Three injured in tractor-car collision
By Elizabeth Billips Associate Editor

A Girard farmer was rushed to the hospital Thanksgiving night after his tractor was rearended on Highway 23.

According to a report filed at the Burke County Sheriff's Office, Dale Claxton Heath, 58, was thrown from his tractor just before 7:30 p.m. Thursday when Chirley Ervin, 49, accidentally clipped him from behind.

The tractor flipped, the report said, while Ervin's car left the roadway and hit a tree.

Ervin told state troopers that she hadn't seen the tractor because its rear lights were too dim.

Both drivers were transported to the Medical College of Georgia (MCG) - Heath with shoulder and back injuries and Ervin with chest pain. Also transported was a 2-year-old passenger in Ervin's car who appeared "shaken up," the report said.

An MCG spokesperson said all of the patients were admitted and later discharged.

As of Tuesday morning, no charges had been filed in the accident, according to a trooper from the State Patrol Office in Sylvania.