East Ridge Students Learn Hard Lesson

Alex Perry, a senior at East Ridge High School, says, "It just kind of hit me."

If the images were not dramatic enough, East Ridge High School also brought in two mothers, Tish Stephens and Tiki Finlayson.

In 2011, Tish drove drunk and killed Tiki’s 25-year-old son, Kevin.

Tiki adds, "All of the bones in the left side of his face were crushed, including both eye sockets, which I didn’t even know was possible."

He didn’t die on impact, he died about 32 hours later.

Tish would have spent 8 years in prison, but after serving only two, Tiki asked the parole board to let her go.

Tiki wanted Tish to tell her story at different events.

Tiki says, "The main question I get is, how could I forgive her? And I knew I had to, to be able to make the biggest impact to do something in honor of Kevin that I could."

These women want everyone to know that it all comes down to making good decisions; decisions you can live with.

Tish adds,"It’s very difficult. I can’t say that it gets any easier and I don’t think it will be easy to tell my part of the story, but I know its going to make a difference."

With somber looks, students agree, they wouldn’t want to be in Tish’s shoes.

According to the Governor’s Highway Safety Office, Hamilton County has the highest teen crash rate in the state.