When I moved to West Goshen
last summer after 31 years in Chadds Ford, I thought nothing would happen in
this idyllic township.
You see, in 2009, CNN named
West Goshen Township number 11 of the top 100 places to live in the United
States citing, “This family-friendly community has a quiet suburban feel. Among
the four area parks around the area, West Goshen Community Park has its own
amphitheatre with concerts and outdoor theater.”
St Agnes Cemetery, the Friends
Cemetery, Chestnut Grove Cemetery and the large park-like Oakland Cemetery, the
final resting place of American composer Samuel Barber, are all within walking
distance of our home. That surely keeps the place quiet, doesn’t it?
The owls hoot at night, deer
trim rhododendrons into oddly shaped topiaries and fox and groundhogs scamper
across quiet streets.
But in the early hours of June
20, barely ¼ mile down the hill from our neighborhood, national attention came
crashing down on West Goshen.
You all know the facts by now.
Ryan Dunn, 34, star of three of
the Jack Ass series of movies, who had been doing shots and drinking beer at
Barnabys on High Street in West Chester, killed himself and his 30 year-old
friend and colleague, Zachary Hartwell, while trying to exit Route 322 onto
Pottstown Pike just north of the West Chester borough in West Goshen. His
sports car missed the exit by a few feet (and yes, the skid marks are still there)
and went flying into the embankment, bursting into flame. Police estimated Dunn’s speed to be
about 132- 140 mph. He had more than 2-1/2 times the legal amount of alcohol in
his blood. It seems his legions of local fans had also bought more drinks for
him. Good going guys!
So let me pose some questions
here:
Why do automakers sell cars
that can do 200 miles per hour? I mean, where are you supposed to drive cars
like that – the German Autobahn?
If you lived in a tiny center- city apartment would you buy a Greyhound
for a pet?
And why do bars sell shots to
patrons? There is only one reason to do shots—to get the alcohol into your
bloodstream faster.
One does not savor a shot as
one might the exotic aroma of Juniper berries and lime in a gin and tonic, or a
fine after-dinner Drambouie drifting slowly over your palate.
No, it’s not as mature as that.
It’s tilt your head back and down the hatch.
So it comes down to the age-old
question: Do we ban the import of cars that can go more than three-times the
legal limit? Do we prohibit bars from selling shots, or wait…maybe even better,
bring back Prohibition?
Our Declaration of Independence
tells us, “We are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that
among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
But does that right give one
the permission to consume half a dozen or more shots and then go speeding off
in a high-priced foreign sports car with a friend in pursuit of that reckless
definition of happiness?
Because among all the words being
offered by his mourning fans who have now made the exit off Route 322 a shrine,
not once have I heard the words “personal responsibility.”
Ok now boys and girls, what
have we learned. Dunn will become a cult hero for acting like a true jackass
and the Barnaby’s on High Street will become a tourist mecca for the curious.
No, they will never learn.
About Sally Denk Hoey
Sally Denk Hoey, is a Gemini - one part music and one part history. She holds a masters degree cum laude from the School of Music at West Chester University. She taught 14 years in both public and private school. Her CD "Bard of the Brandywine" was critically received during her almost 30 years as a folk singer. She currently cantors masses at St Agnes Church in West Chester where she also performs with the select Motet Choir. A recognized historian, Sally serves as a judge-captain for the south-east Pennsylvania regionals of the National History Day Competition. She has served as president of the Brandywine Battlefield Park Associates as well as the Sanderson Museum in Chadds Ford where she now curates the violin collection. Sally re-enacted with the 43rd Regiment of Foot and the 2nd Pennsylvania Regiment for 19 years where she interpreted the role of a campfollower at encampments in Valley Forge, Williamsburg, Va., Monmouth, N.J. and Lexington and Concord, Mass. Sally is married to her college classmate, Thomas Hoey, otherwise known as "Mr. Sousa.”
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