Coming together
Faced with tragedy, our community has responded in an inspiring way.
The dangers of underage drinking were brought to the forefront following the death of Zack Nelson, 17, of Chalk Hill, in a single-vehicle crash on Sept. 10 in Farmington. The driver of the vehicle, a teenager, faces charges of driving under the influence of alcohol.
But out of this tragedy several initiatives are under way now to try to prevent other youths from finding themselves in similar situations.
“A lot of things went wrong that night of the accident,” said Zack Nelson’s mother Tricia Nelson. “We can’t bring back our son, but we will do everything we can to make something good come out of the situation.”
The Nelson family has begun organizing the Nelson Foundation, which will raise awareness about underage drinking and driving while distracted in addition to supporting organ donor education and blood donation programs. Their goal is eventually to offer scholarships to local students.
The Nelson family deserves all the credit in the world for their efforts, especially in light of the loss of their son. Despite the horrific grief they must be experiencing, they’ve gone out of their way to try and keep others from going thorough a similar tragedy. It’s hard to say how many lives they’re saving with their actions, but even if one person decides to not drink and drive, their effort will have been well worth it.
Another program underway targets the source of underage drinking: those who supply the alcohol to minors. The members of a Laurel Highlands High School club have developed an initiative that unites students in four area school districts in memory of Nelson. The Laurel Highlands’ Students Against Driving Drunk club developed a banner concept to bring awareness to the dangers of underage drinking. The banners were made by the graphic arts students at the Fayette County Career and Technical Institute and will be hung at each high school and the vocational school.
Bearing the number 1-888-UNDER-21, the banner design seeks to promote a statewide program aimed at cracking down on adults who supply alcohol to those under the legal age to drink. Anyone who suspects that adults are supplying teens with alcohol can call the number, and local police will be called in to investigate the situation.
“We do a number of programs here at Laurel Highlands that deal with the dangers of underage drinking, but our focus on this is to focus on the problem and find out who is providing the alcohol,” said John Diamond, principal at Laurel Highlands High School. “A lot of parents come to me and say they are aware that stuff is going on in other parents’ homes, but they don’t know what they can do about it. This anonymous phone call is what they can do. Our focus now is to get this phone number out there.”
This is a positive step in attempting to curb underage drinking by attacking the source. It is up to all of us — and not just the students themselves — to prevent these dangerous situations where youths might find themselves behind the wheel of a car after drinking. We feel that raising awareness of the tip line will be an important tool in the effort to curb teens putting themselves and their friends in harm’s way.
In addition to the banner campaign, two events will be held Monday by the Fayette County Drug and Alcohol Commission in conjunction with state Rep. Tim Mahoney, D-South Union Township, to draw attention to the problem of underage drinking in the area.
Road Radio USA will cohost the first event, at 11:30 a.m., at the State Theater in Uniontown. Jim Mothersbaugh of Road Radio USA was involved in a fatal drunk driving accident in 1984 and still experiences symptoms of his brain injury. He will provide a firsthand account of the consequences of underage drinking. Invited to attend the event are 11th-grade students from the six Fayette County high schools.
The program intertwines creative theater, interviews, colored lights, popular music and teachers impersonating celebrities. Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and Nemacolin Woodlands Resort founder Joe Hardy, whose daughter Paige was injured in the Farmington accident, are also event sponsors.
Representatives from the Pennsylvania State Police and Fayette County Juvenile Probation will also participate in the program.
The second event will be an underage drinking town hall meeting from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Ivory Ballroom, 60 W. Peter St., Uniontown. Panelists will include Fayette County Drug and Alcohol Commission staff members, Fayette County Juvenile Probation, Uniontown City Police, Pennsylvania State Police, Pennsylvania State Police Liquor Enforcement division, Fayette County Crime Victims Center and Mother’s Against Drunk Driving, Mr. & Mrs. Terry Cellurale and their daughter Gabby Cellurale, who was one of the passengers in the Sept. 10 fatal crash.
As Tricia Nelson said, none of this can bring Zack back — or any of the other friends and family we’ve lost to drunk driving over the years. But it’s inspiring to see our community is not going to just throw up its hands when faced with tragedy. Instead, we’ve seen a response that is geared to see others are spared the pain and hardship. While it is a shame that it took tragedy for people to realize how serious this problem is in Fayette County, the response is a positive one. Faced with tragedy, our community has responded in an inspiring way.