A good thing

The Mihalik family: This family has turned a tragedy into something positive.

Putting tragedy behind you can be a daunting task.

But the Mihalik family found a way to make it happen.

The Mihaliks, readers will recall, lost their son and brother, Mike, in a December bar shooting in Harpers Ferry. Since that time, they’ve been trying to turn their personal tragedy into something positive, and did so by dedicating a music studio in their son’s memory last week.

Matt Mihalik, Mike’s brother, said his brother would have enjoyed seeing young people get to discover music. Mike apparently loved local bands, even going so far as to encourage them to play at the Cliffside Inn, where he tended bar.

The program, “When Youth Create” is sponsored by the Focus Coalition in Jefferson County. When Youth Create offers children alternative opportunities — including allowing them to create art and music — that would steer them away from drug use. Students participating get to enjoy a “Sound Lounge” and create comic books by writing the text and drawing the cartoons that go inside.

“Glenn (Mike’s father) walked in looking for a way to honor his son,” said program coordinator Keith Lyndaker Schlabach. “Brian (Ellsworth, of Ellsworth Music Store in Charles Town) pointed him to me.”

Obviously, honoring Mike Mihalik was important to his family. And they found a great way to do it —recognizing something that their son and brother loved and helping to have other young people get a chance to enjoy what their son and brother enjoyed.

“(The money) got donated to a good program,” Glenn Mihalik said.

Good for the Mihaliks.

Section: Editorials    Posted: 5/30/2007