[Vision2020] Moscow Teen Dies in Car Accident

[Tom Hansen]

A friend informs me that Sam McLam was an avid snow mobile racer.
 
Results of the Coeur d'Alene Snow Cross Main Pro SS race run on January 17, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/CDASnoCross
Results of the Coeur d'Alene Snow Cross Main Pro Open race run on January 17, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/MainProOpen
 
The following article is a follow-up to an aritcle by the Lewiston Tribune posted yesterday (Febarusry 6, 2009).
 
Courtesy of today's (February 7, 2009) Moscow-Pullman Daily News -
 
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Samuel McLam, 17, killed in rollover on Coyote Grade Road
By Halley Griffin, Daily News staff writerFebruary 7, 2009
 
A Moscow High School senior was killed early Friday morning in a one-vehicle rollover on Coyote Grade Road near Genesee.
 
Nez Perce County Sheriff's deputies responded to the crash at 7:21 a.m. Friday and found Samuel McLam, 17, dead outside of the vehicle, according to a sheriff's office news release.
 
The initial investigation indicated the crash occurred shortly after midnight, when the vehicle drifted off the gravel roadway, overturned and rolled 200 feet down a canyon.
 
McLam and passenger Mychael Washington, 18, were both thrown from the vehicle, a 2000 Toyota pickup belonging to McLam.
 
Washington, also a Moscow High School senior, was able to climb back up to the roadway and flag down a passing car, apparently hours after the crash. 
 
The crash is still under investigation, but the initial investigation indicated the driver and passenger were not wearing seat belts, and alcohol may have been involved.
 
Moscow High School Principal Bob Celebrezze said school administrators were notified of the crash early this morning.
 
They soon realized that many students were becoming aware of the accident, and called an emergency faculty meeting.
 
Teachers met with each of their classes, and the district's crisis assistance team went into action.
 
"They will be here through the entire process to do what they can for students and parents," Celebrezze said. "What the administration will do, what I will do, is support each and every student individually as they work through the process, the grieving process."
 
He said many students visited the counseling center Friday.
 
Superintendent Candis Donicht said students were excused from classes to visit counselors as needed, and were allowed to leave campus with a parent.
 
The high school canceled sports events Friday, including the varsity and junior varsity basketball games against Lewiston High School.
 
Teachers, administrators and the crisis team stayed at school until midnight to be available for students and parents who needed to talk or be together.
 
"It's devastating," Celebrezze said. "It's a devastating situation whenever you lose a member of your student body, a member of your school. We're a tightly knit community team here at Moscow High School."
 
Short's Funeral Chapel in Moscow is in charge of arrangements.
 
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Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho
 
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