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Teen in intensive care following accident in Bethany on Friday

Submitted by Howard Owens on April 2, 2011 - 9:50am

A 17-year-old was seriously injured in an accident on Bethany Center Road, Bethany, at 2:09 p.m., Friday, after the driver of a truck apparently pulled onto the roadway off Cacner and struck the car the youth was in.

The car continued southbound, striking a mailbox, going off the left shoulder of the road.

Karl R. Kennedy, no address given, was flown by Mercy Flight to Strong Memorial Hospital where he is listed in guarded condition this morning (at Strong, any patient in the intensive care unit is listed as "guarded").

Kennedy was unconscious following the accident, according to the Sheriff's Office accident report. He suffered a head injury and was bleeding severely.

Charges are pending against the truck driver, said Deputy Bradley D. Mazur in his report.

The driver is identified as Dean W. Knauss, 53, of 9931 Bethany Center Road, East Bethany. He was driving a 1995 truck owned by a local dairy farm.

The car Kennedy was in was a 1998 Ford sedan driven by Michaela E. Baudanza, 17, of 7303 Morrow Road, Pavilion.

Baudanza suffered minor injuries. Knauss was uninjured.

(Initial Report)

April 2, 2011 - 10:48am

Doug Yeomans

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Joined: Feb 13 2009

Who draws a map with north pointing towards the bottom? That's also not a tee intersection. It's a 4 way intersection with Cacner (not Cackner) and Jericho roads having the stop signs.

April 2, 2011 - 12:53pm

Howard Owens

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Joined: Apr 23 2008

I've always spelled it Cacner, having been on it many times (including for pictures). Billie spelled it in her post yesterday, "Cackner" because we have a printed map that she usually refers to and that's how it's spelled on the map. When I got the deputy's report, it was spelled "Cackner" and I thought, "um, wonder if I've been getting it wrong all this time ..." Possibly, I misread the street sign. Google maps spells it Cacner. Besides our printed map, I wonder if other maps have it wrong? At any rate, we're switching both stories to Cacner.

April 2, 2011 - 1:22pm

Sally Waldron

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Joined: Feb 28 2011

I just don't understand why there are so many accidents at this intersection, it really isn't a blind area and the stop signs can be clearly seen. Actually I think I know why there are so many, people think they can just coast through the stop sign since it is a rural area and during the day there isn't much traffic. Being a resident that lives near the old town hall I don't know how many times I have had to slam my brakes on for farm vehicles and even a tractor trailer once that were just coasting through. People just need to respect the stop signs and learn the old rule of look left look right and look left again.

April 2, 2011 - 2:32pm

C. M. Barons

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Joined: Jul 29 2008

Howard, if you're having fun with Cacner/Cackner, check out the spellings of Allegany/Allegheny. I believe there is a road that traverses multiple townships with 'Allegany' in the name, various signs with three different spelling-versions.

April 2, 2011 - 2:35pm

Janice Stenman

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Joined: Mar 8 2009

A lot of those farm trucks are dangerous and some of the drivers are too. Several years ago, some guy in one of those trucks tried to run us down, tried to squeeze us onto the guardrails, tried to sideswipe us and tried to play chicken with us. We finally got away from him by turning down another road. Did we get the plate number? NO....it didn't have a plate on it.

April 3, 2011 - 10:09am

Brian Graz

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Joined: Sep 18 2010

This intersection is a potentially dangerous one. I've thought it, and said it, for years, every time I pass thru there. In fact I've even talked with a Bethany town official about why not move the 30mph speed zone on Bethany Center Rd north just a bit to include that intersection in an attempt to avert a serious crash... "before someone gets killed there". I suppose this current accident will not accomplish this since there was no fatality.

April 3, 2011 - 12:21pm

Sally Waldron

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Joined: Feb 28 2011

I am not sure that changing the speed limit is going to help since the majority of the people that go through don't obey the speed limit that is in place in the residential area after the intersection to begin with. When the sheriffs or state police are able to set up radar patrols it is a field day for them and we have sat a watched them catch speeder after speeder without even a chance for them to get parked back at the church or the town hall. There have been a few of the villagers that even go up and thank them for patrolling the area since there are so many children that walk up and down the roads in the summer, and are at risk of getting hurt or killed by those that cannot seem to obey the speed limit in the area.