Hundreds of Americans are needlessly killed each year in wrecks involving alcohol and far too many of those victims are teens.

Local first responder agencies teamed with the schools and P&E Distributing this morning for an awareness event aimed at preventing teens from drinking and especially drinking and driving.

Michael Pendleton is a Lieutenant at the Hopkinsville Fire Department and also works at P&E and says the agencies and schools came together to organize a teaching event to make the dangers real to seniors from the four high schools in the city.

Lieutenant Pendleton says videos  of accident scenes were being shown to students so they could see the devastating effects of drinking and driving.

Pendleton thanked all four schools, the school district office and the police and fire departments for their cooperation in the event at the Bruce Convention Center.

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04/25/2012/am

A single vehicle wreck on the Dawson Springs Road last night injured the driver and caused a power outage.

The wreck happened around 7:30 near the Rooster Run Road intersection, with 46-year old Michael Story running off the road and hitting a power pole.

The Hopkinsville Fire Department was called for mutual aid to extricate Story from the wreckage, as the Christian County Rescue Squad was busy helping a man off of Pilot Rock who found himself trapped in a crevasse, according to Emergency Management Director Randy Graham.

The trapped hiker would be fine, while Story was taken by ambulance to Jennie Stuart Medical Center.

A Pennyrile Electric power pole was snapped in the wreck, causing some customers north and west of Hopkinsville to be without electricity for about an hour.

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04/25/2012/am

A Hopkinsville woman and child were injured in a two-vehicle wreck at 9^th and Virginia yesterday afternoon.

The report from Hopkinsville Police says the incident happened around ten minutes before two. A witness told police that 57-year old Minnie Page of Elkton ran a red light on 9^th and struck collided with a car driven by 25-year old Sherekia Cherry in the intersection.

Ms. Page went uninjured, while Ms. Cherry and 3-year old Talajha Cherry were taken to Jennie Stuart Medical Center for treatment of their injuries.

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04/25/2012am

An inmate at the Muhlenberg County Jail has escaped and police are asking for the public’s help in finding him.

State Police say 32-year old Jeffrey Johnson walked away from a work detail this morning just after 8. Johnson is described as a white male, standing about 5-10 and weighing 190 pounds. A description of what he was wearing was unavailable.

He was being held on non-violent theft charges and is originally from Campton, Kentucky. Anyone seeing Johnson should call police immediately.

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04/25/2012/am

The Trigg County Sheriff’s Office arrested a man accused of shooting a dog yesterday.

A news release from Sheriff Ray Burnam says 19-year old Ronald Williams of East Adams Mill Road, Cadiz was arrested and charged with cruelty to animals for allegedly shooting a dog near his home around 7 last night.

Police say Williams was also charged with being drunk in public. The dog lived and was expected to recover.

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04/25/2012/am