Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
'Every 15 Minutes' program makes an impact on Waitsburg High students
WHS "walking dead" students represent drunk driving fatalities during last week's "Every 15 Minutes" program.
WHS students "party" it up in a skit as part of the "Every 15 Minutes" program.
n emergency responder approaches a critically injured victim in the Mazda as an officer conducts a sobriety test with "drunk driver," Nicholi Lindsey.
WHS students watch as Mikala DeRuwe is extracted from the vehicle and prepared for transport.
Judge Richard Wernette sentences Lindsey to 41 months and orders over $15,000 in restitution and fines.
The vehicle of WHS grad Shannon Elliot, who was killed in a drunk driving accident.
(l to r): Timber Froherich, Jade Alleman, Emily Adams and Taylor Hays struggle with their emotions as they read their "last letters" to their families.
Emily Adams, Taylor Hays and Skylar Wood as the "walking dead."
WAITSBURG – "Even though I knew it wasn't real, my heart sank to my stomach when I heard the knock at my door," said Susan Wildey as she addressed an auditorium full of Waitsburg High School students and parents. The knock Wildey described was that of the Walla Walla County coroner arriving to let her know that her daughter, WHS senior Analise Salazar, had been "killed" in a drunk driving accident.
The mock death notification was part of "Every 15 Minutes," an emotional and moving two-day awareness program targeted to make teens aware of the potentially tragic results of drinking and driving. Waitsburg students took part in the program, presented by the Walla Walla County Traffic Safety and DUI Task Force, on March 12 and 13.
Thursday
On March 12, Walla Walla Police Department officers visited WHS classrooms to share eye-opening statistics regarding alcohol-related collisions. WWPD Officer Tim Bennett addressed students at Friday's assembly and reiterated the points they wanted to get across. 1) Don't drink and drive. 2) Don't ride with someone who has been drinking. 3) Wear a seat belt. 4) If you do drink, have a plan to get home. 5) Fully understand the legal ramifications of drinking and driving. "Every 15 Minutes" is designed to bring those points home in a very real way.
Throughout the day on Thursday, student representatives were pulled from classrooms – one every 15 minutes – to be transformed into the "walking dead." Their faces were painted white, they wore black robes and did not interact with students for remainder of the day. Tombstones placed on the school lawn and on the locker of each student marked their deaths.
"Walking dead" students then spent the night in Walla Walla working with WWPD officers to prepare for Friday's presentation. At the same time, the coroner visited the homes of two pre-selected, volunteer parents to deliver a mock death notification. Even though the parents were expecting the death notification, they were not prepared for the emotional impact it held.
Friday
At Friday morning's assembly, students watched a skit in which Nicholi Lindsey cajoled Mikala DeRuwe (a non-drinker) to attend a party with him. DeRuwe attended the party, but left early. A drunken Lindsey refused a ride home and exited shortly behind DeRuwe. At this point, the audience was excused to the high school parking lot where a realistic mock accident was staged.
A half-dozen emergency and police vehicles arrived at the scene and Lindsey was pulled aside, questioned and given a sobriety test. Emergency responders worked to remove DeRuwe from the vehicle while updates from the ambulance loudspeaker to the hospital let the audience know that she was in critical condition. As DeRuwe was transported from the scene, students returned to the auditorium. Back on stage a body bag was zipped closed and "DeRuwe" was carried away. Lindsey, wearing prison orange, was escorted on stage and sentenced to 41 months in prison, 24 months supervision and over $15,000 in fines and restitution by Judge Richard Wernette.
DeRuwe's mother, Tina, described what it felt like to receive the mock death notice. "The hardest thing was knowing that I could have been the one that killed my daughter. Six years ago I made the terrible choice to drink and drive. I spent two days in jail and it was a very humbling experience," she said emotionally.
Wildey described how difficult it was to hear the details of the accident and to learn that Analise would be autopsied. She described the dreams she had for her daughter that she would never experience. "When you make a decision like that it impacts your community, your family and your world. Your futures and the futures of others are compromised," she said.
Students Taylor Hays, Timber Froherich, Emily Adams and Jade Alleman read heartfelt and emotional "last letters" to their families. It was hard to find a dry eye and Officer Bennett said they were the four best letters he'd heard shared, going back 18 years.
Ruthy Elliott spoke about her daughter Shannon, a 2004 WHS graduate who was killed in a drunk driving accident in 2009. Elliott shared that her son had participated in the "Every 15 Minutes" program before Shannon's death, and that she had refused to be one of the parents to receive a mock death notification. "Little did I know that two years later I would get the real knock. It was the loudest knock I've ever heard," she said.
Elliott described Shannon's desire to be a teacher and the grief their family experienced after her death. "Think before you drink and have a plan," she said. "Help Shannon be the teacher she wanted to be by letting her example teach you not to drink and drive."
Freshman Tom House said he was impressed with the program and learned a lot from it. "I almost cried. It was very informative and I really liked the skit. It really showed how things can go wrong so fast," he said.
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