Limestone County Commissioner-elect Daryl Sammet and a local pastor are slowly but steadily recovering following a terrible fall from a bucket truck in June.

Sammet, who owns a tree-trimming service, had taken his bucket truck to Mays Memorial Baptist Church in Toney on Sunday, June 24, to help Brother Shane Reyer with an egg-drop game for children at the church’s vacation Bible school, said Sammet’s girlfriend, Rhonda Baldwin.

Sammet and Reyer were dropping eggs from the bucket to the children, who were gathered a safe distance away. The children who caught eggs without letting them crack would win a prize, she said. At one point during the game, Sammet and Reyer ran out of eggs and were heading back to the ground in the bucket. While still about 10 to 15 feet in the air, the cable securing the bucket to the boom snapped, flipping the bucket and slamming the two men forward and onto the ground. Sammet landed face first.

“All of the bones in his face are broken — his sinuses, his eye socket, his nose,” Baldwin said. “He has a fracture on his head and a concussion.”

Reyer apparently struck both his head and shoulder and is also still recovering, she said.

Recovering

Sammet is slowly but steadily improving but must continue to rest, Baldwin said.

“He is improving, but he is sleeping a lot and having headaches and pain around his eye socket,” she said.

He rests in a darkened room because he is sensitive to light and noise, and he is not yet up for visitors or telephone calls, Baldwin said.

“There are a lot of prayers going around,” Baldwin said, adding she is thankful for that.

In two weeks, he will see a surgeon to see if he needs any procedure performed. Right now, however, the surgeon believes the bones in his face will heal without it, she said.

November awaits

Just a few weeks before the fall, Sammet was in high spirits. On June 5, the former county commissioner had defeated his lone opponent in the District 1 County Commission race, incumbent Stanley Hill. Because Sammet has no opposition in the Tuesday, Nov. 6, general election, he is effectively commissioner-elect and will take office in November, a week after the general election.