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Woman dies in one-car wreck
Excessive speed blamed
By Pearl Cantrell
Monitor Staff Writer
MABANK–One young woman is dead and another is in critical condition
following a one-car accident on Kaufman County Road 4019 Friday.
“It’s the fifth crash here in 15 years, and two were this past year,”
Cornelia Grange told The Monitor.
The white convertible driven by 22-year-old Jennie Vaughn hit first one
tree – got turned around – and then wrapped around a second double-trunked
tree at the flanking the end of Grange’s driveway.
“I never did see a car worser tore up than that one. There wasn’t one
piece of that car that wasn’t tore up,” Grange said.
It took nearly two hours for emergency personnel to cut 26-year-old
Ronnie Hopper Jr. out of the passenger’s front seat on the tree side of
the car, she related.
Hopper and Vaughn were flown to the East Texas Medical Center in Tyler.
Hopper was listed in fair condition.
Vaughn underwent surgery Monday to insert a stint into her neck,
following injuries to her neck and a major artery from the force of the
seat belt restraint, it was reported.
The posted speed on CR 4019 is 30 mph, but no one ever travels at that
speed on the bumpy, narrow but straight road, Grange said.
The second passenger, 22-year-old Tifany “Tess” Howell, sitting in the
back without a seat belt, was flung from the back seat through the open
canopy, landing on the other side of the two-trunked tree.
“It was obvious that she died instantly,” Granger said. “We were out
there as soon as we heard the crash and reached her no later than a
minute after it happened. There was no doubt.”
The crash occurred just as darkness was beginning to fall, she said. The
car was probably returning home after picking up a few groceries, as
these were strung out in the ditch beside the road. A shoe was found 50
feet away in Grange’s yard.
Howell’s funeral service was held Wednesday at the Cedar Creek Bible
Church in Seven Points, where she was a member.
Howell had been raised by her grandmother, Pat Howell, who described the
young woman as her “best friend.”
She graduated from Kemp High School in 2003. She also held a purple belt
in karate, and enjoyed roller skating on Friday nights at her church.
Man not dead in rollover
Monitor Staff Reports
SEVEN POINTS–A young man is not dead after rolling his car on State Highway
274 near Cap City.
Details were sketchy at presstime, but it was reported he was at
Michael’s briefly and asked to leave after a confrontation with another
patron.
His vehicle spun out of the parking lot, kicking up gravel as he
traveled north toward Kemp around midnight Saturday night. Soon
afterwards, he lost control of his vehicle.
Officials had not released the man’s name by presstime.
However, it was learned the young man was a classmate of Tess Howell,
who had died in a fatal one-car crash the day before.
Freak mishap leaves man dangling
Lake-area resident gashed while installing glass
eight floors up
By Becki Brantley
Monitor Correspondent
DALLAS–A Cedar Creek Lake area resident was rushed to Baylor
Hospital in Dallas Friday when he was severely injured in a freak
accident.
Robert Chewning, one of a crew working for a glass business out of
Crandall, was installing a large pane of heat-strengthened glass on a
commercial building when the pane leaned outward, cutting his rope.
Chewning fell one floor, continuing to hold onto a suction cup on
the glass, until his safety rope caught.
The jerk of the rope caused the glass to fall against the building,
and it broke into several large pieces which then fell on Chewning,
severing tendons in his hands and arm, and lacerating his head.
The safety straps cut off his circulation, causing him to be unable to
move, but this also saved his life by keeping him from bleeding to
death.
A Dallas fire crew appeared on the scene, but the ladder didn’t
reach high enough and they had some difficulty deciding how to get to
him.
Finally, one of the glass crew, Kevin Spivey, suggested breaking
the 7th floor window next to where Chewning had dropped, and pulling him
in.
Spivey also received minor injuries which required no treatment.
Owners of the glass business (who wished to remain unnamed) claimed
they had been in the business for more than 20 years and “have never
seen an accident like this.”
According to his wife Cristy, Chewning received 73 staples in his
arm and many stitches in his hands.
He will require surgery to repair the tendons in his hands, and an
orthopedic surgeon will rebuild his tricep and forearm.
While Robert Chewning was in the hospital, Cristy Chewning said
four good friends – Mike Slaydon, Mike Hobgood, Adrian Mormon and Gary
Fulton – spent their weekend clearing the land he had been preparing for
installing a new home.
“We just want to thank everyone who has helped us,” Cristy Chewning
said. “The people at Baylor Hospital were awesome. Robert is so loved,
and we have really been blessed. Robert’s employers have gone beyond
measure to make sure all expenses are covered, and we have everything we
need.”
Chewning will require some physical therapy, but plans to be back
to work in the glass business just as soon as he is able.
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