By BOB HIGH

Columbus County’s 2006 vehicle death toll swelled last week to 19 with the deaths of a 49-year-old Welches Creek Township man Friday night, an 89-year-old couple from Bladen County who were killed when a tractor-trailer unit slammed into their pickup truck Thursday morning, and the single-vehicle death of a Tabor City woman south of Chadbourn Wednesday evening.

Another Columbus County resident died in a head-on crash on S.C. 905 in Horry County, S.C., a mile from the Columbus County-North Carolina line Saturday morning. (See Page 4-A of our printed edition)

The four deaths in Columbus County are the third, fourth, fifth and sixth this month and raise the total to nine on rural roads within 32 days. The 19 deaths to date compare to 17 for all of 2005.

Dead are Eddie Lee Graham, 49, a pedestrian who was killed by a car in front of his Tom Sessions Road, Whiteville home; Mary Peterson Squires, 89, and her husband Gordon Squires, 89, both of the Kelly community along N.C. 53 in eastern Bladen County – victims of Thursday morning’s collision -- and Cassandra Gail Daniels, 39, of Ten Mile Road, Tabor City.

Graham, an employee for many years at Underwood & Millard (formerly Wells) auto dealership in Whiteville, died at 9:09 p.m. Friday after being knocked 60 feet by a car moving at an estimated speed of 45 mph, reports Highway Patrol Trooper Marcus Cribb.

Darneller Baldwin, 44, of Shelley Lane, Whiteville, was the driver of the 1993 Saturn that hit Graham as he was standing in Baldwin’s lane of travel, Cribb’s report noted. Columbus County Coroner Linwood Cartrette said Graham died at the scene of head and internal injuries.

Two died Thursday

The Squires couple was killed at 10:30 a.m. Thursday when Mary Squires drove her 2003 GMC pickup truck from N.C. 11 into the intersection of U.S. 74-76 in the Freeman community, and attempted to make a left turn and head east on the four-lane highway.

Highway Patrol Trooper Neil Troutman said Squires’ pickup was struck in the driver’s side by a westbound tractor pulling a flatbed trailer traveling west at 45 mph.

“Mr. Squires was a passenger and he and his wife were killed inside their pickup. Both were pinned in the wreckage,” said Troutman, a former Motor Carrier officer absorbed into the Highway Patrol, and who specializes in wrecks involving commercial vehicles.

John Traub, 44, of Jacksonville, driver of the large rig owned by a Beulaville trucking firm, was not injured.

“Traub said he saw the pickup pull up to the stop sign, and pause for a second, then pull into the intersection, because she apparently thought she could make it. We don’t know if Mrs. Squires ever saw the large truck,” Troutman added.

No brakes

“Traub didn’t have time to hit his brakes, but he did reach up and pull on his air horn,” the trooper said his investigation showed.

The tractor portion of the rig came to a stop on top of the pickup after the impact pushed them through the median and across the eastbound lanes into a large drainage ditch on the south side of the highway.

Traffic was blocked and rerouted for a few hours Thursday as members of the Acme-Delco-Riegelwood Fire Rescue unit worked to free the trapped victims and clear the road of leaking oil and fuel.

Columbus County Coroner Linwood Cartrette said both of the Squires died from massive trauma.

Troutman said he performed a bumper-to-bumper inspection on the large truck Thursday afternoon after it had been removed from the scene, and found no mechanical problems with the rig that is owned by W. Link & Daughters Trucking of Beulaville.

“New brakes had been put on two weeks ago, and it was almost like a brand new truck,” the trooper noted.

Internal injuries

Daniels died from internal injuries in the Loris (S.C.) Community Hospital’s emergency room after her 6:10 p.m. crash Wednesday on the Chadbourn-Clarendon Road near the intersection with Williams Road.

Trooper Jeff Hammonds said Daniels was driving a 2002 Chrysler south at an estimated 65 mph and ran into standing water from the all-day rain Wednesday.

Hammonds said Daniels’ car skidded out of control and spun as it moved to the left and went across a ditch and a cleared area before the rear of the car slammed into a tree at an estimated 60 mph. There were 262 feet of tire marks.

Earlier fatalities this month happened on Sept. 1 and Sept. 10, plus highway deaths on Aug. 22, Aug. 19 and Aug. 13 – all in a 32-day period. The death of the Squires couple was the first double-fatality crash this year in the county. (See obituary page)