Monroe High School opening for grieving students
Published 11:13 pm Sunday, December 30, 2007
MONROE — Classmates of Thomas Turner, a 17-year-old Snohomish teen who died in a crash on U.S. 2 near Gold Bar on Friday, should have somewhere to go and talk about the death of their friend today.
Normally schools make grief counselors available to students when one of their classmates dies. With Monroe High School closed until Jan. 8, school officials worried that students grieving for Turner, a junior at the school, would attempt to gather at the crash scene.
The crash occurred along a narrow and curvy stretch of U.S. 2 that would be dangerous to visit, police said.
So school officials decided Sunday to open the school at noon today.
“We just want them to have a safe place to gather,” said Rosemary O’Neil, spokeswoman for Monroe Public Schools. “The idea is to keep them safe and close to home.”
Grief counselors will be available to talk to anyone who shows up, or the students can simply gather and talk among themselves, O’Neil said.
Turner was killed instantly Friday when the vehicle he was a passenger in crossed the centerline on U.S. 2 and crashed into an oncoming vehicle. He and two friends were returning home from a day of snowboarding at Stevens Pass.
Loren Lloyd and Shannon Fretz, both 17 and from Snohomish, suffered life-threatening injuries in the crash. On Sunday they remained under treatment at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Lloyd, a former Monroe High School student, was in satisfactory condition. Fretz was in serious condition in intensive care.
A Mount Vernon couple riding in the other vehicle also was injured. They were transported to Valley General Hospital in Monroe and then were released Saturday.
The accident occurred along a narrow section of U.S. 2 near a blind curve, said trooper Kirk Rudeen, a spokesman for the Washington State Patrol.
“It’s not the best location” to gather for a memorial, Rudeen said. “It would be much better if they were at the high school just because there’s not a whole lot of room anywhere. We realize that this is an extreme tragedy, but we also don’t want to have another tragedy there.”
Continued bad weather also could make it difficult for drivers to see anyone on foot, he said.
He called opening the school today “a great idea.”
“It gives (students) the chance to meet with counselors and go through the grieving process in an area where they have support around them and in an area where they can do it safely,” Rudeen said.
Reporter Lukas Velush: 425-339-3449 or lvelush@heraldnet.com.
Memorial service
A memorial service for Thomas Turner is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at Cascade Community Church, 14377 Fryelands Blvd., Monroe.
Doors open
Monroe High School plans to open the doors to its commons area at noon today so students grieving the death of Thomas Turner can have a place to gather before school resumes on Jan. 8. Plans are to have grief counselors available to any teens who want to talk to them. The school is at 17001 Tester Road, Monroe.
