Vigil Sunday for Waubonsee students killed in crash

Students are planning a candlelight vigil Sunday to remember two Waubonsee Community College students killed Wednesday afternoon in a crash in front of the school on Route 47.

The vigil is scheduled 8 to 10 p.m. near the Academic and Professional Center on the north side of the Sugar Grove campus. College counselors will attend the vigil, said Jeffrey Noblitt, a spokesman for the college.

A visitation for Brandon Utley, 19, of North Aurora will be held from 2 to 8 p.m. Monday at The Daleiden Mortuary, 220 N. Lake St., Aurora. The funeral service is at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Daleiden.

Utley was a passenger in a car driven by Ryan Sherrod, 18, of North Aurora. Sherrod was turning into the north entrance to the campus when his vehicle was struck by a garbage truck heading north on Route 47. There is no stop sign or traffic signal at the location.

Visitation for Sherrod is from 2 to 6 p.m. Sunday at Dieterle Memorial Home, 1120 S. Broadway, Montgomery. Funeral services are scheduled for 10 a.m. Monday at St. Mark's Lutheran Church, 27 S. Edgelawn Drive, Aurora.

Kane County Sheriff's Department Lt. Pat Gengler said Friday no tickets have been issued, and that the driver of the garbage truck was released from Provena Mercy Medical Center in Aurora Wednesday evening.

People have since started a petition on Facebook to get a traffic signal for that entrance.

A signal at the main entrance to the campus, farther south, was installed in 2006.

Noblitt said the Illinois Department of Transportation, which has jurisdiction over Route 47, told Waubonsee officials at the time it could only have one signalized entrance. IDOT also denied the college's request to lower the speed limit, which is 55 mph, on that stretch of roadway, Noblitt said.

College officials contacted IDOT after Wednesday's crash to see what can be done to make the north entrance safer, Noblitt said.