They should consider themselves warned.

Ripon High students and parents listened as law enforcement and justice system speakers told of the experiences they faced during their tenure in office from police officers to a judge and a prosecuting attorney who said he would charge them with murder if they killed someone while drinking and driving.

It was a dynamic conclusion to the two day Every 15 Minutes production Friday afternoon following a dramatic crash scene Thursday that played out on North Acacia Avenue.

The teens learned that once they have gone through an E15 class, they are considered to have learned of the consequences of their actions, allowing for the full extent of the law to be brought against them.  On Thursday they all witnessed the depth of drinking and driving and visualized what young drivers actually face – unable to say they didn’t know what they had done wrong.

While some realized it was only a scripted event, others took it very seriously.  Student had red eyes and some couldn’t control their tears as they imagined the deaths of the friends.  Moms and dads have been given the tasks of writing their last goodbye letters to their sons and daughters.  Students reciprocated and wrote similar letters to their parents.  Some couldn’t control their shaky voices with one mom admitting it was just all too real – her son sitting nearby with his head in his hands in the darkened room.

Retired Sheriff’s Lt. Chris Stephens asked students to stand – those promising they wouldn’t drive drunk or allow their friends to drive drunk.  He told of three teens at a party in an orchard that did all they could to stop a drinking teen from driving away from a party.   He wouldn’t give them his keys so they just parked their cars in front of his so he couldn’t get out and put others in danger.

At the conclusion of the presentation Friday, students gathered hugging each other and making comments about their futures.  They saw clearly how their friends’ lives can be cut short at a time when they are headed for their college and careers.

Stephens made it even more personal when he told the students of how many relatives he had lost to drunk drivers at an early age – one of the reasons he had become a police officer.