Woman, 79, killed in crash at Athens intersection

By Karen Middleton
karen@athensnews-courier.com

ATHENS May 18, 2007 09:25 pm

— A 79-year-old Limestone County woman died Friday when the vehicle she was driving was struck broadside at Edgewood Road and West Elm Street.
Dead at the scene of the 12:18 p.m. collision was driver Mary G. Elmore of 21505 Edgewood Road, according to Assistant Coroner Andy Jackson. Her passenger, Lester Elmore, 84, her husband, was transported by ambulance to Athens-Limestone Hospital and then transferred by MedFlight helicopter to Huntsville Hospital, Jackson said.
According to an Athens Police Department press release, the Elmore car was headed south on Edgewood Road, when Mrs. Elmore stopped at the four-way stop sign at Edgewood and Elm and then proceeded to make a left turn onto eastbound Elm Street where she was struck on the driver’s side by a westbound 1996 pickup truck.
“Michael Gower, 36, of Huntsville, was westbound on Elm Street when he ran the stop sign and hit the 2004 Honda Accord driven by Mary Elmore,” said the police release. “The pickup impacted the driver’s door and pushed the Honda off the southwest side of the road and then the pickup continued on to hit an SUV driven by Daniel Barnes, 33, which was stopped at eastbound Elm.”
Neither Gower nor Barnes were listed as injured.
Athens Police Captain Tracy Harrison said on the scene that Gower, who works for an electrician, was working on the site of the Bio-Diesel plant off Airport Road, when he left the site heading to the Limestone Sheriff’s arena to pick up some equipment from another electrician and failed to see the stop sign before colliding with Mrs. Elmore’s car.
The Elmore couple are parents of real estate agent Roger Elmore and Thomas Elmore, owner of Tommy’s Foreign Cars.
A Huntsville Hospital spokeswoman said that Lester Elmore was still being treated in the facility’s Trauma Center at late afternoon and she did not have a status report on his condition.