Snow

In my experience with this project, when it comes to “car versus tree” it’s usually the tree that wins, especially when drugs and alcohol are involved. This was the case for Samantha “Snow” Smith in 2021 when Joseph Manson, twenty one at the time, decided that he was okay to combine all three (drugs, alcohol, and a tree) in the wee hours of the morning.

He was wrong, and Samantha was pronounced dead at the scene. She was twenty two.

According to the police report the car was nearly torn in half, with beer cans and drug paraphernalia found at the scene. While doing nothing for Smith’s friends and family, Mr. Manson was sentenced to nearly eight years in prison for causing the accident. Probably fitting since his blood alcohol content was reported as 0.199 — with 0.08 being the legal limit — and his admitting that he had been smoking weed and had driven drunk on several occasions.

Smith’s memorial is both beautiful and elaborate, an angel’s wings on a cross. It sits in a particularly dark curve in the road and is almost haunting sitting there in front of the tree that, along with Mr. Manson, took her life. There is still “danger” tape around the tree, years after the accident, a remind I suppose of the risks we all take when we get behind the wheel … regardless of the questionable or objectively poor decisions we make before we turn the ignition.

Rest in peace, Samantha “Snow” Smith.