July 23, 2003 South Bend Tribune, July 23,2003Dog leads help to farmer
Tractor overturns, pinning operator By STAN MADDUX
Tribune Correspondent Robert Nicholson gets a big kiss from his dog, Ranger, at the Nicholson farm near Michigan City. Nicholson was injured last week when his tractor fell on top of him and Ranger played a part in the rescue effort. MICHIGAN CITY -- Robert Nicholson considers himself extremely lucky after spending more than one hour pinned underneath a farm tractor without anyone to help him except his dog, Ranger. Thanks in part to the efforts of Ranger, Nicholson was rescued once his wife, Barbara, got home. He may never regain full use of his crushed left hand, pieced back together in surgery, but Nicholson, 73, does expect to be able to tend to his 36-acre farm again. "God was taking care of me. I could have easily been killed," said Nicholson from his bed Monday at St. Anthony Memorial Health Centers. Nicholson is at home recuperating now. Late Friday morning, Nicholson was attempting to tow a pickup truck out of the mud with the full-sized tractor on his Coolspring Township farm in the 2100 block of North County Road 850 West, according to LaPorte County police. Nicholson said he gave the farm machinery tied to the pickup too much gas, and the front wheels lifted off the ground. "The tractor flipped up and went over backwards on me," Nicholson said. With the one-ton, upside-down tractor resting on his hip, Nicholson had just enough reach to shut off the ignition. Otherwise, he was helpless as Ranger took turns licking his wounds and running back to the driveway, anxiously waiting for Barbara Nicholson to come home. When she returned, Barbara Nicholson, judging by the dog's frantic behavior and the fact her husband and Ranger are hardly ever apart, knew something was wrong. The dog led her right to her husband, who was several hundred feet from their home next to the hay barn. "He came and ran to me and, obviously, I followed him. So, we're very lucky people, and we're going to be fine," Barbara Nicholson said. After a tow truck hoisted the tractor off Nicholson, paramedics fearing internal injuries called for a helicopter to airlift him to an outside hospital, police said. Turbulent weather conditions, though, prohibited a flight and Nicholson was transported by ambulance to St. Anthony Memorial Health Centers, police said. Nicholson said doctors found no internal injuries. Besides his crushed left hand, put back together with a metal plate and screws, Nicholson was left with deep bruises over his entire body, he said. "I was just talking to my dog and kept looking at my watch knowing my wife would be getting home soon," Nicholson said.
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