(no subject)
about that last entry....my friend Hyatt..died.. monday..
[i know its long but plz read. it means a lot to me.]
Hyatt Griffith, 18, was taken by the current while swimming with friends
Monday in the Kern River.
By Melissa Milios
Daily Breeze
For a tightknit group of North High School 2005 graduates, this week's
camping trip to the Kern River was meant to be a fond farewell to summer
and the beginning of a new chapter in each of their lives.
About 10 friends from Torrance arrived Sunday at the Sandy Flat
Campground, ready for a week of relaxation and recreation. Dozens more
planned to trickle in throughout the week.
But the vacation turned tragic late Monday morning, when 18-year-old Hyatt
Griffith was swept away by the fast-moving current while swimming with
three friends, who were quickly rescued.
For the rest of Monday and all day Tuesday, the friends -- along with
rescue teams from the Kern County Sheriff's Department and the U.S. Forest
Service, and later joined by Griffith's family -- continued their search
for the Torrance resident. His body hasn't been found.
Griffith's apparent drowning shocked his friends, who on Tuesday flooded
his personal Web page with dozens of notes, some humourous and hopeful,
some mournful and disbelieving.
"i am lost for words bro ... i just hope your fine ... and we are all
prayin for you," wrote Anthony Vasquez, a fellow 2005 North High graduate.
Dozens more gathered Tuesday evening at the Torrance campus to hold a
vigil for the popular former student, who last year was voted "Most
Unique" by his fellow seniors.
Giving just one example, friend Kari Thome said Griffith and Vasquez,
along with two other close friends, had similar tattoos on their inner
lower lip. Griffith's tattoo read: DREAM.
"He's the kind of person that is just unexpected -- you never know what
he's going to do next," Thome said. "He was always cracking jokes with
people. Everybody just loved him."
Thome, who had planned to join the camping group this weekend, said her
friends hadn't given up searching for Griffith on Tuesday.
"I've talked to his mom and she's really strong right now, but you can
tell it hurts," she said. "We're all in shock right now. It's tough."
Griffith's boss at Captain Kidd's Fish Market in Redondo Beach, where he
worked for the past three summers, said the lanky teen was personable and
reliable, polite at the counter and a leader among his peers.
"We trusted his opinion on the kids we would hire for the summer. He would
train them," owner John Mills said. "He's an exceptionally good kid. He's
going to be missed a lot."
During his time at North High, Griffith spent three years on the wrestling
team, one season playing football and one in the surf club, according to
the school's 2005 yearbook.
Thome said that, like her, Griffith had intended to start taking classes
at El Camino College in the fall.
"(The camping trip) was supposed to be an end-of-summer treat, just a
bunch of us going up together to kick off a new thing in our lives," Thome
said. "We'd been planning it since graduation."
Griffith is the 10th apparent drowning victim this season on the Kern
River, the second to go under near the Sandy Flat Campground, about three
hours north of Los Angeles in the Sequoia National Forest.
Authorities warn that the cold, churning current is unusually strong after
a winter of heavy snows on Mount Whitney, which feeds the river. None of
the apparent victims was wearing a life jacket, and Griffith's body is one
of seven that hasn't been recovered. "
i hope im wrong. you'll be missed greatly. it sucks. pulled away so goddam young, havent even begun to live your life. dreams shattered. hearts broken. im shocked, speechless.
"now i cannot speak-ive lost my voice. speechless and redundant cause i love you's not enough--im lost for words."