photo by Theodore Wiesehan: Betty Heidtbrink's car sits deep inside Blue River Jewelry on the Seward square.

    A freak accident sent a car traveling halfway through a downtown Seward business May 7.
     Cheryll Greiner of Blue River Jewelry saw everything up close as the car drove within six feet of her after entering the building. The car jumped the curb and proceeded through the front door of the jewelry store at 518 Seward Street.
     "I just thought, 'oh my God,'" Greiner said.
     She estimated the car entered the building moving 10 to 15 miles per hour.
     The car veered right once inside the store and missed the jewelry display cases where Cheryll was standing, but continued crashing through display shelves and merchandise along the wall.
     The car, driven by an elderly woman, Betty Heidtbrink of Lincoln, came to a stop more than 50 feet into the building.
     Dan Greiner, owner of Blue River Jewelry and Cheryll's husband, said he is just grateful no one was hurt and said the store will be open again as soon as possible.
     "We're just lucky that no one got hurt, Cheryll was right there," he said. "We're going to open as soon as possible. We will reopen. Period."
     Heidtbrink walked away from the scene, but was later transported to Memorial Health Care Systems hospital. Her condition was unknown at press time.
     Greiner said the building has to be checked out for additional structural damage before they can fix the cosmetics of the building.
     The front door and windows were completely broken and there was a lot of damage inside the store.
     Greiner said he was thankful for the all the help in cleaning up the mess.
     "Right now I don't know how to thank all these people. We have so much help they're stepping on top of each other. This is what is great about living in Seward. I just can't thank them enough," Greiner said as ServiceMaster of Seward employees worked alongside numerous volunteers.
     No damage estimates were available at press time.