CLEVELAND — Prom is just around the corner for White County High School, and the county’s public safety personnel joined forces with school administrators last week to call attention to dangerous behaviors that can endanger students and their friends.
More than a dozen public safety vehicles responded to a mock car crash in the parking lot of the school north of Cleveland, as members of the student body watched and listened.
The scenario unfolded over an outdoor speaker system as students listened to the panic in participant Lauren Rumley’s voice as she called 9-1-1 for help, then as she tried to wake one of the victims thrown onto the hood of one of the cars involved.
Sirens blared as a sheriff’s car, fire trucks, ambulances, and other support vehicles responded to the scene of the mock crash.
Tiffany Partain, 17, was the simulated fatality, thrown through the windshield of the Toyota sedan after it was struck by a Mercury Sable driven by simulated impaired driver Adrian Steen.
Morgan Harris, who was seated behind Partain, received simulated critical injuries and had to be cut from the car.
A medical helicopter from Gainesville-based AirLife Georgia 2 landed near the wreck scene to pick up front-seat passenger Rachel Brown from the Toyota, adding to the urgency and activity at the mock crash scene.
Jendry Chavarria and Rumley were the other two occupants in that car and received simulated minor injuries.
Emily Drane, the front-seat passenger in the Mercury suffered simulated critical injuries. Priscilla Badu and Hannah Bradley were the backseat passengers in that vehicle.
Steen, suspected of being impaired, failed field sobriety tests administered by Trooper 1st Class Jordan Stamey of Georgia State Patrol Post 6 in Gainesville. Subsequently, he was handcuffed, placed in the back of the patrol car and taken from the scene.
A few students snickered, but they were quickly reminded how drastically one choice or one careless action can change their lives, those of their family and friends, and even those in the community.
Ricky Barrett and Brian Alexander from the White County Coroner’s Office arrived to document Partain’s death and take custody.
Following the crash response, many students teared up as they listened to White County Fire Services Fire and Life Safety Educator Josh Taylor talk about the loss of his younger brother in a car wreck.
Taylor told of how he was on duty the night it happened and listened to the entire call from his station, all the while not knowing it was his brother.
“I thought, ‘man, I hate that for somebody. They just lost a loved one,’” Taylor told students.
Then Taylor told of how he received a phone call about that wreck just as he saw two white chief’s trucks pulling into the station where he was. He told of his phone falling to the floor and shattering as the reality of loss struck him.
Taylor read the news article about the wreck on Sandy Flats Road that claimed the life of his brother, Kegan Drake Martin, 17, of Cleveland.
Similarly, Firefighter Ana Newberry discussed losing her 24-year-old son to a wreck.
“I do this for a reason,” Newberry told students. “On March 2, 2009, at 2 o’clock in the afternoon, I was stuck in traffic because I couldn’t get back home. I was going to meet my son back at home. On March 2, 2009, my son was killed because he overcorrected while he was reaching for the phone because I was calling him. I had to go to the hospital because GSP would not let me go to the vehicle, and I thank them for that. Yeah, I went to the hospital and there’s my son coming out of the ambulance with a sheet over him. You don’t think that doesn’t hit you as a mother? I’m not going to have grandchildren. I’ll never be to his wedding. I’ll never grow old with him. He’ll always be 24. That phone you’ve got in your hand – put it down!”
Newberry told students she was there the night Taylor’s brother Kegan died and she was instructed to take Taylor’s phone away.
“But I wasn’t fast enough, because people think it’s cool to call somebody up and tell them something that horrific over a telephone,” Newberry said. “And I know he fell to his knees, because I was there. Because a couple of years before that, that’s where I was — on my knees when that ambulance opened up and pulled my son out in a sheet.
“I understand that some of you feel that this is a free period so let’s giggle, let’s laugh, let’s make fun, but we’re doing this because we’re passionate about it because one way or another we’ve been affected,” Newberry said. “How many of you have been affected by a friend passing away?”
Scores of hands went up in the crowd as students admitted they had been touched by the loss of a friend or acquaintance to death.
“How does it feel when someone is laughing when we’re doing something like this?” Newberry said. “It ticks me off because they have no clue. You have no clue what it’s like until that casket is closing and you’re burying a loved one that you’ll never see again.
Principal John Osborne told students he and other school personnel lose sleep at night worrying about their students.
“A picture is worth a thousand words,” Osborne told students. “As a high school principal, I hope you know I love each one of you. It’s almost like I’ve got 1,100 kids. When I go to bed, I worry about my 1,100 kids. Your teachers do. We love you.”
Osborne, a hunting enthusiast, said he loves his Glock handgun.
“This cell phone is no different than that Glock,” Osborne told students. “That Glock can protect me, and protect my home. It can do really good things. This cell phone can do really wonderful things, but just like that Glock it can kill you in a heartbeat. I can’t emphasize that too much.”
Several high school students stayed behind to talk to Taylor and Newberry after the simulation ended.
In addition to White County Public Safety personnel from the fire and E-9-1-1 departments, the demonstration involved those from White County Emergency Medical Services, White County Sheriff’s Office, Georgia State Patrol Post 6, White County Coroner’s Office, Griffin Wrecker Service, Truett McConnell University School of Nursing, and AirLife Georgia 2.
White County High School's prom will be held from 8-11 p.m. Saturday, April 28.
