Bicyclist, 18, dies from crash injuries
An 18-year-old has died from injuries suffered this week when a car struck her and six other bicyclists riding across the country, Overland Summer Camp announced Thursday.
Merritt Levitan of Milton, Mass., died at a hospital in Memphis from injuries she suffered in the Tuesday crash, said Jonathan Igoe, a spokesman for Overland, the Massachusetts-based group that organized the cross-country trip. Nursing supervisor Jackie Smartt told The Associated Press that Levitan died Wednesday afternoon.
“Liz [Costley] and I, and the entire Overland community, are heartsick by this tragic loss,” said Tom Costley, the founder of Overland, in a statement posted on the company’s website. “We extend our deepest condolences to Merritt’s family, friends and loved ones.”
Levitan and the six other bicyclists were injured in the crash about two miles north of McCrory. They were traveling from Charleston, S.C., to Santa Monica, Calif., as part of a six-week trip.
Igoe said the group consisted of 11 students, ages 15-18, and two leaders.
Two other members of the group remained hospitalized and were in stable condition Thursday, Igoe said.
Teagan Ross Martin, 21, of Newport was driving the car and was uninjured.
Arkansas State Police spokesman Bill Sadler said the investigation into the crash is ongoing.
A blog post on the company’s website said the remainder of the trip would be canceled and that company officials were working with the families to make arrangements to get the students home.
- ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE Permits to hunt elk in state given to 25
JASPER - Arkansas game officials said 25 hunters were given the right to hunt elk this fall.
The elk season has two segments - Oct. 7-11 and Oct. 28-Nov. 1.
Five hunting permits were granted for the early session and 22 were granted for the late one.
Issuing the permits was billed as the highlight of the Buffalo River Elk Festival.
Elk hunting on private land is restricted to one zone, consisting of all private land in Boone, Carroll, Madison, Newton and Searcy counties except for a portion of Boxley Valley.
The hunt will end the evening of Nov. 1 or whenever the elk quota of eight bulls and 20 antlerless elk is met.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 2 brothers released pending meth trial
TEXARKANA - Two brothers from Little River County accused of selling $36,000 worth of methamphetamine to an undercover agent have been given their release pending trial.
A federal judge in Texarkana on Wednesday set a variety of conditions before telling 30-year-old Kevin Baker and 28-year-old Ronnie Walton they didn’t have to remain incarcerated.
The men purportedly sold the methamphetamine to an undercover drug task force agent in 2010 but weren’t arrested until last month.
The Texarkana Gazette reported an agent testified that the brothers stopped selling methamphetamine after Baker was shot six times during a robbery in 2011.
Trial dates have not been set for the men.
Prosecutors say investigators are still working to learn who purportedly supplied the drug to the suspects.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESSDespite plea, lake
to drop in August
VINITA, Okla. - Federal regulators have turned down a request to keep the water level up at Grand Lake through the Labor Day holiday.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission told the Grand River Dam Authority that a 3-foot drawdown scheduled for August will go on as planned.
The Tulsa World reported that landowners and businesses wanted the lake level to stay up through the Labor Day weekend so more people could use the lake.
Grand River Dam Authority Chief Executive Officer Dan Sullivan told the Tulsa World that a similar request was approved last year, and he’d hoped the same would happen this year.
The authority is supposed to use the month-long drawdown to sow millet on mudflats to offset lost habitat. The authority said the drawdown shouldn’t be blocked by the seeding program.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 10 on 07/06/2013