Polk County highway employee's career sinks along with 9-ton loader

Last update: December 31, 2008 - 9:07 PM

CROOKSTON, MINN. - A Polk County employee who sank a county loader in a river in Crookston has been fired.

Mike Raymond told the Grand Forks Herald he got a letter telling him he was fired after 28 years with the highway department.

Department head Richard Sanders said Raymond was a good employee but violated the department's work rules. Raymond was supposed to be clearing county parking lots early Monday when he started removing snow from a boat landing used by ice fishermen on the Red Lake River. His 9-ton machine slid down the landing and broke through the river ice.

Sanders says fixing the loader will cost thousands of dollars.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

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