WEST MILFORD West Milford Township High School recently formed a Safe Driving Task Force in an attempt to be proactive in preventing accidents involving high school students. This task force was organized by Mr. Pete Anzelone, who is the Supervisor of Health and Physical Education for the West Milford Township Schools at the direction of the district’s Superintendent, Mr. Glenn Kamp. The task force was formed in response to two serious motor vehicle accidents involving WMHS students this past fall. The first program that the task force arranged was a presentation by Mrs. Ellen Lurig on Monday, January 30. Lurig lost her son, Robert, in a car accident in 1998. Robert was a passenger in a car that was struck by a drunk driver. Robert suffered severe burns over most of his body but survived for fifteen hours despite his many injuries. Since the time of her son’s death, Mrs. Lurig has spoken to thousands of high school students about how the loss of her son has affected her and her family. Lurig’s 40 minute presentation opened with a video tribute to her son beginning with her pregnancy and continuing through the fall of his senior year at Phillipsburg High School. After the video, she talked about the hours leading up to her son’s death. She went into great detail about how she had a chill the entire night and how her motherly instincts made her feel that something just wasn’t right. She shared her thoughts about the police knocking on her door to give her the news, and the chaplain who greeted her and her family at the hospital when they arrived to see Robert. She walked the students right up through the moment when the nurse came to tell her, “It’s time.” The presentation was quite emotional, and brought many students to tears. The goal of her speech was to encourage students to never operate a motor vehicle while they were under the influence of drugs or alcohol. George Heise, a senior, said afterwards, “That was the best speaker that we’ve had in my four years.” That was a common sentiment among many of the students and staff. The next program the task force will be hosting is a presentation for students and parents on Thursday, February 16 at 7 p.m. in the WMHS cafeteria. This program will be a video that was produced by HBO and SADD entitled, “Smashed: Toxic Tales of Teens and Alcohol.” A brief discussion involving parents and students will follow the video. All parents and students are invited to attend.