OFF THE WIRE
pjstar.com
The scene occurred all too frequently in 2011.
A motorcycle crashed somewhere in Marshall, Peoria, Stark, Tazewell or Woodford counties, the five counties that make up District 8 of the Illinois State Police. And a coroner was called.
On the night of Sept. 30, Woodford County Coroner Tim Ruestman was called to the village of Germantown Hills. A passenger participating in a poker run to raise money for a Christmas party for children sponsored by the Outlaws Motorcycle Club had been thrown from her ride after the operator rear-ended another motorcycle.
Fourth-term Coroner Ruestman pronounced Jessica Williamson, 32, of Peoria dead at the scene.
"It was a difficult situation, obviously, for everybody," Ruestman said. "Especially with a young lady like that, in the prime of her life."
The single mom was raising two children. Before her death - the last of seven involving motorcycles in 2011 in District 8 - Williamson also participated in an event to benefit the two children of Korey and Rachel Korenchuk. They were killed in an accident while riding their motorcycle a month earlier in Peoria.
"She knew them," Jennifer Meyers of Mapleton said of her younger sister. It was one of those things Meyers said they didn't talk about.
"My sister rode around with those biker groups," Meyers said. "They were kind of all close-lipped about that stuff. They really didn't talk much about it. It was just a sad loss, because those (Korenchuk) children lost both their parents."
Roger Richie of East Peoria feels fortunate there isn't a motorcycle-related death in his family. His older brother, Bob, faced a long recovery after sustaining a head injury and a punctured lung in a crash several years ago.
"He was impaired with alcohol," Roger Richie said. "It's drinking and riding . . ."
Roger Richie, who is sales and service manager at Grayboy Motorsports in Peoria Heights, said he doesn't dare mix the two.
"(Bob's) accident didn't stop me from riding, and it won't stop me from riding," said Richie, who has been riding motorcycles for more than 30 years. "I never have a drink, and I never will."
Gary Childs can be reached at 686-3257 or gchilds@pjstar.com.
