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Tree removed from tragic crash site
By BOB McCLURE
| Article published on Tuesday, June 30, 2009 |
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| Workers from El Cheapo Tree Service remove a 60-foot pine tree on June 27 from the scene of a deadly car crash on 86th Avenue. |
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SEMINOLE – A tree that served as a stark reminder of the deaths of four high school students killed in a fiery car crash was removed June 27 from the site on 86th Avenue.
Seminole High School students Keith MacCollum, Joey Rizecki and Nathan Richardson, along with LeShawn Smith of Largo High School, died in the April 10 accident when a car they were riding in careened into the 60-foot pine tree.
For weeks, families and neighborhood friends of the victims were forced to drive by the scene of the accident, reminded painfully each time of the tragedy.
For Tara Burke, an aunt of MacCollum, removal of the tree became a personal project.
“Since the tragedy, as one can imagine,” she said, “it has been tremendously difficult for the families of these teenagers to drive past the site of the accident and the tree that caused the fatal impact, especially for the parents of Joey Rizecki who live down the street and must drive past it every time they leave their home.”
Burke began to make phone calls to tree services and was able to get Montague Pereira, owner of El Cheapo Tree Service, 6104 100th Way, to perform the tree removal at no charge.
“I live here in Seminole and went to Seminole High School,” said Pereira. “When I heard about this accident I was devastated.”
The tree was located on county property next to the home of Curt Maki, who resides at 141st Street and 86th Avenue. Getting county approval to remove the tree went quickly, Pereira said.
He used a crew of about seven men for the job, which would have normally cost about $1,500.
Like the four young men who died that night, Pereira said the accident did the same for the tree.
“There was bark chipped away at the bottom, which sent it into decline,” he explained.
A crowd of about 50 to 60 onlookers witnessed the removal of the tree as closure continues to come slowly to a community rocked by tragedy.
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Article published on Tuesday, June 30, 2009
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