Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 23, 1994 TAG: 9405230069
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DIANE STRUZZI STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
So, his family and friends took to the Peaks of Otter Amphitheater on Wednesday. Under an overcast sky - where droplets of rain fell for a few moments before the service, then subsided - they gathered to mourn and to rejoice in his memory.
Bates was cremated, his ashes spread over a nearby trail. His favorite song, "Imagine," by John Lennon, was played. Afterward, his younger sister released a butterfly, which made its way, first to the ground, and later to the air.
Eighteen years old with a broad smile, Bates embodied life, with all its troubles, laughter and sorrow.
He was the victim of a May 11 car crash on Franklin Road. Roanoke County police officers had tried to stop him for driving without his headlights on. Instead of pulling over, Bates accelerated, leading police on a chase into Roanoke on Interstate 581.
He had been drinking and was not wearing his seat belt. When the car crashed at the Franklin Road exit, Bates was thrown through the closed passenger-side window.
Three days later, he died at Roanoke Memorial Hospital. Quietly. With his family by his side. If he had been wearing a seat belt, he probably would have survived his injuries, authorities say. His blood-alcohol level registered 0.10 percent.
Bates' story is one of a child troubled by his parents' divorce and marred by alcohol abuse.
"Jason was a difficult child who at the same time was wonderful, loving and funny," Catherine Hnat, his mother, said. "I've had years to practice for this event. I just did not feel he would have an easy road ahead of him. I've had years to practice for this and I've had to lose him in other ways."
Hnat first lost her son to peer pressure that, she says, led him to drinking at 14. He continued despite counseling sessions, she said.
When he was 17, he got involved with three boys who had stolen a car in Lynchburg, Bates' hometown. The four made their way to Florida. Bates was charged with felony theft in the incident. He was sent home to await trial; during that stay, he stole three handguns from his parents' home.
Hnat and her husband, John, filed charges against their son. Bates first went to a secure, juvenile detention center and then to Discovery House, a halfway home for juvenile offenders. The state-run house on 2nd Street Southwest in Roanoke helps juveniles make the transition into adult life. There, they are required to hold a job, maintain a bank account and pay restitution for their crimes.
Staff members at Discovery House would not discuss Bates, other than to say everyone was saddened by his death and receiving counseling.
Hnat said Bates had seemed to be progressing. His job as a cook at Old Country Buffet in Southwest Roanoke County was helping him to save money. On the night of May 11, he had earned the privilege of time away from the house. He got together with friends and had borrowed a car from one of them, according to authorities. His curfew that night was 10 p.m.
Roanoke police responded to the crash scene about 9:30. Bates was unconscious, with severe head injuries. The Hnats got the call from police around midnight.
From almost the moment Catherine Hnat saw her son at the hospital, she knew.
A priest was administering last rites. Doctors were explaining that oxygen was not making its way to her son's brain. Then she saw her son's eyes: fixed and dilated.
"That made an impression of a lifetime," she said. "I knew then he wasn't going to pull through."
She carried out her son's wishes that he be an organ donor. Then she and her family returned to their Lynchburg home to complete his other wish - to be cremated and his ashes spread at Peaks of Otter.
Hnat said she hopes talking about her son's life will make teen-agers realize there are avenues for help and that the risks they take affect themselves and everyone who loves them. Every child contemplating drinking or driving without a seat belt should have to follow a family through this whole "mess," she said.
At Wednesday's memorial, John Hnat said that he had not prepared any speeches, that he wanted what he had to say to be natural. He loved his stepson, he said, and always would.
At center stage in the amphitheater was a memory table that included handpicked flowers held tightly by a blue ribbon, a Mickey Mouse hat, a handwritten note reminding people to wear their seat belts, and a cigarette. Among the objects were framed photos of Bates as a boy and as a teen-ager. In each, he was smiling.
Most said they would remember Jason Bates for that smile and the way he made them laugh. His aunt, Nora Sheridan, said her lasting memory isn't as bright.
"I remember the sadness of him telling me that all he wanted was to be happy," she said. "That's the part that touches my heart because it's the part that we couldn't get to. And I can't do anything about his pain now."
by CNB