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“Where Fillmore County News Comes First” Weekly Edition
National Ag Week
inside today’s journal
Recycling 101
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Monday, March 21, 2016
Randy Brock at PACF dinner
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Volume 31 Issue 26
M-C budget cuts
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Stepping over the line page
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Canton • Chatfield • Fountain • Harmony • Houston • Lanesboro • Mabel • Ostrander • Peterson • Preston • Rushford • Rushford Village • Spring Valley • Whalan • Wykoff
Preston man determined to make great strides since accident By K irsten Zoellner kirsten@fillmorecountyjournal.com
The morning of Thursday, February 18 is one Micki Gartner will never forget. Midmorning, the Preston woman received a perplexing call from St. Mary’s Hospital while at work. The caller asked Gartner to clarify if she was Tom Gartner’s wife and then stated that they believed Tom had been in an accident involving a silver Chevy Impala. Knowing the car, owned by the couple, but not running, had been given to her 24-year old son, Brady, she was further confused. The vehicle in question was identified by law enforcement as registered to the couple, but the driver of the car had no identification. Gartner believed there was some mix up with the accident, especially after the caller identified the driver as “30-35 years old. She attempted to call her son, but didn’t get a response. “I was trying to hold onto hope that it wasn’t him,” she recalls. She then called 19-yearold daughter Bailey to try and
Brady is currently in stable condition. Despite the road ahead of him, the determined Preston man is making great strides in his recovery. Photo courtesy of Micki Gartner locate her son. “Bailey said, joined them for the torturous and had been stuck by a garbage ‘He was just here. He fixed the trek to Rochester. The family truck turning left onto I-90 East. Impala.’” “It was very hard,” remembers came upon the accident scene, As Micki’s co-workers came which was still being cleaned Micki. “The team came together together to hold her together, up and stopped briefly to talk and told us that they were operTom drove to Traditions in with police. The learned Brady ating on Brady and that it was a Preston to pick her up. Bailey had been driving northbound bad injury.” and 20-year-old son Daulton on Highway 52, near Marion, Arriving at St. Mary’s, the fam-
ily learned that Brady had more than a dozen injuries, including a skull fracture, multiple broken bones, collapsed lung, and a severe laceration to his leg. The craniotomy procedure took more than six hours. “We pretty much filled the waiting room,” adds Micki. “He had been unconscious at the scene and was on induced sedation. He was in critical condition those first two or three days.” An MRI determined the extent of injury to his neck and a CAT scan showed blood in the back of the brain had shifted, causing possible further pressure. During the craniotomy, doctors were able to reduce the swelling and relieve the pressure. Brady’s vital signs miraculously stabilized shortly after and he was able to wean off sedation medications. A fever caused some further concern, but cultures determined there was no infection, much to the family’s relief. While some swelling in the brain persisted, Micki says that See BRADY Page 2
Rushford approves report for Street Utility Improvement; canoe launch agreement By K irsten Zoellner kirsten@fillmorecountyjournal.com
In a three-hour meeting, Monday, March 14, the Rushford Council hit at a number of ongoing project preparations. A preliminary engineering report for the 2016 Street Utility Improvement took the
majority of discussion. Brain Malm, engineer for Bolton & Menk, Inc. was on hand to lay out the details and answer questions on work planned for South Burr Oak Street and Hillcrest Drive later this year. Highlighting existing conditions, Malm stated that both streets are currently 32-foot
Prices Effective: March 21 - March 26 Closed on easter sunday, MarCh 27
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paved roadways of “very poor condition”. Curb and driveway apron are also deemed fair to poor. Additionally, Burr Oak suffers from poor elevation leading to the levee interior drainage system, creating ongoing water drainage issues. The street has no storm sewer system, while Hillcrest has two poorly functioning
catch basins at the Watt Street intersection. Existing sanitary sewer on Burr Oak is 6” concrete pipe with wet well lift station with single pump system that does not meet Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. Hillcrest, on the other hand, is constructed of 8” concrete pipe, but both sys-
tems are 40-50 years in age and are considered in poor condition. Watermain conditions do not fare better as both streets have 6” cast iron pipe, more than 50-years-old, which are also in poor condition. Proposed improvements See RUSHFORD Page 10
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