Pottawattamie County Courthouse

July 9, 2007
Kerry ter Kuile, KETV Newswatch 7 in Omaha, NE.

Today a photographer and I were sent out to the Pottawattamie County Courthouse to cover the sentencing of 21-year-old Rudolph Huebner IV. Huebner plead guilty to motor vehicular homicide after he hit a car full of Iowa students returning from spring break.

On March 18, 2006 two passengers were killed in the crash, two were badly injured. Another young man barely survived.

Any car crash like this is tragic, but what upset me most is that all of the victims were college students. One victim was my age when he was killed. Huebner's vehicle was traveling over 90 miles-per-hour and he had been drinking.

Growing up, I was always told not to drink and drive and never to ride with a drinking driver, but as I heard what the families had to say about their dead children I had a hard time fighting back the tears.

I had never met the students involved in the accident, their families or friends. However, their story will now be a daily reminder for me that what can happen to people who choose to get behind the wheel on their way home from having "just a few drinks" at the bar.

Huebner has lost 10 years of his life and the two students who died; Mark & Brooke, have lost their lives. There is no doubt in my mind that everyone involved in this terrible accident would agree that this case of drinking and driving has changed their lives for the worse.

Kerry ter Kuile is a junior broadcasting major from Omaha, Nebraska. This summer Kerry is interning at KETV Newswatch 7 in Omaha, the local ABC news station, and will spend time assisting producers, reporters and photographers in their work in hopes to learn as much as she can about life as a television reporter. Email Me, View All Kerry's Entries