My name is Brenda Lawler. I am Shana's Mom. At Shana's funeral the parents of Megan, Amanada,Angela and Mike wanted to get together with Paul and I to talk about our children. We are ten people who virtually did not know each other, except for a wave in the driveway when a kid was dropped off or a quick hello on the phone.
That meeting forged a bond between us that will never be broken. We knew that we could not let people forget about our children and the reason for their tragic deaths. Out of this meeting Precious Gems Memorial was born. The purpose of Precious Gems is to make our communities more aware of the dangers of drinking and driving. and to help change the way our court system handles DWI's , especially on the Outer Banks.
I have received countless letters voicing outrage as to the way drunk drivers are virtually given a slap on the wrist and I have read over and over again in the local papers, found guilty, suspended sentence, unsupervised probation.
I would like to write an excerpt from one letter I recently rec'd :
"I am at teacher at the Dare County Alternative School. Many, if not most of the students who attend this school have little regard for school rules and the law. They frequently engage in high risk, illegal, and immoral behavior. Despite multiple appearences in court, these students continue to exhibit aberrant behavior. Why shouldn't they? The consequences they receive from school and court are usually meaningless. I have highlighted a former student (dropout) from a recent court docket published in the Coastland Times to illustrate my point. This kid was one of the most disrespectful students I've ever taught. As you can see , his sentence was a joke, only I suspect you are not laughing.
The article is as follows "A seventeen year old" from Kill Devil Hills pleaded not guilty to possession of a malt beverage while being under 21, failure to stop at a stop sign and driving after consuming being under 21. Officer Allen Holland of the KDH Police Dept. testified that the teen ran a stop sign on Colington Road. When Holland went to talk with the teen, the officer smelled the odor of alcohol on his breath and found a cold can of beer behind the driver's seat. The teen had refused the Intoxilyzer. He was found guilty of all charges. The teen was ordered to pay court costs. For the remaining charges, he was fined $20 plus court costs. "
What are we doing to our children? My Shana, Megan, Amanada, Angela would be alive today if our court systems applied the penalities the laws provided for DWI. Everyone seems to be pointing their fingers at someone else. Whose fault is it? The police are doing their jobs , the system is not. Our judges need to enforce the laws in place and not allow personal prejudice dictate sentenceing, our prosecuters need to prosecute without the fear of pleading down charges because they feel juries won't convict and finally our jurors have to understand that driving is a privilege and not a right. If a person drinks and gets behind the wheel they need to know that they will lose that privilege of driving. If you are on a jury will you be apathetic and think it could have been me, I'm not going to convict this person? Could it also have been you driving that vehicle that killed 4- 17 year old children? Could it have been your child that was killed?. Judges and jurors, if it were YOUR child how would you do things differently?
The purpose of the Precious Gems Memorial is to help educate our communities in New Jersey and on the Outer Banks to the dangers of drinking and driving. Its monies will help fund a variety of awareness activities designed to help us always remember the girls we have loved and lost, and also to teach and practice responsible behavior when consuming alcohol. Its funds will also be used for investigative and legislative measures, but above all its goal is to educate communities to the need for a zero tolerance to drinking and driving. We intend to make a difference on the Outer Banks; we have to, for the sake of our children.
The Lawler Family
