DPS Reports Two Separate Fatalities

At 4:14 Saturday morning, there was a two-vehicle fatal crash on US-259, approximately six miles north of Longview in Gregg County. Reportedly, the driver of a 2000 Chevrolet 1500, Lesley Paul Clanton, 48, of Mineola, was traveling northbound on US-259 in the inside lane and became disabled in the left lane after striking a guardrail on the west side of the roadway. Clanton got out of the vehicle, and a 2008 Chevrolet Tahoe driven by Bertha Idalia Venzor, 53, of Ore City, struck him. Judge Robbie Cox pronounced Clanton at the scene. Venzor was not injured.

Last Wednesday afternoon at 5:50, there was a crash on CR-171, approximately five miles north of Elkhart in Anderson County. Reportedly, the driver of a 2006 Ford F-250, Wyatt Richard Williford, 26, of Katy, was traveling westbound on CR-171. The vehicle entered a left curve at an unsafe speed for the wet road conditions; the driver lost control and left the roadway, struck a culvert, became airborne, and struck several trees. Judge Gary Thomas later pronounced Williford dead at Palestine Regional Medical Center.