Show will benefit families of track-meet crash victims

Benefit set for Wright County families whose teenagers were involved in accident.

Star Tribune

Last update: July 22, 2008 - 9:33 PM

A benefit dinner-theater production is being staged for the Wright County families whose high school seniors were involved in a traffic crash that killed one of them days before graduation.

The "Neighbors Helping Neighbors" Benefit is scheduled for Aug. 1 at Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted (HLWW) High School.

Madeysen Kleve and Kacie Carlsted, both 18 and from Howard Lake, Mitchell Bayerl, 18, of Silver Lake, and Brie Barfknecht, 18, of Waverly, were returning from a track meet on May 28 when they collided with a pickup truck at an intersection near Annandale.

Kleve was killed, and Carlsted and Bayerl were seriously hurt. Barfknecht, the driver, was slightly injured. Carlsted remains at St. Cloud Hospital and is undergoing extensive therapy.

The show being staged is "The Snake in the Grass," a melodrama to be performed by the HLWW/Dassel-Cokato drama clubs. Carlsted and Barfknecht have been active in school drama.

For more information on how to donate, call St. John's Lutheran Church in Howard Lake at 1-320-543-2227. For ticket information, call the HLWW Community Education Office at 1-320-543-3600.

PAUL WALSH