The Garden City Telegram
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Former Sublette mayor, Messerly, killed in wreck in Finney County
Published 9/15/2009 in Local News
By The Telegram
A former mayor of Sublette for seven years died Monday from injuries sustained in a car wreck in Finney County.
Mitchell Messerly, 51, was taken to St. Catherine Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Messerly served as Sublette mayor from July 2002 to May of this year, and from May 1997 to July 2002 as a Sublette city councilman.
According to the Kansas Highway Patrol, Messerly was driving a 2008 Chevrolet pickup southbound on Lightner Road when he failed to yield at a yield sign and struck a 2005 Dodge pickup driven by Franz Penner, 39, Montezuma, that was eastbound on Lear Road. Both vehicles entered the south ditch on Lear Road and rolled several times. The Chevrolet pickup came to rest on its roof facing northeast and the Dodge pickup came to rest on its wheels facing northwest. Messerly was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.
Penner was taken to St. Catherine with possible injuries. Peter Peters-Peters, 16, a passenger in the Dodge pickup, also was taken to St. Catherine with possible injuries. Both were treated and released. Penner and Peters-Peters were wearing seat belts, according to the KHP.
Sublette City Clerk Jeannie Trigg worked with Messerly all through his about 12 years of service to the city. Even when Messerly wasn't serving as mayor, "he came in every day," Trigg said of Messerly still checking in and caring about the city's progress and activity.
"He was a great man. He was dedicated to our city," Trigg said this morning. "It's a tragic loss."
Trigg also went to school with Messerly. Although the same age, Trigg graduated a year earlier than Messerly. Trigg said Messerly served as her boss while mayor, but he also was a friend and mentor.
"He was just a caring person," she said, adding his years of community service show that.
"He was a down-to-earth, genuinely wonderful man," Trigg said. "He was always trying to better the city, trying to better the community. He sincerely cared about our city."
"He will be greatly missed."
On the Web:
Kansas Highway Patrol: www.kansashighwaypatrol.org/
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