The Stearns County Sheriff?Äôs Office received a report of an ATV that had gone through the ice on Great Northern Lake in Wakefield Township near Cold Spring. A homeowner had seen it go through the ice and was able to assist the two on it after they got themselves out of the water. Bryce Eggert of Arlington, Minn., was driving and Angela Baumgartner was a passenger; both are 42. They had been out ice-fishing before the accident. Both of them were checked by medical personnel (Chain of Lakes Rescue and Gold Cross Ambulance) and both refused treatment.
Meanwhile, Travis Luepke, 39 of Arlington, was out on a 1989 Yama Phaser snowmobile on the same lake, searching for Eggert and Baumgartner, when the snowmobile broke through the ice. He, too, was able to crawl onto the ice and make it to land. The snowmobile is still submerged in the lake and will have to be removed. He, too, was checked out by medical personnel.
The Stearns County Sheriff?Äôs Office reminds everyone that ice conditions on rural lakes are deteriorating due to the recent warm weather. No ice is perfectly safe ice.