Cheerleaders Killed in Head-On Fiery Crash.

[pedinurse]

ok... just looking at the myspace pages, it brings up something I have been meaning to say for a while:

are these parents even looking at the myspace pages?
like Katie's says she is soon to be a senior (so it hasn't been updated or that part hasn't been changed for a while obviously) but it says stuff like:

"Im a total beer girl" but she likes "liqure" too (yes, that was how she spelled it) - her favorite is southern comfort according to her profile...
SHE IS 18 years old! She shouldn't be drinking in the first place! I can't believe that these kids feel comfortable drinking in the first place, then secondly putting these illegal behaviors "out there" for the world - and her parents - to see.

UGH. The world ahead of you. I just hope that alcohol / drugs weren't involved. If the wreck did involve alcohol - maybe it will be a wake up call to those around the girls and their families, and possibily the U.S. - if reading the AP news wire. But then again, how many other wake up calls have been made and been ignored?

 

[PSUfan]

ok... just looking at the myspace pages, it brings up something I have been meaning to say for a while:

are these parents even looking at the myspace pages?
like Katie's says she is soon to be a senior (so it hasn't been updated or that part hasn't been changed for a while obviously) but it says stuff like:

"Im a total beer girl" but she likes "liqure" too (yes, that was how she spelled it) - her favorite is southern comfort according to her profile...
SHE IS 18 years old! She shouldn't be drinking in the first place! I can't believe that these kids feel comfortable drinking in the first place, then secondly putting these illegal behaviors "out there" for the world - and her parents - to see.

UGH. The world ahead of you. I just hope that alcohol / drugs weren't involved. If the wreck did involve alcohol - maybe it will be a wake up call to those around the girls and their families, and possibily the U.S. - if reading the AP news wire. But then again, how many other wake up calls have been made and been ignored?

I was looking at their myspace pages too. Looking at the top friends of the victims.. to see if people posted condolences to them.

The one girls top friend had this, from a 19 year old friend.

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=50982803

>>Jun 28 2007 3:31A

The 72 hour drinking streak begins tomorrow night...I'm planning on being wasted until I get on the plane on Sunday so you better show tomorrow nite or our friendship is over...LoL, sleep on that <<

 

[PSUfan]

According to one of the myspace pages, they belonged to a competitive cheerleading team that was known nationally. I would expect national coverage if a carload of nationally known highschool soccer players were killed.

 

[reportertype]

ok... just looking at the myspace pages, it brings up something I have been meaning to say for a while:

are these parents even looking at the myspace pages?
like Katie's says she is soon to be a senior (so it hasn't been updated or that part hasn't been changed for a while obviously) but it says stuff like:

"Im a total beer girl" but she likes "liqure" too (yes, that was how she spelled it) - her favorite is southern comfort according to her profile...
SHE IS 18 years old! She shouldn't be drinking in the first place! I can't believe that these kids feel comfortable drinking in the first place, then secondly putting these illegal behaviors "out there" for the world - and her parents - to see.

UGH. The world ahead of you. I just hope that alcohol / drugs weren't involved. If the wreck did involve alcohol - maybe it will be a wake up call to those around the girls and their families, and possibily the U.S. - if reading the AP news wire. But then again, how many other wake up calls have been made and been ignored?

There was a lot of that stuff when I was in HS, too. It was interesting -- many of the folks involved in that sort of stuff at my school were athletes, cheerleaders, student council, etc. All the school's "leaders." These were the kids who were held up as shining examples by teachers. It always made me roll my eyes.

 

[reportertype]

As far as media coverage, there are multiple reasons.

The fact that five died. They are cheerleaders -- good kids. Some of their friends saw them die.

Plus, editors are always on the lookout for stories that a lot of people can relate to. Five kids who could be your daughter fits the bill. And the time of year as well -- graduation time is a good time for papers and others to mention this story and talk about teenage drinking, those grad parties that are alcohol-free, etc.

It also depends on what else is happening that day.

 

[Paladin]

As far as media coverage, there are multiple reasons.

The fact that five died. They are cheerleaders -- good kids. Some of their friends saw them die.

Plus, editors are always on the lookout for stories that a lot of people can relate to. Five kids who could be your daughter fits the bill. And the time of year as well -- graduation time is a good time for papers and others to mention this story and talk about teenage drinking, those grad parties that are alcohol-free, etc.

It also depends on what else is happening that day.

Only 4 of the 5 that died were cheerleaders. But they were all friends and had just graduated previously.

I wouldn't be surprised if drinking were involved.

I graduated from Fairport, and I think it's fair to say that the jocks/cheerleaders got alot of free passes around there. The principal was the same when I was there, and he definitely favored those kids.

Just telling it how I saw it.

 

[luthersmama]

So far the coverage is about even with the baseball team bus crash.

It also attracts the news because it was five beautiful white girls.

Flame away, but those yearbook photos really get the masses heartstrings humming. Not sayin' its right, but it is the way it is.

We had a carload of hs girls killed here a few years ago. The ME almost got assassinated for determining that they had been huffing just before the crash.

 

[CarpeDiem]

Only 4 of the 5 that died were cheerleaders. But they were all friends and had just graduated previously.

I wouldn't be surprised if drinking were involved.

I graduated from Fairport, and I think it's fair to say that the jocks/cheerleaders got alot of free passes around there. The principal was the same when I was there, and he definitely favored those kids.

Just telling it how I saw it.

It was probably the cell phone that was the contributing factor.

 

[Taximom]

Only 4 of the 5 that died were cheerleaders. But they were all friends and had just graduated previously.

I wouldn't be surprised if drinking were involved.

I graduated from Fairport, and I think it's fair to say that the jocks/cheerleaders got alot of free passes around there. The principal was the same when I was there, and he definitely favored those kids.

Just telling it how I saw it.

Paladin, same in our schools.

 

[pedinurse]

As far as media coverage, there are multiple reasons.

The fact that five died. They are cheerleaders -- good kids. Some of their friends saw them die.

Plus, editors are always on the lookout for stories that a lot of people can relate to. Five kids who could be your daughter fits the bill. And the time of year as well -- graduation time is a good time for papers and others to mention this story and talk about teenage drinking, those grad parties that are alcohol-free, etc.

It also depends on what else is happening that day.

good kids, at least one of which publically acknowleged on her personal webpage to drinking at the age of 18 which is illegal in the U.S.

i'm not saying all the kids were drinkers - i don't know, and i haven't seen all their pages. i don't know them personally and i don't live there. but i agree... i went to a school focused upon sports and the cheerleaders / football players were known to party with alcohol and / or drugs. as long as they won the games and looked good to the community and competing schools, things were good. if not, sometimes a crackdown came by parents, school officals or local law enforcement - but, that rarely happened where i was from. i lived out in the country, and those were the "hometown heros" - as messed up as that sounds. yeah, most were nice kids at heart, but those are illegal activities and are not a good start into adulthood. most of the kids from school that i know of haven't done anything with themselves since high school. i always hated that some school officials always touted how those were such "good kids" and they should be looked to as role models by younger students, when those were kids who were out drinking and drugging - along with other risky behaviors! Just because you're an athlete doesn't make you a good kid. a lot of athletes are good kids, i'm not saying they aren't - a lot of sports take dedication and comittment, which attracts a lot of good kids. But that is not true for all kids involved in team sports, nor is it true that they are all role models. Just my soap box that flew off on a tangent. I'll step off now.

 

[southcitymom]

I would think that any time 5 kids from the same school get killed in one wreck, it would make national news - that's a high body count at one time, even for teenage drivers.

Also, the fact that they were athletes of a nationally ranked cheerleading team didn't hurt in terms of newsworthiness.

 

[southcitymom]

There was a lot of that stuff when I was in HS, too. It was interesting -- many of the folks involved in that sort of stuff at my school were athletes, cheerleaders, student council, etc. All the school's "leaders." These were the kids who were held up as shining examples by teachers. It always made me roll my eyes.

That pretty much describes me in high school - all state volleyball player, editor of the school magazine, member of many clubs, good grades, etc..etc...(though I don't think I was held up as a shining example as a leader that I recall) - and out drinking to excess every chance I got. Maybe it's the type A personality thing...

I know lots of people who drank and partied in high school and college and then eventually got it together to become productive members of society. I'm one of them. Not everyone, of course, but it's a stage plenty of humans go through. Unfortunately, not everyone survives it.

 

[ljwf22]

The Associated Press puts many, many stories on its wire service every day. The editors at individual papers choose the stories they print as well as submit local stories by their writers to AP. Obviously many editors are picking this story for the reasons many posters have stated: many people can relate to it and hope to hell it never happens to one of their loved ones. Life can be over in an instant and lessons can be learned by this reminder. I'm sure every person here can relate. It's very, very sad and yes, newsworthy.

 

[reportertype]

good kids, at least one of which publically acknowleged on her personal webpage to drinking at the age of 18 which is illegal in the U.S.

i'm not saying all the kids were drinkers - i don't know, and i haven't seen all their pages. i don't know them personally and i don't live there. but i agree... i went to a school focused upon sports and the cheerleaders / football players were known to party with alcohol and / or drugs. as long as they won the games and looked good to the community and competing schools, things were good. if not, sometimes a crackdown came by parents, school officals or local law enforcement - but, that rarely happened where i was from. i lived out in the country, and those were the "hometown heros" - as messed up as that sounds. yeah, most were nice kids at heart, but those are illegal activities and are not a good start into adulthood. most of thema that i know of haven't done anything with themselves since high school. i always hated that some school officials always touted how those were such "good kids" and role models, when those kids were the ones out drinking and drugging - along with other risky behaviors! Just because you're an athlete doesn't make you a good kid. a lot of athletes are kids, i'm not saying they aren't - a lot of sports take dedication and comittment, which attracts a lot of good kids. But that is not true for all of them, and they are all role models. Just my soap box that flew off on a tangent. I'll step off now.

This is exactly how my school was. I should have explained what I meant better. Basically, what you wrote is what I was thinking, that they are considered "good kids" because of activities, championships, etc.

And like scm said, many of those kids from my school are fine now -- made it through OK.

 

[Roxanne]

good kids, at least one of which publically acknowleged on her personal webpage to drinking at the age of 18 which is illegal in the U.S.

Very tragic accident, however, Bailey shouldn't have been on the road according to this article:

"A teenager who was at the wheel during a car crash that killed her and four other recent high school graduates only had a junior driver's license, according to state records.
The license made it illegal for Bailey Goodman, 17, to be driving at the time the crash occurred in western New York or to be carrying so many young passengers.

Goodman had a Class DJ license, which places added restrictions on the privileges for New York drivers under 18, authorities told the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle.

Goodman and four other recent graduates of Fairport High School in suburban Rochester, all 17 or 18, died when the sport-utility vehicle she was driving collided head-on with a tractor-trailer about 10 p.m.

Junior drivers cannot drive after 9 p.m. without a parent, guardian or someone performing parental duties, unless they're going to work or school, according to the state Department of Motor Vehicles.

They also cannot carry more than two passengers under 21 unless they're members of the immediate family."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-06-29-crash-five-killed-ny_N.htm

 

[Paladin]

Very tragic accident, however, Bailey shouldn't have been on the road according to this article:

"A teenager who was at the wheel during a car crash that killed her and four other recent high school graduates only had a junior driver's license, according to state records.
The license made it illegal for Bailey Goodman, 17, to be driving at the time the crash occurred in western New York or to be carrying so many young passengers.

Goodman had a Class DJ license, which places added restrictions on the privileges for New York drivers under 18, authorities told the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle.

Goodman and four other recent graduates of Fairport High School in suburban Rochester, all 17 or 18, died when the sport-utility vehicle she was driving collided head-on with a tractor-trailer about 10 p.m.

Junior drivers cannot drive after 9 p.m. without a parent, guardian or someone performing parental duties, unless they're going to work or school, according to the state Department of Motor Vehicles.

They also cannot carry more than two passengers under 21 unless they're members of the immediate family."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-06-29-crash-five-killed-ny_N.htm

I was under the same restriction when I was 17. Living in Fairport, I only was allowed to drive after 9pm when coming home from work.

I think driver inexperience and the distraction of 4 other happy and excited girls (and maybe loud music) was the cause of this one.

I personally never pass anyone at night. I will in the daytime because visibility is much clearer, and even then I wouldn't do it if any hills were obstructing my view.

 

[Paladin]

I'm sure her parents regret letting her drive illegally (that is, if they knew) and outside the scope of her driver's license. It appears that law exists for a reason and unfortunately this is why.

I'm sure her parents are grieving immensely and regret their decision very much.

 

[2luvmy]

My DD has recently received her DL. I absolutely hate it. Her friends' parents are so lax in their overseeing their new drivers. Her two closest friends have driven to the next towns over, they are out late and always have more than the limit in their car.

Ashleigh is mad because I will only let her go on short jaunts with the car alone. I won't let her have the car to cruise around in all night. Her standard response when I corect her driving is that "the state of IL thought she knew enough to pass the drivers test, so she is quite capable or driving". Some of the mistakes she still makes while I am in the car makes my heart skip a beat. I can only imagine what happens when I am not in the car.

The rule here about passengers other than immediate family is 1 passenger until after 6 months of driving experience. I have extended that at our house to 1 year.

Ashleigh doesn't understand that I know she has every intention of driving correctly, however when you factor in friends, music, excitement, phones, and inexperience the combination is deadly for teens. TO her driving is a fun recreational activity that gets her to once place or another. She hasn't grasped the concept that it takes skill and concentration to drive a car appropriately.

 

[Paladin]

She hasn't grasped the concept that it takes skill and concentration to drive a car appropriately.

Most people haven't.

 

[real eyes]

This is just so sad.

No one should die because they passed in a "no passing zone".