Tragedy in Socastee

My merciless attacks on the Socastee population have been well documented, and perhaps quite often with good reason.

But may be none so more as this.

Posted on Mon, Jan. 07, 2008

Teen killed in ATV crash
Kurt KnapekThe Sun News

A 16-year-old Surfside Beach resident was killed Sunday when she lost control of the ATV she was driving, according to Horry County Deputy Coroner Tamara Willard.

Caitlyn Sanford was a sophomore at St. James High School. Students there were informed of her death Monday morning.

Sanford was riding the four-wheeler in some fields at 4:50 p.m. near the intersection of S.C. 544 and S.C. 31 when the accident occurred.

Sanford was not wearing a helmet or any safety gear when she ``hit a rut, overcorrected and lost control.'
Sanford was transported to Grand Strand Regional Medical Center and later died. A preliminary autopsy report showed Sanford died of multiple trauma, Willard said.
Read more in Tuesday's edition of The Sun News.

It's not my place to tell men and women how to parent their children. But some of the activities kids participate in just seem to boggle even Denny Crane's Senile Mind. It seems intuitive to me that tooling around at full speed in what is likely an uneven field filled with more ruts than strands of Skoal 'Bacco found in the typical Socastee resident's chaw. I realize the young lady was 16 years old. But this is not uncommon as I have heard of mothers hot-rodding around with an infant child on her lap.

I will not go so far as to label this a Darwin Award Candidate... But I will certainly shelf a certain amount of blame on the parents... or mother and step-father... or mother-cousin... or however they do it out there.

So sad.