Barton and Pawnee County residents were involved in several highway accidents over the weekend, according to the Kansas Highway Patrol crash logs. All of the people involved were wearing seat belts, with one exception.
Dusty conditions caused low visibility Saturday morning, resulting in a collision at 9 a.m. in Decatur County, approximately one mile northeast of Norcatur on County Road N2. A Chevy S-10 pickup driven by Shane E. Herrington, 25, from Victoria was just left of center following another westbound vehicle and collided head-on with a Kenworth semitrailer driven by Kevin L. Blackburn, 46, of Hoisington. Herrington was taken to the Norton County Hospital with possible injuries. His passenger, 23-year-old Michael Brady Hood from Hays, was not injured. Blackburn was not injured.
Two Larned residents riding in a Toyota Sequoia were injured, along with the driver, when the sport utility vehicle hit a guardrail, around 6:30 p.m. Saturday on Interstate 70 near Salina. Jordanne M. Lemuz, 26, Salina, lost control of the SUV as she merged from the northbound ramp on Interstate 135 to westbound I-70. The passengers were Taylor J. Thorne, 22, and Madison A. Talber, 13. Thorne was not wearing a seat belt and was taken to Salina Regional Hospital by Emergency Medical Service. Talber and Lemuz were taken to the hospital by private vehicle.
A three-vehicle accident occurred at 10:18 a.m. Sunday on U.S. 56, at the west city limits of Great Bend. Kimberly Dawn Blass, 33, of Lewis, and Delores A. Vsetcka, 77, of Great Bend, were taken to Great Bend Regional Hospital. A Mazda driven by Kenneth James Montoya, 36, Holyrood, was traveling north, and a Ford F-150 driven by Daryl Leon Clawson, 40, of Lewis, was stopped northbound, waiting for a southbound Chevy Malibu driven by Vsetcka to turn left. Blass was a passenger in the pickup.