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Event drives home message about drinking
(by Sue Hoffman - April 29, 2010)
Event drives home message about drinking
By SUE HOFFMAN
Lessons from the program "Your Life, Your Choice," presented to about 1,400 local high school students Tuesday at Parkside Church in Bainbridge go far beyond statistics.
"Our program is emotionally based," Chagrin Falls police officer Richard Goldsmith said.
Mr. Goldsmith spearheaded the annual event as a memorial to his daughter, Emily, who was a passenger in a car that was struck head-on by a drunken driver in 2002. The Kenston High School senior died five days after the accident, but her memory lives on.
Each year, Mr. Goldsmith describes the tragedy, which he said "just never ends," to another group of high school students so that they understand the ramifications of drinking and driving.
"We want them to realize their choices," he said about the program, which is given annually just before the prom and graduation season.
This year was especially poignant for him, Mr. Goldsmith said. Last month, Peter Glinatsis, the driver who caused Emily's death, concluded his seven years in prison and was assigned to a probation officer at a hearing at the Portage County Courthouse.
Mr. Goldsmith attended the hearing. "I have just as much contempt for him now as before," he said. "I have as much contempt for him as I do for the people he came in contact with that night who did nothing to stop him from driving. That's what gives me the drive to do this program."
In addition to Mr. Goldsmith, students heard from Aaron Cooksey, whose life, once filled with promise, turned tragic on July 29, 2001, when he was driving drunk with his friend Andrea. After taking his eyes off the road for a split second, he told students how his truck flipped over three times and wrapped around a telephone poll. Andrea was killed, and Mr. Cooksey received a four-year prison sentence and three years probation.
Following his years in prison, Mr. Cooksey became a motivational speaker. He returns each year to Parkside Church to tell students to think about someone they care about, and if they drink, find another way home.
Students also heard from an inmate at Grafton Correctional Institution in Lorain County who is serving a sentence for aggravated vehicular homicide. Filled with remorse, he implored the students to make the right choices.
Chagrin Falls Police Chief James T. Brosius, whose brother Charles was killed in 1974 when the vehicle he was driving to work was struck head-on by a drunken driver, was also present at the program.
Helping with the program were the Ohio Highway Patrol, Geauga County Sheriff's Department and police departments from Bainbridge, Bentleyville, Chagrin Falls, Chardon, Chester, Russell, Solon, South Russell, Kirtland, Perry, Warrensville Heights and Windham.
The audience included seniors at Berkshire, Chagrin Falls, Chardon, Kenston, West Geauga, Newbury, Kirtland and Perry high schools and members of Students Against Destructive Decisions at Solon High School.
Mr. Goldsmith coordinated the program with Sgt. Amber Dacek and administrative assistant Lisa Mariola, both of the Chagrin Falls Police Department.
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