Officials Investigating Deadly Texas Panhandle Wrecks

3-294

January 9, 2023

By News Director Jared Atha

The Texas Department of Public Safety has reported two fatal crashes occurring over the weekend.

The first occurred in Collingsworth County at around 12:15 a.m. Saturday, when DPS officials said 52-year-old Oran Starkey III of Childress, Texas was traveling southbound on US-83 near Wellington, Texas in a pickup at an unsafe speed and failed to negotiate a curve, causing him to veer off the roadway.

DPS said after leaving the roadway, the pickup traveled into the west-side ditch, where it struck a road sign and flipped end-over-end, ejecting Starkey from the pickup.

DPS said Starkey was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash.

Officials said the pickup then came to rest on the roadway on its right side facing north.

A separate accident occurred on Sunday night just before 11:30 p.m. when DPS officials say a Dodge driven by 28-year-old Timothy Currie of Oklahoma City was traveling eastbound on SH-152, eight miles west of Sweetwater, when he veered off the roadway and traveled into the south ditch, where it rolled over, ejecting Currie.

The Dodge came to rest upside down in the ditch. Currie was pronounced dead on scene.

DPS said both wrecks remain under investigation.

Copyright 2023 Paragon Communications. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission.

2506231320_128265

Beutler Wins Literary Award

By Landry Brewer Amarillo, TX – Randy is dandy at writing great books. Former Southwestern Oklahoma State University President Randy Beutler recently won the Finalist Award in Contemporary Non-Fiction for his book “Impresarios of the Rodeo Arena:

2506131508_1683849

Elk City High School Graduate Named OCU A.D.

Oklahoma City, OK – Elk City native Sadiaa Jones was recently hired as the new Oklahoma City University Athletics Director. The 1995 Elk City High School graduate has been Executive Athletic Director for Dallas College since 2021.