Boozing driver creates family hardship

 A horrific car wreck that happened
in Dodge County over 10 years ago
is still affecting the Fredricksen family.
Even though the crash was not
Adam Fredricksen’s fault, he will
forever be punished for it.
Adam, 30, amazingly was able to
graduate with his Kasson-Mantorville
class in 2004, despite not being
able to return to school for four
months due to his injuries from the
crash.
The Crash
 On Feb. 7, 2004 Adam’s life
changed in an instant. He and his
then girlfriend, Tasha Sternberg,
rented a movie from Kasson Dollar
& Video and hopped into Adam’s
1996 Monte Carlo to go to a friends
house in Mantorville to watch the
movie.
They were driving north on Highway
57 and when they got to the intersection
right outside of the high
school, Adam saw the car in front of
him quickly swerve into the ditch. It
was then that Adam saw a van driving
in the wrong lane with no headlights
on going about 70 mph.
“I had enough time to see it and
start turning my car to try to do the
same thing and go into the ditch and
the next thing I know there were
people all around the car,” Adam
said. Since the car was starting to
veer to the right, most of the impact
was on Adam’s side.
The driver of the other vehicle was
Manuel Barajas Salinas, of Hayfi eld,
had a blood alcohol limit of .23, approximately
2 ½ times over the legal