By Jim Hannah
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Six people died in three crashes on Kentucky's roadways this Memorial Day weekend - one less fatality than the same period last year.

In Ohio, the highway patrol reported five fatalities - none in Greater Cincinnati - compared to 12 for the holiday weekend in 2002.

One of the fatal crashes left two Maysville residents dead Saturday morning on the AA Highway in Northern Kentucky.

Jonathan Ehrenberg, 30, of Maysville was killed at 10:40 a.m. Saturday when his 1983 Chevrolet Celebrity crashed into a tractor-trailer.

Kentucky State Police said Ehrenberg's car was traveling north when it drifted into oncoming traffic on the AA Highway about six miles east of Augusta in Bracken County.

Ehrenberg was pronounced dead at the scene by the Bracken County coroner.

Police said he was wearing a seat belt.

His passenger, 28-year-old David Stitt of Maysville, died shortly afterward at Meadowview Regional Medical Center in Maysville.

Stitt was not wearing a seat belt, state police said.

The driver of the tractor-trailer, Brian Billings of Lone Star, Texas, was not injured.

Police said they were still investigating the wreck.

The second wreck in Kentucky during the holiday weekend was a triple fatality in Carter County, while the third wreck was in Bath County.

As of Tuesday, a total of 328 people had died on Kentucky roadways this year. That compares to 353 deaths over the same period in 2002, an increase of 51 deaths from 2001.

This is the first time in five years that the number of deaths through Memorial Day weekend has decreased, according to statistics provided by the Kentucky State Police.

The official Memorial Day holiday period ran from 6 p.m. Friday May 23 through 11:59 p.m. Monday May 26.

The decrease in this year's fatalities came with a crackdown on motorists not wearing seat belts.

As part of the weekend crackdown, Kentucky State Police, in cooperation with local law enforcement agencies, stepped up their patrol activities and conducting traffic safety checkpoints in high crash locations.

E-mail jhannah@enquirer.com