TMCnet News
Friends remember the four Santa Fe teens killed in crashJun 28, 2009 (The Santa Fe New Mexican - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- One was to be captain of Santa Fe Prep's cross-country team next year. Another was a budding artist and gardener. A third was passionate about recycling and conservation. All were members of the Santa Fe community. All left behind lives, friends and families. And all are apparently now the latest victims of New Mexico's notorious drunken driving history. "I've been doing this for 29 years," said Santa Fe County Undersheriff Robert Garcia. "These people, they don't get it. Watching them remove those bodies (early Sunday morning) -- it was heart-wrenching. There's no need for this." Rose Simmons holds her sister Hazel in this family-submitted photo. Simmons was among four Santa Fe teens killed in an early morning crash on Old Las Vegas Highway. A memorial service is being organized at 6:30 tonight at Santa Fe's Cathedral Park downtown. ------ Rose Simmons, 15, Julian Martinez, 16, Alyssa Trouw, 16, and Kate Klein, 16, were killed instantly early Sunday morning when Owens -- who police said was driving in the wrong lane on Old Las Vegas Highway while apparently drunk -- plowed in to the 1992 Subaru sedan in which they were riding. Avree Koffman, 16, who was driving the Subaru, was in critical condition Sunday at University Hospital in Albuquerque. Owens, 28, received only minor injuries in the crash and is being held on four counts of vehicular homicide and one count of causing great bodily injury by vehicle at the Santa Fe County jail. Chris Carraway, a student at Monte Del Sol Charter School, said Sunday that the teens were heading to a get-together at someone's house in Eldorado. He said he almost decided to follow Koffman out to Eldorado but ended up making different plans. Carraway said none of the teens had been drinking prior to the crash. Grieving in Santa Fe Amarante Anderson, who attended Monte Del Sol Charter School with Simmons and Martinez, said he was hoping to hang out with his two friends Sunday before he heard about the crash. "I was just about to give Julian a call," he said. Martinez, Simmons and Koffman attended summer school at Monte Del Sol together, he said. Julian Martinez, artist in the making Martinez, who came to Monte Del Sol a year ago, liked graffiti and urban art and tagged using the moniker "psyk," Anderson said. His nickname was "Jesus" because he used to have "really, really long hair," he said. "He was a pretty good tagger and he could draw pretty well," Anderson said. Martinez also liked skateboarding and gardening. Anderson said he helped Martinez create and maintain a small plot in the school's garden that included vegetables like potatoes and chard. "It's still there," he said, "and it's doing better than all the others. He was really into botany." Rose Simmons and Avree Koffman, friends and environmental stewards Simmons "was a pretty social person who liked to hang out with people a lot," Anderson said. But her main interest was in sustainable living and protecting the environment, he said. Simmons would frequently encourage classmates to recycle and helped start a program at Monte Del Sol that put recycling bins in each classroom, Anderson said. "The activism thing was the biggest thing about Rose," he said. Koffman attended Monte Del Sol previously, went to a different school and planned to come back to the charter school for the upcoming school year, Anderson said. And though he didn't know her well, Koffman was close friends with Simmons and was into some of the same sustainable living principles as her friend, he said. Kate Klein, a tenacious spirit Kate Klein wasn't the fastest member of Prep's cross-country team, but what she lacked in speed she made up for in tenacity and passion for running, said Emma Hamilton, a member of the team who graduated this year. "One of the things that was so amazing about her was that she was not very fast," Hamilton said. "But she was, by far, the most dedicated person on the team. She just loved the sport and she was a really good leader. She was a really important member of the team. We were really excited for her to be captain." Klein also was kind and helpful to others, Hamilton said. "She was the nicest person you'd ever want to meet," she said. "She was really open and caring. You don't always meet people who are so fun to be around." The crash that took her friend's life was shocking, she said. "I just can't even really believe it," Hamilton said. "It's so horrible and sad. Everyone will miss her so much." Jim Leonard, head of Santa Fe Prep, agreed. "You live, to some extent, in fear of this if you work with teenagers or have them like my wife and I do," he said. "(But) you never expect this is going to happen. It's such a tremendous loss to the school, to the community and to the families. It leaves you speechless." In addition to her kindness and dedication to cross-country, Klein also was a smart young woman, Leonard said. She won a prestigious award from Bryn Mawr College last year for showing "a real love of learning and the life of the intellect," he said. Alyssa Trouw, an original thinker Trouw also was a gifted student, Leonard said. "She was very independent-minded -- a real sort of original thinker," he said. "She was a kid who marched to beat of her own drummer." Trouw particularly liked doing community service at St. Elizabeth's Shelter, hanging out with her friends, reading literature and discussing ideas, Leonard said. "She was a very sharp young woman," he said. Prep will be open from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Monday to provide space and counseling to anyone from the community who needs it, Leonard said. Contact Jason Auslander at 986-3076 or :[email protected]. Observances planned On the Internet, people are organizing a memorial service 6:30 tonight at Cathedral Park (Click here for map and driving directions). A community gathering is also being planned at Monte del Sol High School (Click for map and driving directions) from 3-5 p.m. on Monday. The public is invited to attend, said Anne Salzmann, interim head learner at the school. Santa Fe Prep is also holding a gathering Monday 930-11:30 a.m., which is also open to the public. (Click here for a map and driving directions) Connect with your community Dear Readers, If you would like to share photos you have of any of the victims of this crash, please feel free to email them to [email protected]. If we get responses from you, we will assemble a photo gallery of what we've received and publish them to our Web site. Please include in the email the names of the people pictured, what you're doing and when the photo was taken. We will also accept your works of art -- poetry, letters or drawings for submissions online. On Twitter, we will be using the hashtag #DWIcrash with tweets regarding this story. You can visit our page on Twitter: http://twitter.com/thenewmexican . Santafenewmexican.com asks, also, that you email us with any additional information you might have if you were in the area of the crash around the time it occurred or knew anyone involved. Please include a phone number at which a reporter may contact you. Henry M. Lopez Web editor Comments on this story are being attached to out main story of the day. Please follow this link and scroll to the bottom of the page to submit your comment. To see more of The Santa Fe New Mexican, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.santafenewmexican.com/. Copyright (c) 2009, The Santa Fe New Mexican Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |