Two more die

[tonya]

June 5, 2006
Two teens dead in Holly Hill crash

HOLLY HILL — Two teenagers were killed early today when an SUV loaded with seven people went out of control on Flomich Street and crashed in to a pine tree, according to Police Commander Mark Barker.

Dead at the scene about 3:30 a.m. were David A. Mapp, 18, Daytona Beach, and Kyle Connoyer, 16, Port Orange.

Investigators are working to determine just where the teens had been prior to the accident, according to Barker.

The driver, William McGee, 17, Ormond Beach, voluntarily submitted to a blood test at the scene, administered by police to determine if drugs or alcohol were involved.

No charges have been filed pending further investigation.


Other news reports say the driver was going approx 65 MPH when he went over the railroad tracks on Flomich eastbound and lost control of the vehicle.

That is one of the trickiest curves in Holly Hill. I've often wondered why they haven't straightened it out on the east side of the tracks.

Of course that doesn't mean to say the teen as obviously speeding, but got to wonder about Flomich Street there.

And, ummm, one more thing before I go tonight.......

I guess this hits home for two reasons. First because I have have a teenage son who I hope and pray drives cautiously, and two, because I was was one of the most hazardous teenage drivers in Holly Hill 30 years ago. But I never sped on Holly Hill streets (not enough room for play). Instead I did some idiotic stunts on Nova Road, John Anderson and the Seabreeze Circle as it used to be back in '75. I'm not bragging, I'm thankful I didn't wreck and/or take somebody out with me.

This accident is horrific and my prayers and thoughts go out to all of the families involved. Been there, just luckier there were no deaths in my crash on a dirt road. That's when I slowed down

Tonya

[tonya]

Well BeeGee, when the parents are asleep and the kid slips out his wondow @ 3AM, there is little a parent can do to control this. Kids that age, and I was there once, have NO FEAR. It's not until an accident or simply with age do they realize the dangers LIFE has.


And Phoenix, you can talk til you drop to a teen, citations, restrictions, nope, none of that will do much good. I believe it takes a close personal experience to wake them up. (airbags are an eye opener)!

Tonya

[Calcasieu]

I'm not so old that I can't remember the freedom my drivers license gave me.

These kids were celebrating their newfound freedom.

They learned quickly not to mess with a 2-ton vehicle.

The only good that can come from this is if a few local teens learn that, yes, it can happen to you, too.

[IncogNITO]

I have to agree with BeeGee Tonya. While there are some parents who have teens that are uncontrollable through no fault of their own, the number who have teens that are uncontrollable because of a direct lack of parental supervision and discipline seems astronomical. Case in point I had only one student to fail. He did not turn in one single homework assignment nor passed a single test. I had 10 parent teacher conferences with his parents.
Yet they filed yesterday a grievance against me. It isn't going anywhere because I make the parents and student sign the work plan we come up with to help the student. Parent's never brought the kid to any of the tutoring sessions and he never walked to school for them himself. Yet on any given school night I could find him at the local movie theater at 11:30 pm waiting on his mom and dad to pick him up and take him home. He has been picked up 13 times last year for breaking curfew. His parents paid the fine and went on as if nothing happened. While the parents file the grievance against me they paid next years tuition. Wonder how long they are going to pay to have him in the 11th grade. This will be the third year for him. The school has already decided to put him in special ed classes even though he IQ and standard test scores are good. But that is the only way he will ever get out of school. But I don't really expect him to last all of next year. I expect he will kill himself somehow or someone else and end up in jail. His parents bail him out or blame everyone but him and themselves for his misdeeds and lack of discipline. This is how a majority of parents operate these days.

JMayo

[tonya]

I know what you guys are saying. I'm not referring to the repeat teen delinquent, but rather to a young teen that may, yes, know they shouldn't speed or sneak out of the house to be with their friends, but at some point and time EVERY TEEN will do something they know they shouldn't. Unfortunately, that one time could lead to a situation like this accident. In this particular case, yes, he'd been warned once and that didn't seem to change anything.

Tonya

[reason]

beegee said:

I see all kinds of excuses here for their actions but no one seems willing to touch upon the fact that these young people having reached the age of reason still don't seem capable of accepting responsibility for doing what is right!
What they have done, and are doing right now, to their parents, shows a continuing breaking down of the moral values in our society. The very fact that there are some who would excuse this aberrant behavior, as a rite of passage towards new found freedom, is one of the underlying reasons for their attitudes which need adjusting in the worst way! As I said before, one of these young people will carry the burden of the killing of two of his friends and the physical harming of the rest and because of the circumstances may just do some jail time before all is said and done!! And again, at the risk of repeating myself, what a terrible waste of humanity and all because they refused to do what they had to have known was right!!

I know it may seem like I'm picking on you, BeeGee, but again, I think you're missing out on an important point.

You talk about these kids having reached "the age of reason", as if magically on their 18th birthday they are endowed with the maturity they didn't have the day before. I think this to be oversimplified.

They were youngsters. People at twenty, or even thirty, tend to do things they would consider foolhardy at fifty. To say that these unfortunate kids should have been "capable of accepting responsibility for doing what is right" is unrealistic--they haven't had the life experience that older adults have.

Life isn't black and white--there are lots of shades of grey in between.

[tonya]

It's easy to say they shouldn't have, they knew better. But they are just kids who had no malicious intentions that night. I hope the driver was not DUI. He'll face serious charges of manslaughter.

There is clearly a difference between a teen who just wants to joy ride versus a teen who just wants to kill a homeless person because they are bored ......


Tonya