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Earlier this month, 19-year-old Jimmy Hawkins of Damascus died when the car he was driving crested a hill and struck another vehicle on Bill Moxley Road in Mount Airy.
Just a year earlier, his friend Ryan Didone, 15, was killed in a crash on a winding country road in Damascus.
Now the friends who mourned Didone are mourning Hawkins.
"It kind of brought it all back in a flood," said Jeanette Nicholson, mother of Christopher Nicholson, 18, who was a passenger in the car carrying Didone and four other students on Oct. 20, 2008, when it crashed into a tree on Hawkins Creamery Road.
Christopher is still hoping to have a career in the military after college, his mother said. He is attending Montgomery College and plans to transfer to Salisbury University for the spring semester.
"We're just very blessed he's here," she said.
Christopher Nicholson was the only passenger in the station wagon wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash. He has always been conscious of seat belts, his mother said. The night of the crash he prevented two more girls from getting into the station wagon because there were not enough seat belts for them.
And he's a very cautious driver, Jeanette Nicholson said. He waited until he turned 18 to get his license, she said.
The Nicholsons and all the crash victims' families have hired attorneys but none has filed suit against the driver or his family. They have three years from the date of the incident to do so.
"We're not sure of the final diagnosis or prognosis yet," said Stephen D. Weiss of Rockville, who represents Nicholson.
Driver Zachary Kimble was a new driver, driving on a provisional license, which restricted him from carrying young passengers other than family. He did not have car insurance and the registration on his parents' station wagon had expired.
Police gave Kimble five traffic citations, including citations for speeding and negligent driving. He pleaded guilty and paid $710 in fines, according to court records and his attorney, Thomas L. Heeney of Rockville.
Several attempts to reach Heeney were unsuccessful.
The victims' families said they will keep their options open for the next two years.
"It would have cost us more money to sue than it was worth," said Joe Stolinski, stepfather of Brittany Jones, 17, who was seriously injured in the crash.
Jones suffered a head injury as well as numerous broken bones.
"Every dollar we had had to go to Brittany's medical care," Stolinski said.
The family used its own medical insurance policy to pay for her treatment. When the insurance company informed them she had exhausted the policy's limit on physical therapy, Damascus High School took up a collection to help. The family decided in August that they could stretch their dollars further and Jones might do at least as well working in a gym with a private trainer rather than a physical therapist. Her physical therapist helped with the transition by explaining to the trainer what was needed.
"At the gym she's able to target specific areas that need muscle growth," Stolinski said. "Physically she's made great strides."
Jones returned to Damascus High School in the spring. Once an honors student who got only A's and B's without trying, she is now in her junior year taking grade-level courses and struggling.
She suffers from memory problems.
"They said it should start coming back," Jones said. "They said the one-year mark was huge, I should see improvement."
Kirstin Newport, 17, also suffered broken bones in the crash. She is a junior at Damascus High School and learning to drive.
"She's a phenomenal driver," said John Newport, her father.
Kimble, who regularly went to Young Life meetings following the crash and graduated in the spring, attended last week's session, Young Life leader Bobby Patton said after the group's Monday night meeting.
"It's been a hard deal. When tragedy strikes, I think people look for someone to blame," Stefan Wiltz of Damascus, area director of Young Life, said. "If people think he's forgotten it, they're crazy. You think about it every day, and he has to live with that. Damascus is a small town and it feels like that sometimes. Zach's always around and people still look at him as the one who was driving the car."
Damascus High School plans to plant a tree in memory of Ryan Didone on Nov. 3, Principal Robert Domergue said. With Tuesday being the anniversary of the crash and this being Homecoming Week at the school, he thought emotions might be too raw to plant the tree now.
"All kids have memories of the incident. Some have taken it more personally than others," Domergue said.
Staff Writer Meghan Tierney contributed to this report.
