Scene at dawn. At backroad intersection a mile or so southeast of Hixton along Interstate 94. About 12 miles west of the Jackson County seat in Black River Falls.

Critically wounded driver airlifted to hospital

HIXTON, Wis.  – A deputy sheriff shot and critically wounded a driver after the man’s car crashed, ending a police chase outside this Jackson County village. The victim was flown to a hospital. The incident was shortly before 1 a.m. just southeast of Hixton. Few details were available from official channels. The typically taciturn Jackson County sheriff, Duane Waldera, confirmed only that there had been an officer-involved shooting. Waldera declined news reporter questions about details, including even the name of the victim and the hospital to which he had been flown. Waldera also declined to name his deputy who fired the shot or explain why there had been a police chase. The crash was at the 90-degree corner where Sand Prairie and Charcoal roads intersect. Police chatter monitored on emergency channels indicated that the car had run off a shoulder and become stuck, that the deputy fired  as the driver emerged the vehicle, and that other police units converged quickly at the scene. Among unknowns: Was the driver armed?  The victim was given emergency medical aid by officers and first-responders from Black River Falls, 12 miles away, until an air ambulance arrived.

Waldera. Sheriff first elected 2007.

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WINONA, Minn. – A biker exceeding the 50 mph limit coming down Stockton Hill into Winona made a clever turn, going where a deputy’s pursuing car couldn’t go — and got away. The biker leaned sharp into a right turn on the foot path below Saint Mary’s University and zoomed over a narrow foot bridge over Gilmore Creek. The biker disappeared into a residential neighborhood to which there is no immediate street access. It was a filmic scene right  out of Hollywood. The deputy gave up.

WINONA, Minn. – Police had a hard time getting a Kellogg man to the hospital for detox care after beach-goers reported being harassed over an inflatable beach raft. This about 3:10 p.m. at Lake Park. At the beach police said they found Tyler Marvin Hoffman, age 23, so intoxicated he couldn’t care for himself — and also belligerent. Hoffman got in officers’ faces and became combative when told to back off. Asked for identification, Hoffman produced a cigarette package, officers said. Also, they said, he gave a false name and birth date. One officer was kicked in the groin, another suffered leg burns from being dragged across the sand. In the squad care Hoffman kicked and damaged a door panel, officers said. Rather than the hospital, officers took Hoffman to jail. Still combative, he strapped in a chair for booking.

Hoffman. Charges: Assaulting police, obstructing a legal process, damaging property.

WINONA, Minn. – Police interrupted a disturbance on the Far West End and told a man yelling and screaming obscenities to leave. He did, then returned, angry that his girlfriend hadn’t left with him. Officers were summoned again to remove the man as unwanted at the address. He was gone this time but retuned on a bicycle and spit on the police car as he approached. He then resumed screaming and yelling and was arrested. This was about 2:15 p.m. in the 750 block of West Fifth Street. Nicholas John Deppe, age 27, of Winona, was booked for resisting arrest and disorderly boisterous and abusive conduct.

Deppe. Told to leave. Did so. Then pedaled back.

WINONA, Minn. – A man with a history of falsely reporting fires did it again, police said. The fire call came in at 12:40 a.m., but there was no fire. A woman at the address said the call came from a disgruntled former boyfriend who had been harassing her. This was near Sanborn and Hamilton streets. Police contacted the man, who, they said, threatened d blow up the girlfriend’s place and the entire neighborhood with already-planted bombs if they didn’t leave him alone. Police backed off. Later in the morning police arrested Travis Dean Boettcher, age 34, for terroristic threats.

Boettcher. Charges: Harassment causing fear, threatening violence, a false emergency call.

After a long winter. People who live their summers on the river are eager to get their vessels in the water at the Pettibone marina across from LaCrosse.  Image: Steve Lunde

Softball: Saint Mary’s 9, Macalester 1

Softball: Saint Mary’s 5, Macalester 3

WINONA, Minn. – After a citizen report of a driver “wigging out,” an officer stopped Nathan William Brugger, 21, of Minnesota City. Police said Brugger admitted to smoking meth. Charges were pending lab tests of a blood sample. The arrest was about 5:15 p.m. near the Mankato Avenue round-about on State Highway 61. The officer said Brugger was inexplicably slowing down and speeding up and weaving. Brugger’s movements were described as exaggerated and extremely rigid, his speech slurred, his eyes watery and bloodshot and jerky.

Picking up tevslack. Where will Winona’s volleyball teams play after the Black Horse was destroyed by fire in January?   To the rescue has come Wellington’s bowling alley and bar adjacent to the Riverport Plaza  strip mall on Winona’s West End. The sand is laid, the nets are stretched, the advertising billboards are in place,  cold beer nearby. Image: Steve Lunde

Earlier: Fire destroys Black Horse bar along Highway 61

Needless alarm.  A motorist reported smoldering logs from a controlled burn along State Highway 74 in Whitewater State Park. Smoke apparently had obscured road signs not to report the fire. Wildlife management rangers said there was no danger of the fire getting loose. Images: Steve Lunde

WINONA, Minn. – A Winona man was charged with domestic assault after a woman-friend said he had dragged her around their place all morning and struck her repeatedly in the head. Police arrived about12:05 p.m. Arrested was Benjamin Gordon McQuay, age 32. The woman, also age 32, told police she didn’t need medical attention even though she wasn’t hearing in one ear.

McQuay. Charge elevated to a felony based on earlier abuse convictions.

David Drew (KBMX, May 17, 2023): “Cause of Recent Minnesota Wildfires Found; Criminal Charges Possible”

Ryan Faircloth (Minnesota Star Tribune May 17, 2025): “Walz Was a Darling of the Left a Year Ago but Now at Odds with Minnesota Progressives”

Soumya Karlmangla and Jeff Ernst (New York Times, May 18, 2025): “Minnesota as a Refuge from Climate Change? Three Wildfires Otherwise”

WINONA, Minn. – Police arrested a homeless man who had fashioned a makeshift shelter from twigs, sticks and blankets in a wooded area behind the Watkins warehouse in the 700 block of West Third Street. Joseph Allan Peaslee, 32, was charged with illegal drug possesion.. Police had been called to the site by a 911 call. Peaslee denied making the call but his cell rang when officers called the originating 911 number. He appeared hallucinatory, officres said. On his person the officers found escitalopram oxalate anti-depression pills. Although legal, the pills require a prescription. There also was methamphetamine residue on the ground, officers said.

Peaslee. Although around town a while, he has no permanent address.

WINONA, Minn. – As police were questioning a man who had been sleeping his car at a gas station, a black smoking pipe fell out of his sweatshirt. A check of his wallet found 3.1 grams of meth, police said. Zachary Robert Nesland, 20, of Sartell, was booked for possession of a controlled substance. He didn’t appear to have consumed recently, police said. The arrest was about 6:10 a.m. at the Kwik Trip on Homer Road. Police had been called by a clerk who said two men apparently were sleeping in a running car.

Nesland. From St. Cloud area Was 190 miles from home.

WINONA, Minn. – An East Side woman was charged with domestic abuse against her 64-year-old mother.  Arrested was Natalie Lynn Barnes, age 35. Police made the arrest in  responding to a disturbance call at the women’s shared house in the 550 block of East Mark Street. The mother said she had been punche repeatedly in the face. The mother didn’t want medical attention.

Barnes. The criminal charge was elevated to the felony level because of past violent behavior.

WINONA, Minn. – A LaCrosse driver, Fernando Mendoza Medrano, 28, was stopped for broaching the fog and center lines on U.S. Highway14. The officer reported that Mendrano smelled of consuming alcohol and had watery eyes and slurred speech. When he wasbooked at jail, his blood-alcohol showed 0.21% in a breath test. That’s 2-1/2 times too much not to be charged.

Mendrano. Field tests showed impairment, the officer said.

Softball: UW-Platteville 10, UW-LaCrosse 0

HOMER Minn. — Responding to a report of erratic driving, deputies spotted the car on U.S, Highway 61, still weaving all over the road.  The driver, Elizabeth Dawn Tevis7, of Winona, looked and acted drunk, deputies said: Her eyes and speech weren’t right, she failed balance and dexterity exercises. When breath-tested for inebrients, her blood-alcohol level, at 0.15%, was almost double the legal limit. This was about 9 p.m near the County Road 15 intersection.

A gardener’s pilgrimage. Selecting colors at Miller’s Stony Acre Greenhouse on17576 Sandstone Drive east of St. Charles. The final frost, we hope, is behind us. The afternoon high reached 79.  Mother’s Day is predicted  the lower 80s. Image: Andy Frank