Community remembers

Balt. County police brings victim’s family to raise awareness on drunk driving

By Olivia Obineme

Published: Sunday, December 6, 2009

Candles illuminated the Potomac Lounge Thursday night as families and friends, local officials and campus representatives held a candlelight vigil to remember those who lost their lives to drunk or drugged driving.

The ceremony was called the “Candlelight Vigil of Hope and Remembrance.”

There was a musical performance by the Unified Voices of Johns Hopkins Medical Institution Choir and guest speakers including Baltimore County State Attorney Scott Shellenberger and Baltimore County Health Officer Gregory Branch.

Associate Vice President of the division of student affairs Jana Varwig opened the ceremony.

“Underage drinking and driving under the influence are really of great importance to Towson University,” Varwig said. “It is no secret that college students are a particularly

vulnerable population to alcohol, issues around the alcohol and certainly with drinking and driving.”

A mother who knows too well about the toll of drunk driving is Debbie Hardy, a member of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, who lost one of her two daughters to a drunk driver in 2003.

“Losing Janet changed everything about me. I am not the same person I was six years ago and I never will be,” Hardy said. “I cannot go back to being that mother I was to two beautiful daughters. I am now a mom whose child was killed by a drunk driver.”

According to Hardy, 13-year-old Janet was on the road early in the morning with her best friend and her best friend’s grandparents on the day of the fatal crash.

“The drunk driver was on his way home from drinking all night when he entered into a curb. He didn’t negotiate the curb and hit the passenger side of the truck that my daughter was in and he killed the grandmother on impact,” she said. “My daughter survived about nine minutes in the crash, long enough to ask one of the firemen to help her.”

Only Janet’s best friend and her grandfather survived.

Members of the Counseling Center attended the vigil not only to remember the lost lives, but to educate as well.

“We educate our peers about the dangers of drinking,” junior Spanish secondary education major Megan Young said.

According to Young, the alcohol and drug peer educators lecture around the campus during their Friday lecture series and give different classroom presentations, lecture hall presentations or presentations for different groups.

“We raise awareness about blood alcohol levels, tolerance, alcoholism and stuff like that,” she said.

Although the community was present, there seemed to be an agreed feeling of disappointment because of the lack of student attendance to the vigil.

“Unless it was mandatory for them to come, I didn’t expect them to come,” sophomore forensic chemistry major Anicia King said.

At the vigil, attendees place ribbons on a Christmas tree. Each ribbon had a name of someone who was killed by a drunk driver.

“We think it sends a powerful message, hopefully to all those non-drinking students of Towson University who will remember that you can make a mistake and it could have incredible consequences, including killing your own friend,” Shellenberger said.

Courtesy of The Towerlight