Students warned that choices can be deadly
BETTE WINEBLATT KEVA
News correspondent

SALEM -- Beth O'Grady, sister of the late Steve O'Grady, cried throughout her speech to Salem High students yesterday. She wasn't the only one. Saying this was the first time she has "put into words how my family and I feel," O'Grady emphasized that the death of her 30-year-old brother "never goes away," even for a moment, even after eight months. O'Grady was killed in a car crash last year by a driver who was allegedly driving drunk.
Beth O'Grady's speech was the culmination of a week of special programs at the high school to educate teen-agers about the dangers of drinking and driving. O'Grady told of how caring her brother was toward the youngsters he worked with, that he wanted to adopt a child, that he was there to look after her when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Hundreds came to his funeral; the papers all carried the story. A memorial plaque at the Forest River Park Little League field is dedicated to him. During the ceremony, said O'Grady, she saw a little boy sitting on the roof of the clubhouse crying. She told students that she found her brother's list of 'Goals For The 90s' among his belongings at home. They were: to get married, have many children, graduate from college, visit five major league baseball fields, go to the West Coast, run for and win a seat on the Salem School Committee, buy a new Jeep, visit Washington D.C., lose weight, win the Little League championship, and watch the Red Sox win a World Series. "He was full of hopes. All his choices were taken away because of the choice of another person to drink and drive. It's important that you not forget why he's gone. Don't let Stephen's death be meaningless," she pleaded, as everyone in the auditorium rose to their feet to give her a standing ovation.
Two North Shore Medical Center nurses, Beth Coombes and Julie Bunn, showed a video of a fatal car crash in which two 17-year-olds died. No one in the audience coughed, no one sneezed, no one moved in their seat. They listened in silence as a female police officer gave details of driving to the family's home ("it's always the one with the lights on"), sitting in the living room amid family photographs, and delivering the tragic news. Salem Police Detective Michael Andreas then delivered his message, equally compelling. He spoke about the new, stringent laws on operating under the influence. Besides alcohol, the law covers marijuana, vapors of glue, narcotics, and stimulants. Finally, he told students about the department's new Toxalizer 5000 deep air machine, which can detect even one beer. With just .08 registered on the machine, "you have slowed reactions, impaired vision. You can't concentrate on two or more tasks."
If there is an accident, said the detective, "it doesn't even have to be your fault." If police detect alcohol, that person is in trouble. "If you have something like that on your record, it's going to hurt you."

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