Man rescued from sunflowers
Published: January 18, 2007
Grain elevator workers and others shoveled and cut a hole in the side of a 32-foot-high bin to rescue a man who was trapped up to his neck in sunflowers, authorities said.
Alan Ruff, 49, of Streeter, said he was trying to break up a crust formed by ice and sunflowers on top of the bin Wednesday morning. A chunk of the crust fell and when he tried to pick it up, he found himself sinking.
“All of a sudden, I started going a little lower and a little lower, and when it came up to my chin, things started getting a little exciting,” Ruff said Wednesday night.
Workers at the Farmers Cooperative Elevator Co., in Streeter called authorities about 10 a.m. Wednesday, Stutsman County Sheriff David Orr said. An Otter Tail Power Co. crew brought a bucket truck, and crews cut a hole in the side of the bin.
Ruff said he began to yell and got the attention of Scott Mittleider, of Streeter, an elevator worker who was nearby and threw him a rope.
“When I saw Scottie’s little face come through that hole up there, I was like, ‘There’s my angel,’” Ruff said. He told Mittleider to get more help, he said, and others came to shovel and tie him to the sides of the bin to prevent him from falling deeper.
Otter Tail workers cut a panel from the bin and freed Ruff about 11:30 a.m., Orr said.
“He was awful cold, because it was about an hour and half before they got him out of there,” Orr said.
Ruff said it seemed like much longer. But by Wednesday night his wife, Audrey, said he had a hot bath and a meal, and was “doing good.”
Ruff said he might think twice about going back into the bin, and his wife might think twice about letting him.
“She’s got that look in her eye,” he said.
Audrey said she was worried, but she said her husband has “always been a careful and cautious man,” and, “I’m behind him whatever he does.”
Streeter is about 60 miles from Jamestown.
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