By Patrick Tepoorten

The Chisago County Veterans Service Office suffered a tragedy on the afternoon of Friday, April 6, when its van, carrying two passengers home from the VA hospital in Minneapolis, suddenly veered across the median on I-35W and struck oncoming traffic. Two people were killed in the crash, including Veterans Service Office driver Richard Carroll, 78, of Center City.

Preliminary reports indicate that Carroll suffered some kind of medical emergency just before the accident, which occurred at roughly 2 p.m., and may have slumped to his right. The van, which had Richard Kerr, 83 and recent resident at Parmly Senior Housing, in the passenger seat, and Robert Butte, 76, of Chisago City, in the seat directly behind the driver, swerved into the median near CR-88 and struck another van, driven by Robert Tomlin, 38, of Mahtomedi, head on.

Both Carroll and Tomlin were killed as a result of the crash. Kerr and Butte were both seriously injured and transported to Hennepin County Medical Center. According to Chisago County Veterans Service Officer Jim Halstrom, Butte is in stable condition and Kerr is considered critical but stable.

Halstrom was clearly shaken on Monday, and expressed his grief not only for the Carroll family but the Tomlin family as well. "Our hearts and concern go out to his family," he said.

Carroll had recently been given clearance to continue driving the van for the Veteran's Service Office. He had passed a physical in March and had also recently completed a defensive driving class.

Halstrom described Carroll as a dedicated volunteer and Navy veteran from 1945 to 1949. He had been active in veterans advocacy from the local to the national level. "Our motto is ‘veterans serving veterans,'" said Halstrom. "That's what Richard Carroll did. This is a huge loss for all of the families involved, for Chisago County, and for our Vets program," he added. "Our main focus now is to see the families through this next period of time and do everything we can to insure the continuation of our veterans van program."

Heartland Express has stepped in to continue the program, which only had the one van, and will continue to make trips to the Twin Cities on a regular basis. In the meantime, Halstrom's office is working on replacing the 1998 Ford van. A fund-raiser had already been undertaken to replace the aging vehicle, but not much had been raised. Halstrom estimated it would take about $35,000 to replace the van.

Those interested in contributing to the fund can do so by sending donations to:

Chisago County Veterans Service Office
38794 Sixth Ave.
North Branch, MN 55056
Memo: Veterans van

Carroll's funeral is being held at St. Bridget's church in Lindstrom at 10 a.m. on Wednesday (today).

Comment from Concerned Citizen, 4/12/07

Pretty biased article spending very little time covering Mr. Tomlin. Maybe you should also include donations for his family.