Anthony Early A Thanksgiving weekend wreck claimed the life of a popular Early County High senior Friday on the Lucille highway in Blakely.

Anthony Leon Early Jr., 17, was killed when he lost control of his 2000 Toyota Corolla on the curve at the intersection of Highway 39 and Old Lucille Road shortly after 12 noon.

According to witnesses and the Georgia State Patrol accident report, Early was driving too fast for conditions when he lost control on the curve's wet pavement.

Early was reportedly on his way to work at McDonald's when his northbound vehicle skidded sideways coming out of the curve, narrowly missing a southbound pickup truck driven by Sammy Jordan, before colliding head-on with a Ford Super Duty truck pulling a large ag chemical trailer.

"It could've been worse. We were moving below the speed limit behind Mr. Jordan who was just poking along," stated Randy Hall, driver of the Southern States truck.

"I was probably going about 30 when I saw the car in the curve," Jordan told the News. "It went sideways and couldn't have missed me by two feet."

Early was taken by ambulance to Early Memorial Hospital and transferred to a Dothan hospital where he was pronounced dead later that afternoon.

Anthony Early appeared on the front page of the Oct. 8 Early County News in the feature photo of the Early County High Homecoming court. A memorial service has been scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 6 at 11 a.m. at Mangham Auditorium.

The Thanksgiving holiday travel period ended Sunday night with 15 traffic deaths reported to the Georgia State Patrol. Rain that began Friday morning was a contributing factor to numerous crashes and injuries over the holiday period. Between Friday noon and the end of the holiday count Sunday night, there were 3,514 traffic crashes and 811 injuries reported.