Living history: Firearm warning given by police

10 years ago

Excerpts from the June 17, 2004 Pioneer Journal

• House among treetops garners national attention

With questions like, "what type of food do you have in your refrigerator" and "what is a fantasy night out for you" Peggy Line wasn't sure where the reporter from the New York Times magazine was headed.

And while she thought they were strange questions considering the article was about the tree house the Lines live in, she told the woman that she had A&W root beer, and her ideal night out was canoeing under the stars with the finale around a campfire eating brownies.

Reporters and television cameras have been popular at the Will and Peggy Line treehouse at the end of Colfax Avenue. The couple built the tree house and has been living among the squirrels and birds for about three years. Many people have visited their address from both sides of the United States; the Lines have a guest book with signatures from all over.

All of the attention started when a woman from Long Prairie asked if she could stop and take a look at their house. As always the Lines welcomed the woman, who asked if she could tell a journalist doing a story about her treehouse about their house among the leaves.

Peggy Line said that a crew from Home and Garden Television (HGTV) will spend two days filming at her home shooting about 10 hours of film. In the end, it will be reduced to about six minutes.

All of the attention is a bit overwhelming but exciting nonetheless for the Wadena couple who just want people to understand the concept behind their treetop abode.

30 years ago

Excerpts from the June 19, 1984 Pioneer Journal

• Three die in BN coal train collision near Motley

"It was an eerie feeling because I heard the rumble and vibration of a coal train on the Burlington Northern track early Thursday morning which runs about 1.5 miles northwest of my rural Motley home,' Charles Funk, vo ag instructor at Motley high school said following the head-on collision of two 110-car BN coal trains three miles east of Motley.

At least two people died in the collision, a third crew member was missing while a fourth was hospitalized at Brainerd. Four others, all of whom had been in cabooses, reportedly escaped injury, according to BN Vice President Don Scott.

Railway officials indicated that a dispatcher in Minneapolis had been suspended pending an investigation.

The charred remains of one man were found in the wreckage early Thursday morning.

Jim Johannsen, a brakeman on one of the two trains said curves east and west of the collision site prevented the two train engineers from spotting each other until it was too late.

"If the two trains saw each other from a mile away, they still would not have been able to stop," Scott said. "A loaded coal train takes about one and a half miles to bring to a complete stop."

By noon Thursday many of the cars had been cleared from the tracks and had been pulled to Staples or Motley. Many of the cars still smoldered.

The bodies of two trainmen were recovered from the wreckage Thursday. The third victim's body was discovered by BN crewmen late Friday.

50 years ago

Excerpts from the June 18, 1964 Pioneer Journal

• Firearm warning given by police

A stray bullet apparently caused the death last week of a calf owned by William T. Hansen, rural Wadena. This is not the first time an incident of this nature has occurred in this vicinity.

The shooting took place about two miles north of town on the Dump Road. Last year Hansen lost two cows through the same way.

The firing of firearms from the highway and bridge is not only endangering the lives of livestock, but humans as well. An unguided bullet may someday strike a small child or adult and cause serious injury or death.

Due to the recent flare-up, a stringent check of this area will be conducted by Wadena County Sheriff Manley Erickson and Wadena Chief of Police Jerry Olson.

• Three men file for Wadena County commissioner

As of Monday, June 15, three men have filed their names with the county auditor to run for election as a county commissioner.

Arthur Miller (incumbent) - second commissioners, district consisting of Bullard, Thomastown, Wing River, Aldrich Townships and Verndale and Aldrich Villages.

David Paulson - Wadena Village district No. three.

Edward Raddohl - fifth district, Red Eye, Blueberry, Shell River, Huntersville, Orton, Meadown Townships, Menahga and Nimrod Villages.

70 years ago

Excerpts from the June 22, 1944 Pioneer Journal

• Game cannot be kept after June 30

Allan Brattland, local game warden, issues the warning that game birds and venison cannot legally be kept either in cans or cold storage after June 30.

The law provides a penalty for violators of the law.

• Lightning strikes, kills young girl

Elsie Johnson, 15, was killed instantly Saturday night when she was struck by lightning at the farm home of Mr. and Mrs. Harold Sowers. Johnson and Beverly Dumpprope, 11, were watching workmen raise a piano to the loft of the newly constructed barn, where a dance was to have been that evening, when the bolt struck.

Dumpprope suffered from shock and was partly paralyzed by the bolt. She is still in serious condition. A sister of Johnson was also treated for injuries.

Johnson is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Johnson of Poplar and recently returned from California. She was born March 27, 1929.