Man dies in traffic accident

I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.

Dec. 30, 1999

By Devlyn Brooks

A Red Lake man died Wednesday as a result of injuries sustained in a late Tuesday night accident, according to the State Patrol in Thief River Falls.

A second Red Lake man remained in critical condition as of Wednesday afternoon, a State Patrol spokeswoman said.

Marilayne May, 32, died at 10:29 a.m. Wednesday at MeritCare Hospital in Fargo, N.D. He was a passenger in a car that flipped on Minnesota Highway 89 Tuesday night.

The driver, Allen James Oakgrove, 26, was in critical condition.

According to the spokeswoman, Oakgrove was driving a 1997 Ford Escort northbound on Highway 89 about 9 1/2 miles north of the U.S. Highway 2 junction when he crashed about 11:47 p.m. The car went off the right side of the road and flipped.

Both Oakgrove and May were ejected from the vehicle. They were taken to North County Regional Hospital in Bemidji and later airlifted to MeritCare Hospital in Fargo.

The State Patrol spokeswoman said the road condition was not a factor in the accident, and charges are pending against the driver, Oakgrove.

May's funeral arrangements were pending Wednesday with Olson-Schwartz Funeral Home of Bemidji.