Tips For Entrepreneurs 
Here Are A Few Tips For Entrepreneurs From The U.s. Small Business 
Administration: 
1. To Determine What Business Is "right For You," Answer The Following 
Questions: 
What Do You Like To Do With Your Time? 
What Technical Skill Have You Learned Or Developed?

Hazleton Deaths Ruled Murder-suicide 
The Two Victims Had Taken Alcohol And Cocaine, Says The Luzerne County Coroner

Saturday, November 14, 1992 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Page: 1A/8A QUICK WORDS: DRUNK DRIVING
ALCOHOL 





SOBER WARNINGS -- Grace Buttman, 71, and her brother, Wilbert Richardson,
63, who both live in Hughestown, lost their sister to a drunken driver five
years ago. Buttman and Richardson attend the 17th annual S.O.B.E.R. campaign
kick-off at the Pizza Hut in Wilkes-Barre Township Friday. Mike Morreale and
Gary Wiebel, both 17-year-old seniors at Coughlin High School in Wilkes-Barre,
dress up as crash dummies to illustrate the tragic consequences of drunken
driving. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 **************** &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Hughestown woman lost a sister to drunken driver. She helps warn holiday
revelers to watch out. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 By LEANORA MINAI &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Times Leader Staff Writer &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 ILKES-BARRE TWP. -- Grace Buttman, 71, can't stop crying. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 A drunken driver broke her heart when he killed her only sister five years
ago after a head-on collision in Connecticut. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "I think `Grace, it's five years. You shouldn't be crying,'" said Buttman,
who lives in Hughestown with her brother, Wilbert Richardson, 63. "The tears
just come. When I hear certain hymns that were her favorite, I break up. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "I cry all the time. I'm embarrassed in church." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Buttman's sister, Luree Simko, who was born and raised in Hughestown, was
53 years old when she died. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 It wasn't a quick death. Simko was in a hospital bed seven weeks before
blood clots finally took her life a day after Thanksgiving. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "I never thought I'd lose my sister," said Buttman, as she dotted her wet
cheeks with a yellow tissue during a kick-off of the 17th annual S.O.B.E.R.
Campaign Friday at Pizza Hut. "She was younger than I. I thought I'd have her
forever." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Buttman reached in her purse and took out a color photograph of Simko and
her husband, Arthur, taken many years ago. The tears rolled down Buttman's
cheeks, and she apologized once again for crying. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "She was on her own street, 1,000 feet from her house," Buttman said. "This
drunk kid, 19, came flying around the corner and hit her head-on. She lived
seven weeks, then she died." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Buttman's sister was alone in the car. She was driving home from the post
office and police station, after asking postal workers to hold her mail and
police officers to watch her house. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 At the time of the accident, Simko's husband was in New York City working
as a contractor on a two-wing extension of Mount Sinai Hospital. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 In just a few days, the Simkos would have boarded a flight at John F.
Kennedy airport in New York for a 16-day vacation in Hawaii to celebrate their
20th wedding anniversary. The two met in Hughestown and were married in 1967
before moving to Connecticut. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "All at once, everything was smashed," Buttman said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Simko, who loved to crochet afghans, swim and travel the countryside in a
camper, left a son and two grandchildren. She died before her grandson was
born. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "She never saw baby David," Buttman said. "I hope she can see David. He's
beautiful." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The drunken driver had a blood alcohol level of .25, Buttman said. The
legal limit is .10. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Buttman wanted the driver to get five years in jail, the maximum, for
taking her sister away from her. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "We fought and we fought and we fought," Buttman said. "We went to
Connecticut. We talked to lawyers. I wrote to the judge and said, `Please make
the punishment fit the crime. My sister's gone and she'll never be back.'" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 But the driver, who was on probation at the time of the accident for a
prior DUI charge, was sentenced to 15 months. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "It has been very difficult for us," Buttman said. "She was the only sister
we had. We were very, very close. Even after five years, it hurts so much." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Buttman said she attended the S.O.B.E.R. Campaign because she wants people
to see her. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Each year, police and county officials host lectures and distribute bumper
stickers, pins and literature to remind people of the tragic consequences of
drunken driving. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Buttman wore a black Mothers Against Drunk Driving sweatshirt and pin that
read: "Someone I love was the victim of a drunk driver." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "You don't realize the agony your family goes through," Buttman said. "If
we can keep just one family from going through what we've gone through, it's
worth it." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Friday was a tough day for Buttman -- the kind of day for a ride in the
country with her brother, Richardson, who drives her to Harveys Lake or
Tunkhannock when she can't stop crying. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "He'll say `Come on. Get your coat. Let's go out.' &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "That gets my mind off it sometimes."

Sister's Tears Prove Drunken Drivers Kill **************** Times Leader Photos/alejandro A. Alvarez And Richard Sabatura