Jesse Joe
01-14-2008, 10:09 AM
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http://harvest.canadaeast.com/image.php?id=75322&size=300x0
The Canadian Press
The van that was carrying the Bathurst High School boys’ basketball team that collided with a transport truck while returning from a game rests on a flatbed truck on Saturday.
http://harvest.canadaeast.com/image.php?id=75340&size=687x290 (http://harvest.canadaeast.com/image.php?id=75340&size=687x290)
Horrible crash kills 8 Tragedy shocks province (http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/front/article/181940)
Canada, world react to tragic Bathurst crash
Purple Knights, who played Phantoms hours before crash, among those stunned by tragedy
By Brent Mazerolle
Times & Transcript Staff Published Monday January 14th, 2008
The deaths of eight people on a school trip Friday night has broken down the walls we wrap around one of our most primal fears. It is a tragedy of the sort every parent worries about but tries to never even say out loud for fear of tempting fate.
Because of that, and because seeing our kids leave the safety of the nests we build for them is a universal experience, the tragedy that befell the Bathurst High Phantoms boys basketball team this weekend has attracted notice across North America and around the world.
"The sudden loss of eight people in this unthinkable accident shocked the nation and all Canadians join you in mourning their passing," Prime Minister Stephen Harper wrote in a letter to Bathurst High School principal Coleen Ramsay on Saturday.
Bathurst Mayor Stephen Brunet said last night he has talked to fellow mayors from across Canada, all calling to offer whatever support is needed.
Before the start of their NBA game against the Portland Trailblazers yesterday, the Toronto Raptors paid silent tribute to the crash victims at the Air Canada Centre.
The first 251 messages on the Bathurst High School website's guestbook were written over the past four years and are mostly alumni checking in. The more than 800 messages that come after that have been written just this weekend and deal with the tragedy that befell the school Friday night.
They come from across North America and around the world. An alumnus writes from Oman to express her shock. A complete stranger from New Zealand offers support. People in Denmark, Morrocco, and Mexico have sent condolences. Messages of support have come in from places like Utah, where a bus crash near Mexican Hat killed seven on icy roads just last week.
Terri Griffiths, a student from Bluffton University in Ohio wrote. Last March, a bus carrying the school's baseball team crashed in Georgia, killing four players and two others aboard.
"You will be in the prayers of many here in the USA and I am sure around the world as you move through the days and weeks to come," she said.
Thousands of others have posted condolences on Facebook and other popular Internet sites.
Closer to home, one of those who wrote to Bathurst High was Melissa Foster, the president of the Harrison Trimble High School student council.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with you at this difficult time," she wrote. "Earlier this year we experienced our own tragic accident. We understand how difficult such an event is on families, a school and a community. We all feel your pain. Stay strong."
While she reached out to students, her principal Steve Mitton called Bathurst High School's principal.
"I told her our thoughts and prayers are with them," he said. Mitton said the students and staff would be looking for other ways to show solidarity in the coming days.
Because of the deaths of four Harrison Trimble students in a highway crash last September, as well as other recent tragedies to befall young people in the region, the Moncton area's English-language School District 2 has developed some crisis management skills it had hoped it would never need. Nevertheless, Superintendent Karen Branscombe said the district was putting its own painful experiences to use to help out. Nine district staff travelled to Bathurst on Saturday. Four psychologists will be at the school and in the community offering counselling and five teachers and principals will step in to relieve grieving Bathurst teachers in classrooms and wherever else they are needed.
"They will stay as long as they have to, but at least until Wednesday," Branscombe said.
Among the staff in Bathurst is Doug Prescott, Riverview High School's principal and president of the New Brunswick Interscholastic Athletic Association.
"Bathurst High is always one of the most sportsmanlike teams in the province of New Brunswick and they represent themselves with extreme pride," he said on the weekend. "It's always a pleasure to either see them play or referee them."
Another group reacting to the tragedy is Moncton High School's Purple Knights boys basketball team. Playing at Moncton High Friday was what sent the Phantoms on the road, a fact the Moncton High boys are struggling with. Branscombe and district psychologist met with the boys Saturday.
"They're dealing with the usual question, 'why?'" Branscombe said. "We explained to them again it was just an accident and told them to feel the way they do is normal. We also told them we adults are feeling it too." Branscombe said there is an interest in having the team attend a community funeral on Wednesday, something the district is discussing.
http://harvest.canadaeast.com/image.php?id=75322&size=300x0
The Canadian Press
The van that was carrying the Bathurst High School boys’ basketball team that collided with a transport truck while returning from a game rests on a flatbed truck on Saturday.
http://harvest.canadaeast.com/image.php?id=75340&size=687x290 (http://harvest.canadaeast.com/image.php?id=75340&size=687x290)
Horrible crash kills 8 Tragedy shocks province (http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/front/article/181940)
Canada, world react to tragic Bathurst crash
Purple Knights, who played Phantoms hours before crash, among those stunned by tragedy
By Brent Mazerolle
Times & Transcript Staff Published Monday January 14th, 2008
The deaths of eight people on a school trip Friday night has broken down the walls we wrap around one of our most primal fears. It is a tragedy of the sort every parent worries about but tries to never even say out loud for fear of tempting fate.
Because of that, and because seeing our kids leave the safety of the nests we build for them is a universal experience, the tragedy that befell the Bathurst High Phantoms boys basketball team this weekend has attracted notice across North America and around the world.
"The sudden loss of eight people in this unthinkable accident shocked the nation and all Canadians join you in mourning their passing," Prime Minister Stephen Harper wrote in a letter to Bathurst High School principal Coleen Ramsay on Saturday.
Bathurst Mayor Stephen Brunet said last night he has talked to fellow mayors from across Canada, all calling to offer whatever support is needed.
Before the start of their NBA game against the Portland Trailblazers yesterday, the Toronto Raptors paid silent tribute to the crash victims at the Air Canada Centre.
The first 251 messages on the Bathurst High School website's guestbook were written over the past four years and are mostly alumni checking in. The more than 800 messages that come after that have been written just this weekend and deal with the tragedy that befell the school Friday night.
They come from across North America and around the world. An alumnus writes from Oman to express her shock. A complete stranger from New Zealand offers support. People in Denmark, Morrocco, and Mexico have sent condolences. Messages of support have come in from places like Utah, where a bus crash near Mexican Hat killed seven on icy roads just last week.
Terri Griffiths, a student from Bluffton University in Ohio wrote. Last March, a bus carrying the school's baseball team crashed in Georgia, killing four players and two others aboard.
"You will be in the prayers of many here in the USA and I am sure around the world as you move through the days and weeks to come," she said.
Thousands of others have posted condolences on Facebook and other popular Internet sites.
Closer to home, one of those who wrote to Bathurst High was Melissa Foster, the president of the Harrison Trimble High School student council.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with you at this difficult time," she wrote. "Earlier this year we experienced our own tragic accident. We understand how difficult such an event is on families, a school and a community. We all feel your pain. Stay strong."
While she reached out to students, her principal Steve Mitton called Bathurst High School's principal.
"I told her our thoughts and prayers are with them," he said. Mitton said the students and staff would be looking for other ways to show solidarity in the coming days.
Because of the deaths of four Harrison Trimble students in a highway crash last September, as well as other recent tragedies to befall young people in the region, the Moncton area's English-language School District 2 has developed some crisis management skills it had hoped it would never need. Nevertheless, Superintendent Karen Branscombe said the district was putting its own painful experiences to use to help out. Nine district staff travelled to Bathurst on Saturday. Four psychologists will be at the school and in the community offering counselling and five teachers and principals will step in to relieve grieving Bathurst teachers in classrooms and wherever else they are needed.
"They will stay as long as they have to, but at least until Wednesday," Branscombe said.
Among the staff in Bathurst is Doug Prescott, Riverview High School's principal and president of the New Brunswick Interscholastic Athletic Association.
"Bathurst High is always one of the most sportsmanlike teams in the province of New Brunswick and they represent themselves with extreme pride," he said on the weekend. "It's always a pleasure to either see them play or referee them."
Another group reacting to the tragedy is Moncton High School's Purple Knights boys basketball team. Playing at Moncton High Friday was what sent the Phantoms on the road, a fact the Moncton High boys are struggling with. Branscombe and district psychologist met with the boys Saturday.
"They're dealing with the usual question, 'why?'" Branscombe said. "We explained to them again it was just an accident and told them to feel the way they do is normal. We also told them we adults are feeling it too." Branscombe said there is an interest in having the team attend a community funeral on Wednesday, something the district is discussing.