The Tragedy
Crash kills teens Three other youths
hurt when car hits tree on 'Dead Man's
Curve' , 9-06-98
By TIMOTHY O'CONNOR, Times Herald Record
Staff Writer
BULLVILLE – Two Pine Bush High School students
were killed early yesterday morning when the
driver of the car they were riding in missed
a curve and slammed into a tree.
Anita Christian, 16, and Robert Edwards, 17,
died in the 3:40 a.m. crash on Route 302 near
Muller Road, State Police said.
The driver, Brian Durkin, 20, of Middletown,
was airlifted to Westchester Medical Center
with internal injuries. His condition could
not be learned last night.
Edwards and Christian were riding in the
front seat with Durkin. They were pronounced
dead at Horton Memorial Medical Center.
Two other youths, riding in the back seat,
were injured.
Daniel Smith, 19, of Middletown, suffered
minor injuries. He was taken to Horton
Memorial Medical Center, treated and released.
Eric Jennings, 21, also of Middletown, was
admitted and in stable condition last night.
None of the passengers was wearing a seat belt,
State Police said.
The 1985 black Ford LTD was traveling north
on Route 302 when the accident occurred,
State Police said.
"It appears they were speeding,"
said Investigator Robert Leary, noting
that the investigation is continuing.
The posted speed limit is 55 mph on that
section of Route 302.
Durkin has a valid driver's license,
State Police said. Local residents call the
stretch of road "Dead Man's Curve."
"It's a really curvy part of the road,"
Kimberlee Rose said. "I woke up to flares at
5:30 this morning."
Edwards and Christian "were really close
friends," said Vinnie Meyers, Edwards'
foster father for the past two years.
"Anyone Robby came in contact with became a
really close friend."
Edwards had struggled at home in Middletown,
was skipping school and eventually was
placed in foster care, family members said.
But he remained close with his Middletown
family and stayed with them on weekends.
And it seemed he was turning his life around.
"He was thriving in Pine Bush," said
Cissy Edwards, his half-sister. "It was a
180-degree turn when he went to live with
the Meyers." Her brother wanted to be a
truck driver and was "finally looking toward
his future," she said. Robert Edwards had
even started training as a volunteer
firefighter with the Pine Bush Fire
Department, Meyers said.
Christian's mother "is distraught,"
Meyers said. He and his wife were consoling
her yesterday afternoon in their home.
"It's just a bad situation," Meyers said.
School offers counseling in wake of
deaths, 9-8-98
By TIM O'CONNOR, Times Herald Record
Staff Reporter
PINE BUSH – Pine Bush High School will have
several staff members available for
grief-counseling sessions today, the first
day of classes since two sophomores died
over the weekend.
Anita Christian, 16, and Robert Edwards,
17, died early Saturday morning when the
car they were riding in missed a curve on
Route 302 in Bullville and slammed into
a tree.
Funeral services for Christian will be
held at 10:30 a.m. today at the Infant
Savior R.C. Church in Pine Bush.
The funeral was scheduled for Dewitt
Funeral Home, but the funeral director said
the home is not large enough for the
anticipated crowd.
"The church is a much bigger building,"
Adrian Dewitt said.
The church offered the family the use of
the church, but the funeral will not be
a Catholic service because Anita was not
Catholic, Dewitt said.
Edwards' funeral is scheduled for 11 a.m.
tomorrow at the Morse Funeral Home in
Middletown.
The investigation into the car crash
continues, State Police said. Brian Durkin,
20, the car's driver, remains in Westchester
Medical Center. The family would not
authorize the hospital to comment on his
condition.
Eric Jennings, 21, another passenger, was
injured and remains in stable condition at
Horton Memorial Hospital.
Pine Bush High School officials will allow
students to attend Christian's funeral if
they have permission slips signed by their
parents. The school planned to make the
permission slips available last night at
the funeral home during her wake, said
Richard Reich, the Pine Bush district's
director of guidance. A full complement of
the school's five guidance counselors,
four social workers and a psychologist will
be available today. "We've been on this
since around noon Saturday," Reich said.
Counselors will seek out Christian's and
Edwards' closest friends at the school today
to make sure they are all right.
"We're not waiting for them to come to us,"
he said. "We don't want them drifting
through the day."
Moving service for Pine Bush student
who died in wreck, 9-8-98
By TIMOTHY O'CONNOR, Times Herald Record
Staff Writer
PINE BUSH – Clerics from three Christian
denominations spoke and sang warm words
of resurrection Tuesday at the Church of
the Infant Saviour during funeral services
for Anita Christian.
Friends and family wrapped their arms
around her mother, Maria, like a
blanket as she sat in the front pew.
Just a few feet from the flower-laden brown
casket of her only child, Anita Christian's
mother shook with grief.
The 16-year-old died in a car crash early
Saturday morning on Route 302 in Bullville.
Another teen, Robert Edwards, also died.
Three other passengers, including the driver
of the car, Brian Durkin, were injured.
Chaplain Robert Hewitt eulogized Anita,
telling her story as a cautionary tale.
He warned other youths to avoid Anita's
fate. He said Anita's mother asked that the
warning be given. "She doesn't want this to
happen to you," he said. "Parents, go home
and kiss your children," he said. "Children,
think of the consequences of your actions."
Anita made the same mistakes all people make,
he said. "But when you make a bad choice you
can die."
At her graveside, though, George Vachaviolos
eulogized the responsible teen who took care
of his 5-year-old daughter. "We will make
sure she never forgets you," he said. He
called Christian an "angel."
Alexandra takes Ritalin and other medications
for her hyperactivity and other disabilities,
he said. The family trusted Christian to give
their daughter her medications, he said.
While Jacqueline Vachaviolos was recovering
from double-knee surgery, Christian stayed
with Alexandra for eight hours at a time.
The child has outbursts and can be difficult
to handle sometimes, her parents said.
"But she was always good when she was
with Anita," she said.
Christian was more to them than just a baby
sitter, they said. "She was like a daughter,"
he said. "Nothing we ever asked of her was
too much."
The Vachavioloses have not told Alexandra
that Anita is dead. They said Alexandra
thinks that Anita is at home with her mother.
"Maybe when she gets older, we will be able
to tell her," he said.
In a Christmas card she wrote to Alexa last
year, Anita expressed the "unparalleled joy"
she received from taking care of her. "I hope
as you grow older," she wrote, "you still
remember me and all our time together."
"When you laugh and giggle," she wrote,
"I hear angels sing."
Since Anita's death, Alexandra has been on
her best behavior, George Vachaviolos said.
"I think it's because Anita's with her all
the time now," he said, "like an angel."
Grieving mom warns teens
to be careful, 9-9-98
By TIMOTHY O'CONNOR, Times Herald Record
Staff Writer
PINE BUSH – Clerics from three Christian
denominations spoke and sang warm words
of resurrection Tuesday at the Church of
the Infant Saviour during the funeral for
Anita Christian.
Friends and family wrapped their arms like
a blanket around her mother, Maria, who
shook with grief as she sat in the front
pew just a few feet from the flower-laden
brown casket of her only child.
The 16-year-old died in a car crash early
Saturday morning on Route 302 in Bullville.
Another teen, Robert Edwards, also died.
Three others in the car, including driver
Brian Durkin, were injured.
Chaplain Robert Hewitt eulogized Anita,
telling her story as a cautionary tale.
He warned other youths to avoid Anita's
fate. He said Anita's mother asked that the
warning be given.
"She doesn't want this to happen to you,"
he said. "Parents, go home and
kiss your children," he said. "Children,
think of the consequences of your actions."
Anita made the same mistakes all people make,
he said. "But when you make a bad choice
you can die."
At her graveside, George Vachaviolos
eulogized the responsible teen who took care
of his 5-year-old daughter. "We will make
sure she never forgets you," he said.
He called Anita an angel.
Daughter Alexandra takes Ritalin and
other medications for her hyperactivity and
other disabilities, he said. The family
trusted Christian to give her the
medications, he said.
While Jacqueline Vachaviolos was
recovering from double-knee surgery,
Christian stayed with Alexandra for eight
hours at a time. The child has outbursts
and can be difficult to handle sometimes,
her parents said.
"But she was always good when she was with
Anita," she said.
Christian was more to them than just a baby
sitter, they said. "She was like a daughter,"
he said. "Nothing we ever asked of her was
too much."
The couple have not told Alexandra that
Anita is dead. They said Alexandra thinks
that Anita is at home with her mother.
"Maybe when she gets older, we will be able
to tell her," he said.
In a Christmas card she wrote to the child
last year, Anita expressed the "unparalleled
joy" she received from taking care of her.
"I hope as you grow older," she wrote, "you
still remember me and all our time together.
"When you laugh and giggle," she wrote, "I
hear angels sing."
Since Anita's death, Alexandra has been on
her best behavior, Vachaviolos said. "I
think it's because Anita's with her all the
time now," he said, "like an angel."
Edwards' funeral is today.
Another youth buried from
accident, 9-10-98
By TIMOTHY O’CONNOR, Times Herald Record
Staff Writer
MIDDLETOWN – Soft pink light caressed the
face of Robert Edwards as he lay in his
casket at the Morse Funeral Home Wednesday.
Electric candles flickered beneath the
cascading flowers arranged on both
sides of the casket. Mourners whispered
condolences to the inconsolable, his mother,
Carol Healy.
And "Boom, Boom, Boom," pulsated throughout
the funeral home. It was his favorite song,
said Nicole Delgado, 17, a friend for most
of Edwards’ 17 years.
"It’s how Robbie would have wanted it,"
she said. "He was always happy, always
trying to make people smile."
The boisterous house music cap-tured
Edwards’ spirit, his friends said.
Outside the funeral home, his friends
smoked cigarettes and laughed at sweet
remembrances as they cried through swollen
eyes. "Last night, we all sat together
looking at pictures of Robbie and laughing,"
Del-gado said.
They have been each other’s strength since
Edwards’ death over the weekend.
Edwards and Anita Christian, 16, died in a
car crash on Route 302 in Bullville early
Saturday morning. The driver, Brian Durkin,
20, remains in Westchester Medical Center.
"I can’t remember how many times Robbie gave
me his shirt when I was cold," Beth Bennett,
14, said. Bennett ran her fingers over three
purple cuts in her left arm. "I made them
Satur-day, one for each when I thought Brian
was dead, too," she said.
She held up a piece of red glass that she
said was a piece of the car she took from the
site of the crash.
"I used it to make the cuts," she said.
Bennett and her sister, Leslie, 16, had spent
the evening with Edwards and Durkin at Danny
Smith’s house. Smith was injured in the crash
as well. They said Durkin was not drunk, but
wouldn’t say whether he had been drinking.
They do not hold any animos-ity toward Durkin
for what happened.
"He and Robbie were so tight," Les-lie
Bennett said. "He’s doing OK physically, but
he’s shot mentally."
Edwards spent his life making other people
happy, Jason Howard, 19, said.
"He was the best friend a man could ever
ask for," Howard said. "If some-thing was
wrong, he would hold you or crack jokes until
you laughed."
The laughter and the smile are what his
friends will miss most, they said.
"We talked about how we were going to be
hanging together when we’re 80,"
Leslie Bennett said. Their lives have changed
forever, his friends said.
Nearing the end of the service, a friend
hugged Leslie Bennett and asked if she was
going to be all right.
Tears rolled down her face. "No," she said.
Police Blotter Orange County
Court, 1-5-99
Times Herald Record
Grand jury indicts driver in fatal one-car
crash. A Middletown man was indicted
yesterday on manslaughter charges stemming
from a car crash that killed two people
last year.
Brian Durkin, 20, of Grand Avenue, was
indicted on charges of second-degree
manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide,
vehicular manslaughter, assault and vehicular
assault, felonies. He also was charged with
third-degree assault, a misdemeanor.
On Sept. 5, Durkin was driving on Route 302
near Muller Road when he missed a curve and
his car hit a tree.
Anita Christian, 16, and Robert Edwards, 17,
both students at Pine Bush High School, were
killed in the crash. Daniel Smith, 19, of
Middletown, suffered minor injuries, leading
to the misdemeanor assault charge. Another
passenger, Eric Jennings of Middletown, also
was hospitalized. Durkin's blood-alcohol
concentration at the time was .10, which is
exactly the criminal threshold. He's out on
bail, pending further court proceedings.
Durkin was among the last people indicted by
the November-December term of the Orange
County grand jury. Two other indictments
were handed up yesterday.
Driver pleads guilty to causing 2
deaths, 6-2-99
By TIMOTHY O'CONNOR, Times Herald Record
Staff Writer
GOSHEN – Brian Durkin stood before Judge
Pano Patsalos yesterday in Orange County
Court and admitted he caused the deaths of
Robbie Edwards and Anita Christian, two Pine
Bush High School students, on Sept. 5.
About 15 feet behind Durkin, Christian's
mother, Maria, leaned forward in her seat as
Patsalos asked Durkin, 21, if he realized he
now faces a sentence of three to nine years
in state prison. The Middletown man's left
leg shook as he answered, "Yes."
Patsalos asked Durkin a series of questions
about the night of Sept. 5.
Durkin admitted to drinking beer with his
friends and then crashing his 1985 Ford LTD
into a tree. He admitted he was speeding at
the time but did not know how fast he
was going. Investigators estimated that the
car was going faster than 75 miles-per-hour
at the time of the accident.
"Did such conduct cause the death of another
person," Patsalos asked.
"Yes," Durkin said, "Robby Edwards and Anita Christian."
Durkin pleaded guilty to two counts
of second-degree manslaughter and one
count of misdemeanor driving while
intoxicated in a plea deal yesterday.
He was facing up to 30 years in a jail
on a 14-count indictment stemming from
the car crash on Route 302 in Bullville
last September 5.
Christian, 16, and Edwards, 17, were riding
in the front seat with Durkin heading toward
Pine Bush after a night of drinking in
Middletown when Durkin lost control of the
car on a curve. Durkin admitted yesterday to
drinking half of a 40 ounce bottle of beer
earlier on the night of the crash. Then he
had more beer when he and the others split a
12-pack of Budweiser, he said. He did not say
how many beers he had that night.
The car crashed into a tree, killing Edwards
and Christian. Durkin was airlifted to
Westchester Medical Center with internal
injuries. Durkin is due back in court on
July 22 to be sentenced. He left the court
without comment, free on his own recognizance.
Christian's mother left the court a few
minutes later, family members surrounding her
like a blanket. She gasped for air between
sobs, her eyes raised to the heavens.
Drunken driver sentenced in deaths of
two friends, 7-23-99
GOSHEN: Brian Durkin will serve two-and
-a-half to seven-and-a-half years in jail
for causing the deaths of Robbie Edwards
and Anita Christian.
By Timothy O'Connor
The Times Herald-Record
At the defense table in courtroom No. 2 in
Orange County Court yesterday, Gary Abramson
pleaded with Judge Pano Patsalos to sentence
his client, Brian Durkin, to probation for
killing two Pine Bush High School students
last September in a Route 302 drunk-driving
car crash.
On a peach-colored faded-velvet bench,
Maria Christian started to rock. When
Abramson finished, Durkin, 21, from Middletown,
made his own case for leniency for the car
crash that killed Christian's daughter,
Anita, 16, and Robbie Edwards, 17. The two
were passengers in the car Durkin was driving
when he slammed into a tree after drinking
several beers in the previous hours.
Maria Christian stopped rocking and started
to shake as Durkin spoke about the night her
daughter died. "The only reason I was
drinking that night is because Anita told
me she was going to be driving back to Pine
Bush," Durkin said. "All I was trying to do
was get Anita back home."
Anita Christian had not been drinking.
By the time Patsalos was ready to pronounce
sentence, Maria Christian was casting her
eyes toward the gray ceiling, her chin
quivering. Patsalos ignored Durkin's pleas
and sentenced him to two and a half to seven
and a half years in state prison for killing
Edwards and Christian.
Durkin pleaded guilty last month to two counts
of manslaughter and one count of misdemeanor
drunk driving. He had faced a 14-count
indictment and 30 years in jail before the
plea deal. Yesterday, Christian asked Patsalos
to impose the harshest sentence – 3 to 9 years
– on Durkin for killing her only child.
"Brian Durkin cut down my family tree,"
she said. "I'm 36 years old and I have nothing
to look forward to."
After Durkin was cuffed and led out, two
grieving camps set up outside the courtroom.
Maria Christian, her family and friends
huddled together in tears.
Some 10 feet away, Durkin's friends, including
members of Robbie Edwards's family, cried for
Edwards and Durkin.
Edwards's cousin, Danny Smith, 20, was in the
car crash that killed Edwards and Christian.
He emerged with a few minor scrapes and a
lifetime of regret. Yesterday, he bemoaned
the loss of his cousin and the fate of his
friend. Durkin is not emotionally stable,
he said. He fears that Durkin will harm
himself in jail – perhaps commit suicide.
"They might as well have sentenced him to
life in jail," he said, tears rolling down
his face. "It wasn't supposed to happen
this way. This wasn't the way it was supposed
to end up."
Good times end with a crash, 8-9-99
By Timothy O'Connor
The Times Herald-Record
That was it. She'd had enough of the three
clowns in the back seat. Anita Christian had
her fill. Their jokes, snickering comments,
and laughter had rung in her ears since she
started the car a few blocks back, outside the
Teplitz junkyard on Industrial Place, just a
few miles out of the City of Middletown.
Barely 16, a newly-minted learner's permit in
her pocket, she drove slow – too slow for the
car full of critics.
So, she pulled the black 1985 Ford LTD over
at the corner of Maples Road and Highland
Avenue. She switched places with Brian Durkin.
She got in the passenger seat, he took the
wheel. Eric Jennings, Robbie Edwards, and
Danny Smith sat in the back.
On the night of Sept. 4, the five friends
piled into Brian Durkin's mom's car. All of
them except Anita Christian has been drinking –
like they had so many times before.
This time it was different. Two of them wound
up dead, and a third is in prison.
Little hiccups of fate killed Anita Christian
and her friend Robbie Edwards. Brian Durkin's
luck ran out, sending him to prison.
If Robbie Edwards had been bounced to a
different foster care family, he and Anita
might never have met. They wouldn't have become
so tight that they had to hang out together
that Friday night – even if only for a couple
of hours.
* * *
Robbie Edwards was the connection.
Danny Smith, 20, and Robbie, 17, were cousins.
More than that, they'd been buddies since
they were little kids. Smith called Robbie
his best friend. He met Brian Durkin through
Robbie. Brian and Robbie had been friends
since they met at Chorley Elementary School.
Brian, 20, also called Robbie his best friend.
And Anita called Robbie her best friend as well.
They met after Robbie moved in with the
Meyers family just down the road from her
in Pine Bush. Robbie was put in foster care
after his class-cutting in Middletown became
habitual.
Robbie still stayed in contact with the crew
he ran with in Middletown. He went back to
Middletown most weekends to see Brian, Danny,
and Eric. He was a universal get well card,
his friends said. He broke up their fights.
He patched up their differences. He comforted
them when their romances went awry.
"Anyone Robbie came in contact with became
a really close friend," said Vinnie Meyers,
his foster parent. Anita became as close to
Robbie as his friends in Middletown.
Anita was the honor roll student who baby-sat
60 hours a week. She took care of a 5-year-old
girl with multiple learning disabilities and
became the little girl's favorite thing in the
world. Social worker, psychologist, writer –
she had big dreams, Maria Christian said of
her daughter. Maria Christian liked Robbie.
He mowed her lawn when she had a bad back.
"He was a good kid when he was with the
Meyers," she said. When he went back to
Middletown on the weekend, though, he was a
different kid, she said. She never liked
Brian Durkin. She thought he was disrespectful.
She told him to stay away from Anita. But Anita
loved being with Robbie. That meant being with
Brian, as well. Robbie and Brian were
inseparable when Robbie was in Middletown.
When Robbie headed back to Middletown that
Friday last September, he and Anita arranged to
meet later. He'd hang with his friends, drink
a little, then pick her up around midnight,
they agreed. Durkin had the wheels, his
mom's car. The same one in which he'd been
caught doing 77 miles an hour in a 55 mph zone
in 1996. Brian Durkin had a 40-ounce bottle of
beer when he, Eric Jennings, and Robbie showed
up at Danny Smith's house early that evening.
He drank most of it, and gave the rest to
Jennings and Edwards. They knocked around
Smith's front porch. Danny had gotten a six-
pack of Heineken earlier.
More beer meant more noise. Everyone was happy.
Robbie was cracking jokes, making everyone
laugh as usual. As the gang in Middletown
lounged on Danny Smith's front porch,
Anita Christian watched the clock. Her mother
rode the exercise bike in the living room.
Anita had bought a tape of the movie
"Titanic" and urged her mother to watch it on
the VCR in her bedroom. A little after 10:30
p.m. Durkin slipped behind the wheel to go to
make the 20 minute trip to Pine Bush to get
Anita. They had no money, and they wanted
more beer. They knew Anita would have some
money. They parked down the road from Anita's
house. Maria Christian had, indeed, retired
to the bedroom a little after 11 p.m. She had
no idea Anita had plans. After all, the girl
had to be up at 5 a.m. the next morning to go
baby-sitting. Robbie Edwards sneaked through
the darkness. Tap, tap, tap on the glass of
Anita's bedroom window. Back down Route 302
they went toward Middletown. They broke off
to Wally Mart on Route 211 for more beer.
21-year-old Eric Jennings was the only
one with ID. He bought a twelve-pack of
long-neck Budweisers with Anita's money.
They sat on the hood of Durkin's car,
drinking the beers and listening to music
on WRRV. Brian Durkin chugged four or
five beers in about an hour.
Danny Smith, Robbie Edwards, and Eric Jennings
drank at a more leisurely pace.
Anita was the only one who did not drink.
They finished the beers, the empties tossed on
the dirt. Anita had to get back home. She knew
her mother would be at her bedroom door in a
couple of hours to wake her up to go
baby-sitting. So, Durkin took the wheel
without hesitation on the corner of Maples
Road and Highland Ave. He had driven drunk
before, drunker even, Danny Smith said.
Besides, he would have driven back from Pine
Bush after they dropped Anita off anyway.
The jokes stopped, he turned the radio up and
stepped on the gas. He picked up the pace as
they headed toward Pine Bush – 40, 50, 60,
70 miles an hour. A little after 3 a.m. on a
clear Friday night, Route 302 was nearly empty.
Music pumped through the stereo. The car with
its dim headlights ripped up the road through
the darkness. He was doing 80 miles an hour
when he approached the sharply banked curve
off Coutant Road, police said later.
As he lost control of the car, the car's
speed dipped. But just a little. He was doing
75 as the car left the road and headed for the
trees. A 55 MPH speed limit sign was the
first thing the car clipped. It ripped a steel
leg off the sign. The back of the car on the
driver's side cracked into a telephone poll.
The car spun a little after that. The passenger
side took the brunt of the punishment when the
car slammed into a dead tree, forming a "V" as
the metal and plastic wrapped around the bark.
All Danny Smith remembers is sitting on the
side of the road asking about Robbie. Then he
woke up in Horton Medical Center's Emergency
Room asking the same thing. Like Eric Jennings,
Smith got lucky. They suffered assorted cuts
and bruises. Durkin was airlifted to
Westchester Medical Center with internal
injuries. He was arrested in the hospital
and charged with causing the deaths of Robbie
Edwards and Anita Christian. In June, he
pleaded guilty. Two weeks ago he was sentenced
to two and a half to seven and a half years in
state prison. The probation report prepared for
his sentencing said he showed little remorse
for what he had done. Danny Smith said Durkin
does have remorse, he just doesn't know how to
show it. Smith didn't deal well with what
happened, either. After the crash, he spent
the next six months in his room. "I laid in the
dark," he said, "and smoked a lot of pot,
frankly." He broke up with his girlfriend.
He's thinking about suing Durkin's car
insurance company, maybe taking the money and
moving to Alabama with his father.
He still thinks about the last time he saw
Robbie. Smith lay three curtains away from
Robbie Edwards, but no one would tell him
where Robbie was. He tried ripping the IV line
out of his arm and the heart monitor off his
chest. Finally, his mother brought him a
wheelchair so he could go see Robbie. He
wheeled himself through the curtains and saw
Robbie laying on a bed, a white sheet puled up
to his chest, his eyes open. Robbie was pale
and cold when Smith picked him up in his arms.
He kissed him and laid Robbie back down.
Before he left, he leaned down and closed
Robbie's eyes. Maria Christian woke up early
that Saturday morning. Anita had to baby-sit,
and Maria was her 5 a.m. wake-up call. As she
padded down the hall to Anita's room, she saw
a police car pull up outside the house. Must
have pulled someone over, she thought.
Maria Christian knocked on her daughter's
bedroom door just as the police knocked on
her front door.
Tragic story holds lesson for teens
before prom night, 6-8-00
PINE BUSH: A mother's tragedy becomes a
class lesson.
By A. Tacuma Roeback
The Times Herald-Record
Marie Christian's soul was shaken when her
daughter died 21 months ago. She's not been
the same since. But as soon as she gripped
the microphone yesterday, her body stopped
trembling. The story of Sept. 5, 1998,
tumbled from her lips: "I went to open
Anita's door and it was locked."
Christian discovered that her daughter
sneaked out of her bedroom window earlier
that morning. Minutes later, two police cars
pulled into her driveway. "They told me that
my daughter was dead," said Christian.
She thought, "She wasn't dead, she was in her
room." But her only child did die.
Anita Christian and friend Robbie Edwards were
killed instantly when the car they were riding
in crashed into a tree on Route 302 in
Bullville. Anita wasn't drinking, but the
driver of the vehicle later testified to
drinking half of 40 ounces of malt
liquor and splitting a 12-pack of beer.
Christian chose to tell her story to 250
Pine Bush High School seniors preparing for
their Friday prom. "It's our way of driving
home the point that when they go to
the senior ball," said high school Principal
Patrick Michel, "they'll know the consequences
of drinking and driving." Christian's speech
capped off a crash simulation by the Town of
Crawford Police, Bullville Fire Department,
and the Pine Bush Ambulance Corps.
Student performers – garbed in tattered
T-shirts, smeared with ketchup – were splayed
against the dashboards of two wrecked vehicles.
But one person among a sea of teen-age faces
couldn't watch. For Christian, who sat alone
at a picnic table, the memories the accident
scene evoked were too real. "I couldn't watch
the mock crash," she said. When Anita was just
20 months old, her mom moved her away from her
father, whom she says was an alcoholic.
"I didn't want that to hold her back," she
said. "Alcohol ended up killing her."
She spoke about the dreams her daughter held.
Anita thought about becoming a child
psychologist or a writer. She dreamed about
traveling to Greece and Spain.
She worked her way to the high honor roll.
If anything, Christian hopes that her talk will
teach students that they're not invincible.
It certainly got through to one of her
daughter's good friends. Sherrie Waizenegger
cried when she heard Anita"s mother speak.
"I made the choice not to drink and drive
because of Robbie and 'Nita," she said.
In Memory Of Anita Christian & Robbie Edwards
Email: snazario@hvc.rr.com
