Subject :
Frank Bethea
Hi Robert,
I last saw Frank at Sid White's house about 3 years ago. Sid was the drummer for a band called T
he Strangers. I think
Larry Coe and Little Bill Ackridge were in it. Frank was the bass player for the
Ramrods and was very good. The guitar player for the
Ramrods was Johnny Mulkey. He and I played in a band together in Marietta Georgia for 12 years. He moved to Pensacola when his wife retired from Bell South. He performed with Joe South for several years. A great bass player.The Ramrods and the Webs both spit up, and members of each band formed the James Gang. Larry Coe and Jimmy Dean could tell you a whole lot more about that.
Bill HankeReg,
Rock Bottom was written by Buie and recorded by Wynona Judd, who I refer to as Ashley's sister, on her second single album.
And I thought Frankie was younger than you indicated. Seems he was blisterin' on a Hoffner (McCartney) fiddle style bass. Great, Great player Mr. Bethea.
Later...
rbiii
Pileup On Bridge Knots Traffic, Sends Four People To HospitalBy Jason Morton Staff Writer
November 03. 2005 3:15AM
TUSCALOOSA
A major pileup involving a logging truck on the Hugh Thomas Bridge stalled traffic for about an hour Wednesday and sent at least four people to the hospital.The weight and force of the 10:15 a.m. collision caused the tree-laden logging truck and four other vehicles to skid about 60 yards along Lurleen Wallace Boulevard South and through the University Boulevard intersection.Northport police Officer Greg Durr said four drivers were taken to DCH Regional Medical Center.“There did not seem to be anything life-threatening," he said.
Their names and conditions as of Wednesday afternoon were:
Christopher Peoples, 38, of Carbon Hill -- good condition;
David Lamont Cotton, 36, of Tuscaloosa -- fair condition;
Lakeith Crenshaw, 28, Northport -- treated and released;
Kirk Randall Junkin, 38, of Tuscaloosa -- treated and released.
A fifth driver, 29-year-old Kevin Wayne Bohannon of Brookwood, did not require hospital treatment, police said.
Durr said it appeared that the chain-reaction accident began when Peoples, who was driving the logging truck, struck the rear of the 1987 Mercury Grand Marquis that Crenshaw was driving.The Grand Marquis was knocked into a 1995 Toyota Avalon driven by Cotton, which struck a 2003 Dodge Ram driven by Bohannon. The Ram then struck a 2001 Hyundai Santa Fe driven by Junkin.Northport police are handling the investigation because the bridge is in their jurisdiction.
Employees of
Pake Realty Co., which sits at the intersection of Lurleen Wallace and University Boulevards, said they had been expecting an accident of this kind to happen for some time now because of the nature of the intersection.
“This is one of the worst wrecks I’ve ever seen," said real estate agent
Kevin Pake, who is the son of the company’s owner.
Pake was outside with Denise Lynch, a maintenance worker with the business, and others when the vehicles came careening into the intersection. In fact, the Pake Realty workers were under the hood of Pake’s car and almost got caught up in the wreckage.
“We heard it and looked up and saw it happening, boom-boom-boom-boom-boom," Lynch said. “It was coming right for me. My brain was saying 'move,’ but my feet wouldn’t. …“When Kevin said something to me, it kind of got me out of the zone."The
Pake Realty workers said they often hear tires screeching from vehicles coming off the 55 mph bridge and realizing too late the traffic light at University Boulevard is red.
“You hear them all day long hitting their horns because they can’t stop," said
Karen Lightsey, a property manager for the company.Lightsey said it was amazing the drivers weren’t more seriously injured, although she noted that Peoples was not moving when rescuers removed him from the vehicle’s cab.She also said Crenshaw jumped from his vehicle as it was skidding, and Cotton was forced to escape through his vehicle’s sunroof.
“They need something bad right there," Lightsey said.
Reach Jason Morton at jason.morton@tuscaloosanews.com or (205) 722-0200.
