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May 19, 2003
By JOHN CHARLES ROBBINS
Staff writer
Rural roads in central Ottawa County have claimed another life.
Aurelio Serna, 79, of Holland, was killed in a two-car collision at about 2 p.m. Sunday at the intersection of 136th Avenue
and Van Buren Street, in Olive Township.
The elderly man was dead at the scene, according to the Ottawa County Sheriff's Department.
The fatality occurred less than a week after another two-vehicle crash in Holland Township, just two miles away, that
critically injured a Holland man who died in the hospital Saturday .
Serna was the driver of a 1996 Cadillac DeVille. His wife, Anastacia Serna, 71, was the front seat passenger.
Both were wearing seatbelts and both airbags deployed, police said.
Mrs. Serna sustained broken bones in the crash and was listed in serious condition at Holland Community Hospital on Sunday
night.
The Sernas were traveling northbound on 136th Avenue when their Cadillac was struck by an eastbound 2000 Chevrolet Cavalier
driven by Michael J. Lengkeek, 19, of Zeeland Township, according to police.
Authorities said Lengkeek failed to stop for a posted stop sign, and the Chevy slammed into the driver's side door of
the Cadillac.
After the initial collision, both cars skidded off the roadway into a lot on the northeast corner of the intersection.
The Cadillac then struck two parked vehicles there.
Police said Lengkeek was uninjured in the crash. He was wearing his seatbelt and the airbags in the Chevy deployed upon
impact.
The crash remains under investigation by the sheriff's department. Police said alcohol was not a factor in the crash.
Authorities said it is the third fatality at the intersection, located in a wooded area of the township less than a half-mile
west of U.S. 31. in the last five years.
Motorists traveling on Van Buren Street are required to stop at 136th Avenue. Single stop signs are mounted at the right
edge of the roadway in both directions.
A woman who lives adjacent to the intersection, Laurette De Boer, 52, was upset and tearful after Sunday's crash.
"I am so sick of this," said a visibly shaken De Boer. "I just hope this time they do something."
De Boer said drivers fly down Van Buren and do not see the stop sign.
After another serious wreck about six months ago, De Boer complained to township officials, who put her in touch with
the county road commission.
De Boer said she noticed the stop sign was replaced with a slightly larger one and placed higher on two steel rods.
After Sunday's crash, she said it's not enough.
The situation is even worse after dark, she said. There are no street lights overhead, and no flashing warning lights.
De Boer was inside her house at the southwest corner of the intersection when the crash occurred Sunday.
She heard two big crashes and thought a semi trailer had raced by and lost its load.
Her daughter, Katie Head, 12, looked out and saw the smashed cars and smoke rising in the air.
"Mom, it is a wreck," Katie told her.
De Boer ran to the scene and noticed a passerby calling in the emergency on a cell phone.
Debris from the collisionwas scattered up and down 136th for 100 feet or more, including a white cowboy hat resting in
the center of the intersection.
De Boer picked up the hat and tossed it off to the side, then used her feet to kick debris from the surface of the road.
She then directed traffic until police and fire officers arrived on the scene.
Assisting at the scene were firefighters with Olive Township Fire Rescue, and AMR ambulance.
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