In the News
Sting of fatal accident will be felt for years
MARK ROSMAN
Ilook at their pictures and I cannot imagine their families going on without them. The heartbreak that comes with that thought is just too much.

In an instant, they were gone. Two friends who were outside doing what hundreds of other youngsters do every day in our communities. Get your kids outside for some fresh air, we are told as parents. Get the kids away from the video games, away from the television, away from the computer.

So they were outside. Kevin Clawson and Graeme Preston were on Bar Harbor Road in Freehold Township during the late afternoon hours of Feb. 27, playing, being kids, doing what seventh-graders do. Perhaps they were skateboarding in the street, perhaps they were not. To me, right now, that detail does not matter.

All that matters is that the two boys were struck and killed by a motor vehicle, taken from all of the people who loved them. Police have said the driver did not appear to be doing anything wrong. It was an accident.

There are no words that can be offered to Kevin's and Graeme's family members and friends in the aftermath of this tragedy. Comfort and support are the only things anyone can offer their survivors in the aftermath of this tragedy.

Those who survive are left to deal with the pain and emptiness they are feeling now and will feel for the months and years to come.

The driver of the vehicle that struck the two boys is a man who did not do anything wrong, according to police, but he, too, will have to live with the pain of what happened.

The boys' classmates at the Eisenhower Middle School were left to deal with emotions they may have never experienced before. There was no chance to say goodbye. Perhaps these youngsters will take a moment to reflect on what their friends were doing that may have led them to be in a dangerous situation.

I would like to place my children in a bubble to protect them from everything that is harmful in life, but I know that is neither practical nor the right thing to do. My parents did not put me in a bubble, nor would I have wanted them to. I want guarantees that are just not there.

The tragedy of Kevin Clawson and Graeme Preston will be felt in Freehold Township for years to come. I can only pray that it is not repeated for decades.

Mark Rosman is the managing editor of the News Transcript.