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OT: Four Teens Die in Car Accident Near Gretna

When I was a HS principal, a board member told me to my face that he allowed kids to drink on his farm/property. They had to agree to leave keys on a bookcase. Parents like that think they are being great friends with the kids. Needless to say, I had zero respect for that board member and we often clashed on right/wrong, policy questions.
 
The parents are suing 1. Sarpy County (trying to set aside $5M cap) 2. Ford Motor Company, and 3. guardrail manufacturer. If there are others I don't know. Clearly looking for deep pockets. The liability coverage on the vehicle is irrelevant.
Sue the world and hope to accumulate enough money from defendants trying to avoid the cost of litigation to make some money. That's what their attorney is doing. No doubt he/she is working on a contingency and it costs him/her virtually nothing to file the suit.
 
I drive platteview Rd often. It can easily be driven at 65 to 70 mph without risk of losing control. Yes there is a hill and a slight curve there. But the road is no different than many two lane black top roads, and even highways, around the state.
There's a spot like that on HWY 81 north of Yankton SD. It's a correction line for the curvature of the earth and the road follows it. There's also an almost blind intersection from a blacktop feeder county road that sits near the crest of the hill. Lots of fatalities at that spot mainly from people trying to pass there and surprisingly not so much from the intersection. A woman was killed there a couple of years ago and the thought is that she was texting and when the road zigged she zagged in to the path of a truck.
 
Sue the world and hope to accumulate enough money from defendants trying to avoid the cost of litigation to make some money. That's what their attorney is doing. No doubt he/she is working on a contingency and it costs him/her virtually nothing to file the suit.
Many years ago I taught personal finance. I had an article I cut out of a newspaper, I believe it was the OWH financial section. Anyway, it had survey results on how people thought they would get rich and retire. I don't remember the order but they were: 1. Win the lottery, 2. Inherit it, 3. Sue someone. Working, saving and investing didn't make the top three. I really messed up.
 
It’s a tragedy. I think if most on this board are honest with themselves would admit that they got behind the wheel when we had a bit too much to drink.

Bad decisions can lead to bad outcomes. County, guard rail co., insurance isn’t to blame. People can make bad decisions which can lead to tragic outcomes.
 
When I was a HS principal, a board member told me to my face that he allowed kids to drink on his farm/property. They had to agree to leave keys on a bookcase. Parents like that think they are being great friends with the kids. Needless to say, I had zero respect for that board member and we often clashed on right/wrong, policy questions.
Oh yeah, this is something my boss gets all the time too. It is super common, probably way more common than most people think.
 
It’s a tragedy. I think if most on this board are honest with themselves would admit that they got behind the wheel when we had a bit too much to drink.

Bad decisions can lead to bad outcomes. County, guard rail co., insurance isn’t to blame. People can make bad decisions which can lead to tragic outcomes.
I should probably be dead at least 3 times from drinking and driving and totaling 3 cars, and alot of other repairs...back when they didn't make as big a deal about it. I'm not sure how to fix teens, and alcohol and driving. maybe give them a go cart track they can get drunk at and wreak as much as they like to get it outta there system.(have it all safe..flat and no poles to hit)
but then some idiot would show up with a gun over some bs, and ruin it for everyone.

Im surprised insurance companies don't force car manufactures to install something you blow into to start the car...with a facial or retina scan, so it's not a sober kid in the back seat passing it .
that maybe the fix for dwi's, if they can be cost effective

back in my day the girls didn't really drive drunk, they were smarter than that
in europe kids start drinking young , I'm not sure if they have these problems
 
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What if the girls just like stole some beer from the fridge, or some truly’s. The BAC wasn’t like .24 or anything like they were chugging trash can punch.

shoot if my kid wanted to go to garage fridge and grab a 12 pack, I’m not sure I would notice immediately.

just saying, there are a lot of explanations on how they got the alcohol without making up wild accusations of “cool parent” syndrome.

For sure. When I was 18, I grabbed a smattering of beer from my father's collection and stuck in a cooler to meet up with my buddy. My father rarely drank and probably wouldn't notice right away. Stupid teenager in me never thought of the consequences. I got pulled over by an unmarked cop car as we were cruising on a Friday in Fort Worth. Cop looks into my cooler and sees the 7 beers and 4 different kinds. I'm waiting for him to have me pour it out on the ground. He looks back at us and admonishes us for driving around. Tells us to go to the high school parking lot and drink it. I got a ticket for unsafe lane change (no signal).

Also, it's legal for teens to drink in Texas with their parents supervision. But we all know that they tend to sneak out and drive. It's what kids do.
 
And let's not forget the literally hundreds of thousands of dollars raised throughout the community already in the pockets of the parents. I understand people wanted to do something to help, but it was crazy how many fundraising events took place over the past few years.

And this is a comment on our society, not the girls or their families - but I don't believe the same outpouring of support would have occurred if the victims hadn't been pretty, popular, young ladies.

I'll add another unpopular take, #GretnaStrong is undeservedly self-serving.

Let's compare the use of hashtags as it refers to a community's resiliency

#BostonStrong -- after terrorists maim and kill spectators and runners at the 2013 Boston Marathon
#PilgerStrong -- after a tornado devastates a small Nebraska community
#ParklandStrong -- after a teenager with an assault rifle kills 14 students and 3 staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida.
#GretnaStrong -- after a drunk teenage girl, bored with her BFFs on a Tuesday night, speeds 90 MPH in a hurry to "somewhere east of Gretna", crashes into a guardrail, killing herself and 3 of her BFFs, and injures another.
 
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I'll add another unpopular take, #GretnaStrong is undeservedly self-serving.

Let's compare the use of hashtags as it refers to a community's resiliency

#BostonStrong -- after terrorists maim and kill spectators and runners at the 2013 Boston Marathon
#PilgerStrong -- after a tornado devastates a small Nebraska community
#ParklandStrong -- after a teenager with an assault rifle kills 14 students and 3 staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida.
#GretnaStrong -- after a drunk teenage girl, bored with her BFFs on a Tuesday night, speeds 90 MPH in a hurry to "somewhere east of Gretna", crashes into a guardrail, killing herself and 3 of her BFFs, and injures another.
Gretna as a whole has become a pretty self-serving community. Quite different from 40 years ago.
 
I should probably be dead at least 3 times from drinking and driving and totaling 3 cars, and alot of other repairs...back when they didn't make as big a deal about it. I'm not sure how to fix teens, and alcohol and driving. maybe give them a go cart track they can get drunk at and wreak as much as they like to get it outta there system.(have it all safe..flat and no poles to hit)
but then some idiot would show up with a gun over some bs, and ruin it for everyone.

Im surprised insurance companies don't force car manufactures to install something you blow into to start the car...with a facial or retina scan, so it's not a sober kid in the back seat passing it .
that maybe the fix for dwi's, if they can be cost effective

back in my day the girls didn't really drive drunk, they were smarter than that
in europe kids start drinking young , I'm not sure if they have these problems
It is crazy how different drinking and riving is viewed now compared to even the early 80's.
 
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Gretna as a whole has become a pretty self-serving community. Quite different from 40 years ago.

So much emphasis on finding the person who supplied the girls with alcohol, and so little emphasis on why a community is so boring that getting drunk in a parking lot on a Tuesday night and speeding around the countryside is the most attractive option for entertainment.

We all would agree that living in Gretna doesn't provide the same excitement as living in Scottsdale.

These girls died because they were bored.
 
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So much emphasis on finding the person who supplied the girls with alcohol, and so little emphasis on why a community is so boring that getting drunk in a parking lot on a Tuesday night and speeding around the countryside is the most attractive option for entertainment.

We all would agree that living in Gretna doesn't provide the same excitement as living in Scottsdale.

These girls died because they were bored.

Yes, no kids ever gets drunk (or high) on a Tuesday in Omaha or New York City.
 
So much emphasis on finding the person who supplied the girls with alcohol, and so little emphasis on why a community is so boring that getting drunk in a parking lot on a Tuesday night and speeding around the countryside is the most attractive option for entertainment.

We all would agree that living in Gretna doesn't provide the same excitement as living in Scottsdale.

These girls died because they were bored.
So true, no teens ever die in big cities.
 
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The reasons teens drive out in the countryside is to get away from their parents. I can attest to that desire for freedom. It's perfectly normal behavior. You just want them to come home safe each night.
 
Back in the day before the internet, living in a rural town was guaranteed to be boring as hell if nothing was good on TV. Even in many big cities this was true. I don't see the need to go out unless you gotta hide your drinking/gathering from your family.

Sh!t, now there is so much fun to be had at home on a day off with all the online connectivity (I live in a town of 1000). Get high, buzzed, whatever and watch Nebraska reruns, play games, watch Youtube/Twitch/etc with group chat over the internet.

And these wonderful message boards. ;)
 
Back in the day before the internet, living in a rural town was guaranteed to be boring as hell if nothing was good on TV. Even in many big cities this was true. I don't see the need to go out unless you gotta hide your drinking/gathering from your family.

Sh!t, now there is so much fun to be had at home on a day off with all the online connectivity (I live in a town of 1000). Get high, buzzed, whatever and watch Nebraska reruns, play games, watch Youtube/Twitch/etc with group chat over the internet.

And these wonderful message boards. ;)
If you watched recent Nebraska reruns, it could lead to depression. It would be better to watch really high-quality movies like Serial Mom.
 
Have lived outside of Gretna almost the past 20 years. The town has changed immensely during that time with the rapid explosion of neighborhoods in the area. Only know the Odermatt family and was not surprised she didn't take part in these lawsuits. Her family has been thru so much with a loss of her husband and daughter yet she didn't join the others. I gave the GretnaStrong campaign because i felt horribly for the families at the time. i regret it now. I drive 192nd from Giles to Hwy 370 daily. This stretch has a dangerous stretch were the bridge over the railroad tracks veers to the East. Most drive according to the conditions but it could be lethal if driven at high speed (especially as these girls did). Realize it's part of the greater Connect Sarpy plan but there lots of dangerous stretches of road in the area. Just need to drive accordingly.

PS- Be your teens best parent, not their best friend! Never had a drink in my parents house until I was 21 and respect them for that everyday of my life. The thought never crossed my mind to steal booze from my parents as there would be extreme consequences even though they drank rarely.

 
I see it's been a while, but I wanted to chime in. I am so sorry to hear about the tragic loss of those four teens. Hearing news like this is heartbreaking, and my heart goes out to their families and friends. It's a reminder to cherish our time with our loved ones and never take a single day for granted.
 
I see it's been a while, but I wanted to chime in. I am so sorry to hear about the tragic loss of those four teens. Hearing news like this is heartbreaking, and my heart goes out to their families and friends. It's a reminder to cherish our time with our loved ones and never take a single day for granted.
"it's been a while" is an understatement - this happened 5 years ago. Coincidentally I rode my bike past the accident spot yesterday evening (I ride gravel roads, no way in hell I would ride on Platteview Rd) - people have been maintaining a memorial of sorts there for the past 5 years.
 
"it's been a while" is an understatement - this happened 5 years ago. Coincidentally I rode my bike past the accident spot yesterday evening (I ride gravel roads, no way in hell I would ride on Platteview Rd) - people have been maintaining a memorial of sorts there for the past 5 years.

Where did it happen?? I ride the same gravel roads in and around G-town but am not sure where the crash happened... nor can I think of any memorial i've ridden by.
 
"it's been a while" is an understatement - this happened 5 years ago. Coincidentally I rode my bike past the accident spot yesterday evening (I ride gravel roads, no way in hell I would ride on Platteview Rd) - people have been maintaining a memorial of sorts there for the past 5 years.
And it appears the community is still hiding the identity of who supplied the alcohol.
 
Yep. I've heard a name, but have no idea if it's true - and they're hiding behind lawyers.
I think we all knew it would go like that and clearly they are waiting it out.

High school kids will drink...we know that but just don't be the stoooopid parent that buys for them.

Hell, half the fun is that your parents don't know.
 
Shocking, not. Cowards
There are several churches in the area and I would think maybe someone who knows the details might go into one of the churches. Wild
Be nice to see ALL of the churches take two-three services and publicly call out the congregation to have those involved go to the police. Won’t happen, sadly, but that could get some of these cowards to consider doing the right thing.
 
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"it's been a while" is an understatement - this happened 5 years ago. Coincidentally I rode my bike past the accident spot yesterday evening (I ride gravel roads, no way in hell I would ride on Platteview Rd) - people have been maintaining a memorial of sorts there for the past 5 years.
You're replying to a bot
 
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Would be cool to see someone start a go fund me that grew until someone squealed. Put it all over social media.

I admit I don't know the deets in this scenario but I'm not sure what I'd do here if I knew the person(s) "responsible". I'd need to know if the kids who died were drunk first, because if they were, then I'd be tempted to wonder if the accident was enough their fault to where I'm not ruining anymore lives over it by snitching. Glad I don't know anything about it and I'm sorry for the parents who lost their children. Shitty deal all around.
 
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