By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
ONALASKA – Nickolas Barnes’ mother has run out of tears.
Just as the anniversary of the death of her 15-year-old son approached, Rachael Smith and other family members learned prosecutors were charging a man with manslaughter, alleging he caused the Onalaska teenager’s death by providing alcohol at an underage drinking party.
Nickolas Barnes
Nickolas died of alcohol poisoning Sept. 21 of last year, two days after he was found passed out in the front yard of an Onalaska home and was driven to Providence Centralia Hospital.
On Tuesday night, exactly one year later, the teenager’s family held a gathering in his memory.
“Nick would be saying, life goes on,” his grandmother Susan Patterson said. “Thank you for being Nick’s friends. From the bottom of our hearts, we want to thank each and every one of you for your help to us through this year.”
About 40 individuals shared coffee, cookies and stories at the new Onalaska Community Youth Center.
Nineteen-year-old Eric Messal spoke of goofy teenage boy capers that made Patterson “shush” him. Patterson talked of the tenderness her grandson showed when their home flooded and he made sure his great grandmother got put in a rescue boat first.
Nickolas was a sophomore who really liked football, Messal said.
He grew up in West Seattle and moved to the small rural community in the eighth grade.
His “substitute” grandparents traveled to Onalaska to attend the gathering. Betty Anderson said she thought it was a wise thing for Nickolas to get away from the influences of the city as he grew older.
The evening was meant to remember his life, not his death, his grandmother said. But outside and away from the crowd, one of Nickolas’s former girlfriends talked about losing a friend.
Tiffani Weiher, 16, said partying is not for her any more.
“Ever since Nick passed, I’ve really re-thought everything,” she said. “I’ve made sure I got closer to God, and my friends.”
Tiffani wasn’t there, but she knows the drinking game being played that night at the house, she said.
Shot for shot, she said. “The first person to pass out has to be the party favor,” Tiffani said.
Nickolas’s friends removed his clothes and wrote on his body with a black marker, according to court documents. They later tried to put his pants back on him and covered him with a blanket.
“Personally, I just think it’s the stupidest game ever,” Tiffani said.
Nickolas’s blood alcohol level was .32, according to charging documents, which is four times the legal limit for an adult while driving under the influence.
Charging documents in Lewis County Superior Court describe a gathering last year in which nine teenagers drank beer which belonged to the only adult who was present, 28-year-old James W. Taylor who lived at the Onalaska house with two teenage children and some other adults.
Some of the teens reportedly gave Taylor money to purchase more beer around 10:30 p.m. that night.
Charging documents in Taylor’s case include the following:
At about midnight, Nickolas and a 16-year-old boy played “shot for shot” with vodka. The two consumed more than 11 shots and then Nickolas drank from the bottle until two boys took it away from him.
A few minutes later, Nickolas passed out.
Prosecutors allege Taylor told the teenagers to “let him sleep it off.”
The vodka was brought by Nickolas for a previous party there, the documents say.
At about 1:30 a.m. or 2 a.m. two adults arrived and found him in the front yard, not breathing, his lips blue.
Taylor and another man took Nickolas to Providence Centralia Hospital, where twice he was revived and flown to Mary Bridge Children’s’ Hospital.
He was taken off life support the evening of the 21st, according to his grandmother.
Taylor, now 29, was charged last Friday with second-degree manslaughter, meaning prosecutors believe he negligently caused the teenager’s death.
He was also charged with failing to summon assistance for Nickolas and with seven counts of furnishing liquor to minors. If convicted as charged, he could face as much as 27 months in prison, according to the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office.
Taylor is scheduled appear before a judge on Oct. 5.
•••
Read previous stories:
• “News brief: Criminal charges filed in Onalaska teen’s alcohol poisoning death” from Friday Sept. 17, 2010 here.
• “Two more homicide cases now await charging decisions by Lewis County prosecutor” from Saturday Sept. 11, 2010 here.
• “Three Lewis County homicides still unresolved as triple-slaying prosecution begins” from Wednesday Sept. 8, 2010 here.
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