Natascha's Obituary

My Obituary

Natascha Watercott, age 20, was found dead in her Pine City apartment early this morning. The details of her death remain sketchy until police investigate further.

She was known to be an avid reader and writer and had plans to publish a number of unfinished horror novels. She was finishing her 2-year transfer degree at Anoka Ramsey Community College in Cambridge and was set to transfer to the University of Madison in the Spring of 2011.

“She always liked bugs,” said her mother Anke. “When she was little, she would spend all day digging around for them in the yard.” Natascha had planned to pursue a degree in entomology (insects) at Madison. She told her parents that she wanted to study insect behavior in hopes of changing society’s perceptions of them.

Natascha was born on July 1^st, 1991 in Fort Benning Georgia. Her family moved Pine City Minnesota a year later where Natascha was known as a model student and kept an average 3.7 GPA throughout high school. She also excelled in college, maintaining a 4.0 GPA and becoming a regular on the Dean’s list.

Natascha is survived by her parents, Anke and Jerome Watercott and her older sister Nina. The date and location of the funeral has not yet been decided, however Natascha had mentioned that she wanted to be buried next to her younger sister Michelle near Mt. Raineer in Washington.

Story #2

Story #2

A meeting between the county sheriff and the county commissioners took place Thursday afternoon to discuss additional funding for the police department.

Sheriff Gus Dicesari told the county commissioners that he needed additional funds to hire new deputies and buy cruisers to replace eight of the older ones which all have about 150,000 miles on them.

“It is getting too costly to maintain the older vehicles and they spend too much time in the repair shop,” said Dicesari. “My deputies can’t keep driving these old vehicles. Something bad is going to happen.” The estimated cost of the new cruisers and staff is $580,000.

The commission voted against giving the department additional funding 5-2. Commission President Anne Chenn explained that there isn’t enough money to cover the equipment and staff that the sheriff had requested. Dicesari was told that he would have to make do this year.

Increased health care costs and higher fuel prices have caused the county to run short on funds. Additionally, the county spent $30 million on a new prison to help with overcrowding.

News Story 1

A tractor-trailer containing diesel fuel collided with another trailer early this morning on I-790, leaving two dead and 20 injured.

At 6:45 a.m., two tractor-trailers crashed into one another, causing a destructive chain reaction involving two other tractor-trailers and 14 cars. Adding to the mayhem, one of the trailers was hauling highly volatile diesel fuel. “It was very lucky that it didn’t roll over or dump any fuel or catch fire,” said Sgt. Albert Wei of the local police.

While the driver of the diesel-truck was unharmed, there were two confirmed fatalities and at least 20 injured, four with life-threatening injuries. All of the local fire department’s ambulances were dispatched along with those of four other neighboring towns and a helicopter from Memorial Hospital.

Fire chief Tony Sullivan likened the scene to a war zone when he arrived. There were “bodies laying along the road, people covered in blood sitting next to their cars.” In his 18 and a half years with the fire department, he had never known such carnage. Amid the chaos, police officers couldn’t tell drivers from passengers or who belonged to which car, remarked Wei.

The cause of the crash is still under investigation. Traffic meanwhile was temporarily diverted to I-690 until further notice, adding to the already congested rush-hour traffic and backing up cars for nearly three hours.