FATAL CRASH ISSUE IN LEGISLATIVE CAMPAIGN

BLOOMFIELD -- Perhaps the most talked-about issue as voters prepare to decide who will represent the 159th District Tuesday might be one that until last week was discussed only in coffeeshops and over backyard fences.

Gossip has been spread since two Stoddard County teen-agers died in a car wreck Sept. 19 after visiting the farm owned by state Rep. Marilyn Taylor Williams and her husband, Rick. Passengers Carrie Hatton, 18, and John Cahow, 17, both of Dexter, were killed in the crash. The driver, Lloyd Eric Anderson, 17, of Dexter has been charged with two counts of manslaughter.

The Missouri Highway Patrol report lists drinking and inattention as contributing factors to the single-vehicle accident. Anderson's Breathalyzer reading was 0.063 said Stoddard County Prosecuting Attorney Briney Welborn. Results of a urine sample have not yet been returned.

The accident occurred about 10:40 p.m. Sept. 19 along a straight stretch of Route F. The driver told officers he swerved to avoid something in the road. According to the report, the vehicle ran off the right side of the road, the driver overcorrected and lost control, and the vehicle went off the left side of the road, into a ditch and overturned before coming to rest upright.

Anderson's preliminary hearing is set for Nov. 12.

Stoddard County Sheriff Steve Fish has concluded that the teen-agers were not drinking at the farm. The conclusion was reached despite an arrest for driving under the influence at the Williams farm about 45 minutes after the accident.

Leonardo Acevedo, 19, of Dudley was stopped in a Chevrolet Blazer owned by Williams' son, Roy, and failed a field sobriety test. Acevedo is a friend of Roy Williams.

Two Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers and two Stoddard County sheriff's deputies had gone to the farm after someone at the accident scene told them his son said a party was supposed to be going on at the Williams farm that night. The farm is three or four miles from the accident scene.

Once at the farm, the officers saw Acevedo driving in a vehicle near some fish ponds behind the house. The Williamses operate a fish farm there.

The state patrol report states that Acevedo's eyes were glassy and dilated, his speech was slurred and an odor of intoxicants was on his breath.

The report says Acevedo was asked to walk to the house to continue their conversation, but he ran to the back of the house and immediately came out the front door, where he submitted to field sobriety tests.

He failed the tests, the report said, and was arrested for driving in a drugged condition.

At the sheriff's department, Acevedo underwent a Breathalyzer test and refused to give a urine sample, police said. Results of Acevedo's Breathalyzer test could not be confirmed.

Stoddard County Deputy Hank Trout, one of the investigating officers, said he talked to Roy Williams at the house. He said Williams appeared shaken, near tears and already knew about the fatal wreck.

When asked if they were having a party, Williams responded, "Yeah," Trout said.

But Williams swore to the deputy that the teen-agers who left in the Ford Expedition sport utility vehicle hadn't had anything to drink at the house, Trout said.

Trout said six or seven teen-agers, both boys and girls, were inside the house. Officers looked for evidence of drinking but found none.

"We didn't spend a lot of time there and we didn't see anything in the living room," Trout said.

The officers didn't search any other rooms.

He said the people in the house did not appear inebriated.

As for Acevedo, Trout said, "Without a question he was under the influence of something." Acevedo's preliminary hearing is scheduled for Nov. 25.

Williams and her husband, Rick, reportedly were at Lake Wappapello at the time the teen-agers stopped by their farm. Asked if she is convinced that no alcohol or illegal drugs were consumed at her farm that night, Williams said, "Yes, I am."

She said she did not know any of the details surrounding Acevedo's arrest.

In response to rumors about what may have been going on at the farm that night, Fish said he followed up a few days later by talking to people who were at the house and to Anderson. All insisted that there was no party or drinking at the house.

He acknowledged it's possible a drinking party dispersed before the officers arrived.

"Anything could have happened," he said.

The rumors are being turned into an issue by the Republicans. Ray Rowland, chairman of the Stoddard County Republican Central Committee, last week questioned whether a cover-up is occurring, noting that the Stoddard County sheriff is also a Democrat.

In a statement sent to the Southeast Missourian, Williams' Republican opponent in Tuesday's election charged that she is not being forthcoming about these events.

"Representative Williams needs to quit stonewalling, stop pointing fingers and come clean about that evening," Larry Sandage said.

He said he is outraged at implications that he has been spreading rumors and gossip about Williams and said he didn't request the police investigation. "I do not know what the officers were looking for. I do not know what they found. I do not know what they would have found 30 minutes earlier," the statement said.

Fish has no such doubts. "I'm convinced in my mind there was no party there," he said. "All this nonsense is just political mudslinging."

The statements by Rowland and Sandage anger Williams. "I think it's disgusting that a few people want to turn this tragedy into a political issue," she said. "No wonder the public is becoming so disenchanted with politics."

"As a mother of two sons, I can only imagine what the parents of Carrie and John are going through at this time," she said. "I find it disgusting and offensive that they are politicizing this tragedy with lies and innuendoes."

Williams said there is no basis for "this malicious gossip campaign." She said, "All I can do is ask why my opponent and Mr. Rowland are doing this to me and why they are doing this to the families of Carrie and John."

She expects to be re-elected.

"I feel I am a woman of character," she said. "My word is my bond. These rumors are not true."

Williams adds, "I will get over the gossip and things said about me. The Hattons and Cahows will never get over losing their children."