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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/4144490.html

Aug. 27, 2006, 4:01PM
Newlyweds among plane crash victims

By WILL GRAVES Associated Press Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A newlywed couple starting their honeymoon and a man who took an early flight to get home to his children were among the victims of Comair Flight 5191, friends and relatives said Sunday.

The afternoon before the crash, Scarlett Parsley had arrived in a horse drawn carriage for a fairy tale wedding to Jon Hooker.

"It was the happiest she'd been," said Jarod Martin, a longtime friend who was among the 300 people at the ceremony at Lexington's Headley-Whitley Museum. "It couldn't have been more perfect."

They were leaving for a honeymoon in California when their commuter flight to Atlanta crashed just after takeoff, killing 49 of the 50 people aboard.

"It's so tragic because he was so happy last night," said Keith Madison, who coached Hooker's baseball team at the University of Kentucky and attended the wedding. "It's just an incredible turn of events. It's really painful."

Hooker, 27, had signed a free agent with the Chicago White Sox in June 2001 and played professionally for Independent League teams in Fargo, N.D., and Joliet, Ill., before returning to his hometown. He was working as a parole counselor and social worker while Parsley, 23, was in graduate school at Kentucky, Madison said.

Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks general manager Josh Buchholz said Sunday was "a sad day for Fargo." Hooker helped the Redhawks win the Independent League championship in 2003.

"He touched a lot of people's lives," Buchholz said.

A moment of silence was held for the crash victims before the Dodgers-Diamondbacks game in Phoenix, where Hooker's former Kentucky teammate Brandon Webb is a pitcher.

Another passenger, Charles Lykins of Naples, Fla., wanted an early flight Sunday so he could get home to his two young children after visiting friends and family in the Lexington area, said Paul Richardson of Winchester.

Mike Finley, 52, who lived in Corbin and owned the Finley Fun Centers, was headed to Reno, Nev., for a rollerskating convention, said his son, David Taylor.

"I'd say there's thousands of kids who grew up with our father," he said.

Rick Queen, who works for Turfway Realty in Lexington, said his father-in-law, Les Morris, was on the flight.

Queen and Taylor were both frustrated with how Delta handled the families.

"I just felt Delta ran families around this morning for three hours. I finally got some help from a Lexington firefighter," Taylor said.

The only survivor among the 50 people aboard the plane was the flight's first officer, James M. Polehinke. He was pulled from the burning wreckage by a policeman and two airport workers and taken to University of Kentucky Hospital, where he was list in critical condition.

The pilot, Jeffery Clay, had been with Comair since 1999 and became captain in 2004, Comair President Don Bornhorst said.

Flight attendant Kelly Heyer was single and lived in the Cincinnati area. He had been working for the airline since 2004 and was recently appointed base representative for the flight attendant union said Tracy Riley, a union secretary and fellow Comair flight attendant.

"He was a standup individual," Riley said. "He was very professional, loved the job."

Bornhorst described his own reaction as "complete devastation" and he lamented the frustration of the families as they awaited word.

"When tragedies like this happen, information can just not be relayed fast enough and I certainly understand the frustrations related to that," Bornhorst said.