Locals reached out to victims Gividen recalls fundraising, writing poems for peers who died in 1988 tragedy By SHARON GRAVES On the day of the fateful crash, the Carroll County Middle School also had a busload of students traveling from Kings Island. Its time frame mirrored that of the group from the Radcliff Assembly of God. Word of a bus crash on I-71, of a group returning from Kings Island spread like wildfire through Carrollton and parents flew to the middle school hoping it wasn’t “our middle-schoolers.” The bus didn’t hold “our kids,” but some local kids had met some of the students from Radcliff at Kings Island and were shaken when they learned about the crash. Tim Gividen, of Carrollton, now in his 30s, was one of the middle-schoolers who made friends with some of the students from Radcliff. “My eighth grade class decided to raise money for the victims,” Gividen said. “We went home and brought in all the money we could for them.” Gividen didn’t remember the amount of money his class raised, but he did remember the feeling of wanting to do “something.” In the May 18, 1988 issue of The News-Democrat, a story says that money raised by area students was sent to Radcliff Middle School and was to be used for a plaque commemorating the students who lost their lives that night. Gividen also wrote a poem for his English class that was published in a former issue of the News-Democrat. “I kept in touch with some of the kids I met that day at Kings Island for years,” Gividen said. “I went to the 10-year ceremony in Radcliff.” Gividen is currently a police officer with the Carrollton Police Department.
|
