Brother Larry Ritchey " Free Spirit " Artist: Jillane Curreen
When someone is in your life for a REASON, it is usually to meet a need you have expressed. They have come to assist you through a difficulty, to provide you with guidance and support, to aid you physically, emotionally or spiritually. They may seem like a godsend and they are. They are there for the reason you need them to be. Then, without any wrongdoing on your part or at an inconvenient time, this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end. Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away. Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand. What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled, their work is done. The prayer you sent up has been answered and now it is time to move on.
There are many different responses to crisis. Most survivors have intense feelings after a traumatic event but recover from the trauma; others have more difficulty recovering — especially those who have had previous traumatic experiences, who are faced with ongoing stress, or who lack support from friends and family — and will need additional help.
What you share in this forum, may prevent that next Accident, that next Casualty
Make sure to add your Website and e-mail address !
On any given thread click the mail box or the PC icon for email and URL addresses
----- Original Message -----
From: Debbie Walker
To: bikeraccsurvivor@bacsuv.com
Sent: Monday, June 04, 2007 9:27 PM
I have been waiting and checking the clerk of courts for a date that will be the trial of Thelma Bartley. It will be one year on June 30, 2007 when we lost our friends to this drunk woman. When is this trial going to happen? It takes a year to try this woman. What is wrong with all of this...her rich boyfriend of many years still trying to get her off of it? We have a new judge and prosecuting attorney and it still has not started. I would like to know if anyone knows anything about this and when she will be tried Thanks, Brenda
http://www.whiznews.com/article.php?articleId=15174
Car-Motorcycle Crash Leaves Two Dead
Fri, Jun 30, 2006. 11:42 PM
By: Jennifer Jarrell
Two people are dead today after a motorcycle-car crash Friday evening off of State Route 146.
Troopers with the Zanesville Post of the State Highway Patrol say 51-year-old Deborah McClintock of Zanesville and 58-year-old Marshal Atwood also of Zanesville were killed in the crash.
Troopers say Atwood was traveling Eastbound on SR 146 with McClintock on a Harley Davidson motorcycle.
41-year-old Thelma Bartley of Nashport was attempting to turn left from Ballard Road onto 146 in a Monte Carlo when she failed to yield the right of way and was struck by Atwood.
Bartley, and a 16-year-old passenger, Craig Bartley were transported to Good Samaritan Hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
The crash remains under investigation.
Judge Rules Evidence Thrown Out In Fatal DUI Case
Thu, Jan 25, 2007. 12:46 AM
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By: Courtney Coleman
On Tuesday a Zanesville Municipal Court Judge ruled that a local gaming parlor owners' 4th Amendment rights were violated back in November, when police seized gaming machines from his business.
Wednesday, the same issue is at hand, a 4th Amendment right violation that could change the outcome in a fatal DUI case.
Common Pleas Judge Kelly Cottrill on Wednesday made the ruling that blood evidence in an aggravated vehicular homicide case could be thrown out.
Forty-three-year-old Thelma Bartley of Nashport, is charged with four counts of aggravated vehicular homicide, two counts of operating a vehicle while under the influence and failure to yield in the June 30th deaths of prominent businessman Marshall Atwood and his girlfriend Deborah McClintock.
The two were riding Atwood's motorcycle on State Route 146 with a group of bikers when Bartley allegedly hit them with her car when pulling out onto 146 from a side road.
In an evidence suppression hearing last week, Bartley's attorney, David Tarbert filed a motion that the blood taken from Bartley after the crash, be thrown out of the case because of lack of probable cause to seize it.
Tarbert said law enforcement officials made no indication, in a search warrant to obtain her blood, that they believed she was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the crash.
Judge Cottrill last week also heard testimony from State Highway Patrol troopers on how they outlined a warrant to obtain her blood a week after the crash.
Cottrill ruled in favor of Tarbert's motion and decided the seizure was in fact a violation of Bartley's 4th Amendment rights, therefore the blood evidence will be thrown out of the case.
Brenda, here are the related sites concerning Thelma Bartley's Trial......
----- Original Message -----
From: Christopher Miller
To: 'Garry Van Kirk'
Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2007 6:33 AM
Subject: RE: Thelma Bartley ?
Related articles:
http://www.whiznews.com/article.php?articleId=16853
http://www.whiznews.com/article.php?articleId=16781
http://www.whiznews.com/article.php?articleId=15438
http://www.whiznews.com/article.php?articleId=15390
-----Original Message-----
From: Garry Van Kirk [mailto:van751@frontiernet.net]
Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2007 1:22 AM
To: georgech@whizamfmtv.com; webmaster@whizamfmtv.com;
closings@whizmediagroup.com
Subject: Thelma Bartley ?
Name:
Garry Van Kirk
Subject:
Thelma Bartley ?
Message:
Motorcycle Accident
http://www.whiznews.com/article.php?articleId=15174
I have been waiting and checking the clerk of courts for a date that will
be the trial of Thelma Bartley. It will be one year on June 30, 2007 when
we lost our friends to this drunk woman. When is this trial going to
happen? It takes a year to try this woman. What is wrong with all of
this...her rich boyfriend of many years still trying to get her off of it?
We have a new judge and prosecuting attorney and it still has not started.
I would like to know if anyone knows anything about this and when she will
be tried Thanks, Brenda
Garry Van Kirk
Bikers Accident Survivor Forum
www.bacsuv.com
Woman accepts plea deal in motorcycle deaths
By KATHY THOMPSON
For The Advocate
ZANESVILLE -- Thelma Bartley spoke softly Tuesday morning as she pleaded no contest to two counts of involuntary manslaughter and one count of failure to yield in Muskingum County Common Pleas Court.
Bartley, of Nashport, had been indicted after she attempted to turn left on Ohio 146 and collided with a motorcycle driven by Marshall Atwood, 58, a longtime insurance agent in the Zanesville area, and his passenger, Deborah McClintock, 51, of Zanesville, on June 30, 2006. Atwood and McClintock were killed.
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After an hour delay, the Tuesday hearing started when Bartley, 44, entered the pleas in exchange for the prosecution amending two counts of aggravated vehicular homicide to the involuntary manslaughter charges, which are third-degree felonies.
The prosecution also recommended Bartley spend 90 days in jail, serve five years probation, do 100 hours of community service work and have her driver's license suspended after her jail time.
Special Prosecutor Greg Peterson told retired Fairfield Common Pleas Judge James Wallace Luse he recommended Bartley be sentenced to four years for each count of the involuntary manslaughter charge. He recommended the charges run consecutively but asked the prison term be suspended and the 90-day jail term be granted.
"The most important thing right now is that the families agreed that this was the best way to proceed," Peterson said. "With what has happened in the past, they're trying their best to move on, and we're satisfied."
Luse does not have to use the sentencing recommendations.
"We're satisfied this case has been fully investigated and completely researched," said Bartley's attorney, David Tarbert. "We understand the final decision lies completely with the judge, but we're hoping the judge will incorporate the families' feelings into his final decision."
One family member, Brenda Atwood, Marshall's ex-wife and mother of his three sons, said she and her family were prepared for the plea agreement.
"The prosecution has kept us up-to-date on everything that has been going on, and we feel, under the circumstances here in this county, this is the best outcome," Brenda Atwood said. "This is really the best we could hope for with everything that has gone on."
Luse ordered a presentence investigation. Bartley is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 14.
Judge Luse should NOT have suspended the eight year prison term to 90 days!! Should have increased the fines also!!!
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Bartley gets 90 days for manslaughter in crash
By KATHY THOMPSON
Staff Writer
ZANESVILLE - Even as the woman responsible for the deaths of their loved ones was taken from the courtroom to begin her jail term, the families of Marshall Atwood and Deborah McClintock were left wanting an explanation.
Thelma Bartley, 44, her eyes filled with tears, was whisked from the courtroom after being sentenced to 90 days in jail for two counts of involuntary manslaughter and one count of failure to yield.
Retired Fairfield County Common Pleas Judge James William Luse originally sentenced Bartley, 44, to eight years in prison, but suspended that sentence in a plea agreement between Bartley's attorneys and the prosecution.
On June 30, 2006, Bartley attempted to turn left onto Ohio 146 and collided with a motorcycle being driven by Marshall Atwood, 58, a longtime insurance agent in Zanesville, and his passenger, Deborah McClintock, 51, of Zanesville. Both Atwood and McClintock were killed.
Luse listened as members of Atwood and McClintock's families gave victim impact statements and as Bartley read a prepared statement to him and the families before sentencing her to the jail term. She was also ordered to:
Attend a women's intervention education program while in jail and then attend outpatient counseling once released.
Wear an alcohol monitoring device for six months upon her release from jail.
Pay the funeral costs for both Atwood and McClintock.
Give speeches regarding the dangers of drinking and driving to young drivers at local schools.
The judge also suspended her driver's license for two years.
Since Bartley had been declared indigent, she was not given any fines except for a $150 fine and court costs ordered for the failure to yield charge.
Brenda Atwood, Marshall's ex-wife, told Bartley and Luse that she had been "forgiving" just after the accident, calling Bartley while she was in the hospital recovering from the accident and knowing that "God and the court system would be the ones to judge and punish."
But all that changed when Atwood said Bartley showed no remorse at church services and continued to drive and even received a speeding ticket last month. Bartley also has a failure to control violation in 2002 and a failure to yield the right of way in 1998 in Muskingum County Court, according to court records.
"I hope you are truly remorseful," said Atwood, almost overcome with emotion. "I promise you that a lot of people are watching you and you must show us all that you understand what happened and show us that you are sorry by the way you live your life."
Lindsay McClintock told Luse she did not feel Bartley was sorry for her actions.
"My mother was the happiest she'd ever been with Marshall," McClintock said. "My mom was one of the most beautiful people in the world and she was all we had left. Mom always made the best of things and now we're left lost, angered and devastated."
McClintock had to hold her tears back as she told Bartley "you've taken away any of my children ever being able to have a grandma or to see me or my sister get married. We do not accept your apology. We hope you are truly sorry and know what a tremendous mistake you've made."
Bartley did not speak directly to the families, keeping her back to them as she told them she is "so sorry for the loss I have caused."
"I knew Marshall to be a good person and a good Christian," Bartley said. "I spoke to him and Debbie once and remember that Debbie just smiled the entire time. She was so happy."
Bartley said her life changed that day and when she learned that both Atwood and McClintock had been killed, she screamed and immediately wanted to speak to both families.
"I go to the crash site at least two times a week," Bartley said. "I pray and talk to Marshall and Deb and keep pictures of them beside my bed. Marshall, I know, wouldn't want me to stop living. I feel their spirit and pray that life will be different."
Bartley told the families she knows the past 14 months have been devastating.
"I can't take the pain away or ease it," Bartley said. "I pray for forgiveness and for the families to have peace. I know the deaths of Marshall and Deborah will never leave them and I know they will always miss them. I know that Marshall and Deborah are watching over us every day....I am truly, truly sorry."
Luse told the families he understood that no one intends to take another's life in a case like this.
"I can't bring Marshall and Deborah back," Luse said. "I can't put your lives back together and I can't salvage Thelma's life. The most difficult part is that it is so senseless and you don't understand why this has happened. I have no answers and can only rely on the law."
After the sentencing, Peterson said he felt it was a "reasonable resolution with all things considered."
David Tarbert, Bartley's attorney, said he was a little surprised at Luse ordering Bartley to wear an alcohol monitoring device and at having her license suspended for two years, but said he was satisfied with the sentencing.
"Of course it's terrible for everyone involved," Tarbert said. "It's a tragedy that no sentencing will ever be able to reflect the loss felt by three families."
Luse did express his concern over the families' expressed disgust with how the legal system worked in this case. The Muskingum County Prosecutor's Office handed the case over to Columbus defense attorney and former prosecutor and judge Greg Peterson, after it was learned Assistant Prosecutor Jim Workman may have had a relationship with Bartley prior to the accident. Common Pleas Judge Kelly Cottrill then recused himself from the case, citing possible future conflicts of interest.
Brenda Atwood, while feeling some justice was dealt, said she also feels an explanation is warranted from "the Ohio patrol officers to the judge."
"I think the Ohio State Patrol officers who investigated the case to Judge Tom Bopeley who signed the search warrant and obviously didn't read it, to Assistant Prosecutor Jim Workman to Judge Cottrill need to explain to us why this case got so messed up," Atwood said. "I'm just as upset with the legal system in this county as I am with Thelma for taking our loved ones from us and I think we deserve an explanation."
kthompson@nncogannett.com
740-450-6753
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