Woman killed in two-car accident south of Bemidji

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. 7, 1999

By Devlyn Brooks

A Park Rapids woman was killed in a two-vehicle crash Friday eight miles south of Bemidji on U.S. Highway 71, according to the State Patrol in Thief River Falls.

Rhonda Cloutier, 26, was killed when the 1993 Saturn she was driving collided about 12:50 a.m. with a 1995 Ford Windstar driven by Thomas Demars, 33, of Pine River.

Cloutier was dead at the scene, according to a State patrol dispatcher, and Demars was taken to North Country Regional Hospital with a bruised leg and a stiff neck.

A passenger in Demars' vehicle, Terry Storm, 34, of Walker, was also taken to the hospital with a broken arm and injured ribs.

Cloutier was driving north on Highway 71, and Demars was headed south. A State Patrol dispatcher said the two vehicles collided head-on, but it was not known Friday which vehicle crossed the center line.