Marion County Police Beat for Saturday, January 21st, 2012

Five people remained in the Marion County Jail Saturday morning after being arrested on Friday on outstanding warrants.

25-year-old Jeffrey Fleming of Sixth Street in Irvington and 18-year-old Briton McCray of South Brookside in Centralia were both picked up on outstanding felony warrants by the Marion County Sheriff's Department.

29-year-old Sarah See of Ticklin Road in Odin was arrested by Sheriff's Deputies on an outstanding DUI warrant. 20-year-old Andrew Flippen of East 15th in Centralia is being held on a small claims warrant. 18-year-old Brandon Marcum of West Noleman in Centralia was arrested on an ordinance violation warrant.

Both Flippen and Marcum were arrested by Centralia Police. full story

Patoka Man Killed in Backhoe Accident North of St. Elmo

A 44-year-old rural Patoka man was killed in a backhoe accident on a Fayette County Road five miles north of St. Elmo. Fayette County Coroner Bruce Bowen says John Cade, Junior was pronounced dead on the scene at 11:43 Friday morning. Bowen reports Cade lost control of the backhoe as it was traveling down a gravel road and overturned in the roadside ditch. Bowen says Cade was an employee of an oil field service equipment company and was in the process of transferring material from one site to another. No one else was in the backhoe when the accident occurred on Fayette County Road 200 E a half mile south of 2450 N. Bowen reports more information will be released on a cause of death following an autopsy that is expected to take place Saturday afternoon at St. Anthony's Hospital in Effingham. Since the accident occurred while Cade was working, OSHA is also involved in the investigation.  full story

Ice Covered Roads Claim Life of Centralia Man, Secondary Roads Still Icy Saturday Morning

Freezing rain is blamed for causing multiple accidents Friday night, including one that took the life of a Centralia man on Interstate 57 in western Clinton County.

State Police say 21-year-old Maurice Currie was a rear seat passenger in a vehicle driven by 19-year-old Gavan Hooper of Mt. Vernon. Hooper and three other passengers in the car were injured and taken to Belleville Hospitals.

They are identified as 20-year-old Dwayne Moore and 22-year-old Theodosia Hooper of Mt. Vernon and 20-year-old Shantae Harris of Hammond, Indiana. All of their injuries were classified as non-life threatening.

State Police say the wreck occurred after a SUV driven by 89-year-old John Barr of Nashville left the road and struck the center median guardrail. Barr then crossed both eastbound lanes of traffic and came to rest partially in the right lane of traffic.

A vehicle driven by 71-year-old Larry Kogl of Atwood, Kansas struck the Barr vehicle in the rear as he tried to change lanes to avoid the crash. Kogl then struck the right rear of the Hooper car in the other lane as it was drastically reducing speed to try and avoid the crash.

State Police say numerous other vehicles had run off icy sections of the road in the vicinity of the crash. The freezing rain left motorists stuck for hours in traffic on Interstate 70 in parts of Fayette and Effingham Counties. Area police departments say the major highways are mostly clear of ice this morning, but secondary roads remain extremely slick and hazardous.

Untreated parking lots and sidewalks are also extremely hazardous. Interstate highways in Fayette and Effingham Counties north to the Chicago area are still reported to have scattered slippery spots. - http://goo.gl/JSB10