Sending a solemn message

(Photo by Tess Easton) As part of an "Every 15 Minutes" program mock scenario broadcast for Clay Central-Everly students Thursday afternoon, CCE freshman Mitch Maurer portrayed his death as it related to a drunk driving accident.

Peers and community members had been working behind the scenes over the past month to illustrate the fact that a person is killed in alcohol-related accidents every 15 minutes on U.S. roadways.

Students have witnessed signs placed on their hallway walls. They've heard announcements and statistics associated with driving under the influence of alcohol. They've seen outlines of bodies appear on their floors.

By Wednesday, the Grim Reaper pulled a student from class every 15 minutes. He symbolized the deaths of those killed due to the choices made by drunk drivers. As CCE students entered school Thursday, the backpacks of their peers who'd been "taken" from them led to a closed casket in the Everly school building's hallway.

CCE Principal Al Laboranti invited students and staff to attend an assembly yesterday afternoon. There, grief mixed with regrets and painful reflections as the collaborative production unfolded, two days before CCE's prom.

Laboranti began by divulging, "This is something very near and dear to my heart. Not too long ago, I was sitting right there where you're sitting, and I lost two classmates in two separate drunk driving accidents. ... In both cases, they were passengers. ... They weren't wearing seat belts. But, more importantly, they were in the car with somebody who was drinking and driving."

The high school principal then acknowledged that he'd been hit head-on by a drunk driver not long ago.

"I'm very fortunate and thankful to be standing here in front of you today," Laboranti said. "I was driving home one night from work with a co-worker. We were just driving down the road, minding our own business.

"All of a sudden, we saw two lights coming right at us at about 50 mph. The driver of the car was so intoxicated that she didn't know she'd hit me. She just kept going and ended up on the side of the road in the ditch. ... I was very fortunate. I didn't have my seat belt on. I walked away with minor injuries. The car was totaled. I'm an advocate right now -- especially with teenagers making the right choices."

Laboranti, who's currently marking his first year as a CCE administrator, also recalled receiving four weekend notices of students who'd died because of drunk driving accidents at his former school.

"I want you to make the right choices -- think, be a leader and not a follower, and don't succumb to peer pressure," he told those gathered. "It's also OK to walk away. ... I urge you to think first and then make the right decisions and choices. There are a lot of people who love you and a lot of people who want to see your success."

Several CCE students then took to the gymnasium's stage to enact a party situation. This led into a video which had been taped over the last month with CCE students and community members.

Following the presentation, which dramatized two CCE students dying from a drunk driving accident and their peer being sentenced to serve two 25-year terms concurrently for vehicular homicide, the students who'd been pulled from class by the Grim Reaper the day before were invited, along with their parents, to read reflective letters they'd written to one another the night before.

Tasia Nielsen, one of the two passengers who'd died from injuries she'd sustained in the mock accident, read, "I can no longer feel pain. I can no longer feel sadness. ... Instead, I made the decision to put the weight of my consequences on the shoulders of those I love -- my friends and family."

"I'm sorry and I will always love you. More than you will ever know," she concluded.

The letter read by Sherman Nielsen, her father, asked a myriad of questions, including, "If I'd been more strict, would you have revolted and found a new life?" As he continued, Nielsen was overcome with emotions as he pictured his daughter's death.

"As the night drags on, the empty hole in my heart grows bigger and the realization that the nightmare is real and that my princess, my little girl, is never coming through that door (sets in). How am I going to survive without you," Nielsen said.

While CCE student Tyler Shuck told his mother, "I just wish you could have told me no -- just that one time," she seemed to answer him in her letter, "I'm so sorry, Tyler, I didn't stress enough to you not to drink and drive. I should have told you."

As Clay County Deputy Sheriff Dennis Linn took to the podium, he encouraged students to wait until they were of legal age to consume alcohol. Tears welled in the 16-year DARE officer's eyes as he then shared an early-morning accident he'd covered 20 years ago in central Iowa. The two 18-year-old, recent high school graduates involved had attended a fraternity party, consumed alcoholic beverages and opted to drive back to their hometown. As the driver lost control of the truck, it flipped onto its top and slid down the interstate, partially ejecting the passenger out its sunroof.

"I sat and cried with the family that day," Linn said. " ... I'm telling this story to reemphasize that these things do happen to people. They didn't set out to have an accident that night. They set out to have a good time and they made some high-risk decisions that were poor decisions that led to this accident -- and the loss of life.

"Clay County is no different than any other county in Iowa or any other state in the United States," he added. "There is a tremendous alcohol problem -- not just with teenagers, but with adults and teenagers."

Following Thursday's assembly, Jordan Stein reported, "As I participated in this, the most life-changing thing for me was the writing of the letter to the parents. I bawled when I was doing it because I was thinking about what would happen and what my parents, my cousins and my little sister would feel like if I actually were gone. I know this has taught me a lot and changed my life forever."

"Listening to the letters was very emotional. I didn't know it would have that great of an impact on me," Caleb Langner added.

CCE senior Elizabeth Raveling also relayed that she'd been truly moved by the presentation because it showcased people she knew. When asked if she believed it might change some pre- and/or post-prom behavior this weekend, Raveling admitted that she'd heard of several students' plans to drink alcohol.

"I don't know if their plans are going to be changed or not. But, I hope if they do drink, they won't go out and drive and just stay where they are," she said.

"I'm thinking if only one student got affected, then that's enough," summarized fellow CCE student Tess Easton.

CCE's "Every 15 Minutes" mock accident, as reported by Clay County Deputy Sheriff Dennis Linn:

"A one-vehicle accident took place at Scharnberg Park on March 28, 2009. The vehicle was traveling in excess of the speed limit. The driver, portrayed by Clay Central-Everly High School student Nate Drees, lost control and struck a tree next to the roadway. The male front seat passenger, depicted by CCE student Mitch Maurer, was thrown through the windshield and lay extended on the hood of the vehicle. Drees, the driver, had minor injuries and seemed to be in shock at the time, but appeared in pretty good shape. The rear seat passenger, portrayed by CCE student Tasia Nielsen, had extensive injuries and was unconscious at the scene. The rear seat passenger behind the driver, who was portrayed by CCE student Carly Scott, experienced neck and back injuries and was in quite a bit of pain.

"The responding ambulance crews -- the Everly Fire Department and Rescue, the Royal Fire Department and Rescue, along with the Spencer Hospital Ambulance -- arrived at the scene. Extrication of the individuals from the car was done by removing the roof and doors of the vehicle. Dead at the scene was the young man in the front passenger seat. Warner Funeral Home responded and removed the young man after he was identified by his parents, Jeff and Lori Maurer. The injured people were taken to Spencer Hospital for treatment. One of the female passengers, Tasia Nielsen, was pronounced dead at the hospital. The other female individual, Carly Scott, was flown out to a different hospital for neck and back injuries received in the accident."