‘My life has never been the same.’

By John Grant Emeigh - 08/20/2008

Kaitlyn Okrusch, 14, talks Tuesday about her involvement with Mariah’s Challenge and makes an emotional appeal to those attending a forum in the St. James Healthcare cafeteria to stop underage drinking.

Her face red and eyes moist with fresh tears, Kaitlyn Okrusch paused a moment to compose herself before continuing her address to the crowd Tuesday afternoon.

“It’s really been a tough road,” she confessed.

Okrusch spoke with poise and maturity uncommon among teenagers, but this 14-year-old has experienced harsh obstacles that most her age haven’t.

In October, she and her two friends were struck by a vehicle while they were walking along Blacktail Lane. She and Valarie Kilmer, 14, were seriously injured, while Mariah McCarthy, also 14, died.

“My life has never been the same,” she said.

This was one of the first times Okrusch publicly spoke about that deadly incident. She shared her thoughts during a forum at St. James Healthcare concerning the problem of underage drinking.

Acting U.S. Surgeon General Steven Galson, who was the event’s special guest, espoused the importance of encouraging today’s youth to abstain from alcohol consumption.

Promoting his “Call to Action to Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking,” Galson warned of the numerous health risks young people face when they start drinking at an early age. The Surgeon General said people who begin drinking before the age of 15 are five times more likely to have alcohol-related problems later in life.

Galson also said on average 5,000 people under the age of 21 years old die each year as a result of underage drinking.

“Drinking is simply not a harmless rite of passage,” Galson told the audience made up of local public health officials, community leaders and youth groups.

He praised Butte for starting the grassroots group — Mariah’s Challenge — dedicated to preventing youth drinking. He also said the city’s adults have to act as positive role models for teens by not drinking around them.

Galson said there needs to be a change in attitude toward alcohol in this country like there has toward smoking.

“Underage drinking is everyone’s problem,” he said.

Sydney Reichhardt, 18, of Teens Advocating a Safe Community in Butte, said her group is dedicated to preventing underage drinking by holding alcohol-free events for young people in the community. Last St. Patrick’s Day, which is infamous for minors drinking, she said TASC sponsored a non- alcoholic event at the YMCA that brought in 300 teens.

“This community is ready to stop underage drinking,” Reichhardt said.

Okrusch said she knows the hurt underage drinking can cause.

“I lost my best friend, Mariah McCarthy, because of one man’s stupid decision,” she said during her speech.

Wade Petersen, 21, of Butte, was charged — but has not been tried — in connection with this deadly hit and run. He faces one count of negligent vehicular homicide while under the influence and two counts of negligent vehicular assault and a hit-and-run charge involving death or personal injury.

Petersen was 20 years old during the early morning of Oct. 28, 2007, when prosecutors allege he drove his pickup truck into the girls and left the scene.

Petersen pleaded not guilty to the charges and is scheduled for trial Oct. 14.

Okrusch finished her emotional speech on a note of optimism.

“We just all can’t give up,” she said. “We have to push through this.” — Reporter John Grant Emeigh may be reached via e-mail at john.emeigh@lee.net