Let me begin by saying this: I am going to be “that guy.” I am going to be the person to tell you the same things your parents are probably telling you as CHS students migrate to various tropical areas this spring break. Keep away from alcohol, keep away from anybody who will be consuming alcohol, and keep your wits about you. I say this not because I want to keep people from having a good time, but because I do not want to see anybody come back from spring break in a coffin, like my cousin did 13 years ago.

In the spring of 2000, Jeff Barnthouse was in the same position as many of us are at CHS. He was a senior in high school just trying to enjoy himself as he and a few of his friends left the Chicago area for Panama City Beach, FL for their spring break.

Unfortunately, Jeff did not come back alive. Ronald Arrowood, a man who decided that it was a good idea to get behind the wheel of his 1988 Jeep after consuming far too many drinks, took my cousin’s life. Arrowood is serving 40 years in prison for what he did, but thanks to him, my cousin never had the chance to live his life.

I know for a fact from what I hear in the halls and what I see on various forms of social media that many CHS students plan to go to places like Panama City Beach for the sole purpose of drinking until they are wasted every night, not realizing the consequences that could become of it.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 10 percent of teenagers have made the decision to drink and drive over the past 30 days, and 24 percent decided to get in the same vehicle with a driver who had been drinking. That means one out of every 10 high school students you will be around this spring break is going to make the decision to get behind the wheel after consuming far too many drinks, and one out of four will be in the car with them. Since alcohol affects your judgment so significantly, what makes you think you will not be the one to get behind the wheel and potentially take somebody’s life? What makes you think that you will not kill your friend in the passenger’s seat? However, there are more problems with drinking than just drinking and driving.

Binge drinking affects society as a whole, but none more than teenagers. According to the CDC, 22 percent of high school students have participated in binge drinking within the past 30 days. This may be even higher in the Carmel area, because binge drinking is most prevalent in households with an income above $75,000. With Carmel’s median income being around $88,000, the risk of binge drinking increases dramatically. Combine that with the party atmosphere of most spring break destinations, and you have a recipe for disaster. Eighty thousand people die every year from over-consumption of alcohol, including one of our own recent graduates. Do you want to be another statistic?

I do not write this column to ask that you do not have fun this spring break. I want you to have the most fun you can possibly have without endangering your life. I write this column because I do want to see everybody return from their spring breaks safely. I do not want anybody else’s family to have to face the pain and anger my family faced when Arrowood decided on that day to drive his Jeep while intoxicated. I just want everybody to stay safe and prevent themselves from making decisions that they will regret for the rest of their lives.

Matt Barnthouse is a social media editor for the HiLite. The views in this column do not necessarily reflect the views of the HiLite staff. Reach him at [email protected].