Ledger Looking Back 25 Years: 9/17/1997

September 17, 1997

Stacey Ness, the 11-year-old sixth-grade daughter of Tom and Sanya Ness of Whitehall, died Saturday, September 13 after a farm accident south of Whitehall.

Ness was riding in a hay swather on the Bill Gillespie ranch when the swather hit a bump. Ness and another youth were pitched forward and knocked the window out of the front of the swather cab. Ness tumbled out and hit her head on the sickle and suffered a fractured skull. The other youth held on to the ledge of the swather and was unhurt.

The Jefferson County Commission voted to proceed with its original plan to pla...