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From the 12/14/00 Marin Independent Journal Toy drive to honor bicycle victim By Guy Ashley Cecelia "Cecy" Krone lost her life because of a momentary collision of tragic circumstances, but 15 months after her death friends and admirers continue to strive to make sure her commitment to the disadvantaged endures. Krone, a dedicated bicyclist, was killed by a drunken driver while riding near the Nicasio Reservoir on Sept. 4, 1999. This Sunday - on what would have been her 44th birthday - dozens of fellow cyclists will remember Krone by riding from Corte Madera to Woodacre, where they will drop off toys earmarked for youngsters who might otherwise not have much to look forward to this Christmas. "Cecy had done a similar ride in San Diego, and talked of putting one together here," said Krone's longtime friend, Larry Nigro of San Anselmo. He said that Krone made a career of teaching children with learning disabilities and often was involved in some form of volunteer community service. This will be the second year in a row that cyclists will remember Krone by pedaling out to the Dickson Ranch in Woodacre, where resident Grace Tolson runs the Valley Toys and Joys toy drive. Tolson said the toy drive, which she has run for 10 years, seeks to fill the holiday wish lists of youngsters facing trying circumstances that might otherwise leave them bereft of holiday cheer. "We supply holiday toys to families in need," Tolson said. "It's not just poor people, but people who are in some kind of crisis at this time of year. "We're here to offer a little help - without the red tape," she said. About 30 cyclists participated in the ride last year, and Nigro said he is confident the list of cyclists will grow significantly this year. Tolson said she's glad for the help, considering that her all-volunteer effort is aiming to reach 160 kids this year. She also said she's astounded that Krone continues to inspire so many people long after her death. "Her death really has caused a lot of contributions to this community," Tolson said. "She continues to touch families out here in a positive way." Nigro said Sunday's 10-mile ride - estimated to last about 90 minutes - is being supported by two well-known bicycle groups, Marin Cyclists and the Marin County Bicycle Coalition. Krone, who lived in San Anselmo, was in a weekly group ride to the Nicasio Reservoir when she was struck by a Jeep driven by a Lagunitas woman. Tests later showed that the woman, Michele Young, had a blood-alcohol level of more than 2 times the legal limit when the crash occurred. Young, who later pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter, is serving a six-year sentence at a Stockton prison for women. Krone's mother, Adeline Krone of Ontario, San Bernardino County, said knowing that so many people will benefit from her daughter's memory will help her through what will surely be a difficult time of year. "The pain doesn't get any less as time goes by," Adeline Krone said. "But it does help to know something positive like this is being done in her name." From the Saturday (03/11/00) Marin Independent Journal 6-year term in death of bicyclist By
Guy Ashley A sobbing Michele Young begged for forgiveness from the family of Cecelia "Cecy" Krone moments before she was sentenced for killing Krone in the Sept. 4, 1999, crash on Nicasio Valley Road. "I can't imagine the horror of losing your child," she told Marin Superior Court Judge Terrence Boren. Young, 50, pleaded guilty in January to vehicular manslaughter and child endangerment in connection with the crash that killed Krone, who lived in San Anselmo. According to court testimony, the crash occurred after an early morning binge of Bloody Marys that left Young's senses blurred by alcohol. Young's 10-year-old son was in the passenger seat when her Jeep struck the bicyclist. He was not hurt in the crash. Krone, 42, was taking part in a weekly group ride to the Nicasio Reservoir when she was struck by the Jeep Wagoneer driven by Young. The impact caused Krone's bicycle and her safety helmet to shatter into pieces. The sentence handed down yesterday satisfied Krone's family, but was deemed too severe by Young's attorney, Roger Hurt. Hurt asked Boren to sentence Young to local jail time only, a scenario he hoped would have enabled his client to be near her family and enroll in an alcohol treatment program. "She's not prison material," Hurt said of Young. The prosecutor, Kathryn Mitchell of the Marin District Attorney's Office, urged Boren to hand down a stiffer sentence of 7 years, 4 months. "Ms. Young has had a problem with alcohol for most of her adult life," Mitchell said. "It shouldn't have taken the death of an innocent person for her to finally admit she has a problem." In pleading guilty, Young admitted she acted with "gross negligence" by drinking herself to extreme intoxication in the hours before the 9:30 a.m. crash. A blood test taken two hours after the crash revealed her blood-alcohol level to be .20, 21/2 times the legal limit for drivers in California. Hurt said throughout the case that Young, who also has a 1993 drunken driving conviction, is an alcoholic who needs to be treated rather than punished. The accident drew wide attention to the plight of bicyclists who travel Marin's increasingly busy roadways. Krone's death preceded by four months the death of another cyclist, Kirk Ross of San Anselmo, who also was struck while riding on Nicasio Valley Road. An investigation into that case is wrapping up and it will be referred to the district attorney within the next two weeks for possible charges, said Officer Marcus Bar-tholomew of the California Highway Patrol. Yesterday's sentencing hearing took place before a courtroom packed with observers, many wielding bicycle helmets in an appeal for roadway safety. The crowd was silent as Young's husband, John, pleaded with the court to release his wife "sooner rather than later." John Young said the couple's son, John Oliver Young, suffers from diabetes, a condition that requires that his blood be tested several times a day to monitor glucose levels. Michele Young was instrumental in monitoring the boy's health, her husband said, and the boy has suffered greatly since she was jailed. "He needs physical contact with his mother," John Young said of the boy. "Like everyone in this courtroom, he needs the healing to begin." Later, Krone's mother and two sisters spoke tearfully of their loss. They also asked for a prison sentence for Young to ensure Young could not again act on the urge to drink and drive. "We all need a time out from Michele Young," said Krone's sister, Kathleen Sutphen. Andrew Hardardt of San Rafael, one of the bicyclists who came upon Krone moments after she was struck, called the sentence "fair," but said he couldn't help thinking about the lifetime of struggles the incident will bring Young's son. Krone's longtime friend, Larry Nigro of San Anselmo, said he also found himself thinking about John Oliver Young during yesterday's hearing. Nigro is a teacher at San Geronimo School, where the boy is a student. "Seeing him out on the playground, playing with his friends, it takes your breath away," he said. A
MESSAGE FROM CECY'S MOTHER: Kill someone and you are a star. When Ms. Young pleaded guilty in court to two felony counts in exchange for sentence concessions, her victim's name was mentioned only once during the entire hearing. That in a dry reading of a complaint against the killer. To date there has been no real opportunity in court to explain what a remarkable person Cecy was and what loss her killing is to family, friends, cyclists, teachers, patients and to society. Cecy was a joy to me, her mother, from the date of her birth. She was fun to be around and many times a surprise. Many of us have "Cecy" stories. To pick one, when Cecy was in first grade her caretaker Mrs. Murphy called me at work to say Cecy disappeared after school. I called police and was told she was there, "interviewing" the chief. That day, Cecy's teacher had spoken to her class of postmasters, fire chiefs, and chiefs of police. Cecy walked to the post office, the fire station, and police headquarters to see such persons in real life. They were enchanted with this child. Cecy was unique and always had a logical explanation for offbeat activities. Cecy graduated from high school and college with honors and did required clinical affiliations prior to taking her boards for Registered Occupational Therapist. She worked consecutively in Pasadena, San Diego and Marin, during 1999 with children of county schools. Her clients were six, seven, ten year olds. Some were autistic, others had learning disabilities or trouble with fine and motor skills. Most of what Cecy did with children looked like play but was serious work. It is ironic that, if Cecy's life had been spared and Ms. Young's son injured during his mother's alcoholic binge 9/04/99, Cecy could have worked with the son's impairment. Another irony is that Cecy took great care of the life I gave her, exercising and eating a healthful diet, yogurt, no red meats, etc. (Well, she did have a weakness for ice cream). To think that Cecy was killed by a person indulging in hard liquor to excess and allegedly reaching for cigarettes as she crushed the life out of Cecy's healthy body with a 2-l/2 ton assault weapon. A third irony is Cecy's letter to the Marin IJ editor printed 5/11/99 "... the next time you encounter a cyclist on the road or trail, why not try a friendly wave or greeting?" Michele Young either didn't read that or didn't care. Her expensive private defense attorney states Ms. Young "needs to be treated rather than punished." Treatment for alcoholism is available in prison. But what about treatment for her anger management problem? From the accident report, the killer is remembered by her personalized license plate of previous incidents running cyclists off the road. She honked her horn angrily at cyclists prior to killing Cecy, and a comment from one cyclist to another was, "this is road rage happening". Cecy enjoyed the fine arts, museums, theater, Broadway musicals, books. She was competitive. She took up cycling after skiing, jogging and triathlons. She maintained her membership in and wore San Diego Bicycle colors after moving north. During the last two weeks of her life, before returning to San Anselmo, she rode in Seattle with RAW (Ride Around Washington). There were memorial rides for Cecy simultaneously on September 11 in Seattle, Marin, and San Diego. A week later a memorial at Mt. Baldy Village Church was sponsored by grade school and high school friends with whom she had an annual reunion three weeks before her death. Cecy was loyal. She loved cycling and cyclists, who chose well in depicting her a standard bearer for road safety. Christmas 1999. Cecy's Christmas stocking hung empty, the first time since her birth. The most personal and most painful of Cecy's story by me, her mother, is of her final moments and I can only guess when they were. Cecy is not the first of my children to die. Another daughter was ill of cancer many months and, just before breathing her last, came out of her coma and said "Mom". Did Cecy, at any time as the monster rolled over her, say or think "Mom, help me"? I couldn't help my baby. I couldn't. Did I have a right to something more than sitting by her broken body at a trauma center after she died? And Michele Young wants mercy. The California State Legislature, in enacting Penal Code 191.5, a section which includes gross vehicular manslaughter states "... In view of the severe threat to public safety which is posed by the intoxicated driver, there is a compelling need to identify and penalize those who voluntarily consume alcoholic beverages to the point of legal intoxication and thereafter operate a motor vehicle, thereby combining sharply impaired physical and mental faculties with a vehicle capable of exerting great force and speed and causing severe damage and death." Note key words in lawmakers' intent, compelling need to penalize. To estimate the cost of M. Young's alcoholic 9/04/99 misadventure is mind-boggling. Cecy's medical expenses alone totaled over $40,000. Granted some was covered by insurance, but you wonder why insurance costs are high? And then there was the cost of law enforcement and court costs. I object strongly to Cecy's killer being assured of sentence concessions as being contrary to the intent of the state legislature. Her past record proves unreliability. Any sentence less than the maximum allowable by law increases the probability of recidivism. The only l00% sure deterrence to Ms. Young driving drunk again is for the period of time she is incarcerated. This is another plea for letters to the Marin County probation officer, Patricia Bonelli. Society deserves to be protected from the likes of Michele Young. Thank you for your kindnesses. -
Cecy's Mom Cecy Krone's killer, Michele Young, has agreed to plead guilty to the most serious charges against her, the grossly negligent vehicular manslaughter while under the influence and felony child endangerment. In return, the District Attorney will drop two lesser charges related to driving under the influence. Thus, THERE WILL BE NO TRIAL! Judge Boren has indicated that he is currently considering sentencing Ms. Young to no more than the midpoint for these charges. Ms. Young will formally change her plea on WEDNESDAY, January 19, at 9:00 a.m. in Courtroom "G" of the Marin County Civic Center in San Rafael. We need to show Judge Boren, who will make the final sentencing decision shortly thereafter, that we are still paying attention to this case. ALL OF OUR EFFORTS HAVE BEEN FOCUSED ON MAKING SURE THAT JUSTICE IS SERVED AND CECY IS NOT FORGOTTEN. THIS IS THE FINAL PUSH! Please, if there is anyway you can make it, join Cecy's family, friends and other supporters at court for the plea change. CECY KRONE'S KILLER TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE AT TRIAL ON ALL COUNTS! The Preliminary Hearing of Cecy Krone's Killer, Michele Young, concluded today and, as expected, Judge Terrence Boren announced his decision from the bench. To a SRO courtroom filled with helmet-toting cyclists and supporters, Judge Boren said that the District Attorney's Office had presented sufficient evidence for him to determine that there was probable cause to believe that Michele Young was guilty of each of the crimes alleged against her, including the Vehicular Manslaughter while Under the Influence with Gross Negligence charge and the felony Child Endangerment charge. Ms. Young's defense argued that there was not sufficient evidence for the gross negligence charge (which carries a 15 to life sentence)and that Ms. Young, instead, should be charged with the simple negligence crime (which carries only a maximum 10 year sentence). The defense also argued that Ms. Young should not be charged with felony child endangerment, but rather with only misdemeanor child endangerment. (Ms. Young's 10 year-old son was in her SUV at the time of the collision.) The District Attorney's Office argued that the evidence showed that Ms. Young's blood alcohol level at 9:30 a.m. (the time of the crash) was nearly three times the legal limit, that she had a prior conviction for a DUI collision with a similar blood alcohol level, that she had gone through a court-mandated training program for DUI violators (and, thus, should have known better), that she attempted to drive over 100 miles that morning, that she had passed a group of cyclists shortly before the collision and had acted belligerently to them, that she drove her Jeep Cherokee off the side of the roadway on a blind corner while looking through her purse for her cigarettes, that she was driving without her required corrective lenses and that, as a result of the above, she struck and killed Cecy. That, according to the D.A., was clearly gross negligence. The D.A. also argued that all of the above constituted felony child endangerment. Judge Boren agreed. The next step in the criminal process is an arraignment on the full set of charges, which is scheduled for December 17 at 9:00 a.m. It is anticipated that Ms. Young will enter pleas again then and that the trial will be set to begin in mid to late February. On behalf of Cecy's family and friends, thank you all for your great show of support. It was very gratifying to see a full courtroom today. PBS TO AIR DRUNK DRIVING SPECIAL Starting the week of December 13th, PBS, the Public Broadcasting Service, will air a special on drunk driving entitled "ROAD PREDATORS." Cecy's mom, Adeline Krone, hopes that you and your friends and family will watch it. Check your local PBS station for air time and date. - Oren Noah by Craig Gaevert My
personal recollection of the memorial ride is what follows.
It's a little on the long side but I hope you find it of interest.
I'm posting to the list at the encouragement of Bill O. In a rather rare on time move (bike rides never start on time), Fred Lengyel addressed the memorial peloton almost precisely at 9. I don’t remember the contents clearly but I do remember the somber feeling that was now in evidence as we began to organize ourselves to ride out of San Anselmo in a re-creation of the tragic ride of the previous weekend. The pace would be slow, and as I was to find out later it was led by Cecy’s eldest niece. Bikes of Cecy’s friends went by first, laden with flowers, which are not easy to hang on racing road bikes. Several riders passed with flowers sticking out of their back pockets. The remainder of us slowly moved forward in the largest snake pedal one could imagine. Ahead
red and blue lights from police cars flashed as they moved to
cork intersections for us. We traversed small streets paralleling
Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, breezing through stop signs as
we were allowed for this memorial procession, moving on streets
that left us out-of-towners a little dazed. We simply continued
following the wheel of the cyclists in front of us. Leaving
San Anselmo and entering Fairfax we were handed off to the Fairfax
Police Department and we could see Highway Patrol moving up
SFD to line up for their duties. I found myself just trying
to keep upright and moving straight what with the jostle of
other cyclists and the narrow streets. I found myself also trying
to avoid the one rider who brought his Bob loaded with a ghetto
blaster playing tunes he thought would be appropriate for the
ride (Cecilia, you’re breaking my heart . . ). I couldn’t
move ahead easily and before long he ended up in front of me.
Eventually he was dropped on the hill as we left Fairfax, moved
on to SFD and began the climb of White Hill. As
we moved into the flats before the golf course, horse riders
at a ring off to the side stopped in amazement as they watched
this procession roll past. Traffic coming the other way had
their hands out their windows with their thumbs in the air in
support. We felt righteous. I took the camera and held it over
my head to take a picture forward, then flipped the lens over
and took one to the rear. Nothing but colorful jerseys in the
cool Marin countryside for as far down the road as one could
see and flashing sheriff lights at the intersections. We started
to pass the golf course and ahead I could see CHP and the right
turn we needed to make at Nicasio Valley Road. Slowing this
peoloton would have to be delicately done. As we turned, sure
enough we were coming to a stop as the road had a stiff climb
to it and cyclists were rolling into the other traffic lane
and others were dropping their chains trying to make the gear
change. But we all continued to move ahead, under the golf course
bridge with photographers overhead (it had to be a great photo
vantage point). Ahead the road flattened a little as it nudged
towards Roy’s Redwoods, the site for the memorial service
later after we ascended the hill to the site of murderous accident.
As we passed Roy’s there was an area cordoned off for the
family and just ahead I could see an older woman with her family,
tears streaming down her face as she looked into the eyes of
cyclists riding by, in what had to be absolute amazement at
this rolling procession for her daughter. We … we were
on a mission to the top of this hill. We would have our memorial
for this fallen rider of hers and ours and we would do this
in peace. The Highway Patrol would see to it that there would
be no traffic on this road while we held our gathering. Craig has posted photos from the Cecy Krone Memorial Ride at http://www.tlcd.com/KMR/
Crash Details: First Report on Sunday: By Oren Noah A
friend, wonderful person and great cyclist was struck, mangled,
dragged and killed by a drunk SUV driver yesterday. Cici Krone
was an active member of Marin Cyclists and was a supporter of
safer roads for cyclists. She
was killed by a drunk SUV driver while on a Marin Cyclists ride
Saturday morning. It really makes you wonder how a driver can
be drunk at 9:30 in the morning. |
