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Harry E. Olson, 48 , 2109 11th Ave., charged with homicide by an intoxicated user of a vehicle, was bound over to Circuit Court following a three-hour preliminary hearing Thursday afternoon. He is to appear for further proceedings before Circuit Judge Arthur L. Luebke. at 9 a.m.,Tuesday, Sept. 28Green County Judge Franz W Brand presided at the hearing yesterday. Olson s$2,500 signature bond was continued.The charges stem from a fiery two-car collision June 16 that resulted in the death of two teenaged Monroe girls, and hospitalized their male companions Deadas a result of the accident at 11:21 p m were Chervl A Dalen, 16, and Debra K.mGolackson. 15. Injured was their driver.Dennis L. Timm. 20, and anotherpassenger, Kenneth J. Rufener. 20, bothMonroe residents.It was revealed in state's testimonvyesterday by Frank Dolejsi, chieftoxicologist at the Wisconsin Crime Lab,who tested blood samples taken from both drivers several hours after the accident, that Olson’s alcohol content read .136Timm’s .027. Under.10 is considered incompared to Wisconsin law, toxica ted.Testimony by investigating Green County sheriff’s deputy, Agendrew (Jim)Heffner, Jr., related Olson was westbound on Richland Tow n Rd in Clarno Township as Timm drove north on Haddinger Rd., 3.2 miles south of Monroe. According to statements made by Timm at the accident scene to Heffner, he saw the westboundcar, Heffner added,“and didn’t feel the car was going to stop, so he stepped on the gas to get out of the way.”Heffner continued that Olson, “was in a state of shock, but he was in control of himself”(at the scene). He told the court,“it was hard at the time (immediately after the accident) to determine if he w as intoxicated, but his ability did not seem impaired.” The deputy added bothOlson and Timm had the smell of intoxicants on their breath.Heffner was the first deputy to arrive at the scene and the third deputy to arrive there, Terry Argue, testified he issued at the scene, a citation to Timm for operatingunder the influence. At St. Clare Hospital, two hours later, he issued the same charge to Olson, along with a citation for failure to yield from an arterial.Witnesses to the accident, Michael A. Peterson, 19, and Connie Cook, 18, both of Monroe, testified at the hearing yesterday, explaining they were in a car “about a halfa city block behind the Timm car”. While they did not know at the time whose car it was, Peterson explained he “knew it was a Mustang, because of the taillights.”Peterson, who was driving behind Timm, noted he was “keeping pace with it, going about 45 miles an hour. He added he suddenly saw sparks and flames then the car went into the ditch. Both he and Miss Cook testified they were unaware atthe time that a second car was involved.Peterson ran to a near-by farm house to get a fire extinguisher to put out flames in the back seat of the car. Miss Cook echoed she also,“didn’t see a hit, I just thought something was wrong with the car.” Itwasn’t until “we drove up to a farmer’s house that we saw the other car.”Both she and Peterson testified Olson repeatedly asked “where Windy Acres was”. Olson had reportedly been driving home from Windy Acres when the accident occurred.It was brought out in court that the late Miss Dalen was Miss Cook’s niece, but the witness was not aware that Miss Dalen was the person pinned under the car, untilshe received a call at 4 that same morning. Miss Dalen’s mother Mila, and Miss Cook are sisters.Although Olson, Timm and Rufener were all present at the courtroomyesterdav, none were called upon to testify. Others who did testify were Green County deputy Robert Moon, who transferred the blood samples to Madison; Jean Jackson, Monroe, a certified Lab Assistant at St. Clare who withdrew bothsamples; and Aldo Trameri, Madison, head chemist for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. Trameri, notedthat the .136 test of Olson was the equivlaent of a 185-pound man having seven, 12-ounce bottles of beer or seven ounces of 100-proof whiskey, in three hours.Monroe attorney Gregory Knoke is representing Olson and Green CountyDistrict Attorney Jim Beer is presentingthe state’s case.Penalty for the charge under state statute is a maximum imprisonment fornot more than five years, a fine of up to $2,500 or both.
Newspaper Details
Monroe Evening Times
Monroe, Wisconsin, US
Fri, Sep 24, 1976
Page 1
Full Page
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