Nelson Hill crash blocks U.S. 52
CHATFIELD, Minn. — A Harmony man and a 17-year-old girl were injured in a collision on Highway 52 south of Chatfield on Nelson Hill. William Harley Lark, 79, was transported 27 mules to a Rochester hospital with non-life threatening injuries. He was a passenger in a 2024 Chevrolet Equinox driven by Jon Carl Haugan, 68, of Preston. Haugan was unhurt. The girl, driving a 2017 Mitsubishi Mirage, was taken to a Rochester hospital with sustainable injuries. Her name was withheld by the State Patrol without explanation. The accident was about 7:20 a.m. on Highway 52 at 300th Street. Both vehicles were heading toward Chatfield. Traffic was detoured on backroads
Homeless and cold: Cops move squatters along
WINONA, Minn. – Four people, all homeless, were moved out of the lobby of the Post Office, on Fifth Street, where they had slept the night. One, Christopher Lee Cummings, age 31, was issued a ticket because he had trespassed before. A postal worker found the four persons about 6:40 a.m. A block away, another homeless person was removed from King Koin laundry on Center Street. The day before a man was. removed from a shipping container in which he had established residency off First Street west of downtown. Overnight temperatures have been in the 30s. The downtown Winona warming shelter for homeless people overnight opens November 1.
R.I.P.: Dawn Goodwill
WINONA, Minn. – Dawn Goodwill, age 62, of Winona, who ran her own daycare many years, died at a Rochester hospital of cancer. She graduated from Winona High School in 1980. Her career included jobs at Menards, Merchants Bank, Enlighted Equipment, and Midtown Bakery,
Detail: Watkowski-Mulyck Funeral Home

1962-2024
College scores
Basketball (men): Rochester Community at Ellsworth Community
Volleyball (women): Winona State 3 Augustana 0
Minnesota prep
Volleyball (girls): Winona Cotter Ramblers 3, Lake City Tigers 0
Volleyball (girls): Lewiston-Altura Cardinals 3, Randolph Rockets 0
Volleyball (girls): Chatfield Gophers 3, St. Charles Saints 0
Target reports $1,400 shoplifting loss
WINONA, Minn. – The Target department store’s security chief reported discovering that a woman shopper the day before had absconded with $1,400 in electronic equipment. The store asked police to help locate the woman. Video showed the woman wheeling the equipment out of the store in a shopping cart.
Mother with babe relates scary chase to cops
WINONA, Minn. – A Winona man was charged with terrorizing a woman fleeing from their place in the 450 block of West Fifth Street with a baby in her arms. A police dispatcher had heard the commotion in a 911 call that suddenly went dead. The woman and Airon Lamar Wiggins, 32, were still in the street in heated argument when police arrived. Wiggins was booked for domestic assault at an elevated felony level because of a prior conviction. He also was booked for interfering with an emergency communication. Wiggins, the woman said, grabbed her cellphone as she was attempting to get into a car to get away and simultaneously to call police while also holding the baby. Wiggins pocketed the phone, she said. Police were told there had been an argument over money. The woman said she fled with Wiggins chasing her and yelling and shouting and acting aggressively.

Wiggins. This time a felony charge.
School janitor accused of accessing child porn
OWATONNA, Minn. – A high school janitor was charged with five counts of possession of child pornography. Jeremy Martin Alvarez, age 30, worked second shift at Owatonna High school. In a letter to parents, schools Superintendent Jeff Elstad said Alvarez had been banned from school property. No students at the 1,300-enrollment high school were involved: “The criminal activities were isolated to online behavior.” Investigator Kari Woltman said the videos involved children younger than 14. Woltman quoted Alvazez that he never met up with any child. The arrest followed a tip from the Internet Crimes Against Children organization about downloads to anonymous accounts with Yahoo, Instagram, Kik and Telegram Alvarez voluntarily surrendered his online-access device and passwords, Woltman said. The arrest itself was two days earlier.
Drugs-porn link?
The criminal complaint said that Alvarez admitted using meth and cocaine about five years, which he said led to becoming “hooked on” child porn. The linkage was not explained in the court document. Alvarez told investigators that he had gone to therapy multiple times but quit because he couldn’t afford it.

Alvarez. Arrested a week after authorities were tipped to untoward online activity.
Shame on you: Patriotic spirit gone awry at Altura
ALTURA, Minn. – Miscreant vandals took their spray paint to a portable toilet at the new Veteran Memorial on a hilltop just east of Altura. The malicious graffiti, discovered the day before, was reported to the sheriff’s office about 7:40 a.m. The memorial had opened in June. It was the gift of the Wanek family, which had farmed several generations in the area, to honor war veterans, including MIAs and POWs.
Earlier: Altura readies hilltop veterans memorial
Lewiston driver hurt in Stockton T-bone
STOCKTON, Minn. – A Lewiston driver was injured in a T-bone collision in front of the town gas station and taken nine miles to the Winona hospital. Sharon Marie Sherman, 73, was treated and released. Her passenger, Allen William Sherman, 79, of Lewiston, escaped injury. The second driver, Steven David Lunde, 62, of Lewiston, in a 224 Jeep Wagoneer, was on Stockton’s main drag and headed toward Winona. He was unhurt except for a bruised shin. Sherman, in a 2008 Lincoln MKX, was on the County 23 crossroad. The crash was about 7:30 a.m.
Fravel trial /25: His attorney warns about mistrial
MANKATO, Minn. – The attorney representing Adam Fravel at his murder trial asked the judge to order prosecution witnesses against using prejudicial language before the jury. It’s unfair to Fravel that there’s been repeated police testimony referring to the Winona duplex where Fravel and Madelline Kingsbury lived as a “crime scene.” It’s up to the jury to decide even if there was a crime, said Zach Bauer. Also it’s not been established where it was that Kingsbury died, Bauer said. He told Judge Nancy Buytendorp that he would ask for a mistrial if such presumptuous references continue. Bauer also asked the judge to admonish witnesses against referring to Kingsbury as “Maddi,” a sympathy-evoking nickname from childhood that is misleading, irrelevant and improper in American jurisprudence that presumes innocence until a jury comes to a verdict.
Earlier: Fravel trial /6: Suspicious mud as evidence?
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Grant to WSU to identify, ease campus hunger
WINONA, Minn. – Winona State University has been designated a “Hunger Free Campus,” for a project to reach food-insecure students. The designation came from the Minnesota Office of Higher Education. The designation included a $25,000 grant for promoting hunger awareness. Projects include a food drive and fundraiser at the football game Saturday to expand the Warrior Cupboard on-campus. The cupboard, which stocks canned and packaged foods, began operation in 2017.
Scary if you’re knee-high to a grasshopper

Rug-rat hobgoblins. Halloween is creeping up on everyone on Winona’s East Second Street. Image: Steve Lunde
News summary at mid-week: October 23, 2024
COLLEGES: Southeast College enrollment double the state rise
POLITICS: Walz student: Report of sex assault fake
POLITICS: One guess: For whom did Walz vote?
POLITICS: Somebody doesn’t much like Tim Walz
COMMERCE Behrens doubles metalware factory capacity
CRIME: Blow by blow: The Studios on Huff shooting
CRIME: Bail $500,000 for Rice Lake man on sex-agent charges
CRIME: Trucker nabbed in Tennessee for West Salem stabbing
CRIME: “Sword-wielding man scared us all”
CRIME: Boyfriend accused of kicking her, smashing glass
CRIME: Body found in Fountain City trailer house
ARTS: Concert hall is library’s new backdrop
RIVER: Army Corps issues huge forest management plan
SEASONS: Minnesota mostly past peak colors
CRIME: From Blue Earth County courtroom:
College scores
Soccer (men): Macalester 1, Saint Mary’s 0
Soccer (women): UW-LaCrosse 4, UW-Stout 1
Volleyball (women): Rochester Community 3, Anoka-Ramsey Community 0
Minnesota prep
Southeast College enrollment double the state rise
WINONA, Minn. – Enrollment at the twin-campus Minnesota State College Southeast has grown 14% this fall to 2,294 students this fall. The headcount was up 4% in 2023 and 7% in 2022. Marsha Danielson, college president, credited the sustained growth to Winna and Red Wing philanthropists, businesses and industry that have made college tuition-free for many high schooL graUyates. “Programs like these reduce financial and psychological barriers for eligible students by increasing access to higher education and fostering high achievement,” said Danielson. “They strengthen the pathway from high school to college, provide educational opportunities to students of all backgrounds, support the workforce talent pipeline by providing more skilled workers, and boost enrollment at Southeast.”
Comparison
The Minnesota State college system reported that Southeast State was in the top five for increased enrollment among the 26 two-year colleges this fall. The state average was 7.7%.
Brownville crash injures two drivers
BROWNSVILLE, Minn. – Two motorists were injured in a collision at a Brownsville intersection. Kelly Anne Dee, 39, of Harpers Ferry, Iowa, and Jeanette Mary Howes, 83, of Brownsville, were taken 17 miles to a LaCrosse hospital. Their injuries were sustainable, a Houston County deputy said. Dee’s 2015 Nissan Altima and Howes’ 2022 Buick Enclave were coming at each other from opposite directions on State Highway 26 through town. The crash was at South Third Street about 4:55 p.m.
Trucker nabbed in Tennessee for West Salem stabbing
DRESDEN, Tenn. – Deputies arrested a long-distance trucker for a stabbing at a Wisconsin truck stop the night before. He had put 660 miles on his truck after driving off from the truck stop at West Salem, east of LaCrosse off Interstate 90. Paul Douglas Stokes, age 59, was taken without resistance. After the stabbing of a fellow trucker — a stranger — Stokes apparently headed south from LaCrosse on U.S. 35 to Genoa, 20 miles away. He had a scheduled delivery in Genoa but didn’t stop and kept on going. About 2 p.m. authorities spotted Stokes; red and white semi rig southbound on U.S. 45 near Hickory, Kentucky. He crossed the state line into Tennessee. a\An hour later Weakley County deputies apprehended Stokes southbound on State Highway 22 near Dresden. In Wisconsin the La Crosse County district attorney secured a extraditable arrest warrant on charges of recklessly endangering safety and battery.

Stokes. Held in Weakley County jail in Dresden, Tennessee.
Body found in Fountain City trailer house
FOUNTAIN CITY, Wis. — A 57-year-old woman was found dead inside a trailer house in Fountain City. Sheriff Michael Osmond said there was no imminent threat to the public but that he was conducting “an active death investigation.” He called in the state Division of Criminal Investigation. An autopsy would be conducted, he said. The body was found during a welfare check at the trailer, at 26 Court Lane, an out of the way trailer park on a dead-end street on Fountain City’s South End.
Behrens doubles metalware factory capacity
WINONA, Minn. – The Winona manufacturer Behrens, which has a global reputation for its metal buckets and tubs, broke ground for a new 23,000 square-foot addition on East Sanborn Street. Dana Busch, the company president, said that demand for Behrens products necessitated more warehouse and office space. Manufacturing space will be doubled, he said. The company also is growing its sales staff, he said.
Behrens profile
Henry Behrens, born in Germany, arrived in Winona in 1867 and opened a hardware store at Third and Grand streets. His son Henry J, when about 14 years old, tinkered and played upstairs with metal and recognized a new way to make household chores easier. His major innovation he called the “Cyclone Spinner” for washing clothes. The Behrens soon were in the metalware manufacturing business. Factorv space was acquired. Demand for Behrens galvanized oroducts grew, mostly buckets in many sizes and variations. Eventually the company moved to 125 East Sanborn Street on Winona’s Far East End.

Stamping metal into buckets. Always with the Behrens brand name pressed into the gavanized netal . The company has round 113 years, always in Winona.

Durability the selling point then and now. Plastics not in Behrens future. No way, says company President Dana Busch.
One guess: For whom did Walz vote?
ST.PAUL, Minn. – Governor Tim Walz and First Lady Gwin and son Gus trekked to their precinct voting place near their Summit Avenue home and cast early ballots. No surprise, said the governor, speaking for himself, he voted for Kamala Harris for president, for Amy Klobuchar for the U.S. Senate, and for Betty McCollum as Minnesota’s MN-4 representative in Congress. Like Walz, all are Democrats. For Gus Walz, 18, thus was his first time voting. He’s a senior at at Central High in St. Paul. The other Walz child, Hope, 23, is a social worker at a homeless shelter in Bozeman, Montana, and a ski instructor at Big Sky. She is a 2023 graduate of Montana State University-Bozeman in criminology and gender studies.

Walz with son. Gus, age 18, was first time voting.
Verbatim
After voting, the governor, who is Kamala Harris’ running mate for vice president, addressed a recent statemen from rival Donald Trump that he’s adverse to using the military to eradidate his political opposition. Trump called them them “the enemy within.” Walz: “The absolute requirement of Americans is to understand that this rhetoric has not been used in this country, certainly not by a party’s presidential nominee. The opportunity here is to elect Kamala Harris. We’ve made it clear she stands with the people. She stands with the Constitution.”
Emergency, fire crews make 46 calls
WINONA, Minn. – The Fire Department reported 16 emergency medical calls plus 30 fire calls in recent days:
> Monday, October 21: 8 medical calls plus 2 fire call.
> Sunday, October 20: 4 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.
> Saturday, October 19: 5 medical calls plus 1 fire calls.
> Friday, October 18: 7 medical calls plus 5 fire calls.
> Thursday, October 17: 3 medical calls plus 3 fire call.
> Wednesday, October 16: 6 medical calls plus 3 fire call.
Earlier: Emergency, fire crews make 47 calls
Army Corps issues huge forest management plan
ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Army Engineers corps has proposed a massive forest stewardship project for its lands along the entire Upper Mississippi and the Lower Illinois navigation systems. Public comments were invited by November 23. The project includes thinning, canopy reduction and prescribed burns. The project is detailed in a 139-page document for public perusal.
College scores
Soccer (women): Saint Mary’s 2, Macalester 0
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