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| 16 June 2000 - The Clarion - Granite Hills High School Staged accident shows students first hand effects of drinking and driving By Denise Pollard Every 15 minutes someone in the United States is killed or seriously injured in an alcohol-related automobile accident. On May 31, a mock auto accident occurred at Granite Hills as part of the Every 15 Minutes program. In the simulation, two students, Cassidy Nykanen (00) and Jonathan Mitchell (00), were killed, and Mitchell was taken in a hearse to Paris-Frederick Mortuary, Carly Nykanen (01) was seriously injured and taken to Alvarado Hospital, and Cameron Coffey (00) was taken to jail on two counts of vehicular manslaughter and one count of felony drunk driving. Had the drunk driver also been convicted of gross negligence, he would be charged with two counts of second degree murder. "You're not invincible. In the blink of an eye, lives can be devastated forever," said Gwen Goodwin, Public Affairs Officer for the California Highway Patrol. "If you're going to drive, don't drink, period!" California law makes it illegal for anyone under the age of 21 to consume, purchase, or even attempt to purchase alcohol. Penalties include driver's license suspension, fines of up to $ 1000, and possible jail time. If a person under 21 has been drinking and driving, penalties include a loss of the driver's license for up to one year, a $ 100 fine, and fees for license re-issuance. Every 15 minutes throughout the day, one student was taken out of class by the Grim Reaper to represent the frequency of death by alcohol-related traffic collisions. Those students were not allowed to return home that night. Parents stayed in the Granite Hills library, and students stayed at the Indian Hills Christian Conference Center, where they participated in activities that emphasized the impact of drinking and driving, and they listened to a speaker who killed his best friend in a crash. Included in these activities was writing farewell letters, where the deceased student wrote a letter to their parents, and the parents wrote to their child. "Everybody got really close," said Teresita Sablan (01), "and we realized how precious life is. It got everybody thinking about the little things." The second assembly the following day included guest speakers on the topic of drunk driving and its effects. Officer Michael Bradley from the California Highway Patrol spoke of how she was hit by a drunk driver and suffered a third degree burn on her neck, which was broken in two places, and a broken arm, among other injuries. Her 21-month old daughter was in a coma for three days. "She was in so much pain that even in a coma her little face was all scrunched up," recalled Bradley. "She had a lacerated spleen and a lacerated liver, and quite frankly the doctors told my husband they didn't know if either of us was going to live. Who in the world at 21-months old deserves to have this happen to them?" Dan Barnes said that if the program "makes students not drink and drive, then it's huge to us. It combines a lot of programs into one, and we hope it involves the emotional side of the issue." Article Snapshot (87K) |
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