Cops: Video shows torture of 3-year-old Winona boy
WINONA, Minn. — A Winona woman has been charged with harassing and torturing a 3-year-old boy by binding him with duct tape. Joseline Puente Gundersen, age 20, videotaped the abuse and passed snippets around to co-workers at her job, police said. Snippets also online on the Snapchat site. The arrest was about 2 p.m. at the apartment where the abuse occurred, police said. The episode was July 27, police said. Two days later when police learned of the videos, officers went to the apartment and found the child safe and uninjured. Gundersen’s arrest followed two weeks of investigation and interviews with persons knowledgeable about what happened. Police were told that several people were in the apartment at the time, including the child’s mother. Police said the videos show the duct-taped child being dragged to a closet where a masked person wrapped in a blanket jumps out. The child is frightened and crying. The charge: Child torture, a felony. The arrest was at the apartment, in the 50 block of Links Lane off Homer Road on the Far East End.
Gundersen. Described by police as the child’s care-giver.
What’s going on up Stockton Hill
STOCKTON, Minn. — Crews are 2-1/2 months into the $7.3 million upgrade of U.S. Highway 14 over Stockton Hill and on schedule. The target remains late October to reopen the route, the state highway department said. The engineering challenge has been decades of erosion from runoff down the nearly vertical bluffs along the entire seven-mile climb on both sides. The contractor, Mathiowetz Construction of Sleepy Eye, is tackling the project in 20 units. These include massive retaining walls for a wide right-of-way, improved drainage to curb erosion, and better guardrails. Yes, it’s a long way down. Alas, just like the days of yore there’s no solution for the near-hairpin curves near the summit on both sides. Meanwhile, until the project is completed, motorists and grain trucks are taking a longer route along Garvin brook between Stockton and the upriver Winona suburbs of Minnesota City and Goodview. But wait, there’s more. The road surface over Stockton Hill will be temporary, just for winter. Repaving won’t come until 2026. So too will be more detours.
Earlier: Stockton Hill upgrade begins Monday
Holding back the bluffs. New retaining walls have concrete and metal anchors deep into the bluffs to curb new erosion. One goal is a wider right-of-way. The route now is three lanes – one downhill and two hill for passing. Image: Minnesota Transportation Department
Topography profile
The highway over Stockton Hill connects Gilmore Creek in Winona with Garvin Brook in Stockton. Early settlers, mostly on foot but some on horses, used the pass as a shortcut. The path evolved into a wagon trail, then an unpaved Model T route. Near the summit on both sides were wide spots where early motorists stopped to cool their engines and refill their radiators with water from spring-fed creeks flowing off the bluffs. By the 1950s, the era of “See the USA in Your Chevrolet,” the road had been paved and was promoted for tourism as the Black and Yellow Trail from Chicago to the Black Hills of South Dakota and Yellowstone Park. While Interstate 90 has supplanted the route for transcontinental commerce, U.S. 14 remains heavily bused for local connectivity. This includes Rochester-Winona commuting over Stockton Hill.
Databank
Elevation at summit: 1,284 feet above sea level.
Rise from Winona: 758 feet.
Rise from Stockton: 743 feet.
Comment: Why not tunnel
Norwegians love to tunnel. The Swiss do it instinctively. But not the Minnesota Department of Transportation. Instead of pouring million of dollars again and again into fixes on the seven miles of U.S. 14 over Stockton Hill, why not a one-mile tunnel? No more icy and sometimes fatal wipe-outs on the steep, narrow and 45 mph twists up above. Millions of dollars could be saved in fuel costs for the current 700-foot elevation climbs on both ends. The environment would be appreciative. Commute time would shrink. Think about it: 70 mph all the way between Winona and Stockton and illuminated day and night. Too expensive? The Norwegians do it. The Swiss do it. Hawaiians have done it in Honolulu with the Tetsuo Harano tunnels. Seattle did it in 1938 with the Mount Baker tunnel to the Lake Washington floating bridge. /jv
Disorderly and certainly not Martin Luther King
WINONA, Minn. — A Winona man was arrested after two downtown shouting disturbances, one with a threat to kill officers who were trying to calm him down. Taken to jail was Matthew Ryan Ngyuen, age 40, who’s a familiar face at the jailhouse. The first disturbance was about 7:10 p.m. in the 50 block of West Second Street. One 911 caller said a man was proclaiming to be on drugs. A second caller said the man was screaming for a girl named Allie. The officers gave this further account: When they arrived, Ngyuen said he didn’t need help. Then he charged at the officers. With his hands in his waistband, he said he would kill them. He was also identifying himself as Martin Luther King. The officers, who have continuing experience with Ngyuen and not believing him armed, decided to de-escalate the situation. They told Ngyuen to move along. They backed off and cleared the scene. Following up 10 minutes later, the officers found Ngyuen at Third and Center streets and screaming into a stranger’s face. The officer told Ngyuen again to move along. With clenched fists, he charged the squad car. The officer in the driver’s seat rolled up his window. Ngyuen head-butted the window twice. The officers got out of their car and told Nguen he was under arrest. They cuffed him despite resistance, but he managed to head-butt the hood of the squad car and spit in one officer’s face. The officers managed to pull a spit hood over Nguen’s head for ride to jail.
Cops: Auto thief arrested; where’s the $1,400
WINONA, Minn. — Police believe they’ve cracked the case of a car that was stolen a month ago with two pet dogs in the backseat and with a wallet containing $1,400 cash. The car and the dogs, both dachshunds, were recovered quickly a few blocks away at Lake Park but not the cash. Now, say police, they’ve found video tape linking the theft to Nicholas John Deppe, age 27, of Winona. As it happened, Deppe was already in jail on charges a couple days after the car theft. Those charges were assault, disorderly conduct and obstruction of the legal process. The new charge: Felony auto theft.
Stop-light crash injures Chatfield driver
ROCHESTER, Minn — A Chatfield driver was injured, albeit not seriously, in a two-vehicle collision on U.S. Highway 14 on the far eastern outskirts of Rochester. Peter Alan Ask, 84, who was driving a vintage 1951 Mercury coupe, was taken to a hospital. The other driver, Debra Marie Sutherland, 72, also of Chatfield, was unhurt. The vehicles, coming from opposite directions, collided at the light-controlled 50th Avenue Southeast intersection. This was about 11:50 a.m. Police aid Sutherland was belted in a 2013 Buick Enclave whose airbags deployed. Ask’s 74-year-old Mercury had neither seat belts nor airbags. Neither was offered in cars manufactured in 1951.
A crumpled classic now. This is what 1951 Mercury coupes looked like new.
Pet dies in Prairie Island campground fire
Heavy smoke damage. Winona firefighters contained a fire at summer vacation trailer to the single vehicle. No one was home except for a dog, who perished apparently oif aspyhiation. Fire Chief Joel Corcoran said it was too late to save the dog with the animal rescue kit that firefighters routinely carry. The fire was called in about 11:40 a.m. The cause was not determined immediately. Image Winona Fire Department
Fair fodder /13: Has Minnesota ever tasted this fine?
FALCON HEIGHTS, Minn. — Among 33 new foods on the ever-growing menu at the Minnesota State Fair, which opens August 21:
French-fried beignets. Deep-fried pastry dough topped with powdered sugar. A choice of an iced or hot tea, coffee, chai lattes, espressos. At Beans and Beignets at northwest corner of Judson Avenue and Clough Street.
Chocolate strawberry cup. Fresh strawberries with choice of toppings: Dubai chocolate with pistachios; white chocolate with marshmallow sauce; melted chocolate; or melted chocolate with whipped cream and chocolate drizzle. Gluten free, except the Dubai cup. At Chocolate Strawberry Cup at southwest corner of Dan Patch Avenue &and Cooper Street.
Tater kegs: Jumbo deep-fried tots stuffed with a choice fillings: Bacon and jalapeño, bacon and cheddar, breakfast skillet, or cheese and reuben. With choice of sauces: thousand island, blue cheese, maple syrup or ketchup. Gluten free. At Tater Kegs at west side of Liggett Street. between Carnes and Judson avenues outside the Horse Barn.
R.I.P.: John Burdick
WINONA, Minn. — John E. Burdick, a sociology professor at Winona State University for 25 years, died at home. He was 82. His main focus was crisis intervention and critical incident stress management. In 2001 he served as a Red Cross mental health specialist in New York City after the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks. Before Winona State he taught at the University of Nebraska, UW-Madison and Whitewater State University. He served on the Winona Human Rights Commission. He was a state leader for the Red Cross Mental Health Responders and disaster chair for the Winona County Red Cross. He held certificates from the U.S. Fire Academy and the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation
Detail: Fawcett-Junker Funeral Hone
1943-2025
Walmart’s lure: Woman evicted again
WINONA, Minn. –Walmarts are magnets for some people. Store detectives at the Winona Walmart called police that Ranee Helen Corey, age 43, of Winona, was in the aisles shopping despite an enforceable order from an earlier incident not to come back. She was removed again, about 7:55 p.m., and issued a police citation for violating a no-trespass order.
Obstacles face hunt for lost Minnesota climber
TEN SLEEP, Wyo. — The search for missing Minnesota hiker Grant Gardner on Cloud Peak has focused on his likely route down from the 13,100- foot summit. It was at the summit that he cell-phoned his wife August 29. Gardner said he made it to the top and was exhausted. Nobody has heard from him since. The call was at 7:30 p.m. with, it’s believed, a storm with lightning moving in — a not uncommon afternoon and evening weather situation in the Big Horn mountains. People experienced with the mountains believe Garner probably started down to seek shelter below timberline where he had pitched his pup tent. The tent was found early in the search. It was flattened by hail. Searchers doubt that Gardner made it down the 3,000 feet in elevation to timberline in the dark. Predators like bears and wolves seldom venture above timberline. Smallish black bears roam at lower elevations.
Cloud Peak profile
There are no trails to the Cloud Peak through the denuded boulder fields and treacherous drops, some vertical. Complicating the search is that Cloud Peak is not a Fuji-like cone but only a high point, a kind of bulge, on the 200-mile ridge that’s the spine of the Big Horn mountains that stretch from Montana into north-central Wyoming. The route Gardner chose was the 22-mile Mistymoon Lake Trail from the West Ten Sleep trailhead. The trail has a 5,400-foot elevation gain. The final 3,000 feet are barren bolder fields, mostly devoid of paths. Passage requires by going around and over boulders, often hand over hand. The ascent is rated Level 2 on the five-step Yosemite Decimal Scale. Class 2 means that climbing doesn’t require gear like carabiners, pulleys and helmets but means traversing through terrain like taluses or scree where footing can unstable and requiring hands for balance and reaching out. The Mistymoon Lake route takes 12 to 12-1/2 hours. Gardner had planned three days for his solo adventure. Big Horn outfitters, who offer guide services, advise against solo ascents.
Big Horn range. East of Yellowstone Park in this Wyoming map showing mountain ranges in dark brown. Historically the Big Horns were an impenetrable barrier to pioneers traveling west across the Great Plains.
Above timberline. A barren boulder-strewn moonscape, Image: Travel Wyoming
Wicked weather
Turbulence at 39,000 feet in this area on the evening before Gardner vanished caused a Delta airliner to drop 3,000 feet like a rock before the pilot regained control. Injured: 25 people on board.
Stricken man rescued on Mississippi River
BUFFALO CITY, Wis. — Deputes rescued a man suffering a heart attack on an island in the Long Lake archipelago upriver on the Mississippi River. The man, age 75, was ferried to the 10th Street Landing in Buffalo City, then transferred to an ambulance to go to a hospital. This was about 8:40 a.m. on the Wisconsin side of Pool 5 backed up behind the Bass Camp dam.
Fair fodder /12: Calorie free? Not on your life
FALCON HEIGHTS, Minn. — Among 33 new foods on the ever-growing menu at the Minnesota State Fair, which opens August 21:
Timber Twists: Italian sausage, mozzarella, cream cheese and barbecue rub piped into three large manicotti shells, then wrapped in bacon. Cooked in wood-fired smoker. With side of barbecue sauce. At Giggles’ Campfire Grill southeast of Lee Avenue and Cooper streets at The North Woods.
Triple chocolate mini donuts: Chocolate mini donuts dusted with powdered sugar, drizzled with chocolate icing, topped with chocolate sprinkles and mini milk chocolate chips. Served in bucket rimmed with chocolate icing and sprinkles. Vegetarian. At Solem’s Cheese Curds and Mini Donuts at east side of Underwood Street between Murphy and Lee avenues.
Uncrustaburger: A four-ounce hamburger patty with cheese, pickles and special sauce, sandwiched between two deep-fried peanut butter and grape jelly buns. At Coasters at southeast corner of Carnes Avenue and Liggett Street.
Earlier: Fair fodder /11 On a stick, in a bowl, with fingers
Notable journalism
Elisabeth Brentano (Travel Wyoming, April 2022): “Backpacking to Cloud Peak: The High Point of the Big Horn Mountains”
Nana Kyei-Baffour (Rochester magazine, January-February 2022): “Utica Queen Returns Home”
Jp Lawrence, Christopher Vondracek and C.J. Sinner (Minneapolis Star Tribune, July 6, 2025): “Minnesota Famers Caught Between Shifting Guest-Worker Policies”
News summary at week’s end: August 9, 2025
GOVERNANCE: Winona workshops planned on resisting Trump
GOVERNANCE: Back to Square One to rebadge Masonic Temple
RESCUE: Injured hiker rescued at Sugar Loaf
RIVER: Copter crashes into barges with volatile cargo
CRIME: Sex misdeed cases mount against ex-coach
CRIME: Police find robbery suspect hiding in swamp
CUISINE: Fair fodder /11: On a stick, in a bowl, with fingers
Lewiston cops break up teen street fight
LEWISTON, Minn. — Police broke up three boys in a street fight before anybody got too bloodied. This was a bout 7:35 p.m.in the 70 residential block of Second Street South. Injuries were limited to cuts and bruises, police said. Criminal charges are possible, police said.
Cops grab meth, ecstasy in traffic stop
ROCHESTER, Minn. —Two Rochester men were arrested in a traffic stop for salale quantities of illicit drugs. Police reported finding 85 grams of meth and 200 ecstasy pills. Arrested were Jason Bennett, age34, and Lorenzo Heard, 44. The arrests were about 6:30 p.m. near Highway 52 North and 41st Street Northwest.
Police find robbery suspect hiding in swamp
LACROSSE, Wis. — A Melrose man has been arrested for a gas station robbery in Holmen and a chase to Goose Island 20 miles downriver south of LaCrosse. William C. Brink, age 56, was taken after a two-day search with drones and a Bearcat armored combat vehicle. A warrant was issued for Brink’s arrest based on the state-required registration record for his car. The car had been abandoned at the sprawling Goose Island campground after the BP gas station robbery is Holmen. The warrant listed:
> Robbery with force.
> Battery.
> Fleeing and eluding officers.
> Recklessly endangering safety.
Brink’s home is in the Jacksn County town Melrose in the lkack River valley — 20 miles from Holmen and 40 miles from Goose Island. After his arrest Brink was checked out medically at a hospital and[booked at the LaCrosse County jail. Meanwhile, back in Jackson County, faces a jury trial on domestic abuse accusations including stalking, strangulation and suffocation, and battery.
Cuffed and barefoot. Brink after capture in Goose Island backwaters. Images: LaCrosse County sheriff
Brink. Photo from arrest warrant.
Claim: Ex-girlfriend skedaddled, charged $14,000
MINNESOTA CITY, Minn. — She was an ex-girlfriend, the man said. “Ex-” he emphasized. The man, from Minnesota City, told deputies that the woman moved out of his Harbor Drive place a month ago and opened a half dozen credit cards in his name and charged $14,000. There was reason to think she had relocated back to Oklahoma, he said. The man filed the fraud report about 6:20 p.m.
Winona workshops planned on resisting Trump
WINONA, Minn. – Grassroots organizers with the Winona Indivisible are beginning online workshops next week against President Trump’s authoritarian bullying. The workshops are part of a nation-wide effort, “One Million Rising,” to maintain momentum from the earlier “Hands Off,” No King” and “Good Trouble” rallies. Those rallies drew hundreds to Winona’s Windom Park. The upcoming workshops, the organization said, will emphasize strategic logic in the practice of non-cooperation basics of community organizing and campaign design. The national goal is to train 1 million citizens in effective engagement. To register. The Winona workshops:
> July 16: On how role of individuals can in coordinated strategic action.
> July 30: On training others in community resistance.
> August 13: On integrating local action into a national network.
Earlier: Despite taunting, rally true to John Lewis legacy
Community organizing. Goal is mobilizing to snuff Trump’s power grabs. The President, say organizers, is attacking basic American cultural values and dismantling core institutions.
Verbatim
Winona Indivisible: “Authoritarian forces across the country are getting bolder and more dangerous. Trump and his allies are not hiding their agenda: Mass deportations, rollbacks of civil rights, weaponized courts, and full-scale attacks on our democracy. We don’t have to wait until it’s too late. We can stop this. But it’ll take all of us — not just on single days of mass action, but through sustained organizing in our communities.”
Cops stop car, find imbibing teens in backseat
GOODVIEW, Minn. — A deputy stopped a car for weaving on U.S. Highway 61 and determined the driver was sober. But not so two teen-age boys in the backseat. Tickets for underage boozing were issued to both — a 17-year-old from Kellogg and a 16-year-old from Wabasha. The driver was not cited. This was about 2 a.m. at Frank Drive near the Kenilworth truck garages.
Injured hiker rescued at Sugar Loaf
A first-responder challenge. Rescuers had to find their way through the dark with equipment to carry down a hiker, who was immobilized with an ankle injury. The hiker was taken a few blocks to the Winona hospital. This was about 11 p.m. Image: Winona Fire Department
Copter crashes into barges with volatile cargo
ALTON, Ill. — A helicopter hit power lines over the Mississippi river and exploded in flames and fell onto barges being towed. Two persons aboard the helicopter perished. No one on the Donna H. Furlong towboat was hurt. The towboat crew used its water cannon to extinguish the burning wreckage, which fell into the river. The barges were carrying ethylene glycol, an odorless, colorless, flammable, viscous liquid used to manufacture polyester fibers and antifreeze. The liquid didn’t catch fire. The crash was about 11:05 a.m. on the Missouri side of the river near the Melvin Price lock and dam. The crew on the MD-369 helicopter was replacing orange aviation makers on Ameren power lines over the river.
Towboat. The Donna H. Furlong towboat is part of the 24-bessel fleet of HD Lines based in Paducah, Kentucky.
Helicopter. A medium-lift tandem rotor cargo MD 339 helicopter designed by McDonnell Douglas and built by Boeing.
Spurned teen reports “large party” on island
WINONA, Minn. – Police found two partying teens at Latsch Island, a boy and a girl, both 15. They were taken home to explain their boozing to mom and dad. Police had gone to the island on a tip about a party. The tip came from a caller who admitted being angry not having been invited to what she thought was “a large party.”
Police chase robbery suspect into swamps
HOLMEN, Wis. — A man robbed a BP gas station in this north LaCrosse suburb and led police on a chase south toward LaCrosse. The fleeing driver almost hit several cars, prompting police to abandon the chase for safety reasons at the County Road OT intersection into State Highway 35. The gas station attendant was hurt, but police said the injury was minor. No weapon was believed involved, police said. The get-away car was located at the Goose Island campground south of LaCrosse, halfway to Stoddard. The campground has 400 campsites, a golf course, several dozen family homes, and the WKTY array of radio towers. The driver fled on foot into Mississippi backwaters, police said.
Hold-up. At 402 Holmen Drive North. Attendant injured.
Sex misdeed cases mount against ex-coach
WINONA, Minn. – A former Winona High School track coach, Eric Birth, was told formally in court that he now faces five new counts of sexual misconduct with female athletes. Already pending are five counts filed in February 2024. The original counts alleged that encounters occurred in a six-year window ending in 2022, but the athletes didn’t report them at the time. Birth, now 31 years old, has pleaded not guilty to the original charges His attorney said he needs more time to evaluate the new allegations and asked Judge Nancy Buytendorp to delay the case further. The judge took the request under advisement.
More sordid detail
One new count alleges that Birth persuaded one girl to fellate him, which she did. When she declined to go further, she said, he dropped her from her position on the track team.
Earlier: Sex trial of Winona coach moved to September
Earlier: Date set for Winona coach’s sex trial
Earlier: Coach’s bail softened in teen sex cases, now $20,000
Earlier: Coach accused of sex with fourth teen athlete
Earlier: Police chronicles: The Eric Birth probe
Earlier: Teacher’s bail: $300,000 over school sex allegations
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