Tears filled the Maquoketa Valley High School gym on Wednesday morning, April 18. I stood with misty eyes as Russ Reineke spoke fondly of his son, friend and business partner, Dale Reineke.

Russ started his speech by noting he wished he was there as a motivational speaker, one to lift the crowd, but this was not his purpose; he wasn’t going to scream and shout and make the Maquoketa Valley juniors and seniors who were just about to attend prom leap from their seats with enthusiasm. No, Reineke beared a much different purpose that morning. His was a purpose that many people have attempted to approach in today’s society, one that can’t really be understood without first-hand experience. An experience no one wants to have.

Reineke and his wife, Jackie, of Carroll, travel all over telling the story of the crash that killed their son. If you pay attention to his speech, you will notice the word “accident” is never used. Dale, who was a mere 24 years old, was killed by a drunk driver, and Reineke states, “they chose to buy the beer, drink the beer and drive, none of that is an accident.”

On Friday, Nov. 23, 2001, two 16-year-old girls from Odebolt thought it was a good night to party, and after getting someone to buy them beer, they continued to call up other friends to come drink with them, with no success. After failing to get a party together, the girls decided to drive to Ames to drink with some older friends from Odebolt who were tailgating for the Iowa-Iowa State football game that was being played the next day.

They made it to Ames and continued to drink. The passenger, who had to be back in Odebolt at 8 a.m. for basketball practice, fell asleep around 3:30 a.m. while the driver stayed up and drank until about 5:45 a.m. The driver then woke the passenger and they headed back to Odebolt for basketball practice. A practice they never made it to. They made it about 35 miles.

Heading to the Iowa-Iowa State game that morning were Dale Reineke and his fiancée Laurie, Dale’s good friend Steve and his girlfriend Kristy, and their friend Jeff. Steve was driving Dale Reineke’s van, with Kristy in the front and the rest in the back. They left Carroll with sandwiches and water for the game at about 6 a.m. They made it about 22 miles.

In a heartbeat, one blink of the eye, four lives were lost. The car carrying the two girls came barreling straight at the van, giving Steve no time to react. The car went partially under the van, causing the van to roll over on it’s passenger side, the side Kristy was on, and then up-righted itself. That’s all it took.

Dale clung to life, unconscious, for about three minutes. His aorta was torn away from his heart and blood pumped into his chest cavity, rather than his brain and other organs. Kristy hit her head on the asphalt and was alive for two days before doctors told her parents they had to pull the plug.
Both teenagers in the car were killed instantly. Four lives gone in a second.

Steve and Laurie were both critically injured, but pulled through. Jeff was treated for minor injuries. Even though they survived, life is not, and never will be, easy. Doctors questioned if Steve would ever walk again, and Laurie, who had numerous broken bones, couldn’t walk for three months. Her injuries will haunt her for the rest of her life. Luckily to say, Steve, after many surgeries and amazing doctors, is walking again. He has a permanent limp and has no feeling in three of his fingers.
However, physical injuries are the easiest of the aftermath of the crash.

Dale and Laurie had just decided on a wedding date, and picked out a ring as well. Dale had told the jeweler to hold the ring and he would be back to get it. Dale never got that chance. Russ and Jackie reveled in the love that their son and Laurie shared, so after the crash, they bought the ring for Laurie and she wears in proudly, always remembering Dale.

The Reineke’s story is one that is tragic and unfortunate. The have taken a terrible situation and done their best to use their story as a lesson to be learned. Russ pleaded with the students to not drink and drive before escorting them outside to see the van and car that were involved in the crash. He has kept them in their actual form since the crash on a trailer so he may take them to the schools and show the shear horror of the crash.

The last time that we interviewed Manchester resident Jerry Bond was in January 2005.

He was then a private in the United States Army and getting ready to deploy to Iraq.

A little more than two years later it is now Specialist Jerry Bond and he is getting ready for his second deployment to Iraq.

Spec. Bond was in Iraq on his first tour from January 21, 2005 to January 16, 2006. He says that he will be much more prepared going over this time.