ALBERT LEA, Minn. — A speed boat crashed into a pontoon boat on Albert Lea Lake. Two passengers on the speed boar were injured:
> Gary Register, 65, of Albert Lea, was air-lifted to a Rochester hospital with severe injuries.
> Carmelita Simpson, 51, also of Albert Lea n was transported to the nearby Albert Lea hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The driver of the speed boat, Kelly Gardner, 55, of Albert Lea, was not believed seriously injured. Nor were two people on the pontoon boat: Jeffrey Stewart, 46, of Albert Lea, the driver, and Luis Rios Perez, 43, of Albert Lea. The crash was a little before 10 p.m. Sheriff Ryan Shea said alcohol was not a factor. Although 2,600 acres, the lake is shallow — only 5-/1/2 feet at its deepest. The hulls of the 1997 Crestliner run-about and the 2000 Bennington 2280 RL pontoon were easily recovered.