In Dec. 18 Issue
By Greg Wells
Times Journal Managing Editor

The radio-call got some attention.

"It was all everyone was thinking about," said one emergency room worker.

The “it” was a wreck eight years ago, almost to the day, when a tractor trailer wreck killed a woman and forced the delivery of her baby on U.S. 127.

This Tuesday it was not the tragedy that EMT Charles Shepherd had faced that December 19th in 2000 when he cut the cord on that newborn before rushing the premature child to the hospital.

This year Ethan Jacob Hall was born in the back seat of a family car after a fender bender.

He and his mother Rebecca Hall were doing well according to the investigating officer, RSPD Assistant Chief Jamie Rogers.

"He is seven-and-a-half pounds and 19 inches long," Rogers said. "He was pink and fine and both he and his mother were breathing normally and their blood pressure was fine."

The baby and mother were taken by ambulance to Russell County Hospital to be checked out while the two other people in that car drove to the hospital to be check as well.

It was not a single car wreck and the passenger in the other vehicle was having problems though.

"She was upset and telling me she couldn't feel her heart," said Sheriff's Deputy Clete McAninch. "She told me she had a pace maker and she couldn't feel it anymore."

McAninch said Garnetta Campbell was the passenger in the other vehicle and was also taken to the hospital to be checked out.

The wreck took place on U.S. 127 at the interchange with the Louie B. Nunn Cumberland Parkway. Rogers said it was about 11 a.m. when a 1994 Buick being driven by Lucille Hall, 59, of Liberty was attempting to make a u-turn from the southbound lane, at the north end of the overpass, to head back toward the Russell County Hospital when the car was struck from behind by a 1991 Geo Metro being operated by Phillip Campbell, 52, of Windsor.

Rogers explained that the Hall family had originally attempted to drive to the Lake Cumberland Regional Hospital in Somerset, but had changed their minds when the baby "crowned."

With the birth imminent the decision was to abruptly turn around and proceed to the closer Russell County Hospital.

That baby was born just moments after,or possibly as, the vehicles collided and well before emergency responders arrived on-scene.

Firefighter Richard Wooldridge said the child was laying on his mother's chest when he arrived, and Rogers said he was there moments later, just minutes after the wreck.

As with the tragic delivery in 2000 it was EMT Shepherd who cut the cord thought this time the results were much happier.

Child and mother were later transferred to the hospital in Somerset. At last report, mom and son are both doing well.

Others involved in the wreck were taken to RCH for treatment including Garnetta Campbell, 44, of Windsor and Lucille Hall, mentioned earlier. Neither Phillip Campbell nor Melissa Hall were injured during the accident.

It was a week for wrecks as a one vehicle accident just before noon Monday sent a Russell Springs woman to the local hospital. According to a Russell Springs Police report, 81 year old Mary Ashbrook lost control of the 1998 Ford Escort she was driving westbound on Ky. 80 near Watkins Vision Center.

The car left the road, bounced through a ditch and come to rest on the other embankment.

Ashbrook was taken by ambulance to the Russell County Hospital for treatment of injuries she sustained in the mishap.

A passenger, 31 year old Eddie Ashbrook, declined medical treatment according to the police report.

That accident occurred around 11:50 a.m. Monday and was also investigated by Assistant Chief Jamie Rogers of the Russell Springs Police Department.

Last Sunday evening a one vehicle wreck near the Russell-Casey county line on U.S. 127 critically injured one person.

Russell County Deputy Sheriff Tim Pierce reported that Marvin Rayes Rogellio, 22, of Russell Springs was critically injured when he lost control of the 2000 Plymouth car.

He was reportedly driving northbound on U.S. 127, before the vehicle left the right shoulder of the roadway went out of control and then reportedly flipping "end over end" several times.

Pierce said Rogellio was air-lifted from the scene by emergency helicopter and flown to the U.K. Medical Center in Lexington, where at last report, he was still in critical condition.

Pierce said alcohol and excessive speed are believed to be the main factors into the cause of the wreck.

Alcohol was listed as the cause of a single vehicle wreck just before 1:30 last Friday afternoon on the Lake Cumberland State Park Road

The driver was taken to the Russell County Jail and one of the two passengers who had reportedly fled from that accident was taken by ambulance to the Russell County Hospital.

The driver and both passengers were charged with alcohol related offenses.

Park Ranger Jeremy Burton reported a 2000 Toyota pickup being operated by Kenny Grider, 61, was traveling on the park road, about 1.5 miles from U.S. 127, when he lost control of the truck in a curve.

The vehicle left the road, spun around and struck a tree.

A passenger in Grider's vehicle, 48-year-old Lyle Kent Wooldridge, was transported by ambulance to the Russell County Hospital for treatment of minor injuries and later released.

Police reports show Grider was charged with driving under the influence while Wooldridge and another passenger, Shane Grant, 35, were each cited for alcohol intoxication and leaving the scene of an accident.