LoudounNow LOUDOUN COUNTY’S COMMUNITY-OWNED NEWS SOURCE
[ Vol. 2, No. 2 ]
[ loudounnow.com ]
Nov. 17 – 23, 2016 ]
28 Loudoun honors heroes
Manslaughter Charge Filed In Infant’s Death LOUDOUN NOW STAFF REPORT
Douglas Graham/Loudoun Now
Suzie Bartel, of Waterford, lost her 17-year-old son to suicide two years ago. She’s the impetus of a grassroots effort aimed at teaching every Loudoun high schooler how to help one another through difficult times long before they consider suicide.
MOTHER ON A MISSION She lost her child to suicide. Now, she’s working to save others. BY DANIELLE NADLER
S
uzie Bartel isn’t just a can-do person. She describes herself as someone who can’t just stand by when she sees a problem. She has to respond. So when her son Ryan took his own life on Oct. 15, 2014, she got to doing. She formed the Ryan Bartel Foundation, aimed at preventing suicide by empowering young people to help each other. Then, less than a year later, she partnered with counselors and students at
Woodgrove High School, where her son was a senior, because she knew her mission to create a better support system for young people would gain more traction if teens were involved. Now, she’s seeing a changed atmosphere among the students in that school, a life-saving spark she wants to spread to every high school in Loudoun County. And she has a plan to do it. Through the foundation, Bartel is working to raise $15 per high school student to bring an ongoing suicide prevention program to Loudoun’s 16 public
high schools. Part of the program implements Sources of Strength training, which equips young people to help one another cope with all that life throws at them long before suicide becomes an option. “So many programs focus on intervention at the time of crisis. That’s too late,” Bartel said. “If we develop in them the skills to get through the hard things, we’re not going to need intervention.”
Change for the Better A year ago, in response to the suicides of three western Loudoun teens in less than two years, Woodgrove High School students, counselors and parents started A MOTHER’S MISSION >> 43
The Leesburg man accused of killing 5-month-old Tristan Schulz while his mother pushed him though a crosswalk in a stroller was charged Monday, two and a half months after the incident. John Miller IV, 45, was indicted by a Loudoun grand jury on charges of involuntary manslaughter, reckless driving, and failure to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk. Investigators say on Aug. 31, Miller drove through the crosswalk at Riverside Parkway and Coton Manor Drive in Lansdowne, crashing into Mindy Schulz and her infant son. Five-month-old Tristan was pronounced dead at the hospital shortly after. Mindy Schulz was injured and released from the hospital after three days of treatment. Search warrants filed in Loudoun County Circuit Court state that Miller deleted a voicemail before handing his phone over to police. They also include comments from witnesses who said the driver was looking at his cell phone and made a “last second” left turn from Coton Manor Drive onto Riverside Parkway, and that the white walk symbol was illuminated. If convicted of the involuntary manslaughter charge, a felony, Miller could face a penalty of one to 10 years in prison. The reckless driving charge, a misdemeanor, carries with it a penalty of up to 12 months in prison. The third charge, failure to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk, carries no jail time. The grand jury heard evidence from Deputy J. McClintic on Monday before handing up the indictments. Miller appeared before Judge Douglas L. Fleming Jr. in Loudoun County Circuit Court on Tuesday morning. He was released on a $10,000 personal recognizance bond. He is scheduled to be back in court Dec. 5, when a trial date may be set.
www.baersmattressden.com Leesburg 703-777-1600 Across from Target & Costco, next to Ledo Pizza
ECRWSS Postal Customer
Permit #131 Leesburg, VA
PAID
U.S. Postage PRESRT STD