The entire Salisbury High School auditorium grew uneasily silent — some teen-agers even shed tears — as Jason Barber described how he killed his own brother when he drove drunk a decade ago.
“If you don’t remember anything else about my visit here,” Barber pleaded, “remember this: Drunk driving is not an accident. It’s a choice. And it takes people’s lives.”
As local high schools prepare for proms, principals and counselors are hoping they’ll stay away from alcohol and drugs — and if they don’t — at least stay away from the steering wheel.
Barber, who is touring the nation to speak at high schools courtesy of beer maker Anheuser-Busch, also visited East Rowan High School Monday afternoon.
To understand the impact of drinking, students at East Rowan High will be able to don goggles Wednesday and drive golf carts around a course marked off by road cones.
The N.C. Highway Patrol will bring a recreational vehicle with two Breathalyzers and a mobile magistrate’s office.
At South Rowan High School, students held a mock DWItrial Monday that drew District Attorney Bill Kenerly, Judge Anna Mills Wagner, attorney Tom Brooke, retired court clerk Patsy Parnell and several law enforcement officers.
Woodworking students even built a witness stand and judge’s bench.
“I think they really enjoyed seeing it,” Principal Dr. Alan King said. “We’re doing everything we can possibly think of to get kids to say no to alcohol and drugs.”
South Rowan also has had exhibits and activities during lunch breaks. Thursday night, the school hosts a candlelight vigil in memory of victims of drunk driving.
As proms approach, local high schools are asking students to sign pledges that they won’t drink and drive — and will ask their parents to promise to pick them up if they need a ride.
Representatives from a group called National Stay Alive from Education (SAFE) visited three local high schools this week.
Emergency responders will talk about the consequences of drinking and driving at East Rowan on Wednesday, at West Davidson on Thursday and at South Rowan on Friday.
Barber, who lives in Phelan, Calif., read a poem Monday at Salisbury High that was written by the mother of a teen-ager killed by a drunk driver. He showed slides of people killed by drunk drivers — including his 15-year-old brother, Aaron.
Aaron died on Sept. 15, 1991.
He had just won a junior varsity football game for his high school, and the college football team Barber played for also had won.
It was time to celebrate.
“I thought that I was going to be a cool big brother,” Barber said. “I thought maybe I’ll turn him on to some of the things that I do. Maybe I’ll buy him his first drink. How stupid is that?”
Aaron, Barber and some of Barber’s friends drove to a lake in the mountains near the small southern California town where they lived. They split two cases of beer.
When it was time to go, Barber and a friend agreed to race their trucks back. That decision was deadly.
“I didn’t think Iwas drunk,” he said. “But when you’re intoxicated, you think that you’re doing a lot better than you are.”
Barber’s truck struck another truck towing a boat when he tried to pass it on a downhill straightaway. Barber’s truck rolled six times. Aaron lay dead in the road.
“I just started screaming,” Barber said. “I started thinking, ‘I can’t live with this.’ ”
Barber spent 3 1/2 years in prison for manslaughter. Since then, he’s served as a drug and alcohol counselor in schools and toured the nation asking students not to make the same mistake he made.
“I just got tired of watching teen-agers die in my community for a very senseless reason,” Barber said.
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