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Candlelight vigil keeps young athlete in their memories

One year after a crash claimed the life of Kassandra Kaulius, a community mourns together and calls for tougher impaired-driving penalties.
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Mother Markita Kaulius addresses attendees at a vigil Thursday evening

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A candlelight vigil to remember Kassandra Kaulius a year after she lost her life in a traffic collision drew hundreds to Surrey's Sullivan Park Thursday evening.

"As a mother of two young ones, there were way too many people for me to talk to or try to count," Kaulius' sister, Miranda Tracy, said the next morning.

"It was very nice to see the turnout and very humbling for us as a family. It showed how special my sister was to so many people."

Kaulius, 22 – a popular softball player with the Surrey Storm senior ladies team and assistant coach of one of the organization's junior teams – died May 3, 2011 when her BMW was struck by a van at the corner of 152 Street and 64 Avenue.

Natasha Leigh Warren, 34, was charged last month with dangerous driving causing death, impaired driving causing death, causing an accident resulting in death and failure to stop at an accident causing bodily harm.

Tracy said she was surprised at the number of people who were at the vigil.

Kassandra Kaulius

"There were people everywhere I looked. Almost the whole team she coached was there, the team she played for when she passed, even a team that never met her, that my cousin coaches, felt the need to be there.

"There were people from my mom's work, people from my work, even the towtruck driver that towed her vehicle after the accident was there – he said this was one incident that had stuck with him.

"This didn't just impact my family, it impacted a whole community,"

Kaulius' family is circulating a petition, which can be accessed through the Families For Justice Facebook page, calling for stronger penalties for impaired drivers.

"The community has spoken to us that something needs to be done," Tracy said, adding the family is concerned that, because of current case law, impaired drivers involved in serious or fatal accidents are only receiving minimal sentences.

"The police are doing their job, prosecutors are doing their job, but judges can only sentence within the parameters set," she said.

"This is not about throwing the book at people or calling for a life for a life, but there has to be more of a deterrent. What's stopping the next person (from driving drunk)?"

Tracy's brother, Nick, and their parents, Markita and Victor Kaulius, were all at the vigil, along with Kaulius' boyfriend, Cody Schlamb, and his family.

A memorial mass was also held at Cloverdale's Precious Blood Church that morning.