The 30-year-old firefighter praises being rescued by his brethren, and during a lengthy recovery from head and other injuries, neighbors near Bavaria have helped him stay on a farming schedule.
Several gathered this past weekend to finish planting his wheat. Tilling his land and baling hay have also been done by folks from the western Saline County communities.
“When others help you, it’s like a whole new feeling. You can’t thank them enough,” Weston said. “I’m alive. That’s the first special thing, and I had a bunch of neighbors help me out.”
He was driving a loaded semitrailer to Tescott on Sept. 15 to have some seed wheat cleaned for planting.
“I was there north of Glendale, driving down the Brookville- Tescott Road, and was looking off at other people planting wheat,” Dent said. “Next thing I knew, the right-front wheel of the semi had fallen off the edge of the road, and there was a pretty good drop-off. I couldn’t get my truck back up on the road.”
‘This is gonna hurt a bit’
The rig tipped over and rolled onto its top, spilling the wheat, sliding into the steep ditch and hitting a driveway entrance.
“I remember thinking, ‘Man this is gonna hurt a little bit,’ ” he recalled. “I wake up and I’m halfway out of the driver’s door. One of my legs was caught. I kicked it loose and crawled out the window.”
A friend, Gary Schoshke, of Glendale, who was also on his way to Tescott, happened by and insisted that Dent get off of his feet.
“I had a pretty good laceration on my forehead from a piece of plastic in the cab, so I lay down and waited on the EMS crew. Some of the boys loaded me up in an ambulance and took me to the hospital,” Dent said.
A heck of a concussion
He spent more than three days recovering at Salina Regional Health Center, with his wife, Danya, at his side.
He suffered “one heck of a concussion,” a fractured right elbow, a stretched ligament in his neck and a fractured rib on his right side.
“After I looked at the truck, I think it could have been worse,” Dent said. “The bigger problem is if I sit up too fast, in get vertigo.”
Healing is slow, but Dent figures that by later this fall, he’ll be back to work on the farm and at Salina’s Fire Station No. 2. He also praised fellow firefighters who have been covering shifts in his absence.
Farmers to the rescue
Fellow farmers quickly came to Dent’s aid. Workers at Rolling Hills Ranch cleaned up some 700 bushels of spilled wheat and hauled it to a grain elevator. Dent’s soon-to-be brother-in-law, Christian Soler, of Rolling Hills Ranch, was in the field Sunday with Jim Komarek, of Bavaria — each with a tractor and a large grain drill, to plant the final 120 of Dent’s 310 wheat acres.
Meanwhile, Dent’s sister, Krystal, helped out at the family farmstead, putting equipment away for the winter.
Others pitched in. Alex and Keith Bacon — nephew and uncle, of Bavaria — along with Komarek, had previously tilled some of Dent’s land to prepare it for planting.
Jason and Larry Kern helped plant wheat that will be pasture for the Dents’ cattle. Duane Flaherty, of Hedville, donated all of the seed wheat. He also helped clean up the spilled wheat, and showed the wrecker driver how to deliver the wrecked truck back to the Dent farm.
“It’s quite a mangled mess,” Weston said.
Neighbors bein neighbors
A cousin, Darvin Dent, of Brookville, baled and stacked alfalfa hay in late September.
Troy Ditto, owner of Fuels Unlimited, of Salina, donated diesel fuel.
“It’s kinda nice when neighbors are neighbors,” Ditto said.
Offering assistance is part of living in a rural community, said Jason Kern.
“It’s helping out when you need it,” Kern said. “Weston has helped us move cattle and wouldn’t take anything for it. When something like that (truck crash) happens, you want to pitch in.”
‘We’re very grateful’
This past weekend, as the last of the wheat was being planted, Robbie Dent, Weston’s mom, relished the beautiful fall day, and the gracious act of community that unfolded before her.
“We’re very grateful,” she said while gazing upon the planters kicking up dust in the distance.
— Reporter Tim Unruh can be reached at 822-1419 or by email at [email protected].
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