By Jennifer Edwards
The Cincinnati Enquirer

COLERAIN TWP. - Christmas lights adorn the Hoffman family's front lawn, and brightly wrapped presents are piled under their tree, waiting for the big day.

But the best gift of all is sitting on the living room sofa, laughing and joking with family and friends.

Chuck Hoffman, 16, came home from Drake Center last week after nearly dying six weeks ago from a severe head injury.

The Northwest High School junior was driving the family van to the hardware store when a 10-pound rock hurled from a nearby creek bed smashed through his windshield, struck his head and left him fighting for his life.

The blow instantly knocked Chuck out, but his younger siblings managed to gain control of the Econoline van until they could crash it into a vacant building to stop it. They were not injured.

Now, after three weeks at University Hospital and another three at Drake, the simple things make Chuck smile.

"It's a miracle," said his mother, Ramona Hoffman, as she sat next to Chuck on the sofa. "We had missionary children as far away as Guam praying for him. We were told he would be in the hospital six months but he's home in only six weeks. I wish everybody who has a tragedy could have the support we did."

Chuck said he appreciates his family, who never left his bedside as he lay comatose, struggling to open his eyes and squeeze his mom's hand. He also wants to thank his many friends, who created colorful, homemade get-well cards - so many that they now fill boxes and binders in the Hoffmans' basement.

A fund set up at Fifth Third Bank has raised about $5,000 so far to help pay for his rehabilitation costs, and church groups and businesses generously gave food, services and even a YMCA pass to Chuck and his family.

But Chuck, a lifelong Boy Scout and chief petty officer in the Navy Junior ROTC program at Northwest, still has a long way to go. He can't hear in his left ear, a feeding tube remains in his stomach and he has two plates in his jawbone, which was fractured in two places. His left cheek remains slightly swollen after hours of facial reconstructive surgery.

The honor roll student also must sit out the rest of the school year while he undergoes speech, life skills and physical therapy, and will have to repeat the 11th grade in the fall.

He struggles to form some sentences and to remember familiar faces and names (he didn't recognize his girlfriend). He also is trying to cope with what happened to him the night of Oct. 29, a day he can't even remember.

A 19-year-old who lives nearby, Mark Holtman, has been indicted on two counts of felonious assault. Police say he was randomly throwing rocks when Chuck was hit.

Mr. Holtman is free on $125,000 bond; his relatives and friends put up their property for his bail. He will appear before a Hamilton County Common Pleas Court judge Jan. 15, court records show.

Chuck says he plans to attend Mr. Holtman's court proceedings to make sure "he spends days and days in jail."

Chuck and his family can't imagine why he would have been hurling rocks at innocent passersby. Police records show Mr. Holtman admitted he threw the football-size rock from a creek bed in the 3200 block of Springdale Road.

"I hate him for just being there to throw it," Chuck said quietly, looking down. "He should grow up. He should have had a job and be productive."

The Holtman family declined to comment, referring questions to Mr. Holtman's attorney, who also refused to comment Monday.

Hamilton County Prosecutor Mike Allen said he put a veteran prosecutor on the case. It is one they are going to litigate "very, very vigorously," he pledged.

"It is absolutely senseless and it's a horrible tragedy," Mr. Allen said. "This is one we are going to hardball for obvious reasons."

The Hoffmans remain hopeful about Chuck's recovery and he still plans to enter the Navy to become a pilot.

"I'm OK. I'm just real proud to be home," Chuck said. "I'm not sure what's out there. I just want life to get back to normal."

Doctors have credited his will, youth and family for his speedy recuperation. They expect he'll make a 99 percent recovery.

"The nurses at Drake called him `Houdini' because even when he was unconscious he untied his restraints," Mrs. Hoffman said. "He has to recall everything he ever learned, but it will all come back. It will just take time to remember it all."

In the meantime, his family and friends serve as his memory, feed him vocabulary words and draw on a message they received from a special friend Chuck made at Drake.

Hamilton County Deputy Sheriff P.J. Reinert - whom Chuck fondly dubbed "Security" - encouraged the Hoffmans to look deep into their hearts, forgive Mr. Holtman and go on.

Deputy Reinert was critically injured in September when he lost control of his cruiser less than two minutes into a high-speed traffic pursuit on eastbound Interstate 275 in Colerain Township, crossed the median and struck a tractor-trailer. The unidentified driver of a red, Pontiac Firebird Deputy Reinert was chasing was traveling about 95 mph.

The car and driver remain at large. Meanwhile, Deputy Reinert, a 29-year-old father of three small children, is fighting to recover and was also at Drake.

"He told us that while this has happened to us, we have to heal in our hearts and learn to forgive," Mrs. Hoffman said. "That really struck us, after everything that's happened to him and he told us to heal in our hearts and forgive."

E-mail jedwards@enquirer.com