Note from X / Scapes... Are you going to read this page and not say anything about it?? Are you hoping you or your loved one's won't be a victim of a similar tragedy? The only way to stop it is to send this page to the powers that be. Please, make yourself heard. Make your opinion matter! A wise man once said, "If you don't like the news, go out and make some of your own!"

    All right then, people. I can see there have been more than a few visitors to this site, indicated by the counter at the bottom of the page. I'm glad, on behalf of Shane's family, and all the other victim's, that you're showing an interest in the story.
    However, as for myself, I'm ashamed and disappointed that more of you won't speak up on the feedback page. It's not difficult to find. If you spent the five or seven minutes to look through this site, what's two more? I'm guessing that had it been one of your friends or family, you'd be only too glad to see something like this.
    Please, reconsider. If you visit this site, give your feedback. Send it to your friends. Send it to your senators, representatives, the DOT. Let someone know your opinion matters!

I have built an on-line petition page. I don't know how much good it will do, but it can't hurt anything. Please go there and sign it.

Somewhere along the line here, the DOT has become interested enough to have someone check these pages on a frequent basis. I know this because of the tracker attached to the counter. I, for one, am glad. On the other hand, I wonder what the repercussion to myself may be. To my knowledge the statements on these pages are true, or they would not have been made public through the Daily Citizen. I have also tried to make it clear that any addition to the 'news articles' are strictly my own opinion. If someone wants to agree with me, so be it. More power to us.
My only hope is that the creation of these pages calls enough attention to the problem to fully address the issue of Dead Man's Curve.

Not long ago, serendipity saw fit to put the e-mail address of the Dodge County Highway Commissioner, Robert Sindelar, right in my lap. Here is your opportunity to tell him how you feel on the topic of your highway safety.

Dead Man’s Curve, just east of Oaks Road, considered dangerous to many residents

Shane R. Eveland, 5, of Waupun, was killed following an accident with a
Dodge County snowplow on Highway 68 north of Fox Lake at 6:02 p.m.
John B. Eveland, 33, of Waupun was driving a minivan west on Highway 68.
Shane Eveland was a passenger in the vehicle.
According to the Dodge County Sheriff's Department, Eveland failed to
negotiate a curve, crossed the center line and collided with a plow.
The sheriff's department, coroner, State Patrol and Fox Lake fire and EMS
units responded to the accident.
Shane Eveland was pronounced dead at Beaver Dam Community Hospital at 6:33
p.m. by the emergency room physician, Dodge County Coroner John Omen said.
He added that the child died of massive head injuries.

John Eveland posed for a picture with his son, Shane R. Eveland, 5, during a visit in October 1999 to his parent's house in LaCrosse. The two enjoyed spending time together during their frequent visits before Shane was killed on April 7 in an accident on Highway 68.

Carefully clenching a couple of photographs in one hand and a brown, sandy-colored napkin in the other, John Eveland sat quietly in a wooden chair.

As the 33-year-old Waupun man stared at the photos of his five-year-old son, Shane Ross Eveland, who was killed in a car crash on April 7, he smiled a little. Then tears began to stream down his cheeks.

"I'm so sorry," Eveland said as he attempted to dry the tears with the napkin. "I told myself that when I came in here I wasn't going to lose it."

For Eveland, life doesn't have the same meaning it had just four months ago. He said that fateful evening in early April changed his life forever.

"It's takes everything for me to just get through a day," Eveland said. "I feel a lot of guilt. I feel like I killed him."

Eveland said on most afternoons he comes home from work, sits down and shuffles through photographs and other memorabilia. Other times the Dodge Correctional Institute guard sits on the floor of his son's room and grieves about his loss.

"This has become almost a routine for me," he said as he choked back tears. "Every afternoon about 3 p.m., I just lose it. That's the time I would normally pick up Shane. It is just so hard to believe that he is gone. I miss him so much. He really was my best friend."

Shane was killed on a night that he and his father were planning to visit his grandparents in LaCrosse. As the two headed west on Highway 68 toward Fox Lake, Eveland noticed how bad the roads were. But as Eveland's van approached the curve, just east of Oaks Road, it was too late to turn back.

"No one was driving fast that day," he said. "I'm pretty sure I shouldn't even have been out, but obviously I wasn't the only one dumb enough to be driving that day."

As Eveland drove west on the highway behind three other vehicles at less than 20 miles per hour, he lost control of his vehicle.

"They all made it," he said. "When as I started into the curve I noticed I was still going straight, so I thought I would head for the field. But no matter what I did, the van wouldn't turn. It just kept going straight. I couldn't steer, speed up or brake. It was like I was riding in grease."

According to a Dodge County Sheriff's Department report, Eveland failed to negotiate the curve, crossed the center line and collided with a snow plow. After impact, the van rolled.

"When the van stopped rolling, I thought 'thank God I'm okay' and then I turned around and said 'Shane are you OK?,'" Eveland said as he wiped tears from his eyes. "He was still breathing, but he was broken. I knew at that point he wasn't going to make it."

Shane was transported to Beaver Dam Community Hospital by the Fox Lake EMS. He was pronounced dead at 6:33 p.m. by the emergency room physician. He died of massive head injuries.

"The thing that makes me the most sad though is that I never got to say goodbye," Eveland said. "They wouldn't let me ride with him. Because my ambulance broke down, when I got to the hospital it was too late. I just wished I could have been with him and held his hand."

At this point, Eveland is not interested in a lawsuit but rather helping to improve the curve where Shane was killed.

"I would like to be heard by the Fox Lake Town Council, the DOT or anyone who can do something about that curve," Eveland said in a letter to the editor. "Shane is not the first to die on that road. I keep hitting dead ends and getting the runaround from both Fox Lake and the state of Wisconsin.

"All I want is for someone to look at the curve or take time out to call me back," he said. "I'm not blaming the highway department or anyone. I just want to hear someone say they gave a sh--!

"I know this isn't going to bring Shane back. Nothing they do is going to bring him back," he said. "But damn it, maybe they can keep this from happening to someone else."

On five different occasions Eveland attempted to bring the danger of this curve to the attention of the town of Fox Lake and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. So far, he has been unsuccessful.

"One day I spent four hours on the phone attempting to talk to someone about the curve," Eveland said. "I left several voice mail message, but no one ever returned my call. Someone could have at least called me back.

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These pages are the work and opinion of X / Scapes.
I tried not to step on any toes and hope I won't have to.
I believe in the power of the public majority.
Let's try to do the right thing.

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