CLEAN-CUT KIDS DON'T DRINK, DO DRUGS, DRIVE

I object to the reporter's adjective describing them as "clean-cut
kids."

What does that comment have to do with the facts of the incident? They
foolishly drank, did drugs, and drank some more, and now one of them
is dead. (Which, for you other clean-cut kids reading this, means gone
forever.)

In spite of more education in the schools, in spite of the hundreds of
newspaper and TV items every year that detail the results of drugs,
booze, auto, equals disaster, most teens seem to feel they are immortal.

It's not as if this was a deep secret. Teens behaving badly result in
fatal accidents, pregnancies, higher insurance rates, and parents who
mourn and whose lives will never be the same after these incidents. I
wonder if the adjective translates into platitudes like, "they come
from a good home," or "they've never done this before."

Parents may think those things of their teens but haven't got a clue
as to their kids' secret lives. Not all teens are acting out in the
way described, but too many are, and the difference between them is
just not getting caught yet.

As the mother of a 15-year-old who, as a result of taking a ride with
an inebriated driver and kids she did not know well, lost her life, I
know the pain these parents must be going through. I request that in
the future when incidents such as this tragedy are reported, you
present the facts, not a judgment as to who is or isn't clean-cut.

Drinking, drugs and driving do not equate to clean-cut in my
book.

Judith Koren-Shanahan

Peoria