Hestia Homeschool for Young Wild Women

Sept. 12, 2005

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- A 12-year-old middle school student saw the remains of her father in a gruesome photograph of a drunk-driving crash during a presentation by police meant to educate teenagers about the dangers of driving under the influence.

The girl's mother, Marla Cabbage Higginbotham, said her daughter was traumatized by the experience, which took place at Holston Middle School in August.

The mother, who works as a drug awareness educator for Think Drug Free America, said she appreciates the message of the presentations, but questioned its delivery. An attorney representing the mother and daughter sent a letter Thursday to the Knox County Law Director's office calling for an investigation.

"Why are we showing 12-year-olds mutilated dead bodies when they can't even drive a car for four more years?" attorney Gregory P. Isaacs said Friday. "(The police) are good people with good intentions who have made a terrible, terrible mistake."

The police showed the presentation at the request of school officials and in the past it has been received well, Knoxville Police spokesman Darrell DeBusk said.

The department uses photos from drunk-driving crashes in Knox County. "It really drives home the point that (drunken driving) happens in this community," DeBusk said.

In the presentation, police officers say the names of the victims about to be shown and ask if any students knew them. In the August presentation they called out the name of William F. Cabbage before showing pictures of the wreck.

Cabbage was shown lying in a pool of blood with a crushed skull and mutilated face and torso, Higginbotham said. The family didn't know his accident involved alcohol, she said.

Although the girl didn't recognize the name William, she did know that her biological father's name was Lynn Cabbage. When the officer said the date of the wreck, March 9, 2002, and said it was a tractor-trailer collision, she realized she was looking at her father's body, her mother said.

The video presentation "just opened up a Pandora's Box and the greatest fears a little girl could have just escaped," Isaacs said, also questioning whether parental permission should be required for such presentations.

Holston Middle School assistant principal Frank Scimonelli said there are many topics in the school's health curriculum requiring parental permission, but he wasn't able to speak for this particular presentation, which has been shown in county schools for about five years.

Knox County deputy law director Marty McCampbell and Knox County Schools spokesman Russ Oaks said Friday that their departments are looking into the case.

Another reason to homeschool: Stripping promoted at career day