By: Eddy Gifford, Publisher

The long Memorial Day weekend got off to a deadly start in Dade County as two fatalities were recorded by Saturday afternoon.

Just before 2 a.m. on Saturday morning two tractor trailers collided on I-59 South just before the Rising Fawn Exit.

The crash claimed the life of 46–year–old Hence Cox of Springfield, Mass., who was in the passenger seat of the truck driven by his cousin Cory Spelling, also of Mass.

Also in the vehicle was the eight–year–old daughter of the deceased. They were transported to Erlanger Medical Center by Puckett Ambulance as was the driver of the other tractor trailer. Their injuries were not believed to be  life threatening.

The interstate was closed for several hours as the SKRT team was called in to investigate the cause of the accident. That investigation is ongoing.

On Saturday afternoon just after 4 p.m. Charles Matthews was killed when his ultra light plane crashed near Burkhalter Gap Road.

Dade County Sheriff Patrick Cannon said, “It’s under investigation by the NTSB and FAA, so we don’t really have many details of what might have happened.”

Dade County Coroner Johnny Gray pronounced the ultra light pilot dead at the scene.

Matthews was president of Crates Leather in Chattanooga.