Rex Whitecotton III, 24, 707-A Due West Circle, Lafayette escaped serious injury early last Wednesday morning, July 11 when his vehicle hydroplaned on a wet roadway, went into a slide and then off the east side of Hwy. 10-South and down a steep embankment.

Whitecotton was returning home from second shift work at Dell Computer at about 2:15 a.m Wednesday morning when he hit the wet patch of roadway. “I went into a skid and thought I'd gotten my car back under control when I guess it came back onto dry pavement, spun around and went off the side of the road and down the gorge,” said the young man. Whitecotton was wearing his seat belt, and sustained only bruises and scrapes from the incident.

“I wasn't going all that fast either,” continued Whitecotton, “not more than 50 mph.” But it was apparently too fast for the road conditions on the treacherous hill, which has been the site of numerous accidents in the past year.

“Somebody had stopped up on the roadway-maybe they saw me wreck. But I managed to climb back up the slick hillside, and told the driver I was all right, so they didn't call an ambulance or anything.”

Macon County Sheriff's Deputy Mark Bartley investigated the early morning accident.