FLAGPOLE HONORS TEEN KILLED IN ACCIDENT

SCOTT CITY, Mo. -- Seven months after Scott City scholar and athlete Jessica Arnzen died in an automobile accident, her friends, family and U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson came together Monday to remember Arnzen and to dedicate the Jessica Arnzen Flagpole Memorial.

"God Bless the U.S.A.," Arnzen's favorite song, began the ceremony and was followed by the raising of the flag up the flagpole on the west side of the football field at Scott City High School. The pole was paid for by donations to the Jessica Arnzen Memorial Fund. Jessica's father, Erv Arnzen, also helped build a softball and baseball field that also was dedicated Monday.

Sgt. Brent Davis, public relations officer for the Missouri Highway Patrol, urged the students who were present to buckle up.

"Wear your seat belt not because it's the law, but because it will save your life," he said.

Arnzen, 17, was on her way to school the morning of Sept. 19 when her car left the roadway. She wasn't wearing a seat belt, was thrown from the car and died from her injuries.

Accidents like Arnzen's are common, Davis said. However, he described an accident that reawakened him to the tragedy of these types of deaths.

"I became used to it until I saw a 16-year-old boy killed in a one-car accident and the task of telling his parents was put in my lap," he said.

Davis also encouraged the students along with the rest of the community to pay attention, slow down, wear seat belts and avoid drinking and driving.

Emerson, a longtime friend of the Arnzen family, spoke about her experiences with Jessica.

"I never saw love of country, school, family, friends, politics and just the love of life exemplified in anyone else the way I saw it exemplified in Jessica," Emerson said.

"It's like her spirit is waving right there," she said, pointing to the flag.