Last year on Christmas Eve in Tarpon Springs, a little Italian seven-year-old boy named Sean Scalici and his loving mother Kimberley were returning home when a drunk driver came out of nowhere and crashed into their jeep. This horrible wreck began a great tragedy. Kim, as she was known to her family and friends, was ejected through the canvas top. She flew up into the air, and when she came down landed on her head.
Sean survived but was badly shaken up. His only outward injuries were a few scratches. Inside, his soul was torn apart and may never be the same again. The happy child he once was, is no more.
His poor sweet mother's fate, however, was a different story. She was mortally wounded. As she lay on the side of the road being attended to by emergency medical personnel trying to save her life, Sean sat just a few feet away and witnessed a sight that no child should ever have to see. He saw his mother's head crushed in, it was forever beyond repair. Few adults could stomach seeing trauma like that, let alone a small child who had just witnessed the murder of his mother. Sean was frightened. He was all alone as the emergency people had their hands full trying to help his mother. Don't you remember Lord, he was sobbing when he cried, "Mommy, Mommy, I want my Mommy!" But no miracle on earth could return the mother to the child.
Sean was destined to never again get a hug from his mother. The next morning, Christmas morning, his father, Larry Scalici, had to tell his young son that "mommy has died and gone to heaven." And that is how she came to live with you God. That is how a lot of your angels get there. And that is also how Sean lost his Christmas spirit and had his Christmas ruined forever. Many people in Clearwater knew his dad, he was a security guard who was well liked, but now he has soured too.
So in a split second, one drunken driver changed the lives forever of everyone who knew and loved Kimberly Scalici. Barbara Wolf, Kim's mother was very close to her only child. Words can not describe how much she misses her daughter. But you can cut her grief with a knife. Kari Leiphart, Kim's very best friend said loosing Kim was simply horrible. "We were like sisters, we did everything together." I got to tell you Lord that Kari cries a lot about the loss of her friend. So do a lot of other people.
Not a day goes by that Kim is not remembered by those who loved her.
And the one who loves her and misses her the most is her only child, her boy Sean Scalici. Now he is suffering unbearable grief and will for years to come, according to his doctors. He is in perpetual shock. He sometimes has night terrors, bouts of crying and periods of depression. He is one very sad and lonely little boy. On more than one occasion he has come to his step-mother, Diane Scalici, with his bike, and told her he wanted to find out where you, God, lives so he could go see his mother. And lately as Christmas approaches, Diane has reported to me, that he has been taking pictures of his mother and placing them face down on the shelves in his room. He does not want to remember, it is too hard for him. He is only eight years old now and in the second grade. Such suffering for a small child is simply not right. And what I have described is only the tip of the iceberg of his trauma. He is just one example of a very serious problem that threatens or affects the life of literally everyone in our country.
Lord, I've got to tell you that Sean is not alone in his grief and suffering. There are millions of Americans in the same boat. I've seen victims sobbing at memorial services for their loved ones. The grief lasts forever for many of them. It never goes away. This past Sunday I saw a little girl, named Danielle Nicola whose 8-year-old sister, Stephanie, was killed last year by a drunk driver just 3 days before Christmas. Her Christmas is ruined too. I saw her bury her face in her mother's shoulder as her sister's name was read from a list of those dead by drunk drivers and a bell was rung to honor her name. Her body shook with sobbing. "I miss my sister awful." she said. Whose heart could not ache for her dear God or all the other victims?
It is like that all over the country God. Millions of victims are grieving. Wheelchairs are full of them. Since 1970 in the United States alone more than 400,000 people have been killed in alcohol related crashes. Millions more have been seriously inured, crippled or maimed for life. Drunk driving you see is a leading cause of brain damage and spinal cord injuries. I call this nightmare America's Greatest Tragedy. I wonder what you will call it dear God; what you will do about it? The suffering among your people, dear Lord, is almost impossible for mortal people to comprehend. The statistics are staggering. It is as if Satan is gleefully running amuck on our streets and highways with a butcher knife slaying and injuring innocent people at random. Anyone could be next. One new death from drunk driving occurs about every « hour and a new injury every few minutes. This great slaughter goes on every single day, seven days a week with no let up in sight. No one is safe. And that is a fact.
Lord, please understand that more people have been slaughtered by drunken drivers than have been killed in all the wars our nation has ever fought. Why is this not one of the most important health and safety issues of our day? Who is blocking the way to real reform?
Why can't news editors wake up and demand our politicians do something about all this? Why can't they do stories about the solutions to drunk driving and not just the gore of the wrecks and the anguish of the victims? Are they all asleep at the switch? Are all the politicians bought off by the alcohol interests? Why don't they seem to care? Or do they and simply don't know what to do. Show them the way, deal Lord, please show them the way.
And God, despite a lot of progress that was made nationwide starting around 1980 by victim groups who organized to fight this terrible scourge, what they have done has not been enough and did not result in the right type of reform. They did their best, but last year deaths from drunk driving went up 4 percent nationally for the first time in a decade. Shouldn't that be a red flag for everyone? Obviously, much more needs to be done? The question is exactly what more and how can we do it?
Here in Florida deaths from drunk driving shot up 11.7 percent in 1995 compared to the year before. And people reading this newspaper ought to be frightened out of their wits because in Pinellas County drunk driving deaths skyrocketed 51.9 percent since 1993. Our streets in this community simply are not safe. Few people know that arrests are down substantially from the best efforts our community tried, yet the police and sheriff claim they are doing a good job. How can that be true if deaths are up so much? Why the big lie?
God, if those figures are accurate or anywhere near correct, then there must be an evil force at work among your children. What is it and what can we do about it? President Clinton said last year "This may sound unbelievable, it's certainly unacceptable. But over 40 percent of all Americans will be involved in an alcohol-related crash at some time in their lives." But no one seems to have heard him.
That statement from our President, the skyrocketing death toll in Florida and our local community, and the plights of poor little Sean and Danielle scares me to death God. I shudder to think about all the new victims who don't know they are next in line. But the President, the Congress and our local elected leaders are not doing anything truly effective to protect us from this menace. Won't you please put it into their hearts that aggressive and effective reform is long overdue and it is their moral and sworn duty to protect the public from the wholesale slaughtering taking place. Will you show them the way? And while you are at it, can you touch drunk drivers and let them know about Sean? Maybe some of them might not do it again.
Will you do something about all this God? Will you? Will you send forth your angels to turn the tide of this great American tragedy around? Can we lock arms as a nation and say we will tolerate drunk driving no more? Can we finally get the drunk drivers off the road? Please will you do that for us? We need a miracle Lord, can you send one down?
And is it possible to give back Christmas to Sean? Can you do that too? Please God, understand that his father is out of work right now, probably because of grief and that his step mother is only earning $6 an hour. Money is tight. And although his relatives have bought him some toys, they are not enough to do the trick. He needs more, he needs to know the love of us all. He needs to know that his mother's death will not be in vain and that we all care. That America Cares and that good people across the nation will work to stop this insanity we call drunk driving.
Thank you God for listening about the plight of a little boy who loves you and harmed no one. We await your response. And we pray for a good one. I love you God, please do your best.
