THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 19, 1995 TAG: 9503170155
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY GARY EDWARDS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
Prom night should be a memorable occasion for years to come, not the tragic end of a brief life.
That was the message 75 local high school students heard from speakers at the kickoff of the 1995 Prom Promise Campaign at the Pembroke Mall theaters recently. Sponsored by Nationwide Insurance Co., the effort is aimed at getting high school students to sign a pledge not to drink and drive on prom night. The company will present more than $21,000 to Virginia schools. Prizes are awarded to schools that enroll the highest percentage of students in the program.
The students heard some compelling evidence to persuade them to stay sober on their big evening this spring.
Princess Anne High School graduate and four-time world kick-boxing champion Curtis Bush told the students, ``People of all types - rich and poor, black and white, men and women - all have one thing in common: their word. Live by your word. Stand by your word no matter who tries to influence you.''
Dressed in his boxing uniform and wearing a world championship medal around his neck, Bush believes strongly enough in anti-drug, anti-alcohol work that he took time out of one of the biggest days of his life to deliver his message. He got married later that day.
Dot Kelley, a registered nurse and coordinator of the Trauma Center at Virginia Beach General Hospital, showed slides of automobile accidents that took or ruined young lives. However, she didn't call the scenes of horror accidents.
``These horrible deaths aren't accidents,'' Kelly said. ``These traumas are the result of bad decisions and bad behavior.''
The human body is not designed to travel at speeds of 65 or 70 mph and collide with pavement, steel and glass, she added.
Certainly the most riveting story of what can happen when people combine alcohol and drugs with driving was delivered by Bobby Petrocelli.
On the night of Oct. 25, 1985, Petrocelli kissed his wife of two years, Ava, good night.
``I rolled over and noticed the digital clock read 11:43,'' Petrocelli said. ``An hour later, I came to in my dining room with pieces of glass in my face and the headlights of a 3/4-ton blue and white pick-up shining on my living room wall.
``The man standing next to the truck asked me if anybody was in the house.''
Though Petrocelli didn't know it at the time, Ava was trapped beneath the truck, still on the mattress from the bed, the sheets tangled around her.
At the emergency room where he was treated for burns, cuts and tire marks on his arms and legs, Petrocelli was visited by a priest.
``He told me Ava didn't make it. I said, `What? Didn't make it to the hospital yet?' He said, `No, Bobby, Ava died.'''
Unable to free herself, Ava suffocated.
In 10 seconds, the driver traveled 313 feet from the corner of the intersection to the wall of Petrocelli's house. He was doing 70 mph. He had been drinking all day. His truck came to a stop 20 feet inside the house.
``Ten seconds,'' Petrocelli said. ``Are you willing to take 10 seconds and sign that pledge and save your life and the life of others?''
Trina Myers, president of the Students Against Drunk Driving at Tallwood High School, said that Petrocelli's style was as impressive as his message.
``He got us laughing first, got our attention and then told his story and made his points very powerfully,'' Myers said. ``It wasn't just dry and boring.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by CHARLIE MEADS
Teacher Susan Motley sponors the Students Against Drunk Driving
(SADD) club at Tallwood High. Some members are (from left): Trina
Myers, president; Lisa Hernandez, Alicia Horton and Amie Van
Winkle.
by CNB