A traffic fatality has been attributed to the icy roads that covered the county much of the weekend, beginning Thursday and creating hazardous conditions through Saturday.
The single vehicle accident took place Thursday afternoon, Jan. 9, southbound on U.S. 69 at the off-ramp that leads to SH 9.
Full details of the fatality have not yet been released but Police Chief David Bryning described the victim as an elderly male who lives locally.
Witnesses said the vehicle slid out of control near the off-ramp, went off the highway down the embankment ejecting the driver.
District 3 County Commissioner Bobby Ziegler happened along shortly after the accident and noted how slippery it was.
“I was behind the ambulance (arriving at the scene), and they about went over. My truck driver found the guy, barely breathing. I saw him laid out there about 30 feet (from where) he went off, went straight over,” Ziegler said.
Also, at the start of Thursday’s bitter weather, the Escalated Greens marijuana business on Birke’s Road caught fire and burned.
The cause of the fire has not been determined.
There were no injuries. Firefighters fought the blaze for hours in the freezing temperatures as snow fell.
That was the major incident during the end of the week and the weekend when almost 10 inches of snow fell, and roads became dangerous for travelers.
McIntosh County Emergency Management Leslie Phillips said I-40 in the Tiger Mountain area had to be closed three times over the weekend because of jack-knifed semis.
As far as the rest of the county, although travel was dangerous Phillips said the county commissioners “did a wonderful job getting out and grading.”
He noted that a Checotah shelter was occupied by a few people, “but it wasn’t packed.”
Lots of motorists were in ditches.
“All the tow trucks were busy. At times there was a 3 ½ hour wait for a tow,” Phillips said.
While the weather is warming though this week, it’s giving the county and towns the chance to reload and get ready for the next onslaught of foul weather.
“They’ve started restocking sand and making sure the equipment is in working order,” Phillips said.
Ziegler said his workers were on stand-by, but they didn’t receive any emergency calls.
“One of our road graders was called out in Hanna Friday to clear the roadways,” he said. “We tried to get out with salt and sand before (the weather) hit.”
District 1 County Commissioner Loyal Dean Taylor said his crew salted and sanded the road on one hill by Jake’s Lake.
“I felt obliged to do that because of all the shading by old trees,” he said.
His crew ran into a delay in sanding when their sanding truck, which had a new battery, would not start.
It was discovered that when the new battery was installed a wire to the battery was not connected properly.
“It delayed us 2 ½ hours,” he said.
District 2 County Commissioner Clifford McElhaney said his district didn’t have any problems, “other than too much snow…a lot of people were on the side of the road.”
He noted that people who live in outlying housing additions would like for the commissioners to blade their streets.
“But if we did that there would be no way to clear the main roads,” he said.
The weather forced schools to close Thursday and Friday as well as many city and county offices and businesses. Trash services were delayed. There were no reports of power outages.
