Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Caesar's Show Bar Bus Crash
The Blade is running the TARTA bus crash story today.
6 hurt when TARTA bus hits car, downtown bar; accident is under investigation
By MEGHAN GILBERT and DAVID PATCH
BLADE STAFF WRITERS
Six people were hurt, one seriously, last night when a TARTA bus crashed into Caesar's Show Bar at Jefferson Avenue and Ontario Street in downtown Toledo, police said.
The bus, with six people aboard, was eastbound on Jefferson just after 6 p.m. when it swerved to avoid a car that was southbound on Ontario, did a rolling stop at the intersection, and pulled into the path of the bus, police said.
The bus hit the car's passenger side, then struck an old fire pumper truck belonging to the bar's owner, which was parked in front of the bar. The fire truck was pushed into the car's passenger side as the bus crashed through the front entrance of the bar, 725 Jefferson, police said.
The bus driver, Glenice Jones, 51, was trapped inside for about five minutes and needed to be extricated. She was taken to Toledo Hospital with a cut on her leg and possible broken bones, said Jim Gee, the transit authority's general manager. She was in fair condition last night, a hospital spokesman said.
Willie Bellamy, 83, of 649 Western Ave., the passenger in the car, was flown to the Medical University of Ohio Medical Center. The driver of the car, Mary Jarvis, 58, also of the Western address, Ms. Bellamy's daughter, was taken to MUO Medical Center by ambulance. Ms. Bellamy was admitted in serious conditon; Ms. Jarvis was treated.
Two bus passengers - Kenneth May, 27, of 3279 Glenwood Ave. and Brittany Pointer, 25, of 1920 Collingwood Blvd. - were treated at Toledo Hospital. Another bus passenger, Kenneth Blake, 34, of 2110 Chase St., was taken to St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center, where he was undergoing treatment last night.
Chris and Angela Murphy witnessed the crash.
"We were getting ready to get on the bus, but we decided to walk instead," Chris Murphy said. "We were a block away. We saw it. It sounded like a big explosion."
Joseph Wicks, the nightclub's owner, said about 15 patrons were inside at the time but none in the smoking lounge, also known as the VIP room, at the front of the building when the bus crashed through the wall. Nobody inside was hurt.
Considering the damage, Fire Chief Mike Bell said all involved were lucky. He estimated damage to the bar at about $20,000.
But Mr. Wicks said it could cost him up to $300,000.
"It's an historic building and the truck was a historic truck," he said. "It took out the whole entranceway."
The club was made famous by the Kenny Rogers' song "Lucille" as the "bar in Toledo across from the depot" and was one of the city's first opera houses, Mr. Wicks said.
The bus remained lodged in the building for about two hours until a city building inspector could determine whether the structure was sound enough for it to be removed. A TARTA tow truck slowly pulled the bus from the building about 7:45 p.m. revealing a hole where the main doors used to be.
But the damage wasn't as bad as Christina Mlynarek, a Whitmer High School junior, thought it would be. She comes to the club often to take photos every time there is an event there and rushed downtown once she heard what happened. "I was expecting a giant gaping hole," she said while watching from outside. "It looks worse inside."
Inside, the walls of the front lounge were buckled in, Christmas decorations were toppled, and the inside of the bus could be seen.
Authorities said the helicopter was called because the closest hospital emergency room, St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center, initially was unavailable because it had too many patients.
The chopper landed in a parking lot adjacent to the crash scene.
Mr. Gee said Ms. Jones is a seven-year TARTA veteran with a clean driving record.
The bus was on an inbound trip for Route 26D, which follows Douglas Road, Berdan Avenue, Collingwood, and Jefferson into downtown. The crash remains under investigation, police said.
Clarifications:
This bar was not written about by Kenny Rogers. It is true that the bar is across the street from the Greyhound Bus Depot. There are other depots in Toledo, though (such as Amtrak). Additionally, as a nutty native Toledoan whose grandmother was a Kenny Rogers fan, I know that Kenny Rogers has said that the song has nothing to do with this city...it was simply a matter of rhyming "Toledo" with "depot." It's a nice bit of urban folklore to imagine that Caesar's Show Bar (read: drag bar) was immortalized in a popular tune but nonetheless untrue.
6 hurt when TARTA bus hits car, downtown bar; accident is under investigation
By MEGHAN GILBERT and DAVID PATCH
BLADE STAFF WRITERS
Six people were hurt, one seriously, last night when a TARTA bus crashed into Caesar's Show Bar at Jefferson Avenue and Ontario Street in downtown Toledo, police said.
The bus, with six people aboard, was eastbound on Jefferson just after 6 p.m. when it swerved to avoid a car that was southbound on Ontario, did a rolling stop at the intersection, and pulled into the path of the bus, police said.
The bus hit the car's passenger side, then struck an old fire pumper truck belonging to the bar's owner, which was parked in front of the bar. The fire truck was pushed into the car's passenger side as the bus crashed through the front entrance of the bar, 725 Jefferson, police said.
The bus driver, Glenice Jones, 51, was trapped inside for about five minutes and needed to be extricated. She was taken to Toledo Hospital with a cut on her leg and possible broken bones, said Jim Gee, the transit authority's general manager. She was in fair condition last night, a hospital spokesman said.
Willie Bellamy, 83, of 649 Western Ave., the passenger in the car, was flown to the Medical University of Ohio Medical Center. The driver of the car, Mary Jarvis, 58, also of the Western address, Ms. Bellamy's daughter, was taken to MUO Medical Center by ambulance. Ms. Bellamy was admitted in serious conditon; Ms. Jarvis was treated.
Two bus passengers - Kenneth May, 27, of 3279 Glenwood Ave. and Brittany Pointer, 25, of 1920 Collingwood Blvd. - were treated at Toledo Hospital. Another bus passenger, Kenneth Blake, 34, of 2110 Chase St., was taken to St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center, where he was undergoing treatment last night.
Chris and Angela Murphy witnessed the crash.
"We were getting ready to get on the bus, but we decided to walk instead," Chris Murphy said. "We were a block away. We saw it. It sounded like a big explosion."
Joseph Wicks, the nightclub's owner, said about 15 patrons were inside at the time but none in the smoking lounge, also known as the VIP room, at the front of the building when the bus crashed through the wall. Nobody inside was hurt.
Considering the damage, Fire Chief Mike Bell said all involved were lucky. He estimated damage to the bar at about $20,000.
But Mr. Wicks said it could cost him up to $300,000.
"It's an historic building and the truck was a historic truck," he said. "It took out the whole entranceway."
The club was made famous by the Kenny Rogers' song "Lucille" as the "bar in Toledo across from the depot" and was one of the city's first opera houses, Mr. Wicks said.
The bus remained lodged in the building for about two hours until a city building inspector could determine whether the structure was sound enough for it to be removed. A TARTA tow truck slowly pulled the bus from the building about 7:45 p.m. revealing a hole where the main doors used to be.
But the damage wasn't as bad as Christina Mlynarek, a Whitmer High School junior, thought it would be. She comes to the club often to take photos every time there is an event there and rushed downtown once she heard what happened. "I was expecting a giant gaping hole," she said while watching from outside. "It looks worse inside."
Inside, the walls of the front lounge were buckled in, Christmas decorations were toppled, and the inside of the bus could be seen.
Authorities said the helicopter was called because the closest hospital emergency room, St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center, initially was unavailable because it had too many patients.
The chopper landed in a parking lot adjacent to the crash scene.
Mr. Gee said Ms. Jones is a seven-year TARTA veteran with a clean driving record.
The bus was on an inbound trip for Route 26D, which follows Douglas Road, Berdan Avenue, Collingwood, and Jefferson into downtown. The crash remains under investigation, police said.
Clarifications:
This bar was not written about by Kenny Rogers. It is true that the bar is across the street from the Greyhound Bus Depot. There are other depots in Toledo, though (such as Amtrak). Additionally, as a nutty native Toledoan whose grandmother was a Kenny Rogers fan, I know that Kenny Rogers has said that the song has nothing to do with this city...it was simply a matter of rhyming "Toledo" with "depot." It's a nice bit of urban folklore to imagine that Caesar's Show Bar (read: drag bar) was immortalized in a popular tune but nonetheless untrue.
