Attorney general talks to students about choices

Peter Harvey warns South teens about the consequences that accompany the freedom to make their own choices.

By: Linda Seida
   WEST AMWELL — At first glance, New Jersey Attorney General Peter Harvey seemed to have little in common with the teenagers in his audience last week at South Hunterdon Regional High School.
   Mr. Harvey, who is 47, is the first black man to become the state’s chief law enforcement official. He was raised in Tuskegee, Ala., the birthplace of civil rights proponent Rosa Parks, whose refusal to move to the back of the bus launched the successful Montgomery, Ala., bus boycott.
   At South Hunterdon, he stood at a microphone in the front of the cafeteria that doubles as an auditorium in a finely tailored dark suit accented by a red power tie.
   The ninth- through 12th-graders, predominantly white and growing up in one of the most affluent counties in the country, wore mostly jeans and sneakers, and at least one had dyed her haira festive shade of Christmas green.
   As Mr. Harvey spoke to the students, the differences between them — age, skin color, clothes — began to recede into the background. As he talked, they listened without making a sound or a bored wiggle in their seats.
   He told the teenagers about the consequences that accompany the freedom they’ve been given to make their own choices. He encouraged them not to make high school the peak experience of their lives, but instead to strive for their dreams.
   He told them what happened to young people just like them who made some terrible choices with alcohol. He warned them of the risks they’d take if they got caught up with narcotics.
   "You really do have to get serious about your life because you are going to face challenges, particularly around the holidays," Mr. Harvey said.
   He recalled what it was like to be a teenager in a place where there was nothing to do, and boredom led to some poor choices.
   "When we got really bored, somebody would crack open the bottle," he said.
   He cautioned, however, that freedom to make choices comes with consequences, some of which are permanent and cannot be undone.
   Mr. Harvey told the story of a young man his office prosecuted who chose to crack open the bottle before borrowing an uncle’s Mercedes. Later police estimates said he was driving between 90 and 120 mph when the car hit the back of a truck. The force of the crash sheared the roof off. A girl who was a passenger died. The driver ended up in a coma and later awoke to face criminal charges for the death that occurred while he drove drunk.
   "That is the consequence of freedom," Mr. Harvey said. "You need to begin thinking about your life very clearly."
   He said, "Forget being arrested. Forget losing your license for a year. Let’s talk about your body. You know, there are some things that can happen to you that doctors cannot fix."
   He warned, "You need to think about this. This holiday season, be careful. You have to be careful. Protect your lives."
   It isn’t just the cost of drinking and driving that students must be beware of. Narcotics, too, carry a heavy price tag, Mr. Harvey said.
   "This is an activity that will haunt you the rest of your life," he said. "You don’t need it. You are filled with possibilities."
   Those possibilities, including coveted jobs, would disappear in the time it takes the ink to dry on a narcotics conviction, according to Mr. Harvey. Top firms such as Microsoft will not touch an applicant with a narcotics conviction. Jobs with an entire alphabet soup of law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, DEA and ATF, will disappear in a flash.
   "If you don’t have a goal, if you don’t have a destination, any road can take you there because you don’t know where you’re going," Mr. Harvey said.
   He said he knows the kind of boredom faced by teenagers living in a rural area and the kinds of choices that arise from it.
   "This area reminds me of where I grew up," he said. "I know the kinds of things you are facing — a whole lot of boredom. Ringoes ain’t exactly the center of the world."
   The students laughed, and they also listened as he name-dropped during a discussion of the successful music industry people he rubbed elbows with during more than a decade as a litigator before he went to work for the state.
   "It can be you one day," he said. "High school should not be the top of the mountain for you."
   He urged the students to be careful with their choices, to respect themselves and to work hard to achieve their dreams.
   "There’s a whole world waiting for you," he said. "There’s a whole exciting world waiting for you. Because that’s where it starts; with you."
   He warned, too, about domestic violence.
   "It starts here in high school," he said. "It starts with bullying. It starts with nasty comments people make to each other," including comments made in such modern forms of communication as e-mail, blogging and instant messaging.
   After the assembly, Mr. Harvey also visited with middle school students. When his associates tried to hurry him along and stem the flow of students’ questions in an attempt to get Mr. Harvey to his next appointment, the attorney general instead lingered to answer as many questions as possible, according to Principal Don Woodring.
   The students gave Mr. Harvey high marks.
   "It was good," sophomore Katelynn Franzone of Lambertville said as she left the assembly. "It was interesting."
   Angelique Platas, a freshman from Lambertville, said she’ll likely keep Mr. Harvey’s talk in mind when it’s time to make some choices of her own.
   Senior Bryce Anderson of West Amwell said he found the assembly "very informative," and he especially enjoyed hearing Mr. Harvey talk about the cases he has litigated.
   Senior James Semko of Lambertville said he learned life "doesn’t stop in high school," and "you’ve gotta have fun, but don’t go nuts because it’ll screw you."