Two sections of Mo. 125 between Bull Shoals Lake and U.S. 160 in Taney County will be closed until around 1 p.m. as work crews removed downed trees and power lines, according to the Missouri Department of Transportation.
MoDot is also reporting several weather related traffic incidents and road closures around the Branson Tri -Lakes Area.
Here is a startling account of a drunk driver accident and the aftermath from the Harrison Daily News, by David Holsted.
They are words that were forever seared into Steve Powers’ brain.
“To hear your kids scream ‘I’m gonna die! I’m gonna die!’ It’s something I’ll never forget,” Powers said.
Steve Powers holds up a back brace that was worn by his son, Daniel, after his spine was crushed following an accident involving a drunk driver.
Powers, the pastor of the Northside Church of Christ, was the featured speaker at the Be a Winner graduation at Harrison Middle School on Dec. 19. The 12-week program, which is taught to sixth-graders by school resource officers Leslie Nichols and Jerry Morgan of the Harrison Police Department, deals with such topics as peer pressure, decision making, media pressure, drugs, alcohol and tobacco.
Powers, who is also the president of the middle school PTA, knows first-hand the consequences of making a bad decision about alcohol. He and his family were the victims of a drunk driver on Jan. 5, 2008.
As Powers spoke of the awful events of that night, he didn’t need any notes. He was speaking from the heart, he said, speaking of things that will forever be in his mind.
The family was returning from an enjoyable evening at their favorite restaurant in Branson, when Powers received a call on his cell phone. Heeding his own advice of never talking on the phone while driving, Powers pulled his minivan to the shoulder of the highway near Bear Creek Springs.
Within five seconds, he told his audience, a car, going 60 mph, smashed into the rear of the minivan.
“Everything was quiet for a second,” Powers said, “then everybody started screaming at the top of their lungs.”
Powers was horrified to see his sons, Zachary and Daniel, wedged into the mangled rear of the van. The car had struck the Powers’ vehicle with such force that the driver was now inside the back of the minivan.
Using a pocketknife given to him by a motorist who stopped to help, Powers frantically cut through seat belts and seats to get his children out.
Daniel Powers, whose spine was crushed in the accident, has had to endure two surgeries to hold his back together. The financial cost has been staggering.
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Powers said, holding up a notebook containing $100,000 worth of medical bills the family has incurred.
The worst part of taking drugs or alcohol, Powers told the students, is that it brings out the worst part of a person’s personality. If you have a bad temper, it comes out, he said. If you are a person who’s depressed, it comes out.
Powers saw first hand the negative effects of alcohol when he went to the hospital from the accident scene.
“The man who hit us was mean,” Powers said. “He was cursing. He wanted to leave. Was he a bad person? Probably not, but that’s what drugs and alcohol will do to you.”
Even now, Powers went on to say, while driving, he finds himself looking over his shoulder. He urged his young audience to make good choices.
“The purpose of my talking with you,” he said, “is that I don’t want it to be you. We live and die by our choices.”
Middle school principal Harry Branch voiced his enthusiastic support of the Be a Winner program and the cooperation between the school district and the police department to provide the students with the information needed to make good decisions.
“As you go through life, your decisions will become critical,” Branch said. “I’ve seen kids make some good decisions and some bad decisions. The difference is stark. The kids who make bad decision after bad decision — I’m not going to pull any punches with you — they’re dead.”
Each sixth-grader was presented with a certificate recognizing his or her completion of the program. Morgan, Nichols and Harrison police chief Patrick Murphy congratulated each student.
If you or someone you love has been involved in a car crash accident involving a drunk driver or a driver charged with reckless driving in the Springfield, Branson, Lebanon, Southwest Missouri Northwest Arkansas area, contact The Krebs Law Firm LLC for a free consultation regarding your injury claims.
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