Chris Smith: For driver in fatal DUI case, a severe, sad penalty, precisely as it needed to be

People have asked, what if she were your mother?

Were Gayle Gray of Oakmont my mom, I would be hollowed and crushed by a judge’s decision to imprison her for more than seven years. I can only imagine the impact of the sentencing on the 77-year-old retired real estate broker and her kids, and theirs.

Gray is not a violent criminal. On Jan. 20 she didn’t load a gun and aim it at passers-by or fire willy-nilly; she just got into her car and drove the short ways to Oakmont Village Market.

But she’d been drinking wine, and there was prescription medication in her system. She’d twice before been convicted of driving under the influence.

Her extreme negligence and disregard killed Oakmont neighbor Jackie Simon, 85, and shattered the life of 91-year-old Josephine Ross.

At the instant they were hit, it didn’t matter a whit to them what Gray intended or how good a person she was. All that mattered was what she’d done.

Decent, ordinary people who kill while DUI are killers. For the good of all potential victims, which is pretty much everybody, it’s essential that they be treated accordingly.

Earlier I took Judge Jamie Thistlethwaite to task for courtroom comments to Gray that sounded consoling. My two cents about the sentence she imposed is that it was severe, heart-wrenching, stunning.

In short, it was right on.

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LOOK WHAT BLEW IN to the storied Tradewinds bar in the heart of Cotati.

It was a team of food-and-beverage aces, interior designers and camera jockeys from Spike TV’s “Bar Rescue.”

They upgraded the joint, ?located across from the historic drinking and music palace that still wears the old “Inn of the Beginning” sign.

Back in the day, we’re talking the Sixties and Seventies, the Tradewinds was next door to the Inn and poured for musicians whose names were big and becoming huge.

Cotati City Hall didn’t go for the “Bar Rescue” plan to replace the striped awning over the sidewalk, so following the makeover, the Tradewinds doesn’t look much different from the outside.

Time will tell what patrons think of the changes within.

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‘60 MINUTES’ MORE: Good news if you missed a Montgomery High alum’s riveting account on national TV earlier this year of the recapture of notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.

Tonight, “60 Minutes” will rebroadcast the story that features fascinating insight from the Santa Rosa-reared Peter Vincent, who was involved in the pursuit of prison escapee Guzman as a senior legal adviser to the U.S. Justice Department and Homeland Security.

At one memorable point in the report, Peter asserts the arrogant Guzman opened himself to getting caught by becoming “drunk on his own wine.”

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THE GONNELLAS, who’ve fed people well forever at the Union Hotel in Occidental, befriended Christo and Jeanne-Claude 40 years ago when the international artists strung “The Running Fence.”

So it was natural for the youngest of the Gonnellas at the restaurant, Gienna, 24 and an Ursuline grad, to trek to Italy to walk and marvel at Christo’s “The Floating Piers.”

“Oh my goodness, it was incredible,” reports Gien. “There was an electric vibe ... it was so romantic in the evening light.”

Chris Smith is at 521-5211 and chris.smith@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @CJSPD.