A 45-year-old Sulligent, Ala., resident and Columbus restaurant owner died Monday morning after a vehicle she was driving collided with an 18-wheeler logging truck.
Donna Blakney, owner of PJ”s Barbecue near the intersection of 18th Avenue North and Seventh Street North, was pronounced dead shortly after her 2004 Ford Expedition collided head-on with an empty logging truck driven by Amos Jones, 40, of Ethelsville, Ala., according to Lowndes County Coroner Greg Merchant.
The wreck happened at about 7:10 a.m. Monday near the intersection of Highway 12 and Dodson Road southeast of Caledonia after an early-morning thunderstorm soaked the area.
“She (Blakney) was traveling toward Columbus, and the 18-wheeler log truck that was not loaded was traveling toward Alabama,” Merchant explained. “After the collision, she was ejected from the vehicle and suffered multiple traumas.
“It is believed she was not wearing her seat belt,” Merchant said. “The ambulance responded and attempted resuscitation, but she was later pronounced dead at (Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle), basically upon arrival.”
After Blakney”s vehicle collided with the truck, her vehicle spun and was struck from behind by a Honda Accord traveling eastbound on Highway 12 and driven by 25-year-old Columbus resident John Reeves.
“Blakney was the only occupant in the Expedition,” Merchant said. “The truck driver was not injured in the wreck, so he wasn”t transported to the hospital.”
Reeves received minor injuries in the crash and was treated and released from BMH-GT.
Monday night, Blakney”s loved ones had placed a black ribbon on the entrance to her barbecue restaurant.
Although the small restaurant next to the former Barnhill”s Buffet recently closed, it is scheduled to reopen Aug. 1 in a new location next to Gary”s Pawn and Gun store on Highway 45 North.
Lowndes County sheriff”s deputies, Mississippi Highway Patrol officers, ambulance crews and Lowndes County District 1 firefighters responded to the scene.
As of Monday night, an MHP investigation was ongoing, and officers had not determined the cause of the wreck.
UPDATE: Visitation will be held Thursday, July 16, 2009 from 4-7 p.m. at Dowdle Funeral Home. Services will begin immediately after visitation at Dowdle Funeral Home. Burial will be at Springhill Cemetery in Millport, AL.
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