Argus-Leader from Sioux Falls, South Dakota • Page 16

"16A REGION Argus Leader, Thursday, Nov. 28, 1996 Gravedigging: Next step awaits results 7 Continued from 1A SAVE THRU SUNDAY Fargo All Sports Moorhead All Sports West Acres Scheels SAVE THRU SUNDAY Fargo All Sports Moorhead All Sports West Acres Scheels At a glance The baby search The issue: Martys Thomas of Sioux Falls questions whether her daughter Mary Agnes died the day she was born, June 12, 1962, or if the infant was taken and put up for adoption. Wednesday's development: Experts dug up the baby's grave in Worthington, and found possible bone fragments and disintegrated wood. What's next: Minnehaha County Coroner Dr. Brad Randall will analyze the pieces.

If bone fragments were recovered, he could have them DNA-tested, which could confirm if Mary Agnes was buried where she's supposed to be. fi r-i Woofer mik is pi 7T 'mm''0m Agnes' grave. A frigid wind made standing outside difficult, so some people sought the shelter of vehicles. Two men who did most of the digging first chipped through the top foot of frozen soil with a pick ax. They used spades and sand shovels to dig out the softer, deeper black earth.

They also tore through several roots from a nearby tree. Within a half-hour, they were down about 3 feet and started recovering small pieces of wood by lying on the ground and reaching into the hole. Tiny but vital discovery Small cream-colored fragments were recovered and placed in a plastic sandwich bag. "I can find nothing else," said Denny Kruger of Adrian, an expert in grave exhumation. The pieces might look like possible bone fragments, but Randall will study them to make sure.

They could be rock. "I haven't seen anything yet to know if it is remains," he said. Four metal stakes marked the boundary of Mary Agnes' grave to ensure that the adjacent grave of Pamela Rae Dickey was not disturbed. Reluctance to allow dig That newborn died within hours of Mary Agnes' recorded time of death. The Dickey family and cemetery officials initially fought Thomas' request to dig up the grave.

They eventually agreed after assurances that Pamela Rae's site would remain intact. "We're just here to protect our daughter's and sister's grave. She's been there 34 years resting in peace and that's where we want her to stay," said Mary Roth of Milford, Iowa, Pamela Rae's older sister. Thomas and her husband were estranged when the baby was born. $50 Off Scheels Exclusive! Columbia 'Snowy Ridge' i i JT From that day, Thomas said she has never had peace about her daughter's death.

She remembered the baby's feet kicking right after delivery, although the death certificate states Mary Agnes did not take a breath. Records also conflict about the time of birth and death. Other discrepancies nagged at her. She did not openly question whether Mary Agnes was buried in the cemetery until 1993. Seeking closure Scott Heidepriem, Thomas' Sioux Falls lawyer, was optimistic that the discovery of disintegrated wood would help answer questions.

He will meet with Thomas and wait for the results of Randall's tests before deciding what if anything to do next. "The indication is there was a casket there and had the contour of what an infant's casket would be," Heidepriem said. "There is some satisfaction to know there is a casket in the grave by the (headstone) marker. I think she was hoping for something more concrete and something to put more closure on it." When the weather changes, your parka had better change with it! And the Snowy Ridge does just it's like 4-jackets in-1 thanks to Columbia's 2-piece Interchange System! Windproof, multi-pocketed uninsulated outershell nas detachable hood, drawstring waist, storm flap adjustable cuffs. Zip-out inner jacket reverses to different colors; Thermoloft insulation for warmtn.

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Within eight minutes, he was on the scene with Blazek, assessing Tiede's status and trying to clear his airways. Sioux Falls Ambulance arrived minutes later. By then, Becker had called for a helicopter. Dream-like experience Tiede figured later it was the whirling blades of the Sioux Valley Hospital helicopter that had caused the cold winds in his dream. He was in the air and on his way to Sioux Falls barely 30 minutes after his tractor tipped.

There seems little question in his mind that the prompt response of those around him saved his life. "If I had laid there unattended for 30 minutes, an hour, I wouldn't be here talking to you today," he said. "I was fortunate. I had not suffered any starvation of oxygen to the point of having neurological difficulties." That's not to say there were no tense moments afterward. Tiede spent 16 days at Sioux Valley, 11 of them in intensive care.

He recovered at home for two months and has started serious rehabilitation in the last two weeks, building up his back, upper-body strength and endurance. Snowmobile incident This isn't the first time Tiede has faced a near-death experience. Seventeen years ago, while snowmobiling in the Little Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming, his machine crashed and catapulted him into a rocky ledge. Bleeding internally, with his hip badly damaged, Tiede was pulled eight miles through the wilderness on a sled to get medical attention. It took 1912 units of blood, three surgeries and 69 days in hospitals to make him whole again.

That, Don Tiede will tell you, is good fortune. But then, so is the fact that he emerged from this latest nightmare intact, on the mend and ready to move ahead again. Many people, many thanks A man gives thanks for something like that, on Thanksgiving Day and every day. And so it is that Tiede offers his appreciation to his neighbor the nurse, her friends, the Sioux Falls family on an outing to Lake Alvin, a volunteer firefighter from Harrisburg, and everyone else who helped save his life. He is so glad that he was able to wake up from his terrible dream.

"I remember telling my trauma surgeon at Sioux Valley, Dr. Eric Rolfsmeyer, how appreciative I was of the care I got at Sioux Valley," Tiede said. "And he put his hand on my shoulder and said, 'Don, the real thanks goes to the people who acted so appropriately to help you. Without them, I wouldn't be able to help "And you know, he's right. The level of emergency-care expertise that lives in our midst, whether it's rural South Dakota or in Sioux Falls, is just incredible.

For me, that is the neatest thing." lit and Tiede was wishing he was farther along than he was. As he maneuvered up onto the crown of the ditch, he knew he was mowing in a direction opposite of what he normally did. There is an indentation in the crown of the ditch, 4 or 5 inches deep, and he had become accustomed to shifting his weight a certain way to keep the tractor balanced through the rut. But Tiede was behind and in a hurry. So he drove on, trying to adjust his balancing act.

It didn't work. Caught under the bar "When the rear wheel fell into the indentation, it caused the tractor to roll onto its side," he said. "I tried to shift, but it threw me out of my seat. I landed face down on the ground, and the roll bar on the tractor came over and pinned me." Foolishly, Tiede had not been wearing his seat belt. So there he lay, trying to thrash his way out from under the bar.

The mower was running wide open, driving the bar hard into his shoulders, bringing a sudden, terrific pressure to bear on his ability to breathe. Six ribs cracked on his left side, as did two more on the right. His left kidney was bruised; his lungs collapsed. He was quickly suffocating, and he knew it. "A lot of things went through my mind," he said.

"I do remember that I said goodbye." Help from all around About that time, Brian and Char Blazek and their three children were returning to Sioux Falls from an outing at Lake Alvin. Usually, they would have turned before driving past Tiede's place. But Char Blazek wanted to take the children by the television towers. Brian Blazek quickly pulled over and ran to the tractor, shutting it off. Then he tried lifting the roll bar off Tiede but could only budge it inches.

As much as he hated to, Blazek had to lower the bar back down on trapped man and then try to find a way to jack up the tractor. About that time, Tiede's neighbor, a nurse named Lori Long, was teeing off at Spring Creek's 11th hole with three friends Glenny Brockhuis, Luella Schaap and Darlene Walhof. They saw the confusion near Tiede's place and rushed over. Someone called 911. Meanwhile, Brian Blazek had retrieved a scissors jack from his Jeep and pried the roll bar from Tiede.

As Brockhuis went for Karen Tiede, the rest rolled the injured man out away from the tractor. The golfers' husbands, who were playing a hole behind them, had arrived by that time, too. Steve Becker, a member of Harrisburg's volunteer fire department, was home when the 911 Mad Bomber Caps Exceptionally warm! Supplex nylon shell with ear flaps, collar band and visor lined in plush, genuine rabbit fur. if 'J Assorted colors. Adult Youth REG.

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