December 17, 1981

Raffle begins for new house

       A Greenwood Good Samaritan died from an apparent heart attack this morning after he helped rescue an infant from under a truck that had wrecked because of snow covered roads. Police said Ralph Demaree, 69, 790 N. State Road 135, Greenwood, died just after 10 a.m. today. The incident started when Mark L. Burchfield, 25, 254 Summit Ridge Road, Greenwood, lost control of his pickup truck about 10 a.m. and run off Smith Valley Road about one mile east of State Road 135 in White River Township, police said.

         The infant, James M. Siebenthal, 17 months, was thrown from the truck and became trapped under the vehicle when it flipped unto its side in the ditch. The Greenwood man saw Burchfield trying to rescue the infant, and stopped to help, police said. Two nearby residents, Greg Lockhart, 21, and Don Gilvin, 20, both of 1590 Smith Valley Road, were told of the wreck by a neighbor and also went out to help. The four men tipped the truck and were able to get the child out from under the vehicle; Burchfield and Siebenthal were being treated at St. Francis Hospital Center in Beech Grove this morning. The Greenwood man then walked back to his car, and witnesses said the man collapsed next to his vehicle. He was ruled dead of an apparent hear attack at 10:10 a.m. today by Johnson County Coroner Jeff Samples. Two other accidents in rural Johnson County were blamed on the winter storm. Police said George L. Wilhoit, 50, Georgetown, Ky., lost control of his semi truck about 3 a.m. today and ran off the road just south of the Franklin interchange on I-65. Wilhoit was driving a truck owned by the OK Trucking Company of Danville, Ill,. Police said. He was driving in the northbound lane when he lost control of the vehicle and ran off the road, jack knifing the truck. A Bargersville resident suffered minor injuries in a separate one-car wreck later this morning. Police said Herman Voiles Jr. 44, 222 Easy Street, Bargersville, was driving west on State Road 44 about 7 a.m. today when he lost control of his car near Whiteland Road. Voiles spun off the road and struck a utility pole, police said. Voiles suffered minor head injuries in the accident.  (Reprinted with permission from the Daily Journal).

(Click on thumbnail to enlarge photo)
 

---