Car-semi crash kills Saybrook woman and her cousin

Posted on January 4, 2018
Police
Two cousins, one from Saybrook, were killed Thursday when the car they were in collided with a semi on Route 9 in southern Ford County. (Photo courtesy Flickr/DavidsonScott15)

By Howard Packowitz

FORD COUNTY – Two cousins, one of them from McLean County, were killed late Thursday morning in a crash between a car and a semi in southern Ford County.

Ford County Coroner Richard Flessner said Kelsey Bridgwater Fottler, 21, of Saybrook and Jesse Charly Jeannine, 24, of Jacksonville, Florida were dead at the scene.

They were in a car that collided with the semi on Route 9, about three miles southeast of Elliot.

Flessner said autopsies will be performed in Champaign County.

An Illinois State Police crash reconstruction team is investigating, along with the coroner, and the Ford County Sheriff’s Department.

Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]

Blogs

Labor Day – Expanding voting rights for all

By Mike Matejka Because of COVID, there is no Labor Day Parade this year.  It’s always a great event for our everyday workers to march proudly down the street and enjoys the festive crowd. If there had been a parade, this year’s Labor Day theme was to be “150 years of struggle: your right to vote.” …

Is federal mobilization the answer?

By Mike Matejka As President Donald Trump threatens to send federal marshals into Chicago, over the objections of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, recall another Illinois Governor who protested the incursion of armed federal personnel into the city.   Those federal troops, rather than calming, escalated the situation, leading to deaths and violence. Illinois poet Vachel Lindsay…

In these troubled times, to my fellow white Americans

By Mike Matejka Our nation is at a unique watershed in human relations. African-Americans have been killed too many times in the past before George Floyd, but the response to this man’s death is international and all-encompassing. I was a grade-schooler during the Civil Rights 1960s. I watched Birmingham demonstrators hosed and the Selma – Montgomery…

Workers’ Memorial Day – Remember those whose job took their life

Looking around our community, when we say employer, most will respond to State Farm, Country, or Illinois State University.   We too often forget those who are building our roads, serving our food, or our public employees. COVID-19 has made us more aware of the risk.  Going to work every day for some people means…