Behind the Lines: by David Heiller

David Heiller “Just don’t get stopped with this trailer, because you might not get home with it.” I looked at my friend, Dave Landwehr. He was lending me his eight-foot trailer to haul a piece of newspaper equipment from Grand Marais. “Yeah, if the police stop you, they might not let you continue. You might end up spending the night.” Dave is an honest guy. He speaks his mind. This was his way of warning me, “You can use my trailer, no problem, but it doesn’t have lights, so if you get stopped, be prepared for the worst.” Cindy and I and our two children headed toward Grand Marais, pulling the tail-light-less trailer Saturday morning. As we passed through Duluth and up the North Shore, I thought about my luck with law enforcement officers this year. First, there was that trip to Nisswa in July. Sunday morning, on a straight stretch of Highway 18, a Crow Wing County deputy pulled us over. “You were going 71,” he said. He looked us over. Noah and Malika looked him over fro...

David Heiller I became a firm believer in seat belt use in 1980. My sister-in-law was on her way home to Brooklyn Center for Easter break that year. She was sitting in the front seat between two other people. The weather was terrible that day thanks to a spring snowstorm. As they traveled along Highway 316 south of Hastings, an oncoming vehicle lost control and hit them head on. My sister-in-law went through the wind shield. She did not die, but she suffered a closed head injury. She was in a coma for about a month, then spent years of physical therapy and cognitive rehabilitation. She has worked hard to make a good life for herself, but her life was changed forever that day. She didn’t have a seat belt on. Very likely she would have been spared serious injury had she been wearing one. There are a lot of stories out there like that. When we read them, we don’t really absorb them and internalize them. But since that, I have been a consistent seat belt wearer, 1954 Che...