Trent Opstedahl

 The Grand Forks County Sheriff’s Department, which operates the center, unveiled a memorial to the two drowning victims as part of the opening ceremony. The 26,000-square-foot building on Gateway Drive houses water rescue equipment and classroom space.

 

Motorcycle ride

 Luettjohann wears a small steel-chained necklace adorned with a puzzle-piece charm. The words “Anthony Kuznia” are engraved on it. Clutching the charm, she said the necklace reminds her of her grandson, but it also symbolizes autism awareness — a condition Kuznia was diagnosed with when he was 5.

 

 “I talk to a lot of people about autism; about what it means and what it is,” she said.

 

 Children with autism tend to wander and explore, disappearing from time to time. Kuznia wandered from home Aug. 8, 2013. After a massive search effort, his body was found a day later in the Red River.

 

 “If you’ve ever lost a child (in any capacity), you know how much it hurts,” said Paul Hvidspon, Kuznia’s uncle.

 

 To honor the boy’s memory, Hvidspon’s motorcycling club, Silent Thunder Motorcycle Club, is dedicating its annual charity ride to Project Lifesaver, a national program adopted by the city of East Grand Forks with a mission to “bring lost children home.”

 

 The program provides families with tracking devices that their wandering loved ones can wear. In the case of a disappearance, the police will use antennas to track the missing person down.

 

 “We didn’t have a Lifesaver program center here until Anthony’s death,” Luettjohann said. “Before it was approved,I didn’t care about anything. It’s helping me to move on.”

 

 So far, eight individuals in the area have received a transmitter, she said, but the device comes at a price.

 

 Each client must pay about $330 to renta transmitter for the first year and then $25 a month for subsequent years.

 

 “If any family hasa special needs child, you have to know the expense is greater,” Luettjohann said.

 

 Silent Thunder’s charity ride is Aug. 23 starting at the Broken Drum bar in Grand Forks. Money raised through registration fees and a raffle drawing will go to the Anthony Kuznia Memorial Fund to help offset the costs of the trackers.

 

 “I don’t want this to happen to anyone else,” Hvidspon said. “Hug your kids, hug them tight.”

 

Memorial run

 Among the 31 nieces and nephews in the Miller family, Guy Miller was generally the “favorite uncle,” playing games with all the kids and constantly bringing about laughter with whomever he had contact with, his brother Tony said.

 

 For nearly four months, he and his six siblings wondered what happened to Guy Miller on the night of April 29, 2013. That was when Guy’s truck was swept away by floodwaters near Minto.

 

 The family spent countless hours interacting with volunteers from the water operations center as they searched for Miller.

 

 “Every time our family was out there searching and walking the riverbanks, I just kept thinking of all of the volunteers,” said Schanilec, Miller’s sister.

 

 There was no relief for the family as search parties swept the countryside searching for the body. They found it Sept. 7, anda sense of closure began to settle in.

 

 Through it all, Schanilec said the family felt indebted to the volunteers for spending so much time searching for someone they didn’t know. That prompted the idea for the Guy Miller Memorial 5K Run/Walk in Minto.

 

 “I just felt so heavy in my heart to do it,” she said. “This 5K was the best thingI could think of that allowed us to give back to those who searched for Guy.”

 

 Scheduled for Sept. 20, the 5K run/walk will not only raise funds for the rescue team, it will also raise awareness of the dangers of driving through high water.

 

 Schanilec said photos of what happened to Miller and drowning statistics will be posted along the route.

 

 “Even to save one life by not driving through water and drowning is worth it,” she said. “It’ll bring back memories and bring about awareness.”

 

 Schanilec’s daughter, Jessica, has been heavily involved in planning the event.

 

 At first, she was skeptical about the race, considering all her family has been through, she said. But, like her mother, she has come to see it as a way to move on while still remembering the accident that took her uncle’s life.

 

 “This race is a way for people to help when they wanted to help before but couldn’t,” Jessica Schanilec said. “I just keep thinking of the volunteers that donated their time, vacation days and resources to help our family out in a time of need. If others can be so generous to strangers, we can do the same.”

 

 

Trent Opstedahl | Grand Forks Herald

Thursday, July 24, 2014 | Page A1