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Thursday, January 11, 2007

New Year Arrives With Tragedy

By Matt Gomez
Mountain View Telegraph
    New Year's Eve usually echoes with the triumphs of the passing year and hopeful outlooks for a new one.
    For the families of two Eastern New Mexico University students— one from Estancia— the night was scarred with tragedy.
    Ashley Hernon-Welch, 21, of Estancia, and Keri Bechthold, 19, were killed in a car wreck in Clovis around 8 p.m. Dec. 31. Bechthold, who was driving, struck a curb and lost control and the vehicle carrying the two women flipped, said Lt. Patrick Whitney of the Clovis Police Department.
    When the car Bechthold was driving— a 1997 Pontiac Firebird— flipped, Hernon-Welch and Bechthold were ejected from the car, Whitney said, killing both.
    Whitney said in an interview Tuesday that "there was nothing to indicate" that alcohol played a factor in the crash.
    As of Wednesday, Whitney said, the department still hadn't heard from the Office of the Medical Investigator with results from toxicology tests.
    Ice may have played a small role in causing the crash, Whitney said, but once the car hit the curb, Bechthold kept overcorrecting in an attempt to get the car back under control. It eventually hit a metal guard rail and flipped, he said.
    Hernon-Welch's mother, Julieanne Welch, said in a written statement to the Telegraph that "all would be blessed to remember Ash, but not just remember ... to take some of what she gave and spread it around ..."
    Hernon-Welch was a graduate of Estancia High School and was attending ENMU as a sophomore, where she was recently inducted into the collegiate honor society, Alpha Sigma Lambda, Welch wrote.
    "Ashley was the kind of person who always looked out for the under dog and would step out of her comfort zone to make sure anyone being mistreated knew that they weren't alone because she would stand with them," Welch wrote.
    Ashley also had an open mind toward people with disabilities, Welch wrote, which was demonstrated when she was just 5 years old.
    "Her best friend was a little boy named Rudy who had severe cerebral palsy and was wheelchair bound," Welch wrote. "The two of them were inseparable and when it was time to plan her sixth birthday party, Rudy was first on her list of invitations. His mother called me to inform me that this was the first birthday invitation he had received."
    Ashley's drive to help others led her to major in physical therapy at ENMU, Welch wrote, so she could learn to help others.
    "Ashley's deep heart for humanity was coupled with a great sense of humor," Welch wrote. "If you were feeling down and around Ash, it wasn't long before she would stir up a deep belly laugh and you'd forget for a time why you were upset."