Police reconstruct fatal car-train wreck
At fairgrounds west end. Although the train was at a relatively slow speed, momentum carried it from one end of the county fairgrounds to the other. Image: St. Charles police
Video, witnesses show how crash occurred
ST. CHARLES, Minn. – Video shows the driver of the car in a fatal car-train collision Saturday had stopped briefly at the West 11th Street crossing, police said. Rex Herman, 88, then proceeded onto the tracks. Witnesses said the train crew, their horn blaring, bore down on the car helpless to stop immediately because of their momentum. The train, the better part of a mile long, blocked almost every crossing through St. Charles several hours.
Earlier: Car driver dies from train crash injuries
Final report on massive Caledonia fire: Accidental
CALEDONIA, Minn – The state fire marshal has concluded that the fire that destroyed a large Caledonia trucking center was accidental. The report confirmed original assessments that James Taylor, an employee of Joe Rud Trucking, was welding when sparks ignited an automobile fuel tank. Taylor got out ahead of the explosion and called 911. Even so, he suffered full penetration third-degree burns.
Life in prison for murder of disabled woman
HASTINGS, Minn. – After a five-day trial a jury found a Red Wing man guilty in the 2021 murder of a Hastings woman. The judge immediately sentenced Kyle Williams, 35, to life in prison without parole. Dakota County Judge Dannia Edwards passed down the sentence. The criminal complaint said the victim, Kelly Kocurek, was helpless from a pre-existing injury to an arm that limited the use of her hand and made it necessary for her to receive assistance in getting dressed and with other daily activities. Williams had called 911 from the hotel that he heard a woman screaming hysterically and then discovered that Kocurek had somehow strangled herself. When first-responders arrived, they found Kocurek unresponsive on the floor next to several cut cords. An autopsy concluded that her injuries were inconsistent with self-inflicted wounds and came from a physical assault. Williams’ trial had delayed multiple times for psychological exams on whether he was incompetent to participate in his own legal proceedings. The final answer: Yes, he was.
Williams. Hs claim that she strangled herself to death didn’t stand up.
Red Wing homicide victim: Andrea Broyld
RED WING, Minn. — A woman found dead Sunday night in a Red Wing house had been shot 10 times, according to an autopsy. Police had withheld the victim’s name pending the autopsy but now have confirmed that she was 40-year-old Andrea Elizabeth Broyld of Red Wing. The body was found leaning against a couch when police entered the house after an armed stand-off with Broyld’s boyfriend, Darryl Dion Nixon Jr., 41, who had refused to come out. Nixon eventually surrendered. He was jailed for homicide.
Earlier: Murder charge pending against Red Wing man
Earlier: Woman dead, man arrested in Red Wing
Wabasha Board docks prosecutor’s salary
WABASHA, Minn. –The Wabasha County Board voted 3-2 to cut the county prosecutor’s salary by $20,000 — down to $110,000. At the meeting Commissioner Don Springer led the criticism of Stinson. “Sex offenders walk away with the slap on the hand, don’t have to register as a sex offender. DUIs are pleaded down. And we’ve essentially had no trials in the last two years,” Springer said. “I don’t feel that the citizens of this county are safe. Especially women and children,” He called Stinson “unorganized” and “lacking knowledge.” Ironically, Stinson had asked the
Stinson. Elected in 2022, narrowly defeating 24-year incumbent Karrie Kelly.
Trump proffers SMU grad for cabinet
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. –A Saint Mary’s University grad, Sean Duffy, has been nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to be secretary of transportation. Duffy, age 53, is known mostly as a cast member of the Real World television reality show in the 1990s. He also served five terms in Congress from northern Wisconsin. At Saint Mary’s he majored in marketing. Duffy holds a law degree from the former William Mitchell Law School in St. Paul.
Trump and vettting
The Trump news release posed questions anew about Trump’s process for choosing cabinet members. Critics have quoted insiders that it’s more a Central Casting call than substantive interviewing and careful vetting. The news release is light on Duffy’s transportation-related credentials and larded with show-biz detail and gratuitous family references. The release notes that Duffy has been a co-host on the Fox Business channel and a weekender on the Fox News Channel. Duffy’s wife Rachel Campos-Duffy is mentioned as a Fox news host, but her relevance to his being the U.S. transportation secretary is unclear. There is a passing reference, also of seeming irrelevance, to their “wonderful children.” The news release refers to Duffy as a transportation champion in Minnesota. Minnesota? To all appearances the Trump vetting staff got the wrong state. Aside from his time in Minnesota back in college, Duffy has only the slimmest Minnesota connections, although, to be sure, he once supported a bridge project connecting the two states.
Duffy biography
Duffy. At Congressional hearing. In Congress 2011 to 2019 from WI-8. His home is Ashland, a once-thriving ore shipping port on Lake Superior.
Duffy has a long record of being in the public eye.Duffy started log rolling at age 5 and speed-climbing up 60-foot and 90-foot poles at 13. He holds two speed-climbing titles. Oddly he doesn’t appear on the Saint Mary’s list of 122 distinguished alumni. Duffy appeared every so often on the MTV reality show “Real World” in 1997, 1998, 2002 and 2008. Duffy was an ESPN color commentator in 2003. He appeared as both a competitor and commentator on ESPN’s “Great Outdoor Games.” In 2022 was named a co-host of the Fox Business channel’s “The Bottom Line.”
Law and politics
Duffy grew up in Hayward, Wisconsin, and took up residence in Ashland, 60 miles away, after college. He worked in his father’s law office. He was appointed the Ashland County district attorney in 2002 amd was elected unopposed in 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2008. He resigned to run successfully for the WI-8 seat in Congress in 2010 and served 10 years. None of his House committee assignments related to transportation. His was considered a reliable vote on Republican-sponsored legislation, but he never especially distinguished himself. He gained unwanted attention in 2011 at a Polk County Republican town hall for favoring a salary freeze for Wisconsin state employees. Asked whether he would be willing to cut his own $174,000 Congressial salary Duffy waffled that that he was “struggling” to get by as it was . He has 11 children.
Car hits pedestrian; injuries sustainable
WINONA, Minn. – A pedestrian suffered minor injuries when struck by a car making a turn at Huff and Sarnia streets. Police said that pedestrian, Kylie Sloan Buck, 21, of Wisconsin Dells, was flung 10 feet through the air and then five feet to a curb. She was taken to the hospital with head and arm pain, police said. The driver, Richard Gary Mueller, 80, of Alma, was moving slowly at the moment of impact, police said. Police didn’t issue a ticket pending further review. It was dark and rainy and Buck was wearing black, police said. The accident was about 7 p.m.
Man proclaims self the devil, kicks cop in groin
WINONA, Minn. — Police brought an East End man to the ground as he resisted arrest with bizarre behavior, this after a domestic assault that had been called in. As officers attempted to move the man to a squad car, he first refused to walk, then hoisted his arms over his head with clinched fists – an aggressive posture, officers said — and proclaimed: “I am the devil” and “Ever seen what evil looks like, really looks like?” One officer took a kick to the groin. Subdued finally was Shane Lee Dean Peterson, age 36.
911 call from bathroom
Police had been called to a house in the 600 block of East Wabasha Street about 5:20 p.m. A woman told the 911 dispatcher that she had locked herself in a bathroom to protect herself. When police arrived, the woman said that Peterson had been drinking all day and came home heavily intoxicated from a neighborhood bar and passed out on the lawn. She dragged him inside out of the rain. He then became erratic and making no sense, she said, and following her around the house and grabbing her and ripping her shirt. That, she said, was when she locked herself in the bathroom and telephoned for help. She showed officers a bleeding scratch on an arm.
Bevy of charges
Peterson was booked into jail about 6:20 p.m. Police recommended these offenses for prosecution:
> Dometic assault causing fear.
> Domestic assault causisg harm.
> Assault on a police officer
> Obstructing the legal process.
Peterson. Facing multiple domestic abuse charges.
Car driver dies from train crash injuries
ST. CHARLES, Minn. — A Dover man who survived a car-train collision Saturday has died. Rex Herman, 88, succumbed at a Rochester hospital. First-responders who pried open Herman’s crumpled Buick sedan to rescue him had been hopeful about his condition.
North Dakota agency OK’s CO2 pipeline
BISMARCK, N.D. – The state Public Service Commission has approved a key element in a proposed pipeline to carry carbon dioxide from 57 ethanol plants in the Dakotas Iowa Minnesota and Nebraska. The 2,500-mile network would deliver CO2 emissions for deep underground storage in North Dakota. Landowners have opposed the pipeline vigorously. The pipeline is an $8 billion project of Iowa-based Summit Carbon Solutions, which touts it for reducing planet-warming CO2 pollution. The gas, which liquifies under pressure, can be used to extract oil from deep geological formations. The process has support from the fossil-fuel industry. Opponents worry about dangers of leakage of CO2, which is fatal, and of the fracking process on geological stability, not to mention the extension of reliance on petroleum as an energy source.
Carbon capture politics
Summit Carbon Solutions is a multi-billion-dollar private investment company based with headquarters in Iowa. The principal, Bruce Rastetter, age 69, is an agricultral adviser to Donad Trump. He donated $1.5 million to state and federal political campaigns from 2003 to 2015. In GOP circles he’s called the “Iowa kingmaker.” In 2008, he gave $5 million to upgrade training facilities for Hawkeye football.
Murder charge pending against Red Wing man
RED WING, Minn. – The man arrested Sunday night after a police stand-off was booked for probable cause for second -degree murder. At the Goodhue County jail was Darryl Dion Nixon Jr., 41, of Red Wing. Inside the house where Nixon was arrested, police found the body of a woman who police said lived with him. Her name was not released pending notification of kin. Also not released were details of how she died. Also, the charge against Nixon was in flux pending an autopsy.
Earlier: Woman dead, man arrested in Red Wing
Nixon. In custody after three-hour police stand-off.
Nixon profile
Court records show a pattern of Nixon as inattentive to fine points of law. He has numerous misdemeanor convictions in Minnesota and also in Wisconsin for driving with a suspended license, driving without insurance, and not wearing a seat belt. There also is a speeding ticket: 77 mph in a 60 zone. His most serious serious offense was in 2021 for possession of a pistol without a permit.
A “miracle” survival in car-train smash-up
ST. CHARLES, Minn. — A man whose car was struck by train and pushed several blocks along the Winona County fairgrounds, suffered only minor injuries, according to witnesses. “A miracle,” several said. Arriving on-scene, first-responders immediately called for a med-evac helicopter. The driver, an 88-year-old man from six miles down the track in Dover, was ambulatory.
Where, oh where, to pile all the shit, err silt
“Love Letters in the Sand.” Not quite. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has a growing nightmare: Where to pile the never-ending, always growing sediment dredged to keep the Mississippi River navigation channel open. The scale of the problem is huge: Here at Latsch Island, look carefully, very carefully, to see a yellow bulldozer near the shore. The dozer keeps plowing silt up new furrows with every pass. How high can it go? Not much. Next the Corps is considering a new site across from Latsch Island next the Minnesota Marine Art Museum. Image: Steve Lunde
Earlier: Dredging alternative possible on Mississippi?
Earlier: Work starts soon on Mississippi muck pipeline
Earlier: Army Corps resuming Homer muck dump
Cops ticket 151 cars parked on wrong side
WINONA, Minn. – It wasn’t exactly a warm and fuzzy greeting that dozens of motorists found tucked under their windshield wipers. On the first night enforcing the the alternate-side winter parking ordinance, police wrote 151 tickets. The fine: $25. The ordinance actually went into effect Friday, but the first few nights were too busy with priority police calls for parking patrols. Sunday was slower.
Earlier: Only if it goes like this all winter
Amtrak to freight lines: Don’t get in our way
WASHINGTON – The national passenger train service Amtrak has begun a crackdown on freight railroads that block shared tracks and slow long-distance passenger trains. On-time arrivals have been pathetic. As an example, consider the Empirer= Builder through Winona one week late in May:
> Final destinations: On-time arrival 39% at Chicago, Portland and Seattle.
> All stations: 28 minutes late.
The Empire Builder operates on tracks owned by the Burlington Northern and the Canadian Pacific. Per a 1971 law, host railroads are supposed to give priority to passenger trains. Now Amtrak has asked the U.S. Justice Department to crack down. A suit has been filed against Norfolk Southern for a horrendous pattern of delays for its supposedly crack Crescent train between New York, Atlanta and New Orleans. To be sure, Amtrak has its own operational delays, but most trains lateare because freights are blocking rights-of-way.
Simon: Probe needed on alleged voting lapse
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota secretary of state, Steve Simon, who runs elections for the whole state, called allegations of irregularities in Hubbard County “extremely serious.” A thorough investigation is needed, Simon said. A precinct election judge for a rural township has been charged with allowing 11 people to vote without proper registration. That’s more than 10% of the township’s population. Said Simon: “Election judges take an oath to administer elections in accordance with the law. A deliberate failure to do so is unlawful and a betrayal of the public trust.” Neither Kay Rave, the county’s election administrator, nor Timothy Michael Scouton, the accused township election judge, has commented on the charge.
R.I.P.: Ramona Pautzke
WINONA, Minn. – Ramona I. Pautzke, age 95, of Winona, passed away, at home. Honoring her wishes, the family olanned private services..
Detail: Watkowski-Mulyck Funeral Home
1929-2024
R.I.P.: Gloria Van Deinse
WINONA, Minn. — Gloria Van Deinse, age 95, of Winona, died at Lake Winona Manor, where she lived out= her years with Alzhemer’s. Her family planned a private service and burial at St. Mary’s Cemetery.
Detail: Watkowski-Mulyck Funeral Home
1929-2024
Friend: No shelter for belligerent drunk
WINONA, Minn. –A Winna man was arrested for a ruckus at a friend’s house after being thrown out of a couple of downtown bars. Police found Dominick Lee Budnick, 22, drunk in the friend’s porch and thought a charge of brawling might be in order. But then. when an officer took Budnick to a squad car, he pushed the officer against the car, police said At jail Budnick was booked both for brawling and for obstructing police. The police call was about 10:10 p.m. to the 250 block of West Fifth Street. The friend told police that Budnick had shown up drunk and turned berserk and was banging and yelling. The friend threw him out. A neighbor called police. When officers checked Budnick’s blood-alcohol level, it was at 0.14% — close to double the legal impairment max.
Budnick. Two bars threw him out. So too a friend.
College scores
Basketball (women): Coe 76, Saint Mary’s 69
Hay harvest lost in Troy barn fire
TROY, Minn. – Fire destroyed a barn stocked full of hay on Sinclair Road between Troy and St. Charles in extreme southwest Winona County. There were no injuries, deputies said. Nor were any livestock in the barn. The fire was blamed tentatively on an electrical problem. The fire was in the 28000 block.
Woman dead, man arrested in Red Wing
RED WING, Minn. – A woman was found dead in a Red Wing house after police talked a suicidal man in the house into surrendering. Police closed off an area at Western and Putnam avenues south of downtown in the afternoon. The three-hour stand-off ended peacefully. This was about 6 p.m. The man was taken into custody. After the arrest Police Chief Nick Sather confirmed there was no danger to the public. The chief declined to release details until facts could be sorted out.
Fugitive: “Ain’t from Winona, cain’t touch me”
PICKWICK, Minn. – A Pickwick woman refused to come out of her house when deputies arrived to deliver an arrest warrant. She claimed through the door that she was a sovereign citizen of another jurisdiction. Therefore, she reasoned, she was untouchable in Winona County. Deputies returned three times to the Bluff Street address, but the woman either wasn’t responding or away. Finally the woman, age 40, sent word through a son that she would surrender on Monday to Kandiyohi County authorities in Willmar. It was in Willmar that the warrant was issued. The warranty claimed that the woman had failed to appear in court to face several assault charges over an extended period.
Barroom lawyering
The “sovereignty” argument has dubious currency among a few barroom lawyers but nobody else. No, neither Kandiyohi County nor Winna County has an embassy or foreign relations. Not even a consulate.
Budget-strapped Viterbo cuts faculty, other posts
LACROSSE, Wis. – Amid budget shortfalls, Viterbo University has eliminated nine faculty and four staff positions. Rick Trietley, the university president, called the decision “a modest reduction in personnel.” So far this fiscal year Viberbo has trimmed its budget 35% and expects further reductions in the coming fiscal year. Despite the cuts, Trietley said that Viterbo remains “a key community partner in health care, business, the arts, education, and other fields.” Enrollment at the historically Catholic college has slipped to 1,400 undergrads and 900 graduate students.
Verbatim
Trietley: “It is a difficult environment for higher education, and Viterbo University is not immune. We are continuing to take the difficult but necessary steps to balance our budget and position the university for a successful future.”
News summary at week’s end: November 16, 2024
CRIME: Smithfield fined for Minnesota child labor abuse
CRIME: Fravel trial /65: Judge: Video too gory for public
CRIME: Laxness? Election judge accused of irregularities
CRIME: Sheriffs’ group sides against jail reform order
CRIME: Three teens sent home after school fuss
BEAVER MOON: A perfect confluence: You had to be there
COLLEGES: SMU enrollment outreach to faithful
ECONOMY: Minnesota economy humming with jobs
ECONOMY: Wisconsin jobs agency: State policies fuel growth
TRAFFIC: Locomotive impales car at St. Charles crossing
TRAFFIC: Bridge update plan riles Trempealeau folks
HEALTH: Mini-hospital to be built in Chippewa Falls
HEALTH: Abuse cited at Rochester elder-care home
COMMERCE: Holtans retiring, Winona jewelry shop closing
COMMERCE: Dairyland plans giant power storage farms
THANKSGIVING: Flocking for turkey: Hormel’s Give-back gift
THANKSGIVING: Minnesota turkey pair is White House-bound
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