Official Mourning Set for Bus Victims

Gov. Wallace Wilkinson, saying he wished “it were possible to turn back the clock,” declared an official day of mourning for today for the 27 victims of the Radcliff church bus disaster, coinciding with the first five funerals.

Wilkinson ordered flags flown at half-staff across the state today in memory of the 24 children and three adults who died when their bus was struck head-on Saturday night by a pickup truck being driven in the wrong direction on Interstate 71 in Carroll County, 100 miles northeast of Radcliff.

The truck driver, Larry Mahoney, still hospitalized in Louisville, was charged with 27 counts of murder, one for each of those who died in the accident. Authorities said he was intoxicated at the time of the crash. Thirteen other people also were still hospitalized Wednesday.

The governor planned to attend a memorial service tonight at North Hardin High School in Radcliff. Most of the victims were military dependents or had ties to nearby Ft. Knox, and the service at the school’s 2,400-seat football stadium was to include hymns and a performance by the post military band, said Lelia S. Haddle, secretary to Mayor Joseph Hutcherson.