An emotional evening at Lower Lake High School illustrated the dire consequences of drinking and driving on Wednesday, Nov. 28. Stories of tragedy and healing highlighted a presentation by Team DUI, which was aimed at the prevention of underage drinking as well as driving while intoxicated.
A wealth of information was extended to those in attendance, equipping parents with the tools and the resources they need to guide their children to a healthy future. Shocking and heart-wrenching stories helped drive home the importance of prevention in raising today”s youth.
The evening began with introductions by California Highway Patrol Officer Adam Garcia and a brief explanation identifying Team DUI. “It”s a group of us who have been touched or have encountered an incident involving DUI and we want to share with you our experiences,” Garcia said.
Stories shared carried with them a forcible impact that brought emotional and visual realities to the consequences that are widely spread when a preventable tragedy, such as a DUI-related collision, occurs. All points of view were conveyed with recollections from a grieving mother, a disfigured and permanently disabled teen, first responders, youth advocates and prevention program coordinators. Legal liabilities and the availability of assistance for victims of DUI-related incidents were also covered.
Most parents would probably agree that losing a child is the worst nightmare that one could face. Judy Thein, mayor of Clearlake and driving force behind Team DUI, shared her story of loss. Thein”s daughter, Kellie, was taken from her nearly two years ago in a horrific, DUI tragedy that occurred two days before Christmas.
Beginning her story, Thein asked those in attendance to think of their parents, their children, their friends and their loved ones as she shared with them the tragedy that has struck her heart. She remembered the last time she spoke with her beloved daughter. “She called and said she was going to Lassen and that she would be back for Christmas,” Thein recalled. “She never came home for Christmas. She died that night.”
Kellie was the passenger in a vehicle being driven by an intoxicated driver. The car smashed into a tree and caught fire; Kellie was trapped inside until the fire was extinguished. “When she was finally pulled out of the car she was crushed and she was dead,” Thein struggled to say through her emotions.
Thein continued, recalling the terrible phone call that forever changed her life. She said she remembered not believing the voice on the other end telling her that Kellie had been killed. “I was numb. My whole family was numb,” she said. “We had to pick out clothes to bury her in on Christmas day. As the months went by I don”t even know how our family made it through.”
Thein said that she feels the loss of her daughter every day and that she doesn”t know what will trigger her pain. “Everyday is a remembrance of what”s no longer here. Kellie was my heart. She was my child,” she said, tears filling her eyes. “We will spend Christmas at the cemetery. That”s all we have left.”
Erica Harrison is moving on with her life but the consequences she lives with are quite visual and apparent. Harrison was a senior at Middletown High School when she made the decision that forever changed her life. It was a Friday. Middletown was hosting its first home football game of the season, which was followed by a school dance. Harrison said a friend called her and asked if she would give him money for beer and go drinking with her. She did and after drinking a couple 40-ounce bottles, she got another call from another friend who wanted her to come to the game. The last thing she remembers, she said, was putting the vehicle into gear.
Harrison smashed her vehicle into a tree traveling in excess of 65 mph. Her passenger was ejected from the vehicle but escaped with only minor injuries. Harrison, on the other hand, was not so lucky. “I couldn”t feel from my waist down. I thought I was paralyzed,” she recalled. In reality, the impact had caused the engine to come through the cab nearly severing Harrison”s leg completely. “There was only four inches of skin holding my leg on.”
Despite the physical, criminal and monetary consequences of her poor decision, Harrison said the pain she caused her family was worst part of the event. “The hardest thing about this was the effect it had on my family; hearing them talk about it and how bad it was,” she said. Pain and self-disappointment was apparent in her eyes when she shared how her little 7-year-old brother had been afraid of her at first and would hide from her.
Harrison is pulling her life together. She graduated high school and is now attending Yuba College. She said she is working with Team DUI in effort to prevent similar tragedies among her peers.
Bill MacDougall, principal of Carl? High School, also shared a story. He said he was 14-years-old when his father, who had been intoxicated, drove his vehicle over a 300-foot cliff with another woman in the car. Both his parents, he said, had been habitual drinkers and the loss of his father had driven his mother to drink even more heavily, which resulted in her suicide. With the help of his athletic coaches he made it through high school and found resources for college.
Although alcohol had contributed to the loss of both his parents, it wasn”t until tragedy struck his students that he put the drink away forever. He said he wasn”t a heavy drinker but would indulge occasionally. MacDougall was vice principal of Lower Lake High School when a DUI-related collision took the lives of three star athletes. The tragedy shook the entire student body, staff and the community. “It changed all of us at Lower Lake High School. I stopped drinking that day,” he said.
Other stories were shared by Garcia and Clearlake Police Chief Allan McClain illustrating the effect that such tragedies have on first responders. Both officers told of events in which children, one an infant, were killed at the hands of intoxicated drivers. The images, they said, remain with them to this day. “Why and what if are the hardest questions to answer. Going to jail is the easy part. It”s living with the consequences that is hard,” McClain said. He also reminded parents that “what we say to children is not nearly as important as what we do.”
Michael Rupe and Laura Solis provided statistics related to alcohol and other drugs. Rupe, program director for the Tobacco Control program in Lake County reminded parents that cigarettes are a gateway drug to alcohol use. Solis, with Alcohol and Other Drug Services, provided alarming statistics about teens and alcohol stating that alcohol is the leading cause of death among teens. She reminded parents that they do have an affect on their children.
“Parents, you are the first line of defense when it comes to your child”s alcohol or drug use,” Solis said. “You do make a difference.”
Also speaking throughout the course of the night was Crystal Martin with the Victim/Witness program. She explained what assistance is out there for victims of DUI-related incidents. She emphasized that assistance is not available to anyone who knowingly gets in the car with an intoxicated driver.
For more information on Team DUI, contact Judy Thein at 994-8201.
Contact Denise Rockenstein at drockenstein@clearlakeobserver.com. To comment on this story or others, go to www.record-bee.com/observer.
