Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Giant tragedy in a small town

In a place residents call "God's country" seven members of one extended family perish in one instant. But fate had another terrible blow waiting.

By ABBIE VANSICKLE, CURTIS KRUEGER and CATHERINE E. SHOICHET
Published January 27, 2006

[AP photos]

Cody Vaughn, 12, is comforted by his father, James, as he struggles to hold back tears during a news conference Thursday. Cody and his brother, Dalton, 11, were riding in a Union County school bus when it was hit by a car and semitrailer truck.

	Union County Middle and High school students sign a "Healing Wall" Thursday near the high school in Lake Butler.
	Barbara Mann is consoled after a crash claimed the lives of seven children in her family. After hearing the news, her father died of a heart attack.
	Officials say driver Alvin Wilkerson's truck tires left "slight shadow marks" before the crash.

LAKE BUTLER - For Barbara Mann, whose five children and two nieces died Wednesday in a fiery vehicle crash, the tragedy wasn't over.

Hours later, her 62-year-old father suffered a fatal heart attack after hearing about the wreck.

"There are hardly any words that you can say. ... The whole nation mourns with them," said the family's pastor and spokesman, Scott Fisher.

As local, state and national officials began investigating the crash, the Manns and the small rural town of Lake Butler began to confront the devastation.

Flags flew at half-staff. Residents started memorial funds. The schools brought in grief counselors.

"We're a small community, close-knit, and it's just been real hard," Sheriff Jerry Whitehead said, wiping tears.

The car carrying the children stopped on State Road 121 behind a Union County school bus. A semitrailer truck barreled into the back of the car, which rammed into the bus and exploded. Killed were Barbara and Terry Mann's five children: Nicky, 15, who was driving; Elizabeth, 15; Johnny, 13; Heaven, 3; and Anthony, 20 months. Mrs. Mann's sister, Amanda Scott, also lost two children: Ashley Keen, 13, and Miranda Finn, 8.

Officials say the children on the school bus, the bus driver and the truck driver suffered injuries that were not life-threatening.

As Lake Butler tried to cope, City Manager Richard O. Tillis reflected on the quintessential small town, where everyone knows everyone, and neighbors help neighbors.

"We think it's God's country," he said.

Tillis has lived in Lake Butler for 10 years.

"You really feel for what this family's got to go through," he said. "The decisions that you've got to make each time you lose a loved one are multiplied by seven. None of us ever think we're put here to bury our children."

Tillis praised the Manns for taking so many children into their home.

"This is not a rich family," he said. "This is the average person, just like all of us."

Barbara Mann, 46, and her husband, Terry, 45, were in the process of adopting 20-month-old Anthony. Nicky was Terry Mann's child from a previous relationship. Elizabeth, Johnny and Heaven already were adopted.

Caseworkers at Partnership for Strong Families, a private agency that handles foster care in the area, have worked with the children and the Manns over the years.

"They've been excellent foster parents. They have adopted many of their foster children," CEO and president Steven Murphy said.

The National Transportation Safety Board plans to spend eight to 10 days at the scene. A full report likely won't be ready for six to seven months.

Nicky Mann, the 15-year-old who was driving, had only a learner's permit, but that didn't appear to play a role in the crash.

"Slight shadow marks" on the road may indicate that the truck driver, 31-year-old Alvin Wilkerson, tried to brake, federal investigator David Rayburn said.

A data recording box inside the truck should show the truck's speed and indicate whether the driver braked, Rayburn said. The bus was equipped with a recording device, but it wasn't working.

Investigators already have interviewed Wilkerson and hope to interview him a second time. They also plan to speak with school officials, Wilkerson's employer and witnesses to the crash.

Investigators also will examine Wilkerson's driving history and hours of service.

Florida Highway Patrol Lt. Bill Leeper said there was no indication of alcohol or drugs in the truck's cab. There will be a toxicology report.

"He loves his job and he always wanted to be a truck driver," said Wilkerson's grandmother, Queen Wilkerson, 84, of Ocala. "As long as he's been in this truck driving business I've never heard of any accidents."

She said he had recently started driving more local routes, instead of going cross-country, because he wanted to stay closer to his family.

Dalton Sumner, 11, was on the school bus when the accident occurred.

"A semi was honking his horn behind us and it hit the car between the bus and the semi," the boy told reporters on Thursday.

"The car jammed up against us and busted the whole back of the bus, and we spun around a couple of times, and the semi and the car went into the woods and the car caught on fire and we just hit a tree.

"I heard a big bang and I just felt us spinning around," he continued. "It felt like we was going to flip, and we just went into the ditch and hit a tree. I walked off the bus and I was walking around for a little while and I got on my knees and laid down and I remember that I couldn't move at all."

The nine children on the bus were taken to hospitals. Five, including Dalton, have been released. The others are at Shands at the University of Florida, where one was listed in good condition and three were in serious condition, Shands spokeswoman Kimberly Rose said.

Because Shands is a Level 1 pediatric trauma center, it often treats multiple victims injured in vehicle accidents.

But serious injuries from school bus accidents are uncommon because of the vehicles' large size, said Dr. David Kays, associate professor and chief of the UF College of Medicine's Division of Pediatric Surgery. He helped care for Dalton.

"It really takes something like a semitractor trailer to cause a problem," he said.

Choking back tears, Dalton's mother, Corina Vaughn, thanked emergency workers and Shands medical staff. She said Wednesday's tragedy will bring Lake Butler together.

"Family is what we feel that we are," she said, "and it's just going to bring us closer."

Michael T. Johnson, a clinical social worker at Shands, said the accident would likely affect not only those directly involved, but all children in the close-knit community.

"This is every parent's worst nightmare," he said. "It is an event that these children will never forget, and it will be something that will live with that community for a very long time."

Abbie VanSickle can be reached at 352 860-7312 or vansickle@sptimes.com

[Last modified January 27, 2006, 01:22:12]