Grief and bewilderment walked the halls at Sandy Creek High School this week after the death Friday of two former students and their friend in an automobile accident.

Richard Francis Jr., 18, wasn't just a Sandy Creek alumnus, but the son of the high school's well-loved basketball coach, Rick Sr. Both Francis and another accident victim, Duane Powell, also 18, have younger siblings at Sandy Creek.

"It's almost more than we can talk about," said SCHS principal Dr. Charles Warr. "This has been a terrific blow to the faculty and the students. We're just trying to handle everything in the most sensitive way possible, to be there for the needs of the family, the teachers and the students." Extra counselors have been called in from other schools, he said, but there are no formal plans for a memorial service at present.

The third fatality, Jeremy Tucker, was a Lovejoy High School junior who was close to both Powell and Francis. When Lt. Bryan Woodie of the Fayette Sheriff's Department went to the Tucker home in Jonesboro in the wee hours of Saturday morning to tell them of the accident and Jeremy's death, the Francis family was already there. Their sons were late, and both families were about to start a search for them, Woodie said.

A report from Maj. Wayne Hannah of the Fayette sheriff's traffic enforcement division shows that Powell was driving his 1988 Honda CRX too fast, left the roadway on Sams Drive near Sandy Creek Road and struck an oak tree, bursting into flames. Powell was not wearing a seat belt and died of injuries sustained when he was ejected by the impact, said Hannah. Francis and Tucker were trapped inside the car as it burned, Hannah said, and the specific cause of death is not known.

There was no evidence at the scene, Hannah said, nor in the investigation thus far, to indicate that drugs or alcohol were involved in the crash. State law requires blood alcohol testing of drivers in any fatal accident, Hannah said, but results will not be known for some time.

"But speed was a factor," Woodie said. "I am sad, and I am angry, because it was senseless. Because it hurts to watch their parents searching for ways to express their grief, and to be powerless to help. Because I can't make it better. Because those parents, who call me and ask me to drop the speeding tickets on their children, just don't see it. Because I don't have any answers."

Both Woodie and Hannah, who brought the news to Powell's family, say that "it doesn't get easier," no matter how many times they deal with families who lose their children to crimes or accidents. Woodie has 15 years with the sheriff's department and a total of 22 years in law enforcement.

"I've had to break this kind of news 30 or 40 times," he said, "even to people who were friends of mine. The same emotions are there each time, but you become more able to focus on the job you have to do and on controlling the emotions, but it's never easy and you never forget."

This week Woodie is teaching the mandatory "ADAP" (alcohol and drug awareness program) classes to teens at Starr's Mill High. He said he started the classes by telling the students that less than two weeks ago, he arrested a teen for doing 87 miles per hour in a 45-mph zone.

"They seemed at first to want to laugh it off, or think it was something amazing," Woodie said. "Then I showed them the clipping on Friday's fatal accident and told them that these three boys died, and they weren't even going that fast. All our young people have to take getting their drivers' licenses, and then driving responsibly, as a serious journey toward adulthood. If they will listen, and do what we tell them, they can live to a ripe old age. I'm sure these grieving parents wanted that for their sons. They shared a lot with me about their sons, in moments of pain, and someday they may talk about it publicly, but I think not now."

Fayette County has had nine traffic fatalities this year, with one each in Fayetteville and Peachtree City also.

Funeral services for Richard Alan Francis Jr. are set for 11 a.m. today at Redemption Fellowship, 418 Ga. Highway 279, Fayetteville, with interment in Forest Lawn Cemetery in College Park. Tucker's funeral is Thursday in Columbus, Miss. Arrangements for Powell had not been finalized at press time.