The Daily Item, Sunbury, PA

News

November 20, 2009

Teens say wet road to blame

Car hydroplaned before accident that injured 8

SUNBURY — A Sunbury teenager and a Dalmatia woman remained hospitalized in critical condition late Friday after a three-vehicle crash Thursday afternoon on Route 147 in Upper Augusta Township.

Evan Witmer, 16, and Ellen E. Clement, 44, were listed in critical condition at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, according to a nursing supervisor.

Eight people were injured in the crash. Three teens were listed in fair condition Friday. Two other accident victims were released Friday from Geisinger. The condition of the eighth accident victim was not known Friday.

The teenaged occupants of a 1999 Chevrolet Cavalier involved the crash say the car hydroplaned moments before it clipped a minivan and then slammed head-first into a pickup truck.

Ian Scheller, 16, of Sunbury, was taken by LifeFlight helicopter to Geisinger after the 3:51 p.m. crash. His condition, initially critical, was upgraded to fair on Friday. Also listed in fair condition Friday were Jacob Witmer and Tonaya Murray. Teenager Sarah Young was treated and released, according to hospital records.

The teens, ages 15 and 16 and of Sunbury or Northumberland, are all expected to recover.

Scheller, who was driving the Cavalier northbound on Route 147, told his parents he overcompensated when the car hydroplaned and hit the first of two southbound vehicles — the first, a 2001 Chevrolet Venture van driven by Brian Dyer, 43, of Dalmatia — then a 2005 GMC Canyon truck, driven by Clement.

Scheller’s parents on Friday said the other teens gave the same report.

Many of the teenagers’ classmates visited them at Geisinger on Friday. Scheller’s soccer coach visited and gave him his varsity letter.

Judy Dyer, 42, a passenger in the Chevrolet Venture, was treated and released from Geisinger. A 17-year-old boy in Dyer’s vehicle was also injured.

The front of the Cavalier was crushed by the pickup truck. The crash threw the pickup truck into a ditch on the west side of the road.

Fire and rescue personnel had to cut the roof off the Cavalier to extricate four of the teens from the car. A fifth teenager was thrown from the car upon impact with the GMC truck.

The accident was the third involving a teen driver in the past two weeks. On Wednesday, a Danville area teen was killed when he crashed his car in Columbia County. Bradley Ellis Utt, 18, a student at Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech, died when his vehicle hit a tree along a road near Buckhorn.

Two weeks ago, another Danville teen was seriously injured, and later died, after crashing a car filled with friends on Route 642 in Montour County.

Text Only
News
  • Firefighter union may char pacts

    LEWISBURG — Paid members of the William Cameron Engine Company have voted to unionize under the International Association of Fire Fighters, a move believed to stem from internal tension between paid and volunteer members of the department, according to various sources.

    May 25, 2012

  • M-W rule on drug testing is area’s boldest

    MIDDLEBURG — Midd-West is the only school district in the Central Susquehanna Valley that requires students interested in participating in extra-curricular activities to agree to submit to random drug testing.

    May 25, 2012

  • New shelter exec gets busy

    When Cathy Teisher stepped down as executive director of Haven Ministries, in March, Pamela Steffen stepped up.
     

    May 25, 2012

  • Tax boost could bring $120G pad

    The Lewisburg Area School District will seek a 3.2 percent real estate tax increase for the 2012-13 school year, the maximum allowed under the index, under a proposed budget now available for public comment.
     

    May 25, 2012

  • Underground Fire 50 Y_Hill.jpg Fire has burned beneath Centralia for 50 years

    CENTRALIA — Fifty years ago on Sunday, a fire at the town dump ignited an exposed coal seam, setting off a chain of events that eventually led to the demolition of nearly every building in Centralia — a whole community of 1,400 simply gone.

    May 25, 2012 1 Photo

  • 'To Do': Montandon Community Days

    MONTANDON - Montandon Community Days will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 26 along Railroad Street.

    May 25, 2012

  • Travel Best Beaches_Finn.jpg California’s Coronado named nation’s best beach

    CORONADO, Calif. (AP) — Like a Hollywood star, Coronado’s 1.5 mile-long beach literally sparkles, thanks to the mineral mica glinting in its sand.
    That’s one of the reasons why Coronado — flanked by the iconic hotel featured in Marilyn Monroe’s 1958 film “Some Like It Hot” — has been named the No. 1 beach in the United States in the 2012 survey by “Dr. Beach” professor Stephen P. Leatherman of Florida International University.

    May 25, 2012 1 Photo

  • Typical CEO made $9.6M last year, AP study finds

    Profits at big U.S. companies broke records last year, and so did pay for CEOs.

    May 25, 2012

  • Barnstorming cattle badger citizens for beer

    BOXFORD, Mass. (AP) — Police say a roving group of cows crashed a small gathering in a Massachusetts town and bullied the guests for their beer.

     

    May 25, 2012

  • 'A Day in Towne' tradition draws crowds to Boalsburg

    May 25--For the 148th year, Boalsburg will be the gathering place for regional families to remember all ranks of Armed Forces veterans.

    May 25, 2012

  • Fired Pa. president gets more time to clear office

    CALIFORNIA, Pa. (AP) — A judge has canceled a hearing to determine whether California University of Pennsylvania president Angelo Armenti can remove his personal property from his former office, because state officials have given him more time to do so.

    May 25, 2012

  • Weird crime of the week: Peddler in pickup scams bargain-hunting meat seeker

    May 25, 2012

The Daily Marquee
Local Video
Stocks
Parade
Magazine

Click HERE to read all your Parade favorites including Hollywood Wire, Celebrity interviews and photo galleries, Food recipes and cooking tips, Games and lots more.