This is a story you need to tell your teenagers.

And hope they listen.

Really listen:

* * *

Derek Shaffner and Eli Mummert met at Northeastern High School. They hung out, worked on a motorcycle together.

Best friends.

Their family members described them as bright, fun-loving teens who cared for others. Derek watched after his older sister, who had special needs. He made sure she brushed her teeth and combed her hair before she went to school while their mother was working.

Eli's father described him as "the perfect son."

In the spring of 2005, the two were weeks away from high school graduation -- planning to go together on senior week at the shore.

They never made it.

On May 22, they were out drinking and smoking marijuana at a party, after which they got in a car and drove.

The two were speeding down a straightaway on Wago Road in East Manchester Township near the Brunner Island power plant. A coal train was blocking the well-lighted road, with red lights flashing, warning motorists. There was a full moon. The train must have been visible.

But they slammed into a hopper car, killing them both.

Two well-loved, promising young men, gone because of a night of partying.

* * *

This is an important cautionary tale in the wake of well-publicized arrests of students allegedly caught at two after-prom drinking parties last weekend in East

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Hopewell and Lower Chanceford townships.

One theme of public commentary on the news stories went something like this:

Yes, it's against the law for teens to drink -- much less drink and drive. But this happens all the time. It's a rite of passage at prom and graduation time. Some kids -- even good kids, star athletes, academic all-stars, student leaders -- are going to drink and experiment with drugs. It doesn't make them evil or bad. So why make such a fuss over these party busts?

Why? Because the deaths of Derek Shaffner and Eli Mummert show in chilling detail the potential results of such parties.

Parents know this. Students know this. Even Derek and Eli knew it. Just before their fatal accident, there was a mock DUI crash assembly at Northeastern. And yet two weeks later, they drank, smoked pot and then drove.

What does it take for the message to register? This is deadly serious stuff. It's nothing to wink at and tolerate.

But that's something many parents seem to do. They say things like: "Well, I'd rather it be alcohol than drugs." But alcohol is the cause of far more fatal crashes than drugs.

Or, "I'd rather they drink here at home where I can keep an eye on them."

But what if you lose sight? What if you go to bed and they go out joyriding? What if police get wind of it and charge you with providing alcohol to your children and/or their friends? What if they wind up T-boning a stopped train on a desolate road at 2:30 a.m.?

Parents simply cannot tolerate it -- and must not abet it. They must do everything in their power to keep kids from drinking and driving.

It's not easy. And it can be uncomfortable because parents struggle with the hypocrisy factor -- haranguing their teens about things they themselves did when they were younger, and perhaps still overdo on occasion.

That's where this whole bogus "rite of passage" notion comes from.

But underage drinking is nothing but a passage to tragedy.

Just ask Mark Mummert, Eli's father, who in the years since the crash has dedicated himself to preventing similar tragedies.

If only the teens -- and their parents -- would listen.