Cook County Law Enforcement received a call at 3:53 p.m. on Saturday, September 19, reporting that a semi had stopped in the middle of Highway 61 in Lutsen, nearly losing its load. When State Patrol Officer Leah Carpenter arrived, she found that the semi had not only nearly lost its large load of railroad ties, the shifting of the load severed the semi’s brake line.
The truck, a 2008 Peterbilt, was being driven eastbound on Highway 61 by Frank Scheibler, 50, of Barwick, Ontario when it came upon a vehicle making a left turn into Clearview General Store. The rapid stop threw the load up against the cab of the semi and cut the brake lines.
Traffic on Highway 61 was down to one lane in the very busy Lutsen area, so Trooper Carpenter sought assistance locally to get the load resecured and the brake line repaired. She contacted Mike Rose of Rose Excavating, who responded, along with a heavy equipment operator from Ernst Logging who was working up the Caribou Trail. Together the equipment operators were able to get the load away from the semi-truck’s cab.
Greg Olson of Greg’s Repair in Grand Marais was contacted and he repaired the brake line as the load was being secured.
“It was great that these three people were able to so quickly come to our aid,” said Carpenter.
The driver was cited for having an unsecured load.
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