Lost furniture leads to crashes on Highway 29

By Jeff Starck • Wausau Daily Herald • November 5, 2010

ROTHSCHILD -- Police still were searching Thursday for a driver who lost a load of furniture Wednesday on Highway 29, causing two crashes and hours of traffic snarls.

The State Patrol received reports from the Marathon County Sheriff's Department and several motorists at about 6:45 p.m. Wednesday that shards of wood and broken glass were strewn across the westbound lanes of Highway 29 near the Business Highway 51 exit in Rothschild.

The driver of a tractor-trailer and a 16-person passenger van each hit mattresses in the roadway, and the two vehicles collided, State Patrol trooper Curt Tomkowiak said Thursday. One of the mattresses became tangled in the tractor-trailer's drive shaft, and the truck had to be towed from the scene, he said.

The driver of a minivan braked abruptly to avoid the stopped tractor-trailer and passenger van in the roadway, and was rear-ended by a pickup, Tomkowiak said.

No one was hurt in the two crashes, police said.

Tomkowiak, who was one of the officers who responded to the scene, said he couldn't identify what other furniture might have fallen on the road because the debris was either obliterated by passing vehicles or had been cleaned up.

Meanwhile, the owner of the mattresses remains unknown. No one who was involved in or witnessed the crash saw the vehicle that lost its load, Tomkowiak said.

Westbound traffic on Highway 29 was stopped or limited to one lane for about two hours Wednesday while the debris and vehicles were cleared away.

Anyone with information about the driver who lost the furniture should call the State Patrol at 715-845-1143.

Twin box spring causes double trouble for Elkhart County motorist

WSBT-TV Report

7:34 a.m. EDT, November 4, 2010

A twin box spring fell from a trailer being towed Wednesday evening on County Road 50, west of County Road 7. The loose box spring struck a westbound car, landing on car’s hood and smashing the windshield.

An Elkhart County Sheriff’s Department news release indicated Heather Atwell, 47, of Elkhart, was driving westbound on County Road 50. She was taken to Elkhart General Hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries after the box spring smashed her car.

The other driver was issued a warning for having an improperly secured load, according to the news release. Information about the other driver was not available from police nor the county’s emergency services dispatch center.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSsXqFo1fVo

Thursday November 4, 2010

Horses Tossed From Trailer Onto Route 7

A trailer overturned in Jefferson County and tossed two horses onto State Route 7 near the Pottery Addition entrance ramp, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol.

The vehicle was traveling south when the trailer that was hauling the horses became unhitched, according to OSHP.The owners called a veterinarian Dr. Eric Bruns, who also responded to the scene to treat the animals.Bruns said he sedated the animals and treated them for abrasions.

"I had to clean one of them. He had a tree branch stuck into him, but they're animals, they'll both be all right. I'm pretty sure," said Bruns.

Troopers said the situation could have turned out worse."They were lucky that they landed on the ramp here. There's not a lot of traffic on this ramp, " said Sgt. Jeff Bernard.Troopers said they are trying to determine how the trailer became unhitched.