Teens try to discourage peers from drinking and driving

 HAYMARKET, Va. -   The only survivor of a crash that took the lives of two teenagers earlier this month near Haymarket is recovering.

Last week, the 16-year-old girl returned home from the hospital for the first time since suffering a broken hip in the crash that killed 15-year-old Derek Meffert and 18-year-old Steven Dixon.

Alcohol was a factor in the crash, police said.

“She’ll be in a wheelchair for two months, and she’ll have physical therapy to work the leg muscles and her coordination,” said her father, Tom Roselius, who didn’t want to release her first name. “Right now, the school has put her on the homebound program, which allows teachers to come to the house to make sure she maintains her education.”

She could make a return to school during the second semester in 2011.

Both Meffert and Dixon had left a concert a Jiffy Lube Live on Aug. 14 when the girl called them and said she wanted to hang out. The two boys then went to pick her up, said her 18-year-old brother, Garrett Jacob Roseluis.

She was in the back seat when Dixon lost control of the car, collided with an Acura on Logmill Road and overturned into a ditch, police said.

The driver of the Acura did not suffer life-threatening injuries.

Garrett Roseluis has been helping to take care of his sister since her return from the hospital. He said the crash has been tough on his friends and family, who know all the pain of loosing someone due to a crash.

“This year has been pretty bad when it comes to accidents. I don’t know what’s going on, but its pretty brutal,” said Roseluis.

Spreading awareness

In the wake of the crash, 19-year-old Courtney Clay, who also knows the recovering girl, is out to change the minds of teenagers who might drink and drive.

“She didn’t deserve what happened to her, and it’s hard knowing that sometimes your friends’ lives could be in the hands of someone that is highly intoxicated and behind the wheel on Logmill Road, every Friday and every Saturday night…I know that any moment could be their last, so it has really made me cherish my friendships,” said Clay.

Clay, like all of the other teens touched by this tragedy, all come from the Battlefield High School community.

Now, she has pulled her friends and other teenagers together to form a new nonprofit organization called Friends Against Losing Lives, or F.A.L.L.

She and about 30 others gathered in Haymarket on Friday evening to raise awareness of the group’s efforts, encouraging teens not to drink and drive, not to harass, bully or abuse each other, telling them it’s more important to be alive than to make a poor decision that could change their lives forever.

“It’s different when you have a bunch of adults telling you what to do, telling you where to be and to do your homework. It’s different when you have your own peers telling you that drinking and driving is not OK,” said Clay.

Meffert’s parents also attended the show of support for the new organization, where they sold treats to raise money for the new group.

“It’s very impressive to see kids come together and do something outside of themselves. And do something for someone else while not only caring about themselves, but to maybe make a difference in the community,” said Tom Roselius.

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