If you are going to Drink please don't Drive

Some of the people that read this blog Don't know about my friend Rich. They don't know the significance of the faded 18 on my leg. They don't know that I lost one of my best friends in November of 2004. Well Today the man who killed Rich was scentenced to jail. If you have a couple of minutes please read this article. Try to relate it to your own life. Pretend Rich was one of your close friends. Then, maybe, just maybe, you will think twice about Drinking and Driving. Thank you


DOVER, N.H. -- A former University of New Hampshire student convicted of negligent homicide was sentenced to prison Monday.
Kevin Whittaker was sentenced to 7½ to 22 years in prison for running down fellow undergraduate Rich Hegerich while he crossed a road in November 2004. Police said Whittaker was drunk and fled the scene.
Hegerich's parents said that they can understand an accident, but they couldn't forgive Whittaker for leaving their son to bleed to death.
"I wonder, was it five seconds or was it five minutes? I don't know," said the victim's father, Rich Hegerich Sr. "I don't know if he cried. I don't know if he yelled out for help."
"Kevin Whittaker committed an evil thing," said Hegerich's mother, Maureen Hegerich. "He snuffed out that life, that brightness that was Richard's life."
The accident happened just outside the UNH campus. Police said Whittaker and Hegerich had been drinking at different parties. Hegerich chose to walk home, while Whittaker drove. Prosecutors said that after the accident, Whittaker was pulled over for a broken light, and he claimed to be unaware that he hit anyone.
At the sentencing hearing, Whittaker took blame for the crash and then turned to Hegerich's family to say he wasn't heartless.
"Please don't think that I don't think about this every day," Whittaker said. "Please don't think I was cold-blooded. Please don't think that I left your son on the road to die.
The judge said Whittaker had not shown "one ounce of remorse" and seemed "bothered and inconvenienced" by the trial.
After the hearing, prosecutors presented Hegerich's father with the ball cap he was wearing at the time of the accident. His father said that the family was pleased with the outcome.
"It's closure on this crime so we can move on and really think of the good memories of Rich, you know?" he said.
Whittaker must attend substance abuse counseling while in prison and pay up to $17,000 in restitution to the victim's parents.

If you would like to watch the video please click on this link and click the video link

http://www.wmur.com/news/8596457/detail.html



HERE IS A SECOND ARTICLE FROM FOSTERS DAILY DEMOCRAT

DOVER — Sporting a blue, short-sleeve polo shirt that once belonged to his son, Richard Hegerich Sr. said his family now had some closure after a judge sentenced his son's killer on Monday to a minimum of 7 1/2 years in state prison.More than 30 friends and family of Richard Hegerich attended the sentencing hearing for Kevin Whittaker in Strafford County Superior Court Monday afternoon. The sentence, handed down by Judge Peter Fauver, was a year and a half more than what was requested by prosecutors."In the end, the judge did the right thing," Hegerich Sr. said. "There's a feeling of closure on the criminal part. Now that that's done, we don't have to think about it anymore."Whittaker, 20, was convicted at the end of January of negligent homicide and conduct after an accident by a jury of six men and six women. While driving with a blood-alcohol content of 0.16, Whittaker struck and killed Hegerich, a fellow UNH student and native of Hanover, Mass., as he was crossing Main Street in downtown Durham.Instead of stopping, Whittaker drove around town, at one point trying to convince his girlfriend to take off with him. He was pulled over on Route 4 by a Durham police officer who noticed a defective headlight on his 1995 Dodge Stratus.Hegerich, a sophomore and member of the UNH swim team, was celebrating his 20th birthday on the night of his death. He had a blood-alcohol content of 0.14.Deputy County Attorney Thomas Velardi, lead prosecutor in the case, painted Whittaker not as a frightened, young college kid in a difficult situation, but instead as "an incredibly self-involved, utterly narcissistic young man who did what he could to cover it up.""It is frankly difficult to come up with any mitigating sentencing factor when you're talking about Kevin Whittaker," Velardi said.Several family members and friends of Hegerich spoke during the hearing, while others bowed their heads and listened quietly. Boxes of tissues were passed from bench to bench to dry wet eyes and noses."When I think of (Whittaker) I think of darkness," Maureen Hegerich, mother of Richard Hegerich, said. "Kevin Whittaker left my son to die alone. Our whole family is broken forever. Please your honor, send the right message to my family. Show my Richard that justice will be served."Whittaker's attorney, Stephen Jeffco of Portsmouth, argued the crime was a tragic accident and requested a sentence of no more than two years."Should Mr. Whittaker have stopped his vehicle? Absolutely," Jeffco said. "From day one Mr. Whittaker wanted to personally contact Rich's family to express his condolences ... Whatever sentence you impose cannot punish him anymore than he is punishing himself."Mick Meyer, a family friend of Whittaker, spoke on his behalf."The Kevin Whittaker I know is not a narcissistic, self involved individual. What happened a year-and-a-half ago was an aberration," Meyer said. "I do know that Kevin is repentant."A shaky, slow moving Whittaker approached the podium to speak, at one point turning to Hegerich's friends and family to share with them his remorse."Please don't think that I don't think about this every day. Please don't think that I left your son in the road to die," Whittaker said. "It happened so fast. I made a terrible, terrible mistake."Friends and family of Hegerich, wearing red ribbons pinned to their clothes with "Rich" scribed across, appeared unmoved by Whittaker's apology. On the other side of the room sat friends and family of Whittaker, poised in silent support."Today is the first day that I have seen you share one ounce of remorse," Fauver said, addressing a standing Whittaker, who he accused of showing too little emotion during the trial. "Instead you projected an image ... of one who is bothered and inconvenienced that this whole thing was going on," Fauver said. Fauver said the case was magnified by the fact that Whittaker did not stop after hitting Hegerich. He said the actions of Whittaker following the accident showed, "Callous disregard for the life of another human being. I'll bet you if you hit a deer or a dog, you probably would have stopped."Tense faces on both sides of the aisle stared toward Fauver as he reached a sentence. Maureen Hegerich clasped a hand to her face."Sentencing is one of the toughest parts of the job, and it's particularly tough when there are so many lives affected," Fauver said. Whittaker was sentenced to a minimum of three-and-a-half years for the charge of conduct after an accident, and four years for the charge of negligent homicide. The sentences are to be served consecutively. He was also ordered to pay well over $14,000 in restitution to the Hegerich family.Velardi said there was no doubt that Judge Fauver's sentence was stiff. He said he believes Fauver held Whittaker accountable for the fact that he did not stop after hitting Hegerich, and indeed would have kept going if he had not been pulled over for the defective headlight."He could have picked up the cell phone and made an anonymous call," Velardi said. "That's what makes this case so chilling and difficult to comprehend."Family and friends of Hegerich hugged each other, smiled, and flashed thumbs up as the hearing concluded, while friends and family of Whittaker shuffled out of the courtroom quickly and quietly.Maureen Hegerich said she felt "much better" after hearing the sentence."I think Tom Velardi, and the UNH and Durham police made this day happen for my son," she said, adding she could tell Velardi really cared about her son, and all those involved seemed to make a real effort to know him.She said she does not put much thought into forgiving Whittaker for his actions, and added she would feel differently if he had been a good kid who simply made a horrible mistake, which she does not believe was the case. "Hopefully, God will forgive him," she said.Friends of Hegerich, from UNH and his hometown of Hanover, Mass., attended the hearing."I'm glad that it's over. It was definitely hard to sit through," Maggie Downes, a friend of Hegerich's from both Hanover and UNH, said. "I think about it every day. I don't think it will ever stop." She said Hegerich was, "The funniest person to be around. He was also a really good friend. He was the one you went to if you had a problem."Dan Hegerich, the 19-year-old brother of Richard, said no sentence handed down could ever compare to the loss of his brother. "Everything I do now is for him," he said. A freshman at St. Anselm College, Dan Hegerich says he thinks about his brother 24 hours a day, seven days a week, "every night when I go to bed, every morning when I wake up."