Teens killed in alleged drunk driving incident featured in magazine

The story of three teens killed in Hanmer this summer after being hit on the side of the road by a vehicle driven by a young man who was allegedly drunk is being featured in Canadian magazine called Fytness Fanatik.

The teens, Caitlin Jelley, 15, Steven Phillipe, 16, and Jazmine Houle, 15, were walking along Municipal Road 80 in Hanmer near the road leading to Centennial Arena June 21 at around 12:40 a.m. when the collision occurred.

Twenty-six-year-old Nicolas Piovesan of Val Therese is facing multiple charges, including criminal negligence causing death and impaired care and control causing death.

The editor-in-chief of the magazine, Amanda-Lynn Mayhew, now lives in Elmira, Ont, but she used to live in Phillipe's former hometown of Manitowadge, Ont. Mayhew's own children, aged 11, 15, and 18, knew the boy.

The magazine, which is ad-free and relies on subscription sales to keep afloat, mainly focuses on fitness topics, but also features an eclectic mix of stories on “anything and everything.”

Mayhew said that once a year, she likes to feature issues related to alcohol and addiction. After hearing about the teens' death, she decided to put their story in the September/October 2009 double issue of the magazine.

One dollar for each copy of Fytness Fanatik sold in September and October is being donated to Mothers Against Drunk Driving Canada.

The parents of each of the teens wrote an article about their children, and other contributers from the Sudbury area wrote about how the accident affected them.

Mayhew said she was taken by the story of the teens' death because “of the fact that they were just walking down the street, and the fact that some guy can just come and run them over.”

The magazine began doing stories related to alcohol and addiction shortly after it started up in 2006. Holly Lynn Hudson, the magazine's Chelmsford-based research journalist, wrote a story about her recovery from alcoholism. She has been sober for 10 years now.

“It's important because there's a lot of people who go through a lot of horrible stuff like that,” said Mayhew.
The woman said she's also featured stories about other Sudbury citizens in the past, including the local band, TRIXX, and Sudbury country singer Larry Berrio. Berrio was featured on the cover of the magazine in June 2009.

“He (Larry Berrio) played at the Stampede Ranch, which is a place I go and line dance at all the time in Guelph. His agent is one of my friends. I met Larry and I thought he was pretty cool.”

Mayhew said that those who want to read the magazine can probably find a copy at the Greater Sudbury Public Library, because the library purchases three copies per month.

People can also purchase their own copies, which cost $7.37 per issue and $82.31 per year (including shipping and handling), by going to www.fytnessfanatik.com.