By TAMARA JOHNSON
Managing Editor
A Forrest City man was killed in a one-vehicle accident on Christmas Eve.
Arkansas State Police Troop D in Forrest City reported Christopher Spencer, 21, 87 SFC 418, Forrest City, died in the crash that occurred about 1:40 p.m. near Colt on Wednesday.
ASP Corporal Lowry Astin reported Spencer was eastbound on Highway 306, west of Colt, when he failed to negotiate a curve. Astin said Spencer drove his 2003 Honda Civic onto the north roadside, causing the vehicle to overturn. Astin reported the vehicle came to rest upside down on Spencer. He was not wearing a seat belt, according to the report.
ASP Captain Nathaniel Jackson said Spencer's death is the only fatality reported so far during the Christmas holiday period which runs through midnight on Sunday.
Spencer's death is the 51st fatality reported by ASP Troop D headquarters in Forrest City this year. The troop covers St. Francis, Lee, Phillips, Cross, Prairie, Crittenden, Monroe and Woodruff counties.
United States Representative Marion Berry will include Forrest City in a series of open house events he is holding throughout Arkansas' First Congressional District.
Berry will be in Forrest City at the St. Francis County Courthouse in the quorum court room on Tuesday, Jan. 13, from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m.
Baptist Memorial Hospital -Forrest City will sponsor a blood drive on Tuesday, Dec. 30 from 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the in-service classroom located on the lower level lobby of the hospital.
To be a blood donor, a person must be at least 17 years of age, in good health and weigh at least 110 pounds. Prior to donating, donors are given a mini-physical at no charge to check blood pressure, level of red blood cells, pulse rate and temperature.
The actual donation process is quick, lasting between five and 10 minutes and the needle stick feels like a small pinch that lasts for a second. After the donation, the blood is typed and tested for several infectious diseases, including the HIV virus and is then sent to one of more than 30 hospitals and transfusion facilities in the Mid-South where the blood is a gift of life to a patient in need.
In addition to the normal blood donation, individuals that have a common blood type will make ideal red cell donors. Automated Red Cell can help save two lives with one donation. The procedure takes 40 minutes and prospects must meet certain weight and height requirements.