Enough is enough, says sister of victim killed in SUV rollover

Where is the community love when you need it? I cannot believe what I am reading week after week in these letters, these verbal wars between the heartless and our friends.

Everyone's opinion seems to matter more than anyone else's, and somehow strangers to us think they have more light on the subject of our family.

I wasn't going to say anything in print but this is getting ridiculous. That "youth" who died behind the wheel on Feb. 18 was my little brother. If your readers want proof of someone who knew his heart, I think I had a pretty good idea because we shared the same heart.

All of those who wrote letters in our defense, I thank dearly. They are our friends and do realize the situation. They are understanding, and we feel their love and couldn't go on without it.

I wonder now where our critics come off. Do they feel they are better parents knowing that their children are still alive, like they did something more than my family did?

Yes, my brother made a mistake. But there were other parents' kids at that party too, drinking, irresponsibly having fun.

I can't tell you how many kids have come up to me in this short time and told me it should've been them who died. I also can't tell you how many kids under the age of 21 I know that already have DUIs.

Believe me, I would've given anything for a cop to have seen them first. In response to those first letters, the ones from the "perfect" parents, I promise them their child is having problems or has had their share, whether they've told them or not.

In this day and age there is no escape from the world of drugs and alternate lifestyles. It's all now a phase most of us have to get through to grow up. It's not just a choice the minority of "screw-ups" make.

People keep asking us why we didn't stop it. Why we didn't prevent it. Is that some cruel joke? We think about that every day. And the only thing we could've done was refuse his request to go spend the night with a friend- something other parents allow every weekend.

I could spend hours explaining our lives, our trials and tribulations, but I don't need to. Everyone who has ever met my brother has told me the same thing- that he had a heart that looked out for everyone, and loved more than he could show. We grew up Jesus-loving people, and all my family, including Daniel, will leave this world that way.

I don't know why this whole subject has turned into an attack on my family and their morals, when we did all that we could.

If they really want to know my brother's heart, they can write to me and hear the truth, rather than believe some angled opinion, which in the end means nothing at all. Katelyn Crane Simi Valley