Lewan's Bus Crash News Article
Maestro's Men
Please forward.
Mark Kohan
Polish American Journal
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Jan Lewan's band in crash; two die, seven others hurt
By JAMES QUIRK JR.
Standard-Speaker
Two musicians who performed with renowned Hazleton-based Polka band Jan
Lewan's Orchestra were killed when Lewan's tour bus crashed in South
Carolina
Friday morning.
Seven other occupants of the bus, including Lewan, were injured in the
crash.
Lewan's 16-year-old son, Daniel Lewan - who plays trumpet in the orchestra -
suffered a severe head injury, and was listed in critical condition in
McCloud Hospital in Florence, South Carolina, Friday night.
Trooper Tony Love, a lance corporal with the South Carolina Highway Patrol,
said Friday night that driver Steve Saive, a trumpet player in the band,
apparently fell asleep behind the wheel of the 1991 Ford Mini-bus while
traveling south on Interstate 95 in Dillon County, South Carolina.
The orchestra was heading for a performance that was scheduled for Friday
night at the Pulaski Club in Holiday, Fla.
Love said that, at approximately 6 a.m., Saive fell asleep and the bus
swerved off the road and hit a concrete column that supported an overpass.
Bass trombone player John Stabinsky, 23, of Marlin, and Tom Karas, 54, of
New
Windsor, N.Y., the band's accordion player and booking manager were killed
instantly, Love said.
Love explained that the right front end of the bus impacted into the column,
and Karas, Stabinsky and Daniel Lewan were sitting on the right side.
Love said Karas and Stabinsky were pronounced dead at the scene.
"It's a very unfortunate accident," Love said.
In addition to Daniel and Jan Lewan, Stabinsky's brother, keyboard player
Ron
Stabinsky, 27, of Marlin, drummer Andrew Chwistek, 47, of Walnut Park,
saxophonist Scott Shirk, 28, of Fredericksburg, Va., and trumpet player
Brian
Reese, 26, of Wilkes-Barre sustained injuries in the crash.
With the exception of Daniel Lewan and Chwistek, the band members were
treated at St. Eugene's Hospital in Dillon, S.C. and released.
Chwistek was transported to McCloud Hospital, where he was later treated and
released, according to Love.
Love said he heard a report that Saive was "fighting to stay awake" just
before the crash.
The accident is still under investigation, according to Love, but "it didn't
involve alcohol or anything like that."
"It's just an unfortunate incident that happened," he said.
The band was nominated for a Grammy award in 1995 for the Polka album, "Jan
Lewan and His Orchestra."
Karas performed on 23 albums, and was a five-time Grammy winner.
John Stabinsky had been playing with Lewan's band for about a year.
Jan Lewan - known locally as the "Polka King" - owns JRD Productions Inc.
JRD is a state corporation that promotes Jan Lewan's Orchestra. The firm
also
manages Jan Lewan Show Gifts, which is a Polish culture gift shop in
Hazleton; conducts the Baltic Amber Jewelry business, a subsidiary firm, The
Amber Factory; and organizes group tours of Poland.
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