Liberty Belle
Well-known member
Communities reeling after deadly accident
By LAUREN DONOVAN, Bismarck Tribune
Three is not a big number, unless it counts the lives of three young men, ended so long before their fair share of days.
People in Slope and Bowman counties count heavy losses after a fatal accident that claimed three of their own Monday. In a sparsely populated place like Slope County, they count the loss extra for what it steals from the community's future.
A head-on accident up on Highway 85, north of Fairfield, early Monday morning killed two brothers and their good friend. A fourth person died Tuesday -- the other driver, a man hauling a tanker of crude oil up the same highway.
The victims from one vehicle are brothers Justin Jacobson, 25, and Casey Jacobson, 19, of rural Amidon, and friend Brandon Klein, 20, of Bowman. The three were pronounced dead at the scene.
Don Tucker, 46, of Grassy Butte, died Tuesday at a St. Paul, Minn., burn hospital.
The three young men, who wrestled and rodeoed together while growing up, will be remembered in a joint memorial service at 1 p.m. MDT Friday at the outdoor North Winds rodeo arena in Bowman.
Services for Klein are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. MDT Thursday at St. Charles Catholic Church in Bowman. Burial will follow in the St. Charles Catholic Cemetery. Further arrangements for Justin and Casey Jacobson are pending with Ladbury Funeral Service, Dickinson. Arrangements for Tucker also are pending with Ladbury.
The accident occurred at about 12:30 a.m. MDT, when a 1999 Cadillac driven by Ryan Jacobson, 21, veered out of the southbound lane. It collided with the tanker that had filled at an oil well site near Fairfield and was heading out.
The force of the collision sent the Jacobson vehicle spinning into the east ditch. The tanker -- a truck and pup tank -- jackknifed on the highway and became engulfed in a hot, fierce oil fire that burned for six hours and detoured traffic until morning.
Tucker apparently was able to escape the truck on his own, but succumbed to his injuries Tuesday.
Ryan Jacobson was taken to the Dickinson hospital for critical care and has been transferred to a Bismarck hospital.
The three Jacobson brothers and Klein all were Bowman High School wrestlers, all competing and placing in state wrestling tournaments. All rode saddle bronc during the summer and -- particularly the Jacobsons -- were reputable bronc riders.
The four were returning from a long day at the White Earth rodeo, near Tioga, when it appears Ryan Jacobson may have dozed off, Highway Patrol Capt. Tony Huck said.
Casey Jacobson was ejected from the Cadillac. Neither he nor Ryan Jacobson were wearing seatbelts. Justin Jacobson and Brandon Klein were belted in, the Highway Patrol said.
Huck said details remain under investigation.
Tucker was driving a truck leased by Diamond B, a well service operation based in Plentywood, Mont.
Company president Steve Bowman said he couldn't talk about the accident, except to say it was a "terrible, terrible tragedy" for the driver and the young men's families.
Back in Slope and Bowman counties, people are still trying to make sense of it all.
"It's a shock to lose this many young kids all at once like this," former Bowman wrestling coach Ryan Moser said.
He said the Jacobson brothers and Klein were hard-working wrestlers, the youngest three part of a very close unit. He said they were typical kids and did all of the things boys do, "good and bad. They always gave 100 percent."
Pat Lorge, of Amidon, is a good friend of both families.
"These kids grew up with our kids," Lorge said. "It's like one big family."
Justin Jacobson, the oldest, had completed college and returned to take over an uncle's ranch. Klein, the son of Bruce and Connie Klein, was a student at Jamestown College. Ryan Jacobson is a student at North Dakota State University at Fargo, and Casey Jacobson had been at community college in Glendive, Mont.
Lorge said the loss of Justin and Casey Jacobson will bear down hard on the Slope County rural neighborhood, where the Jacobsons have ranched for generations.
"It's a tough day when you've got to lose the kids. They are our hope for the future," Lorge said.
Justin and Casey Jacobson were the sons of Kristie and Loren Jacobson.
Last fall, a wild fire swept off the prairie from the south and burned grass and hundreds of acres of ponderosa pines on the Jacobsons' place. The next day, Loren Jacobson was out fixing fence and checking cattle.
That day, the fire still smoldering in charred pines, he said, "The grass will come back, the sun will shine and it'll rain again someday. It always does."
It may take a long time for those words to come to pass, but hopefully they will, someday.
By LAUREN DONOVAN, Bismarck Tribune
Three is not a big number, unless it counts the lives of three young men, ended so long before their fair share of days.
People in Slope and Bowman counties count heavy losses after a fatal accident that claimed three of their own Monday. In a sparsely populated place like Slope County, they count the loss extra for what it steals from the community's future.
A head-on accident up on Highway 85, north of Fairfield, early Monday morning killed two brothers and their good friend. A fourth person died Tuesday -- the other driver, a man hauling a tanker of crude oil up the same highway.
The victims from one vehicle are brothers Justin Jacobson, 25, and Casey Jacobson, 19, of rural Amidon, and friend Brandon Klein, 20, of Bowman. The three were pronounced dead at the scene.
Don Tucker, 46, of Grassy Butte, died Tuesday at a St. Paul, Minn., burn hospital.
The three young men, who wrestled and rodeoed together while growing up, will be remembered in a joint memorial service at 1 p.m. MDT Friday at the outdoor North Winds rodeo arena in Bowman.
Services for Klein are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. MDT Thursday at St. Charles Catholic Church in Bowman. Burial will follow in the St. Charles Catholic Cemetery. Further arrangements for Justin and Casey Jacobson are pending with Ladbury Funeral Service, Dickinson. Arrangements for Tucker also are pending with Ladbury.
The accident occurred at about 12:30 a.m. MDT, when a 1999 Cadillac driven by Ryan Jacobson, 21, veered out of the southbound lane. It collided with the tanker that had filled at an oil well site near Fairfield and was heading out.
The force of the collision sent the Jacobson vehicle spinning into the east ditch. The tanker -- a truck and pup tank -- jackknifed on the highway and became engulfed in a hot, fierce oil fire that burned for six hours and detoured traffic until morning.
Tucker apparently was able to escape the truck on his own, but succumbed to his injuries Tuesday.
Ryan Jacobson was taken to the Dickinson hospital for critical care and has been transferred to a Bismarck hospital.
The three Jacobson brothers and Klein all were Bowman High School wrestlers, all competing and placing in state wrestling tournaments. All rode saddle bronc during the summer and -- particularly the Jacobsons -- were reputable bronc riders.
The four were returning from a long day at the White Earth rodeo, near Tioga, when it appears Ryan Jacobson may have dozed off, Highway Patrol Capt. Tony Huck said.
Casey Jacobson was ejected from the Cadillac. Neither he nor Ryan Jacobson were wearing seatbelts. Justin Jacobson and Brandon Klein were belted in, the Highway Patrol said.
Huck said details remain under investigation.
Tucker was driving a truck leased by Diamond B, a well service operation based in Plentywood, Mont.
Company president Steve Bowman said he couldn't talk about the accident, except to say it was a "terrible, terrible tragedy" for the driver and the young men's families.
Back in Slope and Bowman counties, people are still trying to make sense of it all.
"It's a shock to lose this many young kids all at once like this," former Bowman wrestling coach Ryan Moser said.
He said the Jacobson brothers and Klein were hard-working wrestlers, the youngest three part of a very close unit. He said they were typical kids and did all of the things boys do, "good and bad. They always gave 100 percent."
Pat Lorge, of Amidon, is a good friend of both families.
"These kids grew up with our kids," Lorge said. "It's like one big family."
Justin Jacobson, the oldest, had completed college and returned to take over an uncle's ranch. Klein, the son of Bruce and Connie Klein, was a student at Jamestown College. Ryan Jacobson is a student at North Dakota State University at Fargo, and Casey Jacobson had been at community college in Glendive, Mont.
Lorge said the loss of Justin and Casey Jacobson will bear down hard on the Slope County rural neighborhood, where the Jacobsons have ranched for generations.
"It's a tough day when you've got to lose the kids. They are our hope for the future," Lorge said.
Justin and Casey Jacobson were the sons of Kristie and Loren Jacobson.
Last fall, a wild fire swept off the prairie from the south and burned grass and hundreds of acres of ponderosa pines on the Jacobsons' place. The next day, Loren Jacobson was out fixing fence and checking cattle.
That day, the fire still smoldering in charred pines, he said, "The grass will come back, the sun will shine and it'll rain again someday. It always does."
It may take a long time for those words to come to pass, but hopefully they will, someday.
