A lesson about drinking and driving

Sometimes seeing is believing.
The Daniel Boone High School Students witnessed a mock drunk driving accident May 22 in the school annex parking lot.
Several students who serve as volunteer firefighters for the Monarch Fire Company helped organize the "accident."
Hopefully this will teach students that drinking and driving doesn't only affect the driver but the other people in an accident.

Daniel Boone High School students learn dangers of drinking and driving
By Heather Tassmer
News Editor


Daniel Boone High School seniors watched as a teen exited a smashed up car while crying hysterically because her boyfriend was dead.
She walked over to the unharmed drunk driver who had smashed into her boyfriend’s car and screamed, “This is your fault! What were you thinking?!”
Luckily the students were watching a mock drunk driving accident held at the high school’s annex parking lot on May 22.
The event was originally planned for the day of prom, May 9 but was rescheduled due to rain but still occurred in time to make students think twice about drinking and driving during graduation and senior week celebrations.
“The purpose of the mock accident is to make the students aware of the dangers of drinking and driving,” said Dane Miller, a principal at the high school.
He said that the mock accident showed that other drivers and passengers can be affected from the accident and not just the driver.
The mock accident was coordinated by sophomore Mike Jolley and senior Rodney Wagner, who both serve as volunteers for Monarch Fire Company in Amity Township. The mock accident was an early senior project for Jolley and took the students about two months to plan.
“Some kids don’t know any better to not get behind the wheel of a car after drinking.” Jolley said. “Hopefully when they saw the cars they will think ‘this could happen to me’ and it will stun them enough to not drink and drive.”
“I think it had a big impact on students especially with the victims being bloody,” Wagner said.
In addition to Jolley and Wagner, Korey Ellwanger, also a volunteer with Monarch Fire Company, assisted with the mock accident. Ellwanger is using the video as a scholarship project.
The students organized the mock accident with help from Miller, Kulptown, Birdsboro and Monarch fire companies, Southern Berks Emergency Medical Services, PennSTAR Helicopter and state police from Reading.
Cars were donated from A.E. Minotto, a junkyard in the Pottstown area and Douglassville Autobody helped tow the vehicles.
After seeing the victim’s reaction, fireman from the local area arrived at the scene to rescue the other victims “trapped” in the cars.
Firefighters used the “Jaws of Life” or special equipment to cut open the car doors and had to remove a roof of one of the cars to extract the passengers and driver.
Representatives from Southern Berks EMS and PennSTAR Helicopter also responded to the “incident” and hooked victims up to stretchers. One of the victims was taken to the helicopter.
Corporal Wayne Elser from the Reading State Police Barracks conducted sobriety tests with Christian Kriebel who played the drunk driver. Then he handcuffed Kriebel.
Seven students, who have participated in school plays, served as actors for the scene and wore ripped clothes and fake blood to make the scene more realistic.
They also said they were hoping to make an impact on their peers.
“We were excited to show the effects of drinking and driving,” said senior Rebecca Wattenmaker, who played the girlfriend of the driver who “died.” “It’s scary how real it all seems to me.”
“This will show students that this is a real situation that people can get into,” Kriebel added.
Elser said this mock accident was very beneficial for students to see to help them make wise decisions in their futures.
“A lot of the time kids don’t see the consequences of an accident caused by a drunk driver,” Elser said, adding that he hoped this would leave a lasting impression on the teens.
Elser said 10 to 15 percent of the accidents state troopers respond to in the local area are alcohol related.
Robert Erb, deputy chief of Kulptown Fire Company, added that the firefighters have been responding to more and more alcohol related accidents each year.
Erb said that he hoped students would not only learn not to drink and drive but not to drink at all.
Samantha Emerick was one of the many students watching the mock accident.
“It’s so scary,” Emerick said. “I would be so upset if one of my family or friends had to go through something like this.”
Jill Eigenbrot added, “This will teach people to not drink and drive and to have a designated driver.”
Assistant Principal Phil Repko who attended the mock accident in behalf of Miller who couldn’t make it, said he was proud of the students who organized the accident.
“I think the kids who set this up did an outstanding job,” Repko said. “The emergency personnel who came out also did a great job and were very generous to donate their time.”
“Students who got to witness the accident were able to see things they never thought about,” he added.

Tough Economy

In the May 7, 2008, issue of The Southern Berks News, there was a story about how the increasing gas and food prices are affecting local residents.
I talked to people at a Wawa gas station to get their opinions on the economy. This was challenging of course because at 8:30 a.m. people were on their way to get to work and it's understandable some didn't want to take the time out to talk with me.
The humorous part of the morning was a response of an older, cranky man. I asked him what he thought about gas prices and he answered "Ah they suck! I don't want to talk about it!"
During a school board meeting this week, I was reminded of how schools are being affected by gas and foods going up in price. School meals will be going up in price for Exeter. I wouldn't be surprised to see other schools raising their meal prices.
In other Tassmania economic news, I received my economic stimulus check the beginning of May and had to spend most of it the same day to get an oil change for the car and an inspection. But oh well. My car treats me well so I must spend money to maintain it.

Sick days

Don't you hate wake up sick and spend so much time determining if you should go into work? Well, I was going through that debate on Tuesday when I woke up feeling achy and lightheaded. I decided to stay home from work but still worked on some stories and completed some phone interviews.

I was sick a few weeks ago with a cold on my production day (Monday) and that was pretty dreadful. Most of the editors will come in even if we're dying on production day because we're the people soley responsible for getting the paper printed. Of course other editors pitch in but they have their own stories and papers to worry about.

Last year when I was with a different newspaper, I worked while I had a kidney stone. I was out of the office for a week and worked on stories from home the best I could. I was scheduled to cover something on Memorial Day and even though I was in a lot of pain, I had my mother drive me to the assignment.

It seems like everyone has been getting sick lately. Maybe it's the weather or the lifestyles of journalists. We have the attitudes of energizer bunnies to keep going and going but unfortunately our batteries do wear out a lot faster than we want them to.