Isanti County’s injured deputy anxious to return to work

Fund at Cambridge State Bank set up for Chad Meyer

ISANTI COUNTY – It’s been 10 weeks since he was struck by a car while on duty, but Isanti County Sheriff’s Deputy Chad Meyer can’t wait to get back to work.
The only problem is, he’s not sure when that will be.
Meyer’s broken left leg is still healing. Doctors aren’t yet sure what the extent of damage is to his dislocated left shoulder. He went in recently for an MRI to evaluate the nerve damage and will get the results in another week.
LIFE CHANGES IN A SECOND
Saturday night, Dec. 13, 2008 was just another night on the job for the rookie cop. He was one of several assisting at a crash scene at Highway 95 and County Road 48 midway between Cambridge and North Branch.
The scene was nearly cleaned up, and Meyer asked the State Patrol officer in charge if there was anything else he needed. While the State Patrol vehicle was parked along Highway 95 alerting westbound traffic to slow down, the patrolman asked Meyer to remain on County Road 48.
There is a corner on the county road that hides the Highway 95 intersection, noted Meyer, and his car was there to make sure another crash didn’t happen.
He recalls walking back to his squad car and removing his traffic vest. That’s where his memories end.
Others have told him he was struck by a car on Highway 95. He’s not sure how he got back up to the highway. He has also been told that his body flew quite a ways after being struck, but he’s still waiting for the incident report from the state patrol to learn just how far it was.
The next memory Meyer has is of getting to the hospital, and then it’s blank until he woke up in the intensive care unit.
In a way, he’s glad he doesn’t remember being hit. Still, knowing he was, when he sees crashes on television it gives him “the willies.”
Despite that he’s determined to return to work. After all, he’s wanted to be a law enforcement officer since he was a kid. He was on the job just seven months before he was injured. “I love my job,” said Meyer.
The past 10 weeks on the couch have left him with plenty of time to think. He’s already decided to handle traffic stops differently. “I’ll perform traffic stops in certain ways that allow me to be safe, as well as the driver of the vehicle,” noted Meyer.
That includes how he approaches the vehicle, as well as where they park.
What happened is an eye-opener for everyone on his department, noted Meyer. “We just have to learn from it. We can’t change what happened.
“We move on and make sure we’re all safe out there. We make sure we all go home at the end of the day.”
He hopes others will learn from what happened to him.
“I just hope that everybody slows down and watches out for my co-workers out there,” he said.
“Slow down and concentrate on driving. It takes one second, and your life can change.”
SHOULDER, ARM, HEAD INJURED
Meyer’s injuries were severe, albeit not life threatening.
He had several deep cuts on his head and arm. Something impaled his left hand and cut the tendon completely. He received stitches on both sides. Twelve staples were put in his head.
His left leg was fractured in two places, the fibia and the tibia. To aid in the healing, doctors inserted a permanent rod with a screw at both the top and bottom. This rod allowed him to have only a soft cast (essentially a splint with wrapping) rather than the traditional hard cast. He’ll always need a doctor’s note in order to fly because of the metal in his leg.
Since Feb. 9 he has been able to remove the soft cast in order to do range-of-motion exercises such as rolling his ankle around. To mimic walking, Meyer uses a large rubber band while performing a variety of exercises. It doesn’t help him regain muscle as he still can’t put any pressure on the leg, but it does keep the leg looser. He should be able to use the leg more quickly than if it had been in a hard cast, Meyer pointed out.
Doctors are starting to see bone growth in the leg now, as well.
His shoulder is a trickier matter.
While many dislocations aren’t serious, in about 15 percent of the cases there is nerve damage. Right now, Meyer can’t feel anything in a section of his tricep area. “I know it’s there, but I can’t feel the spot,” Meyer noted. The entire back side of his shoulder also remains very tight, and is still painful. He isn’t able to put his arm over the top of his head, or put it around to his back. He can do push-ups, but to hold a gallon of milk out in front of him is impossible.
During his recovery, Meyer has been staying with his parents in Wisconsin. However, at the end of February he had recovered enough to move back into his Isanti apartment.
At this point, because he’s right handed, he could still hold a gun, but he wouldn’t be able to use his left hand to cuff a suspect.
A fund has been set up to raise money for Meyer. It will be used to pay for the various trips to North Memorial Medical Center (which he has been making from his parents’ home in Wausau, Wis. three and one-half hours away), as well as to purchase equipment to replace what was damaged when he was hit by the car.
Mail checks to Cambridge State Bank, c/o Chad Meyer, 127 South Main Street, PO Box 472, Cambridge, MN 55008.
GIVING BACK
Serving as a law enforcement officer is Meyer’s way of giving back.
“We’re not out there to write people a ticket for everything they do,” said Meyer. “We’re out there to keep people safe.”
He wants to be able to prevent what happened to him from happening to others.
“I don’t like to see people hurt,” noted Meyer. “It has a permanent effect on your life. I’ve seen it firsthand.”
He added, “If I can be of service and help people … that’s my goal every day I go to work.”
He recalls one incident last year that he responded to. A teenage girl had landed her car in a stand of trees on County Road 1. He was there as they worked on helping her breathe and when they took her away in an ambulance; he saw her injuries and her pain. He then had the tough task of notifying her parents.
One week later, he saw the girl again, as well as her parents. Meyer noted, “I could just see in their faces how grateful they were that we did what we could to save their child’s life.”
It’s stories such as that one that keep Meyer dedicated to his job.

Local author pens children’s tale

‘Miki: the most unusual German frog’ was inspired by his grandchildren

After writing two books about the horrors of growing up in Germany during and after World War II, local author Walt Horcher has turned his attention to children’s tales.
His latest book is “Miki: the most unusual German frog.”
It is the first in what he anticipates to be a three-book series.
Horcher was inspired to write this children’s book by his eight grandchildren, who range in age from six to 21. “When I started, I realized how fun it is,” said Horcher, 70. “I made up the story as I went. It came to me like a dream.”
It’s the type of book he wishes he would have had to read when he was a child.
“Miki: the most unusual German frog” is 150 pages long. Miki is German because “I’m a Kraut,” explained Horcher.
Miki embarks on many adventures, all the while searching for a place for his family to live in peace. He befriends a heron – despite the fact that herons typically prey on frogs.
The underlying themes of the book are faith and trust, according to the author.
OVER 300 SOLD SINCE JANUARY
Horcher began the book one year ago; it took six months to write, and longer to get it printed. Once it was formatted one way, Horcher learned it needed to be redone. He’s grateful for assistance from a friend, Bill Leigh.
The first copies were in his hand the second week of January 2009. In the last two months, Horcher has sold over 300 books.
Many people have attended a book signing and bought half a dozen or more, one for each of their grandchildren, noted Horcher.
“It feels like an accomplishment,” noted Horcher. “It makes me happy that I plowed my way through it. If you don’t give up, you usually come up with something that is enjoyable.”
He’s especially thrilled that his own grandchildren love the tale.
GET YOUR OWN COPY
“Miki: the most unusual German frog” is available at Bear Books in Isanti and Scout and Morgan Bookstore in Cambridge, as well as at Walgreens and the Cambridge Medical Center gift shop. Horcher and his distributor are also working to place it in larger chains, such as Barnes and Noble and Border Books. The price is $11.95.
Horcher’s earlier books, “Born into Hell” and “Guns for Sales,” are also still available. They are currently being sold all over the world, including South Africa, Brazil, Australia and Germany.

Governor urges legislature to tighten its belt

Pawlenty visits Cambridge to discuss budget priorities.

CAMBRIDGE – “You can’t continue to spend beyond your ability to reasonably pay for it,” stressed Governor Tim Pawlenty during a visit to Cambridge on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2009.
He was in the area to announce transportation stimulus projects for rural Minnesota, while also discussing his budget proposals.
Pawlenty spoke to about 100 people gathered for lunch at the Isanti County Historical Society. The event was sponsored by the Cambridge Area Chamber of Commerce.
The governor explained that the state creates budgets in two-year cycles. In the last one, the state spent $34 billion. This current cycle calls for a $37 billion budget. According to the latest forecast, the state will be earning $5 billion fewer in revenue than at first expected.
Pawlenty noted that it’s not really a $5 billion deficit yet. Rather, the amount the state expects to spend is being affected.
Thus he is pushing the legislature to approve cutting the overall state budget by two percent.
“The government should live within its means just like families and small businesses,” said Pawlenty.
He is urging the state to tighten its belt.
Legislators have questioned how they can cut state spending. Citizens have asked him why he didn’t shoot for a higher reduction.
State needs to be job-friendly
To identify areas for reductions, Pawlenty first ranked services according to a value system. In this way, he hopes to fundamentally change how the state’s budget is compiled.
At the top is to protect and defend, he said. Agencies like the National Guard, military, veterans, and public safety won’t see any cuts.
He is also pushing for Minnesota to change how it treats businesses. “We need to be a more job-friendly state,” said Pawlenty, “not to give businesses a break, but because citizens need access to jobs.”
He added, “You can’t be pro-job and anti-business. It’s like being pro-egg and anti-chicken.”
Pawlenty noted that if Minnesota were a sovereign nation, it would rank third highest in the world in terms of high business taxes. Minnesota charges businesses 9.87 percent. He proposes cutting that in half to 4.8% over the next six years.
He would also offer up-front tax sales tax exemptions for the purchase of new capital equipment, and allow businesses to write off the expense completely the first year rather than depreciate it over several. He would also like the state to begin offering a capital gains exemption.
And he plans to retain the JobZ program.
Supporting “clean and green” jobs is also a priority for Pawlenty who believes that is a growing field.
“We can’t have an economy where everyone is working on government buildings,” noted Pawlenty.
Schools need to revamp outdated sytem
Another top priority is education. He is proposing that schools actually get more funding.
But to receive it, they will have to revamp a system Pawlenty said was designed for the 1950s. “How many of you in this room get paid for seniority?” he asked.
Instead, Pawlenty advocates a pay scale that rewards merit and achievement, which is easily measured by various tests given to students.
He questioned why the state’s funding formulas are tied to the number of buses in a district and the number of students, rather than results.
“This is very controversial,” he admitted.
Health care system needs to be fixed
Pawlenty is also focused on fixing the health care system. He noted it is driving much of the financial pressure families and businesses are currently facing.
Again, Pawlenty believes the entire system needs to be fixed. First, he is pushing for one common billing code system for all health care and insurance providers. Second, he wants the fees being charged to be something patients can easily find out. He noted that there is nothing else citizens buy that they aren’t given the price ahead of time.
By changing how it provides health insurance, he noted the state of Minnesota has seen huge savings in the past few years. Staff are encouraged to go to low-cost, high-quality providers rather than high-cost, low-quality providers.
Health and Human Service costs need to be controlled
Pawlenty also advocated for containing the rapidly increasing health and human service costs.
“The health and human service budget is out of control,” said Pawlenty.
He noted that the programs are important, but the state can’t continue to see 20 to 26 percent increases in one area. It’s affecting how much money Minnesota has to spend on other things. Thus, he advocates holding the increase to 10 percent instead. This will involve shrinking eligibility for some programs.
‘We will get through this’
Overall, Pawlenty remains confident that the state will pull through its current budget issues. “We’ll find a way through it, but we need everybody to pull together,” he said.
“We will get through this,” promised Pawlenty.
Questions
An audience member questioned whether the state would be accepting the economic stimulus money being offered by the federal government.
Pawlenty assured the audience that the state will. He noted that currently Minnesota is ranked fifth in the nation in terms of how much money it gets. “For every $1 we send to Washington, we get 72¢,” he noted.
“We’re not going to be bashful about taking money because we’re paying the bill,” he added.