Sad, and then mad, and then glad, but still mad…

In what by all accounts appeared to be an unnecessary car wreck last week, I have been at times sad, mad and glad. Sad that we lost a big-hearted member of the Crested Butte community; mad that an 18-year-old kid was, according to witnesses and the Colorado State Patrol, apparently doing something so reckless as to take a life; glad that the last few trips to and from Gunnison seemed to have most drivers slowing down.

One hard part of this job is reporting when members of the community cross to the other side. It happens a lot up here in the mountains. It can be due to accidents in the backcountry, a person’s individual choice, age, disease or someone else’s mistake. Losing a young woman like Heather Cooper because of someone else’s mistake is the kind that hurts the most. 

I am fortunate enough not to have to be on the road during the early morning trade parade between Gunny and the North Valley. I have however been making that trip up and down the valley a lot recently and it is not uncommon to get quickly passed by people not satisfied with my 62 miles-per-hour pace. Of course, it would often not be surprising to pull up next to the speeder at the Walmart stop light. That’s just impatience.

Last week’s fatal car crash seems consciously dumb and tragic. You do not frickin’ pass on a blind curve over double yellow lines—ever. If that was indeed the case as cited by the state patrol, that makes the situation not an accident, but intentionally negligent. The driver was charged with vehicular homicide, not a minor infraction. Good. The driver deserves his day in court, but also his karmic consequences. What appears to be his extremely bad choice has impacted a lot of people’s lives unnecessarily. That’s the mad part.

While I knew Heather a bit, it has become obvious in the last week she was a quiet but positive link in the community chain. Working service jobs in restaurants, tending the bookstore, working with students and coaching volleyball at the CB Community School, she contributed. She danced and played softball. A good person gone too soon, she was doing nothing more than heading to the airport for a class reunion. That’s the sad part.

And yeah, I’m glad people seem to be aware of the situation and have this week slowed down out of respect for her and safety for the community on that highway. But that shouldn’t be an issue ever, anyway. We all share what is a pretty beautiful commute and no one is entitled to get from City Market to Clark’s faster than the neighbor in front of them.

Slow it down people. Be where you are. Enjoy the ride and don’t put others in harm’s way. Show common courtesy. Think. Don’t do something that might ruin not only someone else’s life, but yours. Even as I work on embracing and exuding more empathy and love in life, just the idea of flouting those simple concepts still makes me so mad…

—Mark Reaman