Posted by Charles Edwards February 18, 2009 at 3:13 p.m.

Bob Skelding - Update

http://worldonline.media.clients.elli... spoke with the Mississippi Highway Patrol yesterday regarding the official cause of the accident between the T.K. Stanley Company tanker and the horse-drawn wagon driven by Bob Skelding.MHP Trooper, Walton, stated their finding was “Failure to yield on the part of the T.K. Stanley truck and no apparent improper driving on the part of Mr. Skelding ”, When asked if a citation would be issued as a result of the accident, Trooper Walton explained, “…when we do an accident reconstruction, we look for cause, not blame. Blame speaks to the intent of what a driver was thinking, and there is no way for us to know intent of the T.K. Stanley driver.”When pressed about the possibility of the second T.K. Stanley driver (the one who struck Bob’s wagon) following too close behind the first truck, Trooper Walton explained, “…at 65-miles per hour, the truck was traveling approximately 100-feet per second. If the first truck, that saw the wagon, waited until the last moment to pull over and pass the wagon, the truck behind him, whose sight may have prevented him seeing the wagon, would have had even less time to react. Normal human reaction time is 1.6-seconds, even if there was three-hundred feet between them, I don’t care what he’s doing, there is no physical way he can stop that truck…and irrespective of how tragic the accident, it (the accident) was unavoidable.”Trooper Walton would not release the name of the T.K. Stanley driver and when I contacted the T.K. Stanley main office in Waynesboro, Mississippi, the Safety Officer (who would not give his name) said that all questions were being referred to their insurance company, Ace American Insurance Company, in Philadelphia PA; however, calls to their office were, at the time of this writing, unreturned.I asked the Safety Officer how the truck driver was doing, in the wake of the accident, and he stated, “…he’s pretty shook up and trying to deal with the situation”. It is unknown at this time if the driver that struck Bob’s wagon is back on the road driving for T.K. Stanley.http://worldonline.media.clients.elli... Foundation Hospital was unable to release Bob’s condition in an official capacity; however, an un-identified source did share that Bob was sitting up and was “looking pretty good”.As I was writing this story, a friend approached who retold a dream they had last night. Two angels appeared before him. He understood them to be the spirit of abundance that comes from emptying ourselves of the ‘stuff of life’. http://worldonline.media.clients.elli... horses, Doc and Joyce - Photo by Scott Boyd, Macon Beacon)In their right-hand stood the spirit of receiving abundance, and in their left-hand, the spirit of giving the same. And now, from of the spirit of abundance, we receive so that we may then, in return, give.It appears, at this time, Bob Skelding has both angels with him; and he continues to touch lives in a way he could not predict; even his own. Drive on, Bob Skelding.