Deidre Myers
ECB Publishing, Inc.
Traffic around the Monticello courthouse came to a halt and had to be rerouted Tuesday, Sept. 29 at approximately 11:00 a.m. A semi carrying cases of water, on pallets, left Nestle Waters North America in Lee, Fla. headed to Alabama for delivery to a Walmart. As the semi left the Hwy. 90 westbound lane, to head around the courthouse and go north on US 19, the
tractor trailer caved at the top and broke. The trailer’s jacks made contact with the road and due to momentum of the semi, the jacks were drug about 40 feet before the semi slowed to a stop.
A few city workers brought a backhoe, in an attempt to pull the semi out of the courthouse flow of traffic. After numerous failed attempts, Chief Fred Mosely, of the Monticello Police Department (MPD) decided to make the call to the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) for assistance.
Two hours later, Parkway Towing brought equipment to remove the semi. The time-consuming part of the removal was unloading the pallets of water onto the parking area on the northeast corner of the courthouse, the wait for the replacement semi and the loading of the pallets of water into the new semi for transport.
Meanwhile, Parkway Towing used their crane lift to support the middle of the semi-trailer, where it was buckled, to allow ease of removing the load. Eventually, the semi cab was removed from the trailer so Parkway Towing could remove the damaged trailer from the road.
Assisting with the incident was Monticello Police Department (MPD), Florida Highway Patrol (FHP), and Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office (JCSO).
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