Kellogg man pleads guilty to drug use in accident

A Kellogg man has pleaded guilty to being under the influence of narcotics when he was involved in a two-vehicle accident in February that caused life-threatening to himself and two Sully women. Michael William Blythe, 49, pleaded guilty last Wednesday to operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated in connection with the incident, which occurred at approximately 6 p.m. Feb. 13. According to court records, Blythe was traveling south in the northbound lane in the 6300 block of East 124th Street South — about two and half miles north of Sully — when he struck a northbound vehicle driven by 70-year-old Lucille Jansen head-on. Jansen and a passenger, 75-year-old Neva F. Lanser, both were seriously injured, and all three individuals were transported for medical treatment. Blythe was charged with OWI about a month later after a urine specimen analyzed by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation showed he had amphetamines in his system at the time of the accident. Blythe is scheduled to be sentenced on the charge at the Jasper County Courthouse on Aug. 13.

Mandi Lamb can be contacted at 792-3121 ext. 424 or via e-mail at mlamb@newtondailynews.com.