Ronan hosts “Ghost Out” ahead of Prom

First responders worked against the clock to free victims from wreckage as a cold rain fell in the early afternoon last week while more than 300 teenagers watched.

Together, the Montana State Highway Patrol, Lake County Sheriff’s Office, Ronan Police Department, Ronan Fire Department, Mission Valley Ambulance, worked at a mock DUI crash scene outside of Ronan High School for a “Ghost Out” on Wednesday, March 14.

The crash is held every four years right before the district’s prom, which was Saturday, March 17.

Ronan High School Principal Kevin Kenelty said that throughout the day of the simulated exercise, different statistics on texting and driving and drinking and driving are shared with students.

Obituaries of students involved in the proceeding crash “pop up” on computers within the system, available for students to read.

A Ronan police officer then takes each student actor who will suffer fatal injuries out of class. Their lockers are also “blacked out” for the day.

Actors for the crash included RHS librarian Heather Gray, Jesse Gray, Brendan Blood, Eric Dolence, Tara Homeland and Teagan Gray.

“It’s a pretty somber time within the school,” Kenelty said.

To help deal with emotions that sometimes run higher with the Ghost Out day, additional counselors are available.

Once it comes time for the crash scenario, Kenelty said the students go outside and watch the events unfold.

This year, Lake county Sheriff and Coroner Don Bell and Deputy and Coroner Lt. Fernando Venegas were coroners on scene, pronouncing deaths on arrival.

The mock crash takes about an hour which involves first 9-1-1 call, to actors being taken away in a hearse from Lake Funeral Home in Polson or placed in a medical helicopter or in the back of a cruiser.

Once the crash scene is cleared, students file into to the Performing Arts Center for an assembly for what Kenelty called a “debriefing.”

Also coming out of the mock crash is watching how multiple people from different backgrounds work together.

Bell said that MHP assessed the crash and the driver, while the Ronan Police Department assisted in the crash investigation.

Ronan Fire and Rescue pulled both the injured and deceased victims from the vehicles.

“I hope the students learned from this experience and hope they are safe this prom season,” Bell said.

Ronan Police Chief Ken Weaver said that through the scenario, organizers “attempted to bring realism into the accident” with the hope of reaching the students about the dangers of driving impaired.

The realization of the subject matter was not lost on students, Kenelty said.

“One young lady sent an email thanking” him for having the Ghost Out.

In her email, Kenelty said the student explained how she felt when one of her friends, who was a fatal victim in the crash, was taken out of class and wasn’t around for the day.

The crash vehicles were donated by Neil Talsman’s Wrecking Yard, Ronan Fire Chief Mark Clary said.

To get the vehicles set in a crash scenario, heavy machinery from the city of Ronan “bashed them up a little bit,” Clary said.

Like faculty, “the kids go home emotionally drained” from the day, Kenelty noted.

Majority of the students take the crash seriously, he said.

“It’s something they do remember. I think it stops some of them. It makes them think for at least (prom weekend).