All eight injured in band bus wreck treated, released

[10/17/04]Warren Central’s Big Blue marching band played on Saturday at the State Marching Festival in Pearl less than a day after six students and two parents were injured in a wreck on Interstate 20 wreck on the way to football game in Jackson.

“The wreck didn’t stop us a bit,” said Jerry Boland, whose daughter, Ashley, 15 and a 10th-grader, plays in the band. “All the kids were excited and enthusiastic.”

The 170-member band was one of 12 bands, including Vicksburg High School’s Pride of the South Gator marching band, to make it to the final rounds of the competition Saturday night.

And Michelle Sibley, 43, 519 Kavanaugh Drive, who was the last to remain in the hospital, was treated and released from Mississippi Baptist Memorial Hospital in Jackson.

Her husband, Dwight Sibley, 43, same address, was released from the same hospital Friday night. He was the driver of the Ford truck that rear-ended the 2004 school bus that was carrying 16 band members and a driver.

The bus was part of a seven-bus caravan headed to Jackson to perform at a WCHS football game against the Murrah High School Mustangs.

The band made it to Jackson after halftime and was greeted by cheers from Warren Central’s cheerleaders. The Vikings won the game 33-12.

The six students, who were treated and released Friday from River Region Medical Center, are:

Chelsea Evans, 15, 3595 Mount Alban Road;

Ivan Reihsmann, 16, 128 Brookwood Drive;

Jamica Reynolds, 14, 120 Pemberton St.;

Curtis Winters, 14, 6295 Bovina Cutoff Road;

Orlando Jones, 14, 85 Bellaire Drive;

Artines Pratt, 16, 3490 N. Washington St.

The wreck, which was reported at 5:10, occurred when the school bus stopped for traffic for a wreck. A vehicle traveling between the bus and Sibley’s truck swerved to avoid hitting the bus. Mississippi Highway Patrol Trooper J.F. “Rusty” Clark said Sibley didn’t see the bus in time to stop. The wreck is still under investigation by the highway patrol.