RICHLAND CO.—A fiery traffic collision occurring on U.S. Route 50 at the Claremont turn in Richland County has thus far gone unadressed by public officials who worked it.
The collision happened at about 5:45 today (Sunday, May 5, 2013) according to best estimates of those who reported it to Disclosure. Eyewitnesses advised that a vehicle was following a tanker truck that was making a right turn onto the Claremont blacktop off 50, and that the vehicle subsequently crashed into the tanker, and was actually pinned under it.
To exacerbate the situation, flames erupted from the collision point.
Emergency response was swift and reportedly included local fire departments, ambulances and the Richland County Sheriff’s Department.
However, calls to the department at 6:09 p.m., 6:49 p.m. and again at 8:58 p.m. produced “no one available” to give information to media about the accident. During the second phone call, Disclosure was advised that deputies were at the hospital in Olney in connection with the wreck. Promises to have deputies return Disclosure‘s phone call were met with no reply at all.
This comes on the heels of Wayne County promising to have a deputy return a call from Disclosure about the Joel Boulds accident that occurred yesterday morning. No call has yet been received about the incident, which was not worked by state police but worked only by local sheriff’s department authorities.
These follow a disturbing trend wherein publicly-supported agencies simply “neglect” to give information when it’s directly requested. Saline County found out the hard way in February that there were actually LAWS on the books in Illinois as they apply to release of information when it’s requested, on an ongoing basis or on an isolated incident basis. So now, it looks like Wayne and Richland are going to find themselves in the same position.
We’ll keep you updated on what we’re going to do with these counties; in the interim, be aware that ANYONE seeking public information (and a car wreck, house fire, arrest, high-speed chase, etc., IS public information because your tax dollars are funding it; ergo, you are the source of funds for all of the response to all of the above) must be given it. The counties may have certain protocols by which they release information, but when it’s requested, it MUST BE RELEASED. DON’T let anyone tell you otherwise…and if they do, tell us about it. Because there’s a movement on in our country to clamp down on even the most miniscule of information being released to the public, so that when something big happens—something like a ‘mandatory roundup of all weapons’—you’ll already be desensitized to being told “nothing’s going on.” Something is ALWAYS “going on.” Support your independent media so that you can always be informed of what it is.