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TOULON, Illinois — When Stark County High School senior Hillary Kelly learned that three of her schoolmates had been killed and two others injured in a crash Nov. 29, she picked up her Bible and headed for the school to join an impromptu gathering in which she wound up playing a prominent role.
"I guess because I had my Bible, they thought I was going to lead the service," she recalled Monday after a school assembly that brought back sharp memories of the crash and also asked students to reflect on their reactions to further developments that have included the student driver recently being charged with serious criminal offenses.
Because of her role that night, Kelly was later asked to join Principal Mike Domico in participating Monday in a presentation by a youthful Chicago-based performing arts troupe that emphasizes "messages which are hopeful."
The music-and-drama session incorporated references to the crash on a rural road outside Kewanee. A narrator for the group, which includes 15 performers ages 11 to 21, showed large photos of the three teens killed and also of the mangled vehicle police say was traveling 91 mph.
Killed were passengers Levi D. Berg, Kelsey F. Clifford and Bradley D. Wood. Passenger Theodore Fritch and driver Morgan Blakey of Toulon were injured.
Blakey, 19, of Toulon was recently indicted on charges of reckless homicide and aggravated driving under the influence of an intoxicating aerosol chemical that he allegedly was "huffing" or inhaling that day. He remains in the Henry County Jail in Cambridge in lieu of $100,000 bond.
The MWAH! program also referred to other DUI-related fatalities and suggested that people involved in those had given in to peer pressure or otherwise not made "the right choices."
But Kelly urged her schoolmates to renew the bonds that brought them together after the accident. Since then, she said, they have too often fallen back into patterns of bullying and fighting over things that were temporarily set aside in their shared grief.
"We need to come together," she told fellow students.
In an interview later, Kelly said conflict among students had increased in some ways since the criminal charges were filed. That has resulted in people "taking sides," she added.
"Everybody's entitled to their opinion," she said. "But there's a difference between doing what's right and telling everybody else that they're wrong."
Domico said in an interview the conflicts seem to be "typical stuff" for teens in high-pressure situations. But he said he was so impressed and moved by the way students came together after the accident that he wanted to push them to set that as their standard.
"Don't revert back," he told them. "I know it hurts right now, but we can do this. We can graduate a unified senior class. We can get there."
Domico also emphasized the school's determination to prevent bullying.
"If you report it, we'll take care of it," he told the students. "Make sure everything is above board in our school. That's what makes us Stark County."
Gary L. Smith can be reached at (800) 516-0389 or (glsmith@mtco.com).
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