Why We Walk: Phaedra Marriott-Olsen

Why We Walk: Phaedra Marriott-Olsen I never could imagine how much my life would change in just a matter of seconds. On May 11, 1996 everything was going as planned. My friends and I had decided to go to a concert at which we laughed, danced, and had a blast. No alcohol. No drugs. Just a group...

Carl McDonald's Story

Her small shoes are here with me. Size one and a half, white with embroidered flowers and small red hearts across the top of the toe. Long gone is the little pink metal flake bicycle with handlebar streamers, the yellow cross-country skis with cartoon characters that barely reached over three feet long. Gone is the...

Karen Labarbera

Day on the beach – Done A quick trip to Waldbaum’s Shop – Wrapped up Nails – Awesome looking! Devastate and destroy the life of a complete stranger because of the choices one makes – Irreversible That’s how Cathy Dubas describes the day of the offender, who spent the day drinking on the beach when...

Alexis McKinney

The Story Alexis McKinney was counting the days until her 16th birthday. She had so much to look forward to: the birthday party that her parents were planning to celebrate with friends and family, starting her first job, applying for her driver’s license, and driving the Jeep that her father had purchased for her. Like...

Brandon Lucero

Twin siblings have an inexplicable bond that is special in many ways. From sharing birth to life milestones their unique relationship forms as they grow up. For Ryan and Brandon Lucero, identical 16-month-old twins, this bond was cut short when a drugged driver decided to get behind the wheel and kill Brandon in a crash...

Christopher Cooley

Remember 13 years of age? Everything seems possible, spread before you like a buffet, simply waiting for you to start making those “adult” decisions that will alter the rest of your life.  That’s the precipice Christopher Croley perched — not still a child, not yet a man — the day before his 14th birthday. He...