Wangler saved the life of a woman who fell on railroad tracks

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

Ottertail nurse John Wangler was honored last week for saving the life of a woman who had fallen on the railroad tracks on Main Avenue South in New York Mills on November 11, 2024. With nearly 20 people in attendance, including law enforcement, family and friends, Wangler was given a Lifesaving Award for saving the life of Marlene Brown last year.

After leaving the Post Office on November 11, 2024, Wangler made his way onto Centennial 84 Drive before making a right turn onto Main Avenue South, where he stopped to wait for the train. He spotted a senior citizen’s walker laying on the tracks and quickly realized that its owner, Marlene Brown, 85, NY Mills, was lying next to it, facedown on the railroad tracks.

“It dawned on me, ‘oh my gosh, that’s somebody laying there,’” Wangler said in an interview with the NY Mills Dispatch last year. “Within the blink of an eye, I saw the train coming in my peripheral vision. By the grace of God, it’s like He took control. I jammed the car in park and I don’t even know how—I sprinted to this lady and you could see this train literally coming up.

“As I was running I see her look up and—it happened so fast—I grabbed her and I pulled her towards me,” he continued last year. “I could feel the percussion of the air blowing by us from the front of that train and I kind of lunged backwards, pulling her into me to get out of the line. I didn’t know if that big steel apron was going to clip her or throw the walker on us, I didn’t know. It happened so fast, you just do what the Good Lord tells us to do, help and not hurt.”

Wangler said that as the train passed, he experienced an adrenaline dump which he described as “out-of-body” and sat next to the train tracks, holding Brown, and reassessing the situation when a woman hopped out of her car to help him. Between the two of them, they were able to keep Brown safe and pull the walker, which was still stuck, out of the train tracks and set her back on it. NY Mills Chief of Police, Bobby Berndt, showed up to help resolve the emergency.

“I am a hospice nurse and also a care consultant with Hospice of the Red River and NY Mills was on my list kind of inadvertently,” said Wangler last year. “I was in Detroit Lakes and I just wanted to go to a local facility and call on them, you know just something that popped up during the day. I wanted to run over there for a follow up and stopped at the Post Office first.

During last week’s award ceremony, which was held as part of the NY Mills City Council meeting, the council thanked Wangler for his efforts in saving the life of another individual and law enforcement commended him for his actions in putting the welfare of his own life above another individual in need.

Snow removal

In addition to honoring Wangler, the NY Mills City Council agreed to remove the snow at participating businesses in the downtown business district for one more year. The move came after 75 percent of eligible businesses expressed an interest in having the city remove snow for the upcoming winter season. The 75 percent participation was just short of the 80 percent goal set forth by the city council, but with 24 businesses participating in the program, and one more who is undecided, the council agreed to move forward with the program for one final year.

Councilman Jerry Nesland said continuing the program for one additional year will give property owners a final chance to make arrangements to remove snow next winter season, but cautioned that snow removal as part of the city’s program will need to be done when city employees are able to get to the sidewalks and cannot make guarantees it will be done by a certain time each time there is a snowfall. 

Councilwoman Marsha Maki said there is a benefit of having the city remove the snow in the downtown area as it provides a more uniformed look in the business district since snow from the sidewalk will all be removed. As businesses have made other arrangements for snow removal over the past few years there has been an increase in snow and ice not properly being removed from sidewalks in a timely manner. 

Part of the concern over continuing the program was due to the high costs of repairing the street sweeper, which is beginning to show its age, as well as the demand on city staff to get all of the snow removed by a certain time frame for businesses. 

Public Workers Supervisor Kyle Mattson said he agreed with Maki that there is a nice uniform look by having city staff remove snow from the business district for properties who pay for the service, but said the amount of money the businesses pay for the program may not cover the actual cost of removing snow anymore.

“There is a lot of input costs and labor, it gets expensive. My snow and ice budget has been the same for as long as I have been here. We are not making money on this deal,” said Mattson who said the city may actually be losing money on the program as a whole. “I am with Marsha I like the look of it and we are out there anyway and it gets done.”

The council agreed to continue the program for one additional year and will inform businesses they will need to come up with a new plan for future years for snow removal from sidewalks. The council also said it will need to enforce snow removal ordinances for sidewalks in both the business and residential areas more closely moving forward.

Businesses who opt into the snow removal program pay $5 per linear foot for the winter season with a minimum cost of $170. That is up from just $1.25 per linear foot six years ago, but the additional income will help to offset rising costs by offering the program. 

In other news

• Approved a food recycling program being spearheaded by Otter Tail County Solid Waste that could have a collection site for organic waste in the community. The council discussed having the collection site near the food shelf. The county will provide a free container to residents who would like and would collect the organic waste once a week at no cost to the city or residents.