Latest news with #Carper
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Yahoo
Retired deputy dies at home, three months after horrific car crash. I-Team found it might have been prevented
The Brief Patricia Carper, 64, died at home last month, 15 weeks after a one-vehicle crash in Gwinnett County left her and her husband trapped overnight in an overturned Dodge Caravan. An investigation by the FOX 5 I-Team, aired in March while Carper was still hospitalized, found the wreck might have been prevented. Before the Feb. 4 crash, the head football coach at nearby Seckinger High School had been lobbying Gwinnett County Transportation to install a barrier at the end of the road, but the county backed away after the new city of Mulberry formed. Mulberry, though, doesn't have a roads department. Carper's daughter says she never recovered from the wreck and blames the dangerous road for her mother's death. MULBERRY, Ga. - What happened to Patricia and Walt Carper had happened multiple times before on West Rock Quarry Road. And it might have been prevented, a FOX 5 I-Team investigation found. For months before the crash, the head football coach at nearby Seckinger High School had begged Gwinnett County's Department of Transportation to install some kind of barrier at the dead end, where the Carpers would careen into an embankment. "All I know is that people are getting hurt, and there's a very real chance somebody's going to lose their life," Coach Tony Lotti told the I-Team in March. At that time, Carper was still hospitalized. What we know Carper, a retired Clarke County Sheriff's deputy, died in her home May 20, according to her Georgia death certificate. Even before the crash, she suffered from kidney and heart problems, and she had just been discharged from a hospital stay in Braselton when the wreck happened Feb. 4. She suffered broken ribs, bruising and oxygen deprivation in the ordeal. Her daughter, Heidi Rutledge, said that for the next 15 weeks, her mother was in and out of hospital care. She remained in constant pain, had difficulty breathing, suffered an infection from being intubated, and lost the use of her left hand from lying on her arm for so long before her rescue, Heidi said. She had been out of the hospital for 12 days before she died. The cause of death on her death certificate: "acute and chronic respiratory failure with hypoxia (lack of oxygen)." "The wreck caused my mom's death," Heidi told the I-Team. "She was up on her feet when she came out of the hospital the first time, before the wreck," she said. "But after the wreck, she'd been bedbound and couldn't hardly move her body." The backstory The day of the crash, Heidi said her stepfather, Walt Carper, picked her mother up at the hospital. Then after a stop at a grocery store, her mother took the driver's seat of the Dodge Caravan and headed back toward their home in Barrow County. But she took a wrong turn in the dark at a roundabout and wound up on the south end of West Rock Quarry Road, which runs along the back side of Seckinger High School in Gwinnett. The Carpers had no way of knowing it, but for months Coach Lotti had been lobbying county DOT to make safety improvements to the road. Some students had been T-boned turning left out of a school exit, along with multiple other accidents involving drivers running off the dead end. "We'll be sitting on the front porch or doing something out here, and I'll see cars just flying down here," West Rock Quarry Road resident George Grob told the I-Team in March. "And then we'll hear them go off. I bet I've come down here for probably 10 or 15 people. "One night, it was two of them," Grob said. "Like, within an hour of each other." Coach Lotti asked the county for speed breakers, as well as a barricade at the cul-de-sac. With poor lighting, the distant lights of I-85 created an illusion that the roadway kept going, he said. Heidi said that's what misled her mother. "She looked through the trees, and I guess she (saw) that it was ongoing cars, so she thought it was an ongoing road," Heidi said. Driving off the embankment was only the beginning of the Carpers' suffering. The minivan landed on its side, and neither Patricia nor Walt could reach their cell phones. A Gwinnett County Police report estimated the crash time at 7 p.m. Heidi said she tried to call them every few hours. She finally went to her parents' home, found her mother's tablet, and located her mother's phone just north of the interstate. She called police to report them missing just after noon on Feb. 5. Around the same time, some passersby found the Carpers, Gwinnett County 911 records show. It was past 1 p.m. when both Patricia and Walt had been extracted. It was a school day. "When we heard about the couple that was stranded, my heart just sunk," Lotti said. "We had no idea they were there." Walt, 71, suffered a brain injury in the crash. He's still recovering in a nursing and rehabilitation facility in Monroe, his stepdaughter said. Why you should care Late last year, Gwinnett DOT had been working with Lotti to address safety hazards on the road. The county conducted a traffic study, recording speeds as high as 90 and 100 miles per hour, where the speed limit is 25. DOT added two new signs – one saying, "School," another saying, "Dead end 1000 feet." Lotti said he and traffic officials discussed adding speed breakers. But then everything came to a stop. Mulberry, a new city, formed on Jan. 1. "Congratulations! You are now in the new city of Mulberry," a traffic analyst told Lotti in an email obtained by the I-Team. "Unfortunately, we do not have an agreement with the City of Mulberry to install speed humps inside the city limits. We are stopping all progress and closing the request for a Public Hearing for West Rock Quarry Road." The email referred Lotti to the city's website. The trouble there: The city doesn't have a roads department. Its charter, approved by the state Legislature and ratified by voters, says the county must keep up roadwork during a two-year transition period. But Gwinnett and Mulberry have been locked in a heated dispute over the charter, which the county contends shifts too much financial burden to county taxpayers. The county is challenging the charter in court, the case currently with the Georgia Court of Appeals. The county filed another lawsuit last month against the state over Senate Bill 138, aimed specifically at Gwinnett and stripping its sovereign immunity for a year if a judge finds it violated the new law. Sponsored by the area's Republican state senator, Clint Dixon, the bill passed this year and was signed by Gov. Brian Kemp. When the I-Team contacted Gwinnett DOT Director Lewis Cooksey earlier this year, he said the county would need to have an intergovernmental agreement with Mulberry before putting any more work into West Rock Quarry Road. But the second time the I-Team reached out, Cooksey agreed safety is paramount and said the county would make additional safety improvements after all. Within days, a barrier had been erected at the dead end, and a new warning – "Road closed ahead" – was painted in giant letters on the road surface. "We were happy to help," Cooksey told the I-Team in a text. "We will continue to monitor the area and we ask that everyone use the utmost caution when traveling." Cooksey did not respond to messages about this story, and Gwinnett County Transportation had no comment on Patricia Carper's death. What they're saying "I think this is a perfectly good example of why we need to work together," Mulberry Mayor Michael Coker said. Coker said West Rock Quarry Road will be the city's responsibility eventually, but for now, it's the county's job to maintain it. "You guys came out and did that story, you brought attention to this issue," he said of FOX 5's story in March. "And ultimately the county made the changes, they put up those barricades. So I think that tells you everything you need to know, as to whose responsibility was that road." Heidi said her mother would still be alive if the barricade had gone up sooner. Local perspective Patricia Carper served 22 years with Clarke County, retiring in 2010. She worked as a jailer, and a spokeswoman for the sheriff's office said she's remembered as an excellent marksman. She's also remembered for taking over operations of the Athens jail in May 2000, the spokeswoman said. That was so other deputies could attend the funeral of a lieutenant who had died on duty in a car crash. Carper was laid to rest Wednesday at St. Matthew Catholic Church in Winder. She's survived by her husband, two children and three grandsons. The Source The FOX 5 I-Team reported in March how Gwinnett County's Transportation Department backed off safety improvements to a treacherous road, just before a Barrow County couple's horrific ordeal running off the roadway in February. For that story, the I-Team reviewed traffic reports, a traffic study, accident reports and photos of past wrecks provided by school personnel and residents. This story was prompted when the daughter of the driver in the February crash informed reporter Johnny Edwards that her mother died.
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Vendors optimistic for farmers market season
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) – The Falls Park Farmers Market looks to bring another promising season for vendors and visitors. The farmers market runs from May until October every Saturday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. It's located at the Falls Park picnic shelter in Sioux Falls. 'It's the place to be in Sioux Falls on Saturday morning. I like to see all of the people out here kind of enjoying the morning,' Cody Carper with Carper Sweet Corn and Produce said. 'Even on a cloudy day like this, it's still a fun place to be.' Carper said the weather has been good for the growing season so far. 'As far as moisture, it's sitting pretty good,' Cody Carper said. 'I guess there's ups and downs.' A full list of vendors can be found here. Seasonal events return to downtown Sioux Falls Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
06-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
DSM service members watch USS Iowa submarine commissioning
DES MOINES, Iowa — The USS Iowa was commissioned in Connecticut on Saturday and here in Iowa service men and women gathered to watch the big event. The USS Iowa submarine is the third vessel to be named for the corn state and will hold 140 crew members. During the event Lieutenant Commander Scoot Carper, the ship's executive officer, gave a speech saying this latest Virginia-class nuclear powered submarine is a bright spot in the Navy. 'She represents a revolution in submarine design, construction and mission capability. Brimming with cutting edge technology and advanced engineering. This vessel brings versatility and firepower to the fleet,' said Carper. Also in attendance were Captain Gregory Coy, Commander Daryl Coudle, Rep. Marionette Miller-Meeks, and Governor Kim Reynolds. Reynolds says this ship represents the state in more ways than one. 'As an Iowan, it's powerful to stand here with, this cutting-edge Virginia class submarine behind me as it prepares to begin it's decades of service bearing the iconic name USS Iowa. Like that name, this vessel embodies American ingenuity, industrial might, which have so frequently been the means of winning wars, preserving peace, and defending freedom through the world.' Back in Iowa, dozens of servicemen and women gathered at the Gold Star Musuem to watch the commissioning. Retired Naval Chief Petty Officer Jerry Luedtke, says Iowa has earned its third namesake vessel. 'Iowa has a deep-rooted naval history, naval veterans from Iowa, now in the form of a submarine, one of the most powerful in the world,' said Luedtke. 'Iowa is really unique because she is the first submarine that has, from the start, female quarter built on it. She has 135 crew and 35 percent of that are female crew and officers.' Learn more about the USS Iowa SSN 797 and its connections to Iowa on the website. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Axios
27-03-2025
- Business
- Axios
Exclusive: Buried power lines are cutting outage times for all Richmonders
Dominion Energy has buried more than 570 miles of power lines in the Richmond region in recent years. Why it matters: New data from the region's power supplier shows all Richmonders are experiencing shorter outage times as a result. The big picture: Dominion's been working to convert overhead power lines to underground ones in its most outage-prone areas for roughly a decade. The company's Strategic Underground Program was created to address the number one cause of power outages: downed trees hitting power lines, something happening more often because of climate change and aging infrastructure. Today, around 2,500 miles of Dominion's Virginia power lines have been converted to underground, or about 13% of its lines, more than halfway to its 4,000-mile / 20% of lines goal. That includes 570 miles of converted lines in the Richmond region and 379 miles just in Richmond, Chesterfield, Hanover and Henrico, Dominion spokesperson Craig Carper tells Axios. Zoom in: And now Dominion has data to show that the buried lines are reducing "the times that all of our customers spend without power," Carper says. Specifically, undergrounding has helped cut the 72-hour average restoration time after a major storm (like a hurricane or Derecho) in half for all Dominion customers. That's mostly because crews don't have to respond to those once outage-prone areas as often, Carper says. Stunning stat: The average outage time for Dominion customers whose lines have been buried (or for people "down line" from buried lines) has dropped from 675 minutes (a little over 11 hours) to just 2 minutes. Yes, 2 minutes. Of note: Dominion's Mainfeeder Hardening program, which upgrades old wooden poles and cross arms, has helped reduce outage times, too. The customers who've gotten some of Dominion's new 8,000 poles and 9,500 cross arms spend an average of 30% less time without power compared to those with the old poles, Carper says.
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
‘Makes me sick': Bar closed by fire won't reopen despite GoFundMe, Boise band support
When fire closed Willi B's Saloon last July in a west Boise strip mall, its customers sprang to action. Local bands organized benefit shows for the neighborhood bar, restaurant and music venue at 12505 W. Chinden Blvd. A GoFundMe page set up by a longtime patron generated nearly $14,000. More than 500 people joined a Friends of Willi B's Facebook group. But the closure, intended to be temporary, has become permanent. Willi B's will not reopen, owner Steve Carper said in a message. 'The disaster rebuild guy estimated it would take a year to fix the Chinden location,' he said, 'so I knew that wasn't an option.' After four months of searching for a new space that would be suitable — logistically and financially — Carper finally threw in the towel. 'I wanted to make it past five decades of service to the industry in this town, but it's not to be,' Carper said. '... I don't know how long I could keep working 18-hour days, anyway. After the fire, my health decided to act up again ...' Carper sold Willi B's liquor license to the owners of The Funky Taco in downtown Boise — in the 'nick of time,' he said. Idaho State Police's Alcohol Beverage Control division had given him until Jan. 3 to reopen, find a new location or sell the license, he said. Calling the community outpouring 'very, very humbling,' Carper said he's 'incredibly grateful' for the fundraising support. 'The wonderful people who loved (Willi B's) really came out in force,' he said, 'and between them and all of the bands the donations summed up a very nice chunk of money.' All told? More than $23,000, he said. But after final payroll, federal and state taxes, and paying off the balance of business insurance owed, 'I had blown through what had been collected,' he said. 'Makes me sick,' Carper added. 'But still incredibly appreciative and gracious, getting employees and government paid was critical; not always accomplished when a business closes.'
