Local
The Sanford Herald / Tuesday, May 18, 2010 / 7A
Britt Continued from Page 1A
the makeshift memorial as school let out Monday. It was a day of mourning at Lee County High School as students began the healing process and searched for answers to what many are calling a “senseless” act. Josh Britt died Friday driving home from the Moore County home of his girlfriend, Morgan Bridgers, at around 10:30 p.m. She was assisting him on a chemistry project. According to a report released Saturday by the Sanford Police Department, Britt’s Ford slammed into car parked facing south in the middle of the left northbound lane of U.S. 1 — lights off — facing oncoming traffic near the Wicker Street on-ramp. Both Britt and the occupant of the other vehicle, 48-year-old Anthony Boswell, died instantly. Boswell — a husband and father described by his father, Rick Boswell of Alabama, as “highly intelligent, very good-natured and extremely tactful” — appeared to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs, according to SPD Capt. David Smith. As for the questions of why Boswell would put himself and others in danger, Smith had no answers Monday. “We’re backtracking everything leading up to the accident,” said Smith, who said Boswell left no “suicide note” or other evidence that it was done purposely. “We want to find out what was going on in his life to try to shine some light on why he did what he did.”
A COMMUNITY GRIEVES Josh’s father, Jeff Britt, awoke at 11:30 p.m. Friday night and realized his son hadn’t returned home. Unable to reach Josh, Jeff Britt jumped into his car and began to drive toward Pinehurst, where his son’s girlfriend lives. As he approached the Wicker Street bridge, Jeff Britt saw police lights. “Nobody knows what to say,” an emotional Jeff Britt, who has three other children with his wife Jill,
BILLY LIGGETT/The Sanford Herald
A sign reading “J$ You’ll be missed,” was one of several cards and photos left at a makeshift memorial on the football field at Lee County High School Monday in tribute of Josh Britt. told The Herald Monday. “It just doesn’t make sense to me. I just don’t ...” Josh Britt celebrated his 17th birthday in early April, and later that month, he attended his junior prom with his girlfriend. A native of Pinehurst, Britt was active in many school clubs, including DECA and FCA, but his passion, according to friends, was sports. A huge football fan, Britt was a member of the Yellow Jackets varsity squad as a junior, playing linebacker. Classmate Taylor Davenport said Britt had a smile she’ll never forget. “When I would pass him in the hallways, he would always smile at me,” she said. “Even before he knew me. I always saw him laughing and cracking up. He was really an amazing person.” Davenport, like many of her classmates, has joined a handful of Facebook sites dedicated to Britt’s memory. One site, named simply, “R.I.P. Josh Britt,” attracted more than 1,200 “fans” through Monday. A funeral service originally planned for 4 p.m. Wednesday at New Hope Baptist Church,
has been moved to the Dennis A. Wicker Civic Center — located across from Lee County High School — to accommodate the mass of friends, family, classmates and well-wishers expected to attend. Monday was the first day of classes since the news of Britt’s death, and LCHS administration prepared by sending grief counselors to the campus to talk comfort students. “It’s been a somber, difficult day today,” LCHS Principal Greg Batten said as classes let out Monday. “A lot of people just couldn’t find the words to say how they felt. The senselessness of it ... the randomness of it has a lot to do with that. But it’s more about the kind of person Josh was. He was a good, active kid who came from a good family. He knew so many people.” Many students wore white T-shirts decorated with messages about Britt and many with his No. 9 painted, drawn or sewn onto the back. Some wore tall white socks and flip flops ... a nod to the odd fashion statement Britt would make at times.
“Today was the hardest,” Davenport said. “The silence was eerie. (The shirts) were one of the more comforting things about today. The teachers and principals were also very supporting. They let us grieve and go where we needed without hesitation.” At 11 a.m., a few hundred students gathered at the painted memorial on the football field to leave flowers and share memories. As the day wore on, many of the students trickled back to the 20-yard line. Ingersoll was with her mother, Amy, and little brother, both of whom wanted to pay their respects. “A lot of these kids are learning to drive,” Amy Ingersoll said, “and they’re become scared because of this senseless act.” Students Taylor Waters and Caitie Davis said it was tough getting back into their cars for school Monday. “This shows us how fragile life is,” Davis said. “It wasn’t until late (Sunday) night that I was ready to drive again.”
‘HIS MEMORY WILL LIVE ON’ Jeff Britt said it’s still difficult to verbalize his feelings about his son and Friday night’s accident. But the support he and his family is receiving from friends and strangers has helped immensely. “It’s all very humbling,” he said. “It’s humbling to know Josh touched so many lives. From the students, his coaches, the faculty and staff, friends and family ... we’re just in awe.” He said part of him doesn’t want to know the details of Friday night, and he said he will “trust in the Lord” when it comes to “why” it happened. “It’s left such a void in our souls,” he said. “I just can’t put into words how painful it is. There’s no possible way to verbalize it. “His memory will live on, though. There are people who have lived their entire lives and never impacted people the way Josh has in 17 short years. His passion and love of life was just so great.”
BILLY BALL/The Sanford Herald
U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge, D-Lillington, talks with East Lee Middle School sixth-graders Ivan Silva (center) and Zackary Hunsucker (right) during a visit to the school’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) lab Monday.
Etheridge Continued from Page 1A
Etheridge listened and talked to sixth-graders in one of East Lee’s state-of-the-art Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) labs, an initiative launched two years ago that gives pupils an interactive learning experience with various contraptions and computers. Students rotate their time working with gadgets that teach them firsthand the principles of science touchstones like electricity, using alternative energy forms, movie-making, mechanisms and pneumatics. “The fact that they’re exposed to it makes all the difference,” Etheridge said as he huddled with students and school officials Monday. The U.S. House’s America COMPETES Reauthorization Act, or H.R. 5116, introduced by Tennessee Democrat Bart Gordon, is expected to bolster school funding for science and engineering programs like the STEM labs, areas that lawmakers say American youth are trailing their foreign contemporaries. Etheridge said he would support more funding for such education, calling it “hands-on experience” that inte-
grates academic curriculum and real-life skills. “They are budding engineers,” Etheridge said. Etheridge, a Harnett County resident, is running for re-election this fall in the U.S. House’s 2nd District, which includes Lee County. Lee County Schools Director of Career and Technical Education Aaron Fleming said East Lee Middle School was the first in the county to phase in the STEM labs, folding it into the remaining middle schools last year. Fleming said the hightech labs will be worked into Southern Lee High School next year before they are fully implemented in county high schools. “We want to do things that are different,” Fleming said, adding that the labs enhance science education and students’ teamwork because it forces pupils to work together at the lab stations. In addition to education components of the America COMPETES bill, the legislation is expected to increase federal funding for science research and development. Democratic and Republican lawmakers are still hammering out the details of the legislation in Congress this week.
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