Carolyn Tyus held up a bag as she spoke to spoke to students at Red Level and Straughn yesterday as part of the ABC “Under Age, Under Arrest” program.

In the bag are things that once belonged to her son – his phone; his wallet; the cash that was in it.

“This is all I have left of my son,” she said.

Tyus, who is a member of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, was on a school trip to Orlando with her daughter when she got the call. Her son, Renota, as a University of Alabama sophomore in 2008 when he was killed by a driver whose blood alcohol content was three times the legal limit.

The man who hit Renota had four DUIs in the past, had no license, and his sister had trusted him to drive her vehicle home.

Instead the man went to a bar, left the bar highly intoxicated, and crashed into Renota at 2:03 a.m.

The driver who hit Renota walked away without a scratch, but Renota suffered from major injuries, resulting in death.

As Tyus went through the back, talking about her son’s things, she said, “This is all I have left of my son. This is not what your parents want, they do not want a bag of your personal items. They love you, and I love you.”

Underage drinking continues to be serious problem in Alabama and the U.S. Each year, about 5,000 people nationally die each year due to underage drinking.