By Jim Planck Columbia-Greene Media
DURHAM — Students at Cairo-Durham High School were witness to the tragic results of a two-car, head-on collision behind the school Wednesday afternoon, as area fire, emergency rescue, and law enforcement personnel presented an enactment of bad decision-making on prom night.
Gerry Buckley of the Cairo Fire Department narrated the scenario to the students via loudspeaker as it unfolded, stressing that whether it was drinking alcohol, texting or any other form of irresponsible driving on prom night, the results change lives forever when people die or are paralyzed.
Buckley said that in the scenario, students had gathered at a pre-prom party, where a parent had allowed underage drinking. A head-on collision took place later, resulting in the death of two students and charges of vehicular manslaughter filed against both drivers.
On hand to carry the scenario through with dramatic realism from beginning to end, playing their roles based on the real-life scenes they encounter, were personnel from Cairo Volunteer Fire Company, East Durham Volunteer Fire Company, Oak Hill-Durham Volunteer Fire Company, Round Top Volunteer Fire Company, New York State Police, State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation, Greene County Sheriff’s Office, Cairo Police Department, Cairo Ambulance, Durham Ambulance, Greene County Emergency Medical Services, Greene County Coroner Richard Vigilo and Cairo Town Justice Tanja Sirago.
Buckley said later that all the volunteers for the demonstration are there because they are dedicated to saving lives.
“This is my 11th year doing it,” Buckley said. “We all feel it is very important to the students of the community, so that they’re aware of the danger of drinking and driving and its consequences, and also for the parents that allow students to drink underage.”
State Police Sgt. Michael Sarayno agreed, stressing the importance of prevention by focusing on the dangers.
“We want to do our best to correct and address issues upstream,” Sarayno said, “and educate the teenagers about the prom and not drinking and driving.”
Sarayno also said that road patrols are increased for events like prom night to help prevent drunk drivers from being on the road and not causing a fatality — or becoming one.
“We don’t want the numbers to go up,” he said.
Cairo Police Department Officer-In-Charge Sgt. Richard Busch also stressed the benefit of the demonstration.
“It’s very important,” Busch said. “This is really to show the kids to make the decision to not drink and drive, that’s the biggest thing.”
“If we can save people’s lives by showing them what can happen if they make the bad decision to drink and drive,” he said, “that’ll change everything.”
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