Okay, this is long, and if you don't want to read it that's okay.
This is the jist of my post. I'm mad. I'm mad and frustrated and everytime I hear about this on the radio or TV, or my husband brings it up I feel like I am going to go over the edge.
And I don't even know the girls personally. This was not my school district.
Why then, I can hear you asking, are you so mad and frustrated?
BECAUSE SOMETHING JUST LIKE THIS HAPPENS ALMOST EVERY SINGLE SCHOOL YEAR RIGHT AFTER SCHOOL LETS OUT FOR THE SUMMER!
5 girls......count 'em FIVE, were riding in a car together on their way out to the lake at 10 pm at night. My daughter's boyfriend was traveling the exact same route at the exact same time of night only going the other way. He never saw the crash, but it must have happened within minutes of when they passed.
They are all gone. Everyone of them.
The drivers SUV crossed the center line and hit a tractor trailer..........it exploded in flames. The white picket fence and front yard of the people who live in the house right where the accident occurred suffered extensive damage from the heat and flames.........that's how hot it was.
I'm sick. I'm sick to death of this.
I want to cry out...STOP!
I want to grab those parents and say, "YOU KNEW YOUR DAUGHTER HAD A JUNIOR LICENSE! AND EVEN IF SHE DIDN'T.............WHY....WHY IN GOD'S NAME DID YOU LET ALL OF THEM DRIVE TOGETHER IN THE SAME CAR? COULDN'T YOU MAKE A SPECIAL TRIP BACK FROM YOUR LAKE, OR WAIT AT HOME UNTIL THEY WERE READY TO COME OUT SO THAT ALL THESE GIRLS DIDN'T HAVE TO RIDE TOGETHER?"
Oh.......but they WANTED to, you'll say.........they've graduated high school, donchaknow POH? What do you know anyway, POH, you old fogie?
Well, I know this..........that I have seven daughters.......and I wear myself OUT keeping track of their whereabouts and what they are doing.
I have 4 children, three girls and a boy, with drivers permits. They have driven that very same route out to the lake with our older son in the shotgun seat. You think I don't worry?
You would be DEAD WRONG.
But we NEVER let a child with a permit OR a Junior License drive with any one other than the older licensed driver in the front passenger seat. Even if it means that we have to do more of the driving ourselves.
Look at these beautiful girls.............gone............all gone.
It goes beyond sad.........it's NEEDLESS! It didn't need to happen.
Shoot! COM' ON! When are we going to LEARN?????
Gosh, I'm MAD! And I am very, very sad.
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June 28, 2007 7:02 am — The nine Fairport High School graduates had a day of relaxation planned: some sunbathing, some swimming, some boating.
With scorching temperatures expected to reach into the 90s Wednesday, a day at a Keuka Lake cottage seemed the perfect opportunity for the nine young women to relax together before they headed their separate ways for college.
But the outing ended in a fiery tragedy Tuesday night when a sport utility vehicle carrying five of the teens slammed head-on into a tractor-trailer in Ontario County, as the other four friends watched in horror from a vehicle following behind.
"It's a community nightmare. ... I'm personally devastated," school principal David Paddock said Wednesday. "Our hearts are broken. We love our kids and are crying."
Paddock opened Fairport High School at 6:30 a.m. today so mourners could gather. The flag was at half-staff this morning.
"Yesterday was easily the toughest day of my life," he said today. "I think it was for a lot of people."
He said he did not expect students to start coming until midmorning, because they had been at the school around midnight last night.
However, counselors will be available at the school all week.
He said the counselors were reaching out especially to the young women who witnessed the tragedy.
"It was overwhelming how much support there was for everyone yesterday," Paddock said. "I felt like I hugged a thousand people."
Even Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who was in Monroe County yesterday, left Paddock a voice-mail message. "He called to tell us he's thinking of us and asked if there's anything he could do." Paddock said he planned to return the call today.
Killed in the accident were Hannah Congdon, 18; Bailey Goodman, 17; Meredith McClure, 17; Sara Monnat, 18; and Katherine "Katie" Shirley, 18.
The nine friends, who graduated a week ago today, were heading to the Goodman family's cottage in two vehicles.
"We saw the truck and we all started screaming," said Keisha Koneski, who was in the second vehicle.
Bailey, who was driving her family's Chevrolet TrailBlazer, had passed a van, then slipped again into the oncoming lane, smashing into the tractor-trailer.
The collision of the two vehicles was so forceful that both erupted into flames. The driver of the truck was uninjured.
"The fire trapped the five girls in the SUV. They were unable to escape," said Lt. Bill Gallagher of the Ontario County Sheriff's Office. "Both vehicles were engulfed. There was no chance for rescue."
Said Sheriff Philip Povero: "This was ... a horrific accident (like) very few that we have seen in our years here at the Ontario County Sheriff's Office."
Most of the young women had participated on the high school's cheerleading squad.
"They were the nicest girls," said Elaine Deignan, the cheerleading coach. "They were the most respectful, pleasant and fun to be around. Just really good people."
A week ago, the nine young women — who had been close friends for years — walked across the stage as they basked in the formal pomp and circumstance of graduation at the Blue Cross Arena at the Community War Memorial. A future beckoned for each: One imagined herself teaching elementary school kids; another envisioned a career in communications; one already had marked the date for cheerleading tryouts at college.
However, friends being friends, they were not ready to leave each other. So they scheduled a return Wednesday to the Goodman family cottage — they'd also gone there after the recent senior dance — as a chance to spend what could be some final hours together.
On Tuesday evening, they left their homes in the two vehicles, planning to reach the cottage about 11 p.m.
"We were all best friends and we just wanted to go out and lay on the deck and go out on the boat," Keisha said.
The cause of the tragedy on the well-traveled road of Routes 5 and 20 in East Bloomfield may never be known. Shortly after 10 p.m., as the two vehicles with the graduates drove east, Bailey passed a van.
"It looks like she lost control and ended back in the westbound lane," said Gallagher of the Ontario County Sheriff's Office.
Sheriff Povero said that he would not know whether alcohol played a role in the accident until autopsies had been conducted by the Monroe County Medical Examiner's Office.
David M. Laverty, 50, of Olean, Cattaraugus County, was driving the tractor-trailer west on Routes 5 and 20 when he saw the SUV pass another eastbound vehicle in front of his rig, Laverty told deputies.
Police said Laverty told them the SUV made it back into the eastbound lane, then crossed back over the center line and hit his tractor-trailer.
Laverty tried to reach the SUV to help, but couldn't get close because of the intense heat of the fire. He could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
"It's clear that the fierceness of the impact caused various fuel lines (in the truck and SUV) to rupture," Povero said.
Keisha said the van that Bailey passed was driving slowly in the right lane. After almost passing the van, she said, it appeared Bailey may have thought the van was swerving toward her and she jerked back into the left lane, running head-on into the oncoming tractor-trailer.
Povero said the stretch of road is clearly marked and "visibility is quite good in both directions."
"I'm not aware of that particular stretch of road being of significant danger," he said.
Close behind in the other vehicle, the four friends could only watch in anguish as fire swallowed the SUV. The flames reached 50 feet in height, singeing electrical lines and burning through cable and telephone lines, Povero said.
The four were transported to the hospital, and released after doctors determined they were fine. Keisha said she hardly slept afterward, but found constant comfort Wednesday from her many friends. Whenever she began to cry — and that was often, Keisha said — somebody was always nearby to offer a hug.
Throughout the Perinton community Wednesday, similar and necessary expressions of support and condolences were common. In the early morning, as news of the tragedy spread, nearly 100 classmates and family gathered at the high school in a quiet solemn remembrance.
Paddock, the school principal, said they watched the sun rise together.
"The sun came up," he said. "I'm not sure we all thought it would."
Hannah and Sara were members of the Church of the Assumption in Fairport, where the daily 11:15 a.m. Mass was filled with friends of the victims.
"There were probably 300 kids here," said the Rev. Ed Palumbos.
On Wednesday night, another service was held at St. John of Rochester Church, where Meredith was in the church's Youth Group, followed by a candlelight vigil at the high school on Ayrault Road.
"The girls have gone to a better place," said Mary Claypoole, whose daughter Courtney Claypoole was a cheerleader who also graduated last week. "It's everyone else that's left that's going to struggle."
Kristina Chapell, now a rising junior at Fairport High, remembers her first day at the school — a day that can be so intimidating and imposing for new students who wonder whether some bizarre rite of hazing awaits them (and rarely does).
In the hall, she spotted Bailey, the cheerleader who had been designated to be her "Big Sister" the previous year when Kristina was on the freshman cheerleading squad. (Fairport High School includes 10th through 12th grades.)
"She saw me and said, 'Ohmigosh, it's my little sister,' and ran up to me and hugged me," Kristina remembered. That little moment of recognition eased her through the day, she said.
That sort of camaraderie was common among the cheerleading squad. Though each had their distinct personalities — some of them practical jokers, some of them taskmasters — the team members had a unique and unwavering bond, fellow cheerleaders say.
On Wednesday, many of them and their families spent hours remembering the traits of their friends who had died.
Among their recollections:
# Bailey was the team's entertainment, always kidding around. "She made everyone laugh," said Kelly Ludwig, a cheerleader who also graduated. "She always had the best jokes."
Bailey also found ways to keep her teammates comfortable, regardless of the intensity of competitive events, Kelly said.
# Hannah was like constant sunshine, smiling through thick and thin. "She was never negative," Keisha said.
"I don't think she's ever said a mean thing to anyone," said another teammate, rising junior Tracy Critelli.
# Katie, who was a Pop Warner cheerleader, had a similar joyful disposition, her friends and family say.
"She tried to keep people happy," said her father, Patrick Shirley. Katie loved to make scrapbooks and had covered her bedroom walls with hundreds of pictures of her friends. "They depended on each other," said her mother, Stephanie Shirley.
# Meredith was the team's hardest worker, diligent in her practice rituals and willing to attempt any stunt despite its degree of difficulty.
"She was always the first one to be jumping, to be tumbling — to do anything," said Tracy.
# Sara did not balk at giving orders — always in an amiable fashion. "She was the bossy one," joked Keisha.
Sara always had words of encouragement, and knew how to motivate, her teammates say.
The team gave itself a name — the 32 Angels for the 32 members of the squad.
Before each competition, they'd lie on their backs, hands held, and listen to the song "Angel" by Sarah McLachlan.
"That was their thing," said Sue Burggraf, whose daughter, Kellyn Burggraf, was a senior on the varsity squad. "They knew how to be good teammates. They knew how to support their school."
Never did they imagine that their support of each other would be as needed as it is now.
"They were angels on earth," Paddock said. "Now they are angels in heaven."
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June 28, 2007 4:10 pm — The young woman behind the wheel of a vehicle involved in an accident that killed her and four other teenagers Tuesday night was violating the conditions of her license and should not have been driving, according to state motor-vehicle records.
Bailey Goodman, 17, of Perinton had a class DJ, or “junior," license, according to the state Department of Motor Vehicles.
She and four friends, all recent graduates from Fairport High School, where pronounced dead at the scene of the accident on Routes 5 and 20 in East Bloomfield shortly after 10 p.m.
Witnesses said she was driving east to her family cottage on Keuka Lake when she swerved into the other lane and collided head on with a westbound tractor trailer.
According the DMV Web site, junior drivers in upstate New York:
# Must have an “accompanying driver” who is at least 21 years old.
# Cannot drive after 9 p.m. unless the accompanying driver is a parent, guardian or certified instructor.
# Cannot carry more than two passengers under 21 unless they’re members of the driver’s immediate family.
# Are allowed to have only the accompanying driver ride in the front seat.
Ontario County Sheriff’s Lt. Bill Gallagher, who is leading the crash investigation, said he was aware Bailey’s license prohibited her from driving that night.
“That’ll be looked at in the investigation,” Gallagher said. “Unfortunately, she is no longer with us.”
A friend of Bailey’s parents, Michael Goodman and Sharon Handler-Goodman, said the family was not prepared to talk about Bailey’s role as the driver.
