City grieves | for young victims Don't blame driver, mother te By ALEX HAMILTON THE MOTHER of 17-year- old Laura Lee urged those at her funeral to resist the temptation to lay blame for the June 12 car crash that killed her daughter and Bel- gian exchange student Renaud Fontaine. “Please don’t be angry at the unfaimess of this trage- dy,” Nancy Lee asked an estimated 500 people who filled the Sacred Heart Cath- olic Church on Friday. Instead, Lee urged friends of the high school sweethearts to tum any anger towards the driver of an oncoming speeding car into pity, In an emotional and loving speech that brought tears to Inany eyes, Lee said her daughter was extremely happy before she died be- cause of her special rela- tionship with Renaud, To make that point, she read sams excerpt” = from Laura’s journal written days before she was killed. Laura wrote: ‘‘Life is wonderful. I feel like I could fly. lam so happy.” Lee described her daughter’s relationship with A DAY after the crash, wreckage from the stolen Hyundai Sonata driven by Aaron Renaud as ‘‘a beautiful gift’’ and ‘‘a wonderful first love,’’ , Describing Renaud as a well-mannered and in- telligent young man, Lee said she was glad that Laura had experienced her first “Please don’t be angry at the unfair- ness of this trage- dy. ” love. Delivering Renaud’s eu-. logy, Brian Lindenbach, president of the Skeena Val- ley Club, called Renaud one of the most likable exchange studenls the club has ever hosted, Renaud was unique, Lindenbach said, because he was the first exchange stu- dent fo take an active role in Rotary and regularly attend 7 am, meetings. *"He was just a really out- going and excellent individ- wal,”’ he said. Two Skeena Rotary Club Valley members, lls crowd of 500 Donna Ziegler and” Barry Peters, are currently in Bruxelles, Belgium to com- fort Renaud's parents, Fran- cine and Phillipe Fontaine. Renaud’s funeral service will be held Tuesday, June 22 at 2 p.m. in Belgium, which is 5 am. Terrace time. Lindenbach said he was glad Francine and Phillipe Fontaine came to visit Renaud here earlier this spring. **Most people don't get to sce their child for a year when they go on ex- change,” he said. Renaud is survived by his parents and a brother Pierre and oa = younger sister Michelle. Laura is survived by her parents Nancy and Gordon Lee and her brother Robert, Donations in _Laura’s memory can be made to Northem Lights Wildlife Refuge, RR#2 Smithers, B.C. VOI 2N0, Donations for Renaud can be made to: the Renaud Fontaine Memorial Scholar- Ship, Skeena Valley Rotary, PO BOX #538, Terrace, B.C. V8G 4A1. ES Seu mae Driver held in custody THE MAN charged with driving the stolen car which killed Laura Lee and Renaud Fontaine is being held in police custody until making his next court ap- pearance July 2. Aaron James Douglas, 18, who was treated at Mili Memorial Hospital for cuts and bruises, made a brief appearance in court here June 15, Douglas has been given time to find a lawyer to represent on nine criminal charges: * two counts of impaired driving causing, death * two counts of crimina! negligence causing death * criminal negligence causing bodily harm * possession of stolen property * two counts of breach of undertaking A tenth charge, causing a police pursuit, has been dropped. Police continue to investi- gale the role of passenger Jeffrey Louis Payne of Ter- tace, aS AS) lag o A MEMORIAL at the intarese ae ction of Hwy37 where Laura Lee and Renaud Fontaine were killed in a traffic accident June 12 went up very quick- ak ; Hwy16 and ly. Photos, fiowers and messages accumulated at the site of the accident as many people came ta the Joca- tion to pay their respects. Ribbons help students deal with pain of loss THE WEEK after the fatal car crash, schoolmates of Laura Lee and Renaud Fontaine wore symbols of their grief close to their hearts. Almost every student at Caledonia Secondary pinned a memorial bluc and green ribbon to their clothing in memory of the two teenagers, Close friends of Lee’s spent their lunch hours and free lime between classes to make the pins, Keira Almas, a friend of Lee’s since preschool, explained the ribbons are a vehicle for students to sileutly display their grief. “They are a constant reminder,” Almas said while passing out pins to Students in the school’s main foyer. So far Almas and a number of friends have helped make about 600 of the pins, which the 1999 graduates have agreed to fasten to their gowns aid suits at the convocation ceremony June 30. “The ribbons take a lot off pressure of€ everyone” said Marina Checkley, a member of the grad com- mittee,‘‘People don’t have to say how they feel they can just wear a ribbon.” The intertwined blue and green rib- bons were chosen specifically to represent both teenagers, Student Brenna Smith explained that Lee’s favourite colour was green. ‘*She’s was fairly carthy,’’ Smith said, ‘She was big on animals and things like: that.” Aud Fontaine, she said, always wore blue. ‘*He was colour blind but he liked blue!” she said with a laugh. To display their grief, friends also enshrined Lee’s lockers with flowers, Star Wars paraphicmalia (Laura was a big fan of The Force) and covered it with written memories and sayings. Almas explained that being at school without Laura “is still very aa v REMEMB ERING: Amy Hendry, Marina Checkley, Breena Smith and Keira Almas made ribbons in memory of thelr friends Laura Lee and Renaud Fontaine killed In a car crash June 12. hard.”’ “Pm in my depressed mode,’’ she said. To help students deal with their grief, Caledonia principal Geoff Straker said eight grief counsellors were at the school to help students cope with thelr feelings of loss. _ “Some of them are sad, some of them are still in shock, some of them are really angry, some of them are frustrated,”’ Straker said. He described Lee ‘as a popular, warm, happy student who always greeted him with a warm meaningful greeting. : “Laura Lee’ was my litle drop of sunshine,’” he said, ‘She always had 2 smile and a ‘Hi, Mr. Straker'.’’ Straker said Fontaine was a very pleasant, _—clear-thinking, _ polite, motivated young genileman. ‘And I call him a gentleman,”' he said. As for the grad ceremony, Straker emphasized that is exactly what it will be June 30 — a celebration of finish- ing 12 years of schooling. “It’s not a memorial service,’’ be said. Straker will acknowledge the fact that Lee and Fontaine aren’t there to graduate with their classmates. He noted that Lec was slated to win the Acting 12 award, a scholarship awarded to the top acting student at the school, No time for spike belt, police say Experts probe crash wreckage for clues AARON DOUGLAS and Jeffrey Payne weren't wearing seathells when their car collided with the one containing Laura Lee and Renaud Fontaine where Hwy 16 inter- sects with Hwy37, And despite high speeds police estimate hit 140 kilometres an hour, Douglas and Payne suffered minor injuries. say they escaped un- harmed,” said Smithers RCMP Cpl. Steve Frayne who has the job of reconstructing “1 wouldn’t collisions. ' He looks at wreckage and physical evi- ‘dence at the scene of sa accident io find the ‘speed and momentum of vehicles involved. * When finished, bis findings could be used ‘as factual evidence in court proceedings, ‘RCMP or coroner reports. + “H's very much like the guy that does fingerprinting at @ crime scene,’’ said Frayite fast week. And while bis report is still preliminary — Frayne knows Laura Lee and Renaud Fontaine had almost cleared the intersection when their car was hit. The Caledonia students were travelling north through the intersection, heading toward the old bridge. ‘Their car was nailed pretty well dead on,’’ said Frayne, Because their car — a Toyota Terce] — weighed less than the Hyundai that hit them and was travelling at a fraction of the speed, Frayne says the passenger side of the students’ car caved inward. As the Hyundai was driven through the four-way stop four-way stop, and collided with Lee and Fontaine, its path changed very little. The front end of the Hyundal crumpled, ils tires burst and the car skidded 90 metres to a stop. Frayne said the Toyota spun off toward the northwest comer, downed the stop sign and rolled into the ditch. He wouldn't say whether Fontaine and Lec were wearlng seatbelts, _ THIS IS called a stinger or spike % i Pho ketiha ie belt, containing hol- low, tazor-sharp spikes, The belt Is laid across a road or highway. After a vehicle has gone over the belt and its tires have picked wp the spikes, air Is then let out of the tres and the vehicle comes to a halt, says Sgt. Darcy Gollan who Js in this photograph. RCMP OFFICERS had con- sidered using a spike belt, or stinger, te stop the speeding car which moments later struck the vehicle contain- ing Laura Lee and Renaud Fontaine, killing them both. Officers would have had to place themselves well ahead of the speeding car to run the belt of nail-like spikes across the highway but there simply wasn’t enough time, said RCMP Sgt. Darcy Gollan, The stinger is a light- weight, casily used plastic speed bell about 30 centi- metres wide with hollow razor-sharp spikes, After a lire goes over the bell, the spikes stay in the tire and allow for a control- led release of alr within 25 to 30 seconds, Gollan said officers had barely started pursulng the Hyundai, which was reported stolen, before it sped through the intersec- tion of Hwy16 and Hwy37, slriking the Toyota carrying Lee and Fontaine. All aspects of the chase are being examined by an independent reviewing: RCMP officer out of Prince- George. ‘ The review is required fol- lowing new pursuit reguta- ° tions brought in last fall. They require officers to con- linually assess public risk during pursuit, There must also be good reason why that person needs to be apprehended Im- mediately and officers must have their lights and sirens on. When the review is com- plete and the RCMP criminal investigation is concluded, coroner Art Erasmus will decide whether a public Inquest or inquiry Wilk be held. Recommendations from inquests and inquirics can result in recommendailons, Erasmus, who is also Caledonla’s vice principal and who knew Lee and Fontaine as students, will also determine the medical cause of death.