It is the saddest of tragedies, young people dying in a horrible
and senseless manner.
This time they are our teens who died in a sudden crash Saturday
night and the entire community mourns their loss and shares their
families’ grief.
It is the saddest of tragedies, young people dying in a horrible and senseless manner.
This time they are our teens who died in a sudden crash Saturday night and the entire community mourns their loss and shares their families’ grief.
Certainly it is a time of prayers and consolation for the Lopez and Galvan families and their many friends.
But it is also a stark reminder of the deadly perils of drinking and driving, speeding on our roadways and the ultimate responsibility of teenagers and their guardians, friends and role models when it comes to automobile safety.
We again implore everyone to take the unpopular stand of taking away the keys. What if innocent victims in another vehicle had been hit as well?
District Attorney John Sarsfield should not make an example out of the 16-year-old driver by trying him as an adult, but there has to be a message that sinks in to our teenagers: This is what can happen when you drink and drive.
However, charging him as an adult, which is an option under the law, will serve no long-term purpose and would only prolong the agony that will linger with families and friends of the two fine young men who died.
We have other questions that need to be addressed, even in this time of sorrow.
Why are we so obsessed with the likes of “The Fast and Furious,” hiding horror behind a veil of glamour at the movies, on TV and with video games? Road racing can be just as deadly. Violence and recklessness can end in real death.
Should teens be driving at all, with statistics pointing at their high accident rates?
Why is alcohol still so easily available to those under the legal age of 21?
We ask those with respect in the shadow of death and can only hold our precious young people that much tighter.
They seem indestructible at times, but can be gone just as fast as any of us.
In a city and county often torn with trouble and dissension, it is a time for peace and taking inventory of what really matters around us.
And again we join the grieving families and friends with our thoughts and prayers from those of us at the Free Lance on your loss.
