Drunken driver finds redemption, redirection

Some stories you never can forget.

In November 2005, I wrote an article called "Sobering Decisions" about a 19-year-old man who chose to get drunk in an Ybor City bar and the consequences of his deadly actions.

In the end, he got a lucky break, a second chance. What he did with it may surprise you.

John Templeton Jr. was a product of 12 years of Catholic schooling. An all-county high school basketball star. A University of South Florida business major with a promising future.

But when he and some friends went into Club Hedo a few nights before Thanksgiving 2002 — and he scammed a pink-striped wristband that helped him pass as 21 for a night — fates changed. His fate and the fate of a girl named Julie Buckner. And all the loved ones connected to both of them.

John, with a blood alcohol level of .225 percent, got into his Ford Explorer and got on the freeway to head home to Dunedin in the early morning hours of Nov. 23. But alcohol does horrible things. He was driving north in a southbound lane.

Even though it doesn't seem that way, we make life-and-death decisions every day. Take one route to work and you arrive safely. Take another one, and a truck may slam into you, ending your life in an instant.

Julie Buckner, 18, was driving the right way on the freeway that night. The last thing she saw was the Explorer's headlights, coming straight at her at 70 miles per hour. She was wearing a seatbelt but never had a chance.

According to the autopsy reports, she died a violent but mercifully quick death. John had a few scrapes, but otherwise he was OK. The accident sobered him up immediately. Once the officer told him what he had done, he cried out, saying he couldn't live with himself and wanted to die.

What made this story different from the hundreds of DUIs and vehicular homicides we read about every year is that Julie's father, Rocky, forgave his daughter's killer. Not after months or years of soul searching, but within hours of getting the unspeakable news.

He did it without imposing conditions, without expectations. He only knew that his baby girl was gone and nothing would bring her back. One life was ruined already, and he didn't want another one to go wasted.

As he saw it, John was a reckless teenage boy, seemingly filled with great remorse, who took responsibilities for his actions. Now the young man would have to live with what he had done for the rest of his life. What good would putting him behind bars really do?

Bev, Rocky's wife and Julie's mother, did not share those feelings. In time, she could learn to forgive, but she wanted some sort of punishment to send a stronger message.

Rocky made his case for leniency to the judge in February 2004. After much deliberation, the judge ruled that John would not be sentenced to the maximum 15 years. Instead he would get two years of prison, two years of house arrest, 11 years of probation and pay $10,000 in restitution. He would have to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, do 1,000 hours of community service speaking to teens about the deadly consequences of underage drinking and lose his driver's license.

And for the duration of his probation, he would have to carry a photo of Julie Buckner in his wallet as a reminder of what he did.

In the end, due to good behavior and a sentence modification, John would spend only 10 months behind bars and complete seven years of probation. He finished his community service within two years.

What he didn't do was complete his business degree. He will one day, he says, but he's got a more urgent goal at this time.

John and his father, a former title insurance manager, now run Footprints Beachside Recovery, a state-licensed drug and alcohol treatment center on St. Pete Beach. John Sr. always wanted to go into counseling; after losing his job when the economy went sour, he changed direction to follow his first passion.

It was a natural course for John Jr. as well. Once driven to make a lot of money, the accident changed him. He also felt compelled to devote his life to helping others overcome their addictions.

John now is studying to become a certified addictions specialist. When he completes that training, he'll start working toward the professional qualifications. In the meantime, he does community outreach for the center and continues to tell his story of tragedy and restoration, using his life as an example.

He says he hasn't had a drink since that awful night. And though he's no longer required to carry Julie's picture, it's still tucked inside his wallet. He shows it at speaking engagements, in AA meetings and to clients in the program. He thinks of her every day. They were close in age. When John got married in November, he wondered: Had I not killed Julie, would she be having this same happiness?

"I'm finally at peace. That doesn't mean I'll ever forget what I did, or the life I took, and all the people whose lives were devastated by it," he says. "All I can do is honor her memory by retelling the story and work toward keeping others from going down that same path."

About 40 clients have gone through Footprints Beachside Recovery since they opened two years ago. Alcohol is still a problem, but prescription drug abuse, particularly by young people, is accelerating at a frightening speed. Pinellas County leads all others in Florida in overdose deaths.

John says he gets on his knees every morning and asks God: Who can I help today?

Though he doesn't stay in touch with the Buckners – he thinks that would be too painful for them – he says he always will feel immense gratitude toward them. Without that, he probably would not be in this place now to help others.

He never wants to let them down.

I called Rocky to give him an update on John. And to let him know that his choice to forgive and let John repent turned out to be a good one.

He seemed pleased. He's never had any regrets about standing up for the young man who killed his daughter. But having John take the right path wasn't part of the deal, he said.

"What he's done is between him and the Lord. That was never in my control. I had to forgive and move forward," Rocky says. "It's nice to hear, though. If he's working in a way that will prevent other families from going through what we've gone through, that's a good thing."

The Buckners still think of Julie every day. Sometimes, she comes to Bev in her dreams, a lively and vivacious teen who will never grow old. The couple says their strong Christian faith is their crutch, and they won't apologize for that.

They are special people, the Buckners. John Templeton, too, has restored my somewhat cynical view of humanity. Sometimes, there is a good ending to a very sad story.