The death of a Sandpoint High School student hit too close to home for me. The third suicide in approximately a year, we can no longer afford to ignore the subject and some level of discussion must take place.

Most of us cannot fathom the grief or pain a famiy and friends go through when a youth dies, whether because of an accident, cancer, or suicide. While my son’s death wasn’t due to suicide, I know first-hand the pain of losing a child.

My son was 23 years old. He had just graduated from Central Washington University with a business degree, just accepted his first real job as a seed broker at Connell Grain Growers near the Tri-Cities in Washington and just moved into his first house in Pasco. On Dec. 4, 2011, that all ended with a knock on the front door by a Grant County sheriff’s deputy at approximately 2:30 a.m. I was in Pocatello at the time on business, so my wife had to hear those terrible words that no parent wants to hear alone. “Mrs. McKiernan, I’m sorry but your son James was killed in an accident.”

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