`Moderate Drinking' author pleads guilty

ELLENSBURG - In a courtroom filled with the somber relatives of her victims, the founder of a national movement that says problem drinkers can drink in moderation took responsibility yesterday for the drunken-driving accident that killed a man and his 12-year-old daughter.

Audrey Kishline of Woodinville, the 43-year-old author of the 1994 book "Moderate Drinking," pleaded guilty in Kittitas County Superior Court to two counts of vehicular homicide in the deaths of Richard and LaSchell Davis of Yakima County.

In the courtroom, Kishline trembled, clutched her lawyer's hand and said little, having already signed a statement admitting she was drunk March 25 when she drove onto the eastbound lanes of Interstate 90 heading west and struck the Davises' car head-on.

Her blood-alcohol was .26, more than three times the state's legal limit.

After the hearing, she gave a brief statement and answered questions from reporters, saying her moderate-drinking program had been nothing but a way for her to deny her problem drinking. Two months before the crash, she said, she dropped out of the program and joined Alcoholics Anonymous. But it wasn't long before she was consuming so much wine at night she would drink herself to sleep.

On the night of the crash, she said, the last thing she remembered was pulling out of her driveway and heading for Spokane, "for a reason I don't remember."

As she spoke, Richard Davis' brother Will and other Davis family members stood several feet away, staring. Kishline said she will always be haunted by the crash and will carry pictures of her victims even as she serves her prison sentence.

"I am going to prison to pay my debt to society," Kishline said. "But I can never repay my debt to that family."

Then she cut the session short, refusing to answer more questions about the program or her drinking or the accident.

"It's not the right time, or the right place, to talk about that," she said. Later, her lawyer, John Crowley, said it was hard for her to talk about what she'd done without causing the Davis family more pain.

Kishline is being treated for alcoholism at a western Oregon clinic and is due to complete the program July 8. Her sentencing has been set for Aug. 11.

Until then, she will be under house arrest, her movements monitored by electronic sensor. She may also be subject to periodic Breathalyzer checks, said Kittitas County Deputy Prosecutor Margaret Sowards.

Sowards said Kishline could face between 41 months and life in prison, but that she will ask for a term of 4 1/2 years.

Kishline, an admitted problem drinker since high school, began Moderation Management in 1994 after becoming dissatisfied with the abstinence program offered by Alcoholics Anonymous.

During her lifelong struggle with drinking, Kishline wrote in her book that she had been through two treatment centers and more than 30 doctors, social workers and counselors.

In her book, subtitled "The Moderation Management Guide for People Who Want to Reduce Their Drinking," Kishline said the approach is for problem drinkers with mild to moderate alcohol-related problems, not alcoholics.

Kishline's case has reignited a national debate over treating alcoholism.

With branches from Seattle to New York to Toronto, Kishline's Moderation Management - or MM - offers a nine-step program that includes drinking limits and free literature. Supporters say Kishline's case does not invalidate the program; rather, they say, the program was not right for Kishline.

Frederick Glaser, a professor of psychiatric medicine at Eastern Carolina University and a member of MM's advisory board, said he still considers Kishline "an honest and courageous person."

"It's tragic what happened," he said. "But it does not impact the power of our program. There are people who fail programs like AA, but you don't hear anyone questioning their validity."

In a statement posted on the Internet shortly after the crash, the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence - NCADD - called the moderate way of drinking a way of denying one's alcoholism.

NCADD "hopes Ms. Kishline will finally achieve sobriety and recognize how high a price denial of her illness has exacted. But more significantly, we should all remember the names of Richard and LaSchell the next time a problem drinker claims to be able to `drink a little' without harm."

Crowley said Kishline would like to write a book or share her story in a way "that would help others like her who have battled drinking problems." But for the Davis family, that may not be enough, Will Davis said.

"If it helps one person to stop, then go ahead, do it," he said, as another family member clutched pictures of the two.

Will Davis, 47, said he cannot yet forgive Kishline for taking his brother or his niece, who was killed 10 days after her 12th birthday.

"Drinking has been her lifestyle for a while now," he said. "That's what her lifestyle is. I don't know if she can change that."

Andrew DeMillo's phone message number is 206-464-2782. His e-mail address is ademillo@seattletimes.com.