By Lauren Brown
Burns Times-Herald

In April, Crane and Burns high schools will both undertake an intricate program designed to make students more aware of the dangers of driving while intoxicated.

The program titled, “Every 15 Minutes,” involves staging a realistic accident in which police, Air Life and firefighters respond. A 125-page manual accompanies the program, indicating that there is a lot involved with staging this  event.

At the March 11 Harney District No. 3 School Board meeting Burns High School (BHS) leadership teacher Eric Nichols and leadership students Sarah Fitzpatrick, Logan Garner, Matt Ogata and Conor Colahan gave a detailed presentation on how the program will play out.

The project has special meaning for Nichols who was the victim of a drunk driving accident years ago. “This is a big, big deal,” he said. All of the students at the high school as well as the community members will be affected by it, he noted. Statistically, every 15 minutes somebody dies in an alcohol related accident.

Nichols said he was first approached about the program by Ty McNab who had been involved with the program at a high school he attended elsewhere. McNab’s younger brother now attends Crane Union High School, and he wanted him to go through the same experience. Under the supervision of advisor Larry Conaway and the CUHS senior class, Crane will put on the program April 9 and 10. The mock accident and aftermath will take place in Burns on April 23 and 24.

Ogata told the board how the leadership class had to come up with about $8,000 for the program. State Farm Insurance donated $5,000 to the cause. Students collected an additional $3,000 in donations from local businesses.

The students have had to organize a student retreat, contact and schedule speakers and confer with local agencies regarding the program.

Fitzpatrick noted that as part of the program, a student will be pulled out of class every 15 minutes to physically illustrate how many people die from alcohol-related accidents. A policeman will come in and read the student’s “obituary” and the student will then go to the retreat area for the remainder of the two-day program. There, they will not be allowed to have contact with the rest of the student body or their families. Students who are pulled from class will be chosen ahead of time and will have to have their parents sign permission slips.

The mock accident will take place at 10:30 a.m. April 23 on Saginaw Avenue near the track. At 10:55 a.m. there will be a 9-1-1 recording played on the school’s intercom and at 10:56 a.m. the fire alarm will go off. Teachers will escort their classes to the track area, where students will watch the crash scene unfold.

Make-up artists will make the vehicle occupants look like they’ve been involved in a crash. One person will be declared dead at the scene, one will be Air lifed out, one will be taken to the hospital, and the intoxicated driver will be arrested and taken to jail. The firefighters will then clean up the accident site and students will return to class, where teachers will have an opportunity to talk with students about what they just witnessed.

The accident “victims” will be taken to the student retreat site.

While all the students know the accident is a simulation, there will be counselors on hand to deal with students who have an emotional response to the situation.

A video crew will document the entire event, and the following day a “funeral” will be held in the form of an all-student assembly, where the video from the previous day’s events will be shown. A luncheon will follow the assembly, and all of the students involved in the program will be invited. T-shirts will be made up for all BHS students to remember the event.

Nichols and the leadership students want to make sure the community is aware of what is going on so that the mock accident doesn’t take anyone by surprise.