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Trucking firm, insurer sue over school bus crash

By Times Staff
Published July 1, 2005

DADE CITY - A&J Trucking of Dade City and State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. filed suit Wednesday against the Pasco County School Board in Circuit Court, alleging negligence against a bus driver in an Oct. 8, 2003, accident. But according to the district's claims representative, the driver was cleared, and it was a plaintiff's truck that struck the school bus.

The plaintiffs seek more than $15,000 in damages, according to their lawsuit, and allege that driver Rita Turner negligently drove the bus involved in the Zephyrhills crash.

Kathleen Fidler, claims representative for Gallagher Bassett Services, which represents the school district, said in an e-mail to the plaintiffs that Turner was exonerated on Feb. 24, 2005. Court testimony also showed the school bus had a green left turn arrow and control of the intersection, Fidler wrote, when the plaintiff's truck struck the bus, which was loaded with 22 students. Fidler recommended that both sides pay their own damages, unless the plaintiffs want to be responsible for any claims filed by the students' parents.

DADE CITY - The State Attorney's Office has gone forward with the case against former Weightman Middle School counselor and coach Johnnie Clower by filing a felony document Tuesday on a charge of delivery of a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a school.

Clower, 37, was arrested May 20 on the second-degree felony by Pasco sheriff's deputies, two days after they allege he delivered 2 grams of marijuana, worth about $10, to a 25-year-old female teacher at school during classes.

Clower, who was released on $5,000 bail, resigned as a behavior specialist after 12 years with the district. As an athlete in the 1980s, Clower excelled in football at Pasco High School and went on to play at Florida State University. He returned to the county to coach at Weightman Middle and Pasco High.

[Last modified July 1, 2005, 01:24:21]