Scholarship Fund

Memorial

Scholarship Fund Honors Harrison Student

The memory of a Harrison High School senior killed last month in a car crash, will live on because of a scholarship fund. Bryan Snyder, 18, died when his truck veered off a Tippecanoe County Road.

When Snyder died, letters of support came pouring in, including one from a stranger, Angie Runyan. She witnessed the accident and said, "I had his face in my hands, he said he was warm...couldn't feel his chest...very calm and brave." The Snyder family is now embracing that same spirit of showing a stranger kindness. His father Max Snyder said, "I think it's important that we help out other kids achieve the goals he couldn't achieve." The family set up a scholarship fund, to benefit a student interested in law enforcement, Brian's future career. If you'd like more information on the scholarship fund, go to http://www.dcwi.com/~snyder/.

Careless misreading of report inexcusable

In regard to Bryan Snyder and the misread test results about his death ("Teen driver in fatal crash was not drunk," J&C, March 7), how terrible for this young man's family and friends.

Maybe Deputy Coroner Jane Haan should have taken a little more time to read and understand the hospital toxicology report that she consulted before making a statement. Whether or not this is something that the Tippecanoe County coroner's office regularly uses does not justify the obvious carelessness of this person's interpretation of the results.

And maybe the Journal and Courier should have taken a little more jlournalistic responsibility in actually verifying these "results" as fact, before printing them.

I hope that the Tippecanoe County coroner's office does a little more for Bryan's family than just telephoning them to say that they made an error.

And I hope that the Journal and Courier prints a retraction and an apology to not only Bryan's family and friends, but to his memory.

Dawn Schilf, Lafayette

Correction for now, double-check later

It was good that the Journal and Courier corrected a huge error made March 6 on the front page of the Local/Life section, "Coroner: Teen killed in Feb. 5 crash was drunk." On March 7 the correction read, "Teen driver in fatal crash was not drunk," and was placed on the front page.

I am reasonably certain that Jane Haan, Tippecanoe County deputy coroner, will not "misread the information" ever again, referring to the toxicology report. Granted, she did call the family and apologize for the error.

However, the Snyder family and friends, still freshly in grief over the death of Bryan at 18 years old, need acknowledgment and support, rather than misinformation placed so quickly before the public without "double-checking" to verify.

Donna M. Segrist, The Compassionate Friends. Greater Lafayette chapter

I would like to express my outrage concerning the "misread information" by the Tippecanoe County deputy coroner concerning Bryan Snyder's fatal accident. There are no words to express the depth of loss and pain of losing a child without the added slander of false information. You would think that the facts would have been checked carefully before releasing such sensitive information to the press. My heart goes out to Bryan's family and friends for the added grief that they have had to endure.

Marcy Wastl, West Lafayette

On March 6, the Journal and Courier printed a story that falsely accused a 18-year-old boy of being under the influence of alcohol during an automobile accident that claimed his life. That boy's family has been friends of mine for 25 years, and the pain they suffered at their loss has been tremendous. The unthinkable act the J&C allowed to be printed is rude and disrespectful. I feel that the deputy coroner should personally apologize to Bryan Snyder's family. Though she admits to reading a toxicology report wrong, that hardly helps this family to heal. Hopefully no other family will suffer unduly because of this woman's carelessness.

Robert A. Myers, Battle Ground

On March 7, I couldn't imagine anything much worse than how those involved in the coroner's office story must have felt. It takes a lot of courage to hold up one's chin after having your private life or human flaws become the top story of the day.

My heart goes out to the family for their tragic loss. My understanding goes out to the coroner's office, which has the unenviable job of helping countless family members deal with tragic loss every day.

I thought the article in the March 8 paper showed a tremendous amount of class on the part of the newspaper to help the general public understand exactly what the local coroner's office does for our community. The staff is well trained and very professional.

Does it mean they never make mistakes? Of course not -- you have to be human to carry out the jobs they do every day. Are they as "careless," as one letter to the editor would have us believe? Hardly. To say such a thing only shows how little the author knows.

But given the opportunity, there is something I would say to Deputy Coroner Jane Haan. Jane, the job you do is difficult, thankless, scary, interesting, awful, important, the best and the worst all wrapped into one, and you do it well. You are a good person and an asset to your office. If the day comes that a deputy coroner has to call me, I hope it's you on the other end -- because some news is easier to take coming from your big sister. I love you, kiddo, and I just wanted to set the record straight.

Margy Deverall, Lafayette

TIME OF LOSS:

We would like to thank the entire Lafayette community for their outpouring of love, support and caring since Bryan's death. The prayers, cards, flowers, visits to the homes, and house sitting, phone calls, food, letters to the paper, and the support from WLFI have been so comforting to us at this time. The contributions to the flag pole at the Harrison football field and the scholarship fund have helped reaffirm Bryan's life to us and what a gift he was to the community. The staffs at Home Hospital and Soller-Baker Funeral Homes were very kind and helpful, We can't leave out the staff and congregation of St. Andrew United Methodist Church for all their support and kind words. Bryan will always be remembered by everyone who knew him. Thank you for your help in our time of sorrow.

The Bryan Snyder family: Max Snyder & family, Pat Bible & family, Lafayette

Seat belts: Tears for an empty place

This letter is being written in response to a May 19 letter regarding seat-belt laws and Operation Pullover.

Whether or not seat-belt laws are a violation of your constitutional rights is irrelevant. The truth of the matter is that seat belts save 9,500 lives per year. Although this number may not mean anything to the gentleman who wrote this letter, please consider the consequences involved when people do not wear seat belts.

On Feb. 6, my fellow classmate, Bryan Snyder, passed away due to injuries sustained in a car accident the evening before. Bryan was ejected from the vehicle because he was not wearing his seat belt. If Bryan had taken two extra seconds to fasten his seat belt, there is no doubt that he would be with us today.

The Harrison High School Class of 2002 will graduate on Saturday. I know that several tears will be shed, not because of our graduation, but because of the chair that Bryan would be sitting in if he had only worn his seat belt.

Bethany Chapman, Lafayette