OWASCO聽鈥 A star student and softball player at Auburn High School, Chloe Calhoun had a bright future ahead of her.
The 18-year-old had聽received scholarships to six different colleges and was awarded a scholarship and leader award from the local NAACP chapter for her work with Auburn's Z Club, a group that aims to empower women and achieve gender equality. And she planned to study journalism at Utica College in the fall.聽
But all of that was lost July 27 when Calhoun was killed in a crash with a drunk driver, leaving her family and friends to mourn and memorialize one of the community's "best and brightest."聽
"Chloe was very fun and easygoing and she got along with everybody," Calhoun's aunt Beth O'Hara said. "And we wanted a positive, meaningful way to honor her and her spirit. ... So we thought a scholarship was the proper way to do that."聽
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On Saturday, hundreds of people paid tribute to the Auburn teen at the Lakeview Golf and Country Club in Owasco where some of Calhoun's closest friends hosted a pasta dinner and raffle to raise money for a scholarship in her name.聽
"I think she'd be blown away by the amount of support and love that the community has shown her family," a close friend of Calhoun's family Betsy Merkley said. 聽"I don't think she'd be able to believe how many lives that she touched and inspired."聽
O'Hara agreed.聽
"This would amaze her," she said, noting that they believed between 500 to 600 people would attend the event. "Chloe was very humble (and) I think she would appreciate what we were doing in her name."聽
And although the specifics of the scholarship are still in the works, Merkley said it will probably have something to do with softball, as Calhoun was a star player with the Auburn Maroons.聽
Still, the scholarship is not the only thing Calhoun's family is focused on.聽
Earlier this week, Dain Schneider, of Owasco, was sentenced to spend the next 7 to 24 years in prison for the death of Calhoun. The 33-year-old had pleaded guilty to three felonies聽鈥斅, aggravated DWI and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle 鈥 and reckless driving, a misdemeanor, for which the maximum sentence was 8 to 25 years in prison.聽
"We are not happy with New York state's sentencing guidelines for vehicular homicide, and we would like to see the laws change, especially for repeat offenders," O'Hara said, noting that Schneider had two previous DWI convictions. "We don't think that is an appropriate sentence for (someone) with that type of history. ... And if (Schneider) could have gotten 15, 20 or 25 years, we would have gone to trial."
"It's very sad that this happened, because Chloe was such a bright and positive person," Calhoun's friend and Betsy's daughter Sydney Merkley added. "She touched everyone she's met and everyone feels this deep in their hearts."聽
Staff writer Megan Blarr can be reached at (315) 282-2282 or megan.blarr@lee.net. Follow her on Twitter @CitizenBlarr.