Fatality leads to teen fund
Lindsey Collom
The Arizona Republic
May. 18, 2005
The father of a 19-year-old who died in an alcohol-fueled collision has established a memorial fund in his son's name to pay for drug and alcohol prevention programs for high school students.
Burt Bornstein's son, Joshua Bornstein, died Saturday when his 2001 Pontiac Grand Am barreled into a block wall near 34th Street and Ray Road. Police say Joshua had been drinking at a party attended mostly by high school students.
"I want to get some sort of message out because high school is really where the trouble is," Bornstein said Tuesday. "They're driving, experimenting more. We need to get someone in (the schools), changing kids' lives, saving their lives so they can hear the truth, they can hear the consequences of mixing alcohol or drugs with driving."
Bornstein said he had many discussions with his son about not drinking and driving. Joshua told him he would stay at a friend's house if he did drink, he said.
Joshua's friends have tried to make sense of his death in recent days, explaining to Bornstein that teenagers do stupid things.
"Most of the times, we get away with it," they told Bornstein. "This was one time Josh did a stupid thing, and he didn't get away with it."
Bornstein was proud of the son he described as loving and levelheaded. He was just as comfortable around student athletes as he was computer geeks, always maintaining a laid-back attitude.
While not religious, Bornstein says his son was spiritual, loved God and expressed concern for his friends who were dealing with "pressures from life and family, school, drugs and drinking."
As for Joshua, his father didn't mind if he had a beer or two. He reasoned that if his son was old enough to vote and to die for his country, he was old enough to have a drink.
He was named after the biblical Joshua, a warrior. Bornstein said that after his son's birth, he took him in his arms and raised him up, saying: "Lord God, let him be a warrior for you and let his life reflect your peace.
"That's the kind of kid he was."
Some of Joshua's friends who have tried to comfort Bornstein this week are the same teens who hold vigil at the accident site each night, lighting candles and sharing memories.
But Bornstein can't bring himself to go there. Not yet, maybe not ever.
"I know Josh is in a better place, and I know it as sure as I know my name," he said. "What's hard for us back here? I don't know how to live."