Golf fans are injured when bus overturns on way to Masters

The bus driver is charged with driving under the influence.

A museum in Los Alamos, New Mexico — a once-secret New Mexico city that developed the atomic bomb which helped end World War II — has put an exhibit from Japan on hold because of its theme of abolishing nuclear weapons.

The Los Alamos Historical Museum confirmed Monday that it will not host a traveling exhibit organized by the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum until all parties can work out their differences over the theme.

The exhibit, which features articles of clothing, exposed plates, and other personal items from victims, aims to draw attention to the horrors of the bombs that destroyed both cities.

Heather McClenahan, executive director of the Los Alamos Historical Museum, said the museum’s board of directors felt uncomfortable about the exhibit’s call to abolish nuclear bombs. The New Mexico city is still home to the Los Alamos National Laboratory, one of the U.S.’s premier nuclear weapons research centers.

The exhibit dispute comes as the Los Alamos National Lab competes with the U.S. Energy Department’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina to continue production of plutonium pits.

Those are critical cores which trigger nuclear warheads.

No new pits have been made since 2011. The Energy Department wants to ramp up production to 80 pits a year by 2030.

“The Los Alamos Historical Society will continue its dialogue with the museums in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in hopes that we can overcome cultural and linguistic differences and host exhibits that are respectful to all of our communities’ concerns and stories,” McClenahan said. “In other words, we hope this is not the end but the beginning of delving together into our history and the questions it raises.”

She said the historical society will not send an exhibit about Los Alamos scientists to Hiroshima and Nagasaki without significant dialogue and input from their museums.

“We would ask that the same respect be afforded to our community,” McClenahan said.

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum official Tomonori Nitta told The Associated Press that officials were informed by the Los Alamos museum in mid-February that its board meeting turned down a current plan, failing to meet a deadline for funding needed to hold an exhibit in 2019.

Police officers and emergency workers examine the scene of a wreck Thursday morning after a tour bus heading to the Masters golf tournament overturned along Interstate 20 near Augusta. Authorities say 15 people were injured.

A charter bus headed to the Masters golf tournament overturned on a Georgia interstate Thursday, injuring 15 people and snarling traffic as scores of fans made the pilgrimage to one of the sport’s premier events. The bus driver was charged with driving under the influence.

The bus carrying 18 passengers crashed at about 8:45 a.m. Thursday, just as fans were driving in for the tournament’s first round.

Sgt. Chris Wright of the Georgia State Patrol said the driver ran off the right side, then overcorrected and caused the bus to overturn in the median. Some passengers suffered broken bones and head injuries, Wright said, but none were lifethreatening.

The bus driver, 61-yearold Steven F. Hoppenbrouwer of Gwinnett County, Georgia, was charged with DUI and failure to maintain lane. Wright said investigators believe Hoppenbrouwer had been using drugs, not alcohol. He said passengers told authorities the bus had drifted off the edge of the roadway twice before it veered a third time and crashed.

“They were starting to become concerned about his ability to drive,” Wright told The Associated Press in a phone interview. “One of the guys had even said, ‘I’m not riding back with him. I’ll call an Uber to get back to Atlanta.’”

The Masters is one of pro golf’s four major tournaments, and it draws fans from across the Southeast — and around the world. Joe Hotchkiss /

The crash blocked Interstate 20 in both directions about 15 miles (24 kilometers) from the tournament at Augusta National Golf Club along a major route from Atlanta, where many golf fans fly in before driving the last leg. It took hours to clear the crash, and even then authorities advised drivers to look for alternate routes.

“Major incident here. Masters traffic affected for sure,” state Transportation Department officials said on Twitter.

Operated by Jet Executive Limousine of metro Atlanta, the charter bus “was set up like a party limousine in the back,” Wright said.

He said the interior of the bus matched a photo on the company’s website showing colorful strip lighting, a single row of seats lining each side of the bus and cocktail glasses hanging over a bar. The Augusta Chronicle via AP

“It didn’t appear to us that any of the patrons in the back were intoxicated or anything of that nature,” Wright said. “They were just riding down for a pleasant day at the Masters. And unfortunately tragedy struck.”

Nine of the injured passengers were taken to Doctors Hospital in Augusta, which said in a statement that one passenger was in critical condition Thursday afternoon. The hospital said six passengers were either in good condition or had been treated and released.

A man who answered the phone number listed for the limousine company declined to comment. “We’re not making any statements right now,” said the man, who wouldn’t give his name.

A phone number listed for Hoppenbrouwer was disconnected. It was not immediately known if he had an attorney.