Fatality accidents claim two over weekend
Two motorists, including a Holton man, died on Jackson County roads over this past weekend, according to reports from the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office and the Kansas Highway Patrol.
First, Phyllis S. Martin, 59, of Berryton, was killed in a two-vehicle traffic accident occuring at 8:05 a.m. Friday on U.S. Highway 75 at 134th Road, shutting down northbound traffic on the highway for nearly five hours.
According to the KHP report, Martin was driving a 2005 Chevrolet Astro Van north on U.S. 75 when the van struck the left rear corner of a trailer being pulled by a 1996 Volvo semitrailer driven west on 134th across U.S. 75 by Roger W. Gooderl, 70, of Hoyt.
The report stated that Gooderl was attempting to cross U.S. 75 and the Volvo’s trailer was still blocking the inside lane and half of the outside lane of U.S. 75 when Martin’s van struck the trailer. At some point, the front end of the van caught fire, although KHP’s report did not state when or how.
Martin was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident and was taken to an area mortuary, it was reported. Gooderl was not injured. Both drivers, it was noted, were wearing proper safety restraints.
A spokesperson from the Kansas Department of Transportation noted that northbound U.S. 75 was closed between 126th and 142nd roads from about 8:30 p.m. until about 1:40 p.m. for investigation and clean-up of the accident. All traffic on U.S. 75 was eventually detoured into the highway’s southbound lanes, with one lane handling each direction, KDOT reported.
KHP was assisted in handling and investigating the accident by the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, Jackson County EMS and the Hoyt, Mayetta and Prairie Band Potawatomi fire departments.
On Saturday, Jackson County Sheriff Tim Morse reported that Edward H. Hollingdale, 58, of Holton, was found dead after a traffic accident that reportedly occurred on Kansas Highway 9 east of Netawaka. Hollingdale was driving a dump truck east on K-9, pulling a corn hauler trailer that had reportedly run off the roadway into a corn field located between S and T roads, Morse said.
Sheriff’s officers were notified that Hollingdale and the truck had been missing for a short while after they did not arrive at a destination in Whiting. The truck was later found in the corn field, and Hollingdale was found unresponsive in the truck, Morse said.
Efforts to resuscitate Hollingdale were unsuccessful, and he was declared dead at the scene. Fire departments from Holton, Netawaka and Whiting assisted Jackson County EMS personnel and the sheriff’s office at the scene, it was reported.
Martin and Hollingdale were, respectively, the second and third motorists to die in traffic-related accidents on Jackson County roads this year, it was noted.
