harder to vote more than once, our staff can still do nothing to ensure that each voter gets only one vote. We also know that only people with strong feelings on the given issue are likely to vote at all.

It’s just not science, but I still believe in it.

For the most part, the poll results seem to be an accurate picture of our community. We are for jobs and development, against the Ferriday Police Department and indifferent on the world outside our doorstep.

With the exception of a few politically motivated votes on folks like Circuit Clerk M.L. “Binkey” Vines and one strangely swayed vote on the popularity of the Tour de France last year, the Web poll is right.

But Monday, I wished it was just flat wrong.

The question was an easy one — Have you ever driven drunk?

The response was simply frightening.

Of 278 votes, 130 voters answered “yes.” That’s 46 percent.

Another 46 people chose the “I’ve driven after drinking some” option.

Together, that’s more than half the votes, and I believe, half our community.

I can only hope that the qualifying word in the poll question was “ever.” Maybe these 130 drivers only got behind the wheel drunk once. Maybe it was when they were younger. Maybe they learned their lesson.

But if you’ve done it once and survived, don’t we, as humans, almost always do it again? If that’s the case, we are lucky the results aren’t more devastating than they already are.

Every time a teenager dies in a drunk driving accident the issue comes to the forefront again. Parents talk to their children about the dangers. Educators bring it up in class. And for a few weeks, everyone is keenly aware.

That’s the case in the Miss-Lou right now. The deaths of 15-year-old Kristen Leigh Holmes, 19-year-old Nicklous Robert Kirby and 21-year-old Justin Dale Wiley were unnecessary.

Alcohol was most likely a factor.

But for a short time the deaths of these three will make area teenagers think twice.

Sadly though, the memory of their tragic deaths will fade with time and our community will be what it’s always been.

Forty-six percent of the voters have already driven drunk.

But these 130 voters aren’t all teenagers. I’d wager that most of them are, in fact, adults who should know better.

And therein lies the root of the problem.

Medical professionals will tell you that teenagers are not ideal decision makers. Their age, hormones and life experiences make them feel invincible. Sure, they can be very responsible and should think things through, but that’s just not always the case.

Teens need role models. They need to know that it is unacceptable to get behind the wheel of a car after drinking. It shouldn’t even be an option in their minds.

But who is teaching this lesson? It’s certainly not the 46 percent who’ve already driven drunk.

Adults are role models — either good or bad.

Teens and children are watching, and they know what you do.

Natchez is a drinking town and this community esteems the party-atmosphere. Have your fun, but remember who is watching.

When the sting of last week’s tragedies has lessened the lessons of the town’s adults will be the only thing that remains.

Julie Finley is the managing editor of The Natchez Democrat. She can be reached at 601-445-3551 or Julie.finley@natchezdemocrat.com.