Two people killed in area traffic accidents

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.

Aug. 19, 1999

By Devlyn Brooks

Two people were killed in area automobile accidents this weekend, according to law enforcement officials.

A Walker man was killed early Friday when he was hit by a car on state Highway 200 three miles east of state Highway 371.

And a Ponemah man was killed Saturday in a head-on collision 10 miles south of Baudette on state Highway 72.

Richard Lee Butcher, 20, of Walker was killed about 3:30 a.m. Friday in a vehicle-pedestrian accident, according to the State Patrol in Brainerd.

William John Butcher, 44, also of Walker, was westbound on Highway 200 when his car struck Richard Butcher, who was reportedly lying on the highway.

Richard Butcher was found dead at the scene, and William Butcher was not hurt.

The two are not related, according to the State Patrol.

On Saturday, Craig French, 31, of Ponemah, was killed when his northbound 1989 Chevrolet Celebrity collided head-on with another vehicle on Highway 72 south of Baudette in Lake of the Woods County. The area is on the Red Lake Reservation.

French was killed about 12:50 a.m. when he collided with a southbound 1993 Cadillac driven by JoAnn Stradtmann, 38, of Sauk Rapids.

French died at the scene, according to the State Patrol in Thief River Falls.

Stradtmann was taken to a Baudette hospital with broken bones. A passenger in the vehicle, her son, Erik Stradtmann, 8, was airlifted to Altru Hospital in Grand Forks, N.D.

A second passenger, Jeanette Schmidt, 60, of Bemidji was treated and released from the Baudette hospital.

According to the State Patrol, Erik Stradtmann was sleeping in the back seat without wearing a seatbelt.