So, to set the stage for this, I received an email from my friend Miller today and it read,
"Trey,
If I am to pass away unexpectedly, rather than wearing suits to my funeral I would prefer everyone wear the compulsory “commemorative clothing” fancied by the people in the link below."
I don't even think I can add to this...except for the fact that these "exceptional, stand up young men" stole the paddle boats in the middle of the night. Oh and also, despite the fact that the boats were stolen (illegal), before the bodies were in the ground the mother filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the camp. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?!?! Tort Reform anyone? http://www.atra.org/
Here's the article, posted on the chicagobreakingnews.com.
The gathering of family, friends and classmates filled the seats inside Corbin Colonial Funeral Chapel, 5345 W. Madison St., and spilled into the lobby. Some wore clothing bearing the word "Royalty" -- a nickname for Adrian.
Speakers remembered the 16-year-old as a smart, caring person who valued family and friends. One of 12 siblings, the North Lawndale teen was a disciplined straight-A student and a junior lifeguard.
Longtime friend Michael Scott Jr. said Jones had talked of becoming a marine biologist.
"Growing up in North Lawndale, there aren't many young men who want to be marine biologists -- and have the ability to do it," Scott said.
Others who spoke during the funeral called on the young people there to honor Jones by getting a good education.
Jones and two of his classmates, Melvin Choice III, 17, and Jimmy Avant, 18, drowned last Friday in the river in Algonquin after sneaking out of a camp lodge and dragging paddle boats into the frigid, swift-moving water in the early-morning hours.
They didn't realize the boat's bottom plug had been removed for the winter. The boat, carrying two of the boys, rapidly filled with water and the boys went under.
A third boy jumped in the water and tried to rescue them. He, too, died.
The three were among 31 students from North Lawndale College Prep on the West Side who were on the last day of an eight-day ethical leadership retreat at Camp Algonquin.
Choice's mother, Virginia, filed a lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court earlier this week asserting the school, the camp and the retreat organizer failed to secure the paddle boats or warn that the plugs on the bottom of the boats had been removed.
Named defendants were VisionQuest International, the Atlanta-based organization that organized the retreat; YMCA of McHenry County, which runs Camp Algonquin; and North Lawndale College Prep.
Funerals for Avant and Choice will be held Saturday.
-- Steve Schmadeke
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