StarTribune.com
crmbrfs080708

Home | Local + Metro

SUV, student driver's car crash; teacher dies

Last update: August 6, 2008 - 11:27 PM

SUV, student driver's car crash; teacher dies

A driver's-education instructor died Tuesday, hours after he was in an accident while was conducting a driving lesson.

Neil Stoeckel, 58, was riding with a 15-year-old Chisago Lakes High School student when an SUV that appeared to have run a red light slammed into the passenger-side door of the driver's-education car at Hwy. 8 at Pioneer Road in Chisago County, the State Patrol said.

Preliminary reports indicate that the student, Ryan Merry, 15, of Lindstrom, had the green light, pulled into the intersection and was crossing Hwy. 8 when his vehicle was hit about 1:30 p.m.

Stoeckel died of internal injuries at North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale, the patrol said.

He was a behind-the-wheel instructor for the Chisago Lakes School District's Community Education Department. He also had taught industrial arts for 33 years at St. Francis Middle School and had served on the district's safety committee, said Jay Reker, director of human resources for St. Francis Schools.

"He was a very respected teacher," Reker said. "We're kind of reeling here."

Merry was treated for minor injuries. The SUV driver, Elizabeth Miller, 61, of Turtle Lake, Wis., was treated at St. Croix Regional Medical Center in St. Croix Falls, Wis., for minor injuries.

The crash is under investigation.

TIM HARLOW

Woman whose son shot bald eagle is fined

A 48-year-old Minnesota woman whose son shot and killed a bald eagle at her request because it was harassing waterfowl on the family property has been fined $2,500, conservation officials said.

Katherine K. Tramm, of Mora, paid her fine last month in a plea agreement stemming from the shooting in October.

Tramm "asked her son to kill the bald eagle, which was harassing ducks and swans on the Tramms' private pond," the federal citation issued to her said.

Tramm also admitted to handling the dead eagle, "which was disposed of on her property," the citation added.

The adult son was not charged, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Green Bay, Wis., which investigated the killing.

Minnesota conservation officers Dan Perron and Mike Lee responded to a complaint made to the Minnesota "Turn in Poachers" hot line that a bald eagle had been killed in Mora last fall. The officers failed to retrieve the eagle but did obtain Tramm's confession.

PAUL WALSH

Recent Local + Metro stories

Lawsuit to block foreclosures in state dismissed - August 6, 2008
Lawsuit to block foreclosures in state dismissed - A federal judge has dismissed a class-action lawsuit filed by a group of homeowners who sought to block foreclosures in Minnesota, but their attorney said the case led to significant progress anyway. More
Subscribe
Shopping + Classifieds
Career Newsletter

Free Jobs E-mail Newsletter

Resources to help further your career. Sign up now.
Homes

Find Your Next Home

Search realtor represented & for sale by owner homes in the Twin Cities. Plus, find open house listings.

Win tickets to the Walker After Hours/Preview Party event.

Join Vita.mn for the Walker After Hours/Preview Party event at Walker Art Center on Nov. 20. The party will feature DJ Scott Stulen, Lookbook in Gallery 8, film screenings, exhibition previews not yet open to the public and more.

See all contests