Conquering the #039;curse#039;

Published 12:00 am Saturday, November 9, 2002

The way Bob and Madonna Rosel see it, Mower County office-seekers fell right on their fund balance.

Or property taxes, jail over-crowding and anyone of a number of other campaign issues.

There was one issue, the Rosels say, that went largely ignored in the 2002 campaigns and it is a life or death issue. Literally; not figuratively.

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"Something has to be done about the County 4 curve," said Bob, "and all the other intersections just like it, before something like this happens again."

The Rosels are holding pictures of a young man. Tanned, fit, smiling and handsome, it is their son, Dustin, then age 20.

The other pictures are of a four-door Mazda compact car. In some of them, the passenger's side is unscathed. In the other it is something else -- twisted metal sculpted by fate.

The "something like this" happened after daybreak, July 17, 2000, when Dustin Rosel's car rounded the curve in his little blue car, westbound on Mower County Road No. 4.

The other car and driver were eastbound on the blacktop highway traveling from U.S. Highway 218.

The eastbound car, also driven by a young man, turned into the path of the westbound car near the tangent intersection and T-boned the Rosel vehicle.

The horrific accident killed Dustin and seriously injured the other driver.

The Minnesota State Patrol reconstructed the accident and charged the other driver with failure to yield to an oncoming vehicle.

The driver pled guilty to the charge and the father of the victim, Bob Rosel, testified at his sentencing hearing and asked the judge for leniency on behalf of the defendant.

Then, Bob Rosel went to work to make the intersection, where his son died, safe for other drivers.

But, nothing happened.

"They told us, there are 40 such intersections like the one west of Rose Creek on County 4 in the whole county," Bob said. "Approximately 20 of these intersections with tangents have been altered, but that the other 20 remain unchanged. Actually, the word engineers use is 'corrected' to describe the tangent intersections that have been changed. Of course, those that are unchanged are called 'uncorrected'. I want to correct this one."

The parents hired a law firm to investigate the intersection's design. The law firm retained Albert E. Klais, a professional engineer for Safety Engineering Associates, Inc. of Madison, Wis., to examine the intersection and Klais reported his findings to the Rosels' attorney this spring.

Klais concluded the curved stretch of Mower County highway is "defective" and said it was a "contributing factor to the accident."

However, Klais also noted the hazard created by the design has long been recognized, but that same design was compatible with "standards in effect at the time the intersection was designed."

On Oct. 24, the couple took their concerns to a candidates forum sponsored by the American Association of University Women at the Mower County Senior Center.

"This is an issue for the candidates to debate. This is just as important as fund balances and reserves. This is public safety. That's what we're talking about here, so I asked them about the intersection," Bob said of his appearance at the forum.

He said he asked the incumbents on the Mower County Board of Commissioners and their challengers, "What does it take to get any action from the county board?"

The elected officials' responses didn't satisfy the father or his wife, but county officials say their "hands are tied."

The day after the forum, incumbent commissioners David Hillier and Garry Ellingson visited the intersection.

According to Hillier, he and Mike Hanson, county engineer visited the site after the accident two years ago at the family's request.

They concluded then as Hillier and Ellingson concluded now, stop signs on the tangent roads from County Road 52 and further north, State Highway 56, have stop signs for traffic and the intersection is as safe as the design allows.

"It's difficult to put into any priority any one of these kind of intersections, because there are a number of them," Hillier said. "It's also difficult to replace one without having to replace all of them."

Ellingson said, "It's a county state aid highway and we would have to get the state's permission to do anything. Actually, it's a perfectly good intersection the way it is designed. That's the way they were designed in those days. I see them all over the state when I drive."

Ellingson said he would ask the county engineer what, if anything, the county can do.

"Our hands are really tied on this matter," he said.

"I don't think they really know how this accident happened. The stop signs are on the tangents. They had nothing to do with this accident," Bob said.

Terese Amazi, current chief deputy, said she would visit the intersection to inspect for her own knowledge "what it's like."

But the father has grown cynical about what he sees as the lip-service-only given to his complaint about public safety.

Rosel said the reaction he has received has been uniform.

Len Miller, 4th District county commissioner and chairman of the board, lamented the Rosel family's loss, but observed, "People who have lost loved ones' lives in the Cedar River haven't asked to have the course of the river changed. Accidents happen. Our people have looked at this issue and there's nothing that can be done. It's perfectly legal as it is. I'm sorry for their loss, but that's the way it is."

State Rep. Rob Leighton (DFL-Austin) has visited with the Rosels "maybe, 12 times or so," he said.

"He's gotten nowhere with anybody. First, he wanted the highway closed. Then, he wanted it signed and the last time we talked, he wanted a memorial to be constructed along the curve to warn people of what happened there.

"Nobody seems willing or able to do anything. All I could do is refer him to people and get some information for him, but like, the DOT says 'It's a county matter.'"

Other examples of the kind of intersection the Rosels are questioning are located at the intersection of Mower County Road No. 2 and County Road 24 (570th Ave.) and Mower County Roads 2 and 16 (245th St.).

"They've got warning or yield signs," Bob said.

"All we are doing is waiting now for some good to come from all of this," he said, "It's only a sign or two we're asking for, We want something good to come from all of this to help save lives and honor our lost son."

Sue Nelson has never had to talk about Christopher and Michael that way. Her sons are alive.

Nelson said the young men and, arguably, the vast majority who have ever driven the roadway escaped what some people call the "Curse of the County 4 curve."

Nelson and her husband, Steve, live along Road No. 4 at the west tangent access to the highway.

"We've had our share of close calls coming out of our driveway onto the curved highway," Nelson said.

When corn stalks are at their fullest, the vision is obscured by the tall crops, according to Nelson

Another problem, according to Nelson, is the number of cars that go through the stop signs from the tangent roads onto the blacktop highway.

The Nelson family and nearly 300 other people were among those to sign a petition demanding action.

Like the Rosels' and others' letters to the editor of local newspapers, phone calls to Congressman Gil Gutknecht and appearance on television news shows, the tragedy and its aftermath got attention, but no action.

"They keep saying they're hands are tied, but tied by what or who? That's what I want to know," the father said.

Though any conversation about the traffic death and the saga to help make the intersection safer is dominated by the father, Madonna Rosel contributes, too.

"We don't want Dustin's death to be for naught," said the mother. "What does it take? Another motorist? Another accident or another close-call? Somebody's else's son's death? How long before the next one?"

Then, it's the father's turn again.

"I just think it's strange at election time, nobody is talking about this. They mention public safety all the time and this is about public safety. So, that's why I went to the forum to tell them how I felt," he said. "It's not just for Dustin and it's not just Madonna and me, who are upset. It's others, too. They want action. They don't want this to happen again to anybody."

Now that another Election Day is history, the father and mother and their shared grief will remain as well as the father's passion.

"I told them 'I'm not going to go away,'" he said.

Lee Bonorden can be contacted at 434-2232 or by e-mail at :mailto:lee.bonorden@austindailyherald.com