# Minnesota ground person killed...



## Gopher (Mar 28, 2004)

While I was up to Minnesota last week, my sister had clipped out of the local (Stillwater, MN) paper an article about a 19 year old killed while working with a local family owned tree service. 

Then, when I was attending the MN Shade Tree Short Course, we had a moment of silence for the young man.

Does anyone have the details of this fatality?

Also, a man was killed just north of me (not a tree care person) while pulling over trees with his wife at home. Toppled one over on himself, I believe.

Safe climbing and working, boys and girls.

Take care all.

Gopher


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## Lumberjack (Mar 29, 2004)

Tonight on AFV (Americas Funniest Videos) they showed 3 guys pulling over a large tree which looked like an oak. They got the tree started (didnt take much, it was only 3 of them) and they realize that the tree is gonna hit where they are standing. They run out from under it, and it is suppose to be funny?


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## Diver1 (Mar 29, 2004)

I saw the same video clip. I thought it was the tryouts for the darwin awards.

I also failed to see the humor in it.


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## Tom Dunlap (Mar 30, 2004)

DAve,

Head over to Treeb*zz, "Awakenings" to read more about the young man who was killed.

Another sad day 

Tom


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## Kneejerk Bombas (Mar 30, 2004)

There's a good article in Arborist News about tree worker fatalities this month, a must read for those in the industry.


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## dbeck (Mar 31, 2004)

> _Originally posted by Tom Dunlap _
> *DAve,
> 
> Head over to Treeb*zz, "Awakenings" to read more about the young man who was killed.
> ...



any reason why we can't post the info here?


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## Marky Mark (Apr 1, 2004)

This morning I was out at Fresco and found this email posted on the wall. I sent an email out and got the second two newspaper articles back.

******
The young man killed was a cousin of the owner's son who was up in the aerial bucket cutting a largee 5 ft stub off a tree, right when it was coming down the young man walked from around the side of the garage and was struck in the head by the log. He instantly died...Bummer for the worker...and family.....

Lets all say a prayer for the family and the young man in the bucket who is probably going through a very difficult time... 

*****
WASHINGTON COUNTY 

Sheriff's office IDs tree-service worker The Washington County sheriff's office Saturday identified Randall J.
Kies, 19, as the tree-service employee who was killed by a falling tree early Friday.

Kies, of North Branch, Minn., died while working at a house at 9995 N. Arcola Court, north of Stillwater. When emergency workers arrived they found Kies wasn't breathing and couldn't resuscitate him.

The incident remains under investigation. The sheriff's office didn't release the name of the company Kies was working for.

*****

La Crescent grad killed in accident in Cities By ANASTASIA MERCER / La Crosse Tribune LA CRESCENT, Minn. — A 2003 La Crescent High School graduate who had just moved to the Twin Cities died Friday in a tree trimming accident. Randall "Randy" Kies, 19, was working with his uncle and cousin in the Twin Cities area when the accident happened, said his mother, Diane Kies, who still lives in La Crescent, Minn.

Randy grew up in La Crescent, but had been living in the Twin Cities for about six weeks and was about to start a carpentry job there, Diane said.

He had worked at the Kwik Trip in La Crescent for about 2 1/2 years before that.

Diane said Randy — the oldest of her three boys — was "super responsible" and willingly took on the role of "man of the house" after the boys' father died when Randy was just 5.

Randy's aunt, Nancy Kies of Nora Springs, Iowa, remembers Randy pulling one of his brothers away from the bear cage in Myrick Park when he felt the boy was too close to danger.

She said her nephew was an "old soul."

"He could read the emotions of his mother or anybody," Nancy said. "His spirit about him was wise and old."
Nancy said Randy was a kind person and talented artist who liked to draw. He was quick to laugh, and those around him found his laugh infectious, she said.

Randy liked hunting, riding around on a four-wheeler and spending time with his younger relatives, she said.

He was especially close to his brothers: Rusty, a senior at La Crescent High School, and Ricky, a sophomore.

"They were very close — all three of them," Nancy said. "All they ever had was each other."

Randy also loved sports; he had surgery on both knees and a shoulder due to injuries from football and hockey, said his brother Ricky.

Randy also had to have a screw put in his ankle after he fell from a ladder at a relative's farm, Ricky said.

"He was just a tough kid," added his mother. "Nothing would stand in his way."

Memorials may be sent to Diane Kies 822 Redwood St W La Crescent, MN 55947-1453


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