By DELANIA TRIGG, Register Staff Writer
OAK RIDGE — Friends and family of the Robert Falgout and Jose Barletta families plan to hold a benefit from 1 to 7 p.m., Sunday at Shooter’s Bar and Grill.
Falgout and Barletta are the two local men who were killed in a head-on collision Dec. 18 on FM 3164.
Those close to the families say both are struggling with grief and severe financial hardship.
The fund raiser is scheduled to include music by Scott Thurman, Pumpjack Mary, Bois D’Arks and Tom McElvain.
Admission is $15 for adults and $10 for children.
The event includes live bands, dinner, a dessert auction and a silent auction.
Shooters is located at 7519 East Highway 82 in Oak Ridge.
A friend of the Barlettas said the families are heart-broken over the Christmastime tragedy.
“This whole family is just lost,” Sidney Cornett said in a telephone interview last week.
Cornett said she has learned neither Barletta nor the Falgouts had life insurance.
Barletta was a businessman who owned R.J.’s Branding Iron — a Lake Kiowa restaurant. He was traveling alone when the accident occurred.
His wife Lorraine is a teacher.
On the night of the accident, Cornett said Barletta was running late for a holiday event at a school. His wife — who was waiting for Barletta at the school — had placed a call to him just prior to the accident, she added.
Both Barletta and Falgout leave several children behind.
“It’s tragic. Both these families lost fathers,” Cornett said.
Three children were seriously injured in the collision — twelve-year-old Riley Browning, Tina Falgout, 17, and Chase Falgout, 10.
The children survived the horrifying accident after receiving medical treatment at Metroplex hospitals.
Sunday’s fund raiser is just one community effort to help the families.
Memorial funds for both the Barlettas and the Falgouts have been set up at Gainesville’s First State Bank.
Donors can contribute to the Jose Barletta Memorial Fund and the Robert Falgout Memorial Fund at any branch of the First State Bank.
For information about the memorial funds call First State Bank at 665-1711.
