The Pantagraph

March 08, 2009

Forum focuses on making right choices

Patti Welander Email
of The Pantagraph

PONTIAC -- Josh Jahn misses his family -- his wife, Amanda, and two children Ryan, 3, and Kaitlyn, 11 months -- and the "simple things" they used to enjoy.

"I miss knowing my son will never grow up and play baseball. I miss knowing my daughter will never get to go to her own prom," the Dwight man said. They were killed Nov. 6 when another car smashed into a car driven by Jahn’s wife. Authorities say the other driver was drunk and ran a stop sign.

Speaking to nearly 200 junior and senior high students from Livingston County during an Operation Snowflake Conference Saturday in Pontiac, Jahn said his wife and children were "victims of someone else’s bad choices."

The students, who sang, danced and laughed during other parts of a 90-minute program, were absolutely silent, many with tears in their eyes, as Jahn spoke in front of a photo of his family taken a week before the accident.

"I implore you as I stand here today to make the right decisions, so you don’t have to realize you made the wrong ones and send someone else’s family away from them," he said.

Jahn’s presentation was part of a performance by MWAH! (Messages Which Are Hopeful), a troupe of 14 pre-teen and teenage students from northern Illinois. The troupe’s director, Ray Moffitt, said the performance focused on "choices and the importance of continually striving to make the right ones."

Besides promoting making the right choices about alcohol, the troupe focused on intolerance, bullying, eating disorders, teen relationship problems and child abuse. The troupe also honored youth heroes, ones who face tough situations and respond positively.

One of those honored was conference attendee Darian Hamilton. The Odell eighth-grader was diagnosed in January with Ewing’s sarcoma, a form of bone cancer, and is undergoing treatment at the St. Jude Midwest Affiliate in Peoria.

Even Jahn’s message was one of hope. Before the presentation, Jahn said he enjoys speaking to groups about drinking and driving.

"Anyone can be angry," said Jahn. Instead, he said his energy is better spent focusing on people, which is something that would have been close to his wife’s heart.

Jahn said he may work at some point to address the laws in Illinois, which allow those convicted of driving under the influence to get their license back until their fourth conviction. The woman who faces trial in April over the accident that killed Jahn’s family had previously been convicted twice for driving under the influence.

"I haven’t been given that opportunity yet," Jahn said of lobbying to the change the law. "But I can’t say that I won’t do that sometime in the future."

The Operation Snowflake Conference was a 12-hour event which also included workshops, games and small-group discussions. The goal is to help youths learn to avoid or deal with "dangerous situations," such as drugs and alcohol, said co-organizer Jack Bristow.

"We tell the kids at the end of the day to tell someone else about what they learned," Bristow said. "They are only one, but they are one."

MWAH! can be found On the Net at: http://www.mwah.net/

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Josh Jahn speaks to nearly 200 junior and senior high school students from Livingston County during an Operation Snowflake Conference Saturday in Pontiac. He spoke about the loss of his wife and two children when a drunk driver hit the car his wife was driving. A family portrait of Josh, his wife, Amanda, and their children, Ryan and Kaitlyn, appears in the background. That photo was taken several days before the crash. Josh appeared with the MWAH! Performing Arts Troupe as part of a 90-minute performance covering a variety of youth-related issues.