Notable automobiles
830 horsepower. 11,500 pound-feet torque. 0-60 mph in 3.5 seconds. Underbody cameras.
Hummer rebirthed and electrified. GMC has updated the Hummer military machine from Middle East wars with an all-electric civilian version. A distinctive feature: All-wheel steering – the crab-crawl function that has to be driven to be believed. Shown at Dahl Automotive in Winona. Have a spare $107,000?
Eastbound vehicles in I-90 wreck; one driver hurt
NODINE Minn. – A Wisconsin driver was injured in a two-vehicle accident on Interstate 90 in Winona County near Nodine Hill. Makensie Jean Grube, 23, of Sturtevant, was taken 18 miles to a LaCrosse hospital with injuries described as sustainable. The accident was about 11:20 a.m. Both vehicle were eastbound toward LaCrosse on the divided highway. Unhurt in the second vehicle were Maurice Hooverson, 69, of Readstown, Wisconsin, the driver, and David Allen Hooverson, 66, of Readstown. They were in a 2019 Ford F250. Grube was driving a 2016 Nissan Altima
Woman on I-90: Boyfriend kicked me out of car
RIDGEWAY, Minn – A deputy found a woman standing along Interstate 90 after dark. She said that a boyfriend had choked her in his car at 70 mph and then kicked her out. This was about 8:15 p.m. near the I-90 exit to Houston. She said the boyfriend was from the Ventura, Iowa, area, 150 miles away near Clear Lake. Deputies made telephone contact but said the man refused to answer questions or return to Winona County. Deputies referred the case to county attorney for battery and strangulation. Deputies used the police term “rolling domestic” for the case. The couple had been heading toward Wisconsin on I-90.
Stockton fog lifting at dawn
Commuting to Winona. On the start up Stockton Hill on U.S. Highway 14. Note to drivers: Dark glasses advised. Image: Steve Lunde
Winona High adds 1988 pair to hall of fame
WINONA, Minn. – Two Winona High School athletes, classmates who graduated in 1988, are among six new inductees into the school’s hall of fame. Michelle Brewer Mesenburg and Jackie Lindseth Larson will be honored September 28 during homecoming along with other inductees, will be honored. Mesenburg and Larson remain life-long friends and live within walking distance of each other in the Twin Cities. The 2024 inductees:
Brewer.
Larson.
Michelle Brewer Mesenburg and Jackie Lindseth Larson. Brewer was originally a little hesitant to come out for cross country as a seventh-grader, but friend Jackie Lindseth assured her it would be fun. It was — not just in cross countrybut also Nordic skiing and track and field. The pair were part of six state tournament teams, including the 1986 state championship cross country team, as well as a 4×800 relay that won a state title in 1985.
Ray Felton. He started serving as an announcer for Winona High girls swim meets in 1991. He then branched out and did boys swimming, soccer, football and baseball for the Winhawks. In 2019 he announced his 1,000th Winona High athletic event — and he never took a dime for his services. Felton lives in Winona.
Matt Papenfuss (2008). He earned his first varsity letter as a seventh-grader, then spent the next few years rewriting the record books. He finished as a four-time state qualifier and set school and section records in the 100-yard and 200-yard freestyle. He went on to swim at the University of Minnesota, where he was a member of the Big Ten runner-up 100 freestyle relay tem. He competed in the 2012 Olympic trials. He lives in St. Paul.
Beckie (Smith) Rolbiecki. She dominated on the bars and vault at both Winona High and Winona State. She became a high sxhool coach at Cochrane-Fountain City and took a last-place team to a conference title in three years. Later she was she was a head coach at Winona High, Winona State and KidSport. She was an eight-time Big Nine Coach of the Year and the 2004 Minnesota Gymnastics Coach of the Year. At Winona State, she coached four event national champions and was named the national coach of the year in 2010.
Chuck Wally (1956). He was a three-sport athlete at Winona High, in football, basketball and baseball. He was a starting pitcher as a sophomore and played in the outfield when he wasn’t pitching. He was a basketball captain and helped lead the team to its first state tournament appearance in 22 years. At Hamline College, he played basketball and baseball. The basketball team won two conference titles. He coached at Wells High School. One season his Rebels swept a baseball doubleheader iver the Wnhawks. He also taught in Pine Iland and overseas in Libya and Saudi Arabi. He lives in Wabasha.
Schools’ doctor-comes-to you project expands
WINONA, Minn. – Going into their third year, the in-school health clinics at the Winona high school and middle school are expanding. Clinics were added at the non-traditional Learning Center this fall and will go next to one of the District’s three grade schools, said Ann Riebel, education director. Meanwhile, the older in-school dental clinics are continuing, Riebel said. A state Health Department grant has facilitated the expansion. Also, Riebel noted, a comminity assessment survey identified a need. The clinics are staffed by Winona Health physician Heather Burton and nurse Madeline Drentlaw. The program addresses several needs, said Riebe;. There had been a history of young patients missing appointments at Winna Health, often because parents couldn’t break away from jobs to take them. Also, she said, some students were missing too much school because of appointments at Winona Health and falling behind in classwork.
Burton. Winona Health physician making rounds in schools.
College scores
Volleyball (women): Winona State 3, UM-Duluth 2
Minnesota prep
Driver hits tree south of Lewiston; injuries severe
LEWISTON, Minn. – Deputies responding to a report of erratic driving found a car that had smashed into a tree with the driver severely injured. Hope Elaine Kennsingten, 50, of Minneapolis, was taken 40 miles to a Rochester hospital. The crash was about 8 p.m. on County 29 between Lewiston and Interstate 90. Deputies reported finding an open alcohol container in the wreckage and obtained a blood draw. They said Kennsingten was incoherent, perhaps because of the injuries.
Land Stewards back Kruger for Legislature
MINNEAPOLIS – The Democrat seeking the House 26-A seat in the Legislature, Sarah Kruger of Winona, has been endorsed by the Land Stewardship Project’s political action arm. Emily Minge, the Stewards’ political organizer, said that Kruger “aligns with our vision of the farm and food system Winona County needs.” Both Kruger and her Republican rival, Aaron Repinski, attended a Stewardship candidate forum to answer questions from the public. Also, Minge said, the action committee’s directors cleared the candidates through internal vetting. The Board also endorsed these Winona County candidates:
> Greg Olson, for County Board District 4.
> Tom Lindsey, for Soil and Water Conservation Board District 2.
> Dale Hadler, for Soil and Water Conservation Board District 3.
Priest resigns, flees as Wabasha scandal unfolded
WABASHA, Minn. – A Wabasha priest being investigated for extorting parishioners for cash, apparently as much as $72,000, has left town – and the country. The Winona-Rochester Diocese confirmed that Father Prince Raja returned to his native India on July 30. This was while investigators were building a case for fraud against Father Raja. A Diocese spokesperson, William Thompson, listed these points in a public statement:
> The Diocese learned on May 1 that Father Raja had solicited gifts and loans from parishioners.
> The Diocese ordered Father Raja to stop or be removed from duties in the combined St. Felix and St. Agnes parish.
> Subsequently, on a date unspecified in the public statement, the Diocese learned that Father Raja again had sought money from yet another parishioner.
> The Diocese asked Father Rama to resign, which he did in writing effective September 1. He had departed the country the day before.
> The Diocese of Winona-Rochester has informed Father Raja’s diocese in India about the extortions and is working with Wabasha County authorities regarding the matter.
> No parish funds were affected by Father Raja’s actions.
There remained key questions in the public statement: A spreadsheet of Father Raja’s BMO bank account shows a check from the Diocese. Was it to repay what he had accepted from at least some parishiners? Was the Diocese aware of the criminality? Is this evidence of an early Diocesan cover-up? At what point was Bishop Robert Barron involved? Had the Diocese helped facilitate =d Father Raja’s timely departure from the country?
Earlier: Extortion case: Priests’s bank data opened
Earlier: Police probe priest’s alleged Wabasha solicitations
Father Prince Raja. Pastor at St. Felix Catholic church in Wabasha and at St. Agnes chrch 5-1/2 miles away in Kellogg. Both are in the Winona-Rochester Diocese.
St. Felix. In Wabasha at 117 Third Street.
St. Agnes. In Kellogg at 125 West Glasgow Avenue.
Extortion case: Priest’s bank data opened
WABASHA, Minn. — A Wabasha priest has hired Rochester attorney, Thomas Braun, about being investigated on suspicion of extorting money from parishioners. Braun acknowledged he had a spreadsheet of bank accounts maintained by Father Prince Raja, whose full name is Prince Amala Jesuraja Jebamlia Selvaraj. The spreadsheet lists deposits by Raja from parishioners and whether they had been repaid or were gifts or donations. The spreadsheet also includes a check to Father Prince from the Winona-Rochester Diocese apparently to repay what he had taken. In all, the spreadsheet suggests Raja took $72,000 from parishioners. The spreadsheet showed that $5,500 was repaid to parishioners and $7,000 was gifted to him “for things that the money was not actually used for.” The Diocese also located $19,000 from a family when he was at a Wisconsin parish in another Diocese between 2019 and 2024. The Diocese of Rochester-Winona did not respond immediately to news queries to explain the spreadsheet entries for its payments to Father Raja.
Orchard mayhem: Wagon askew, then a second too
LAFAYETTE, Wis. – A hay wagon wreck that injured 10-year-old and 11-year-old kids Wednesday, some of them critically, began when one wagon twisted coming down a decline on a dirt trail, Chippewa County Sheriff Travis Hakes said. Citing a preliminary reconstruction of what happened, the sheriff said the driver of the tractor pulling the wagon tried to slow to bring the wagon back on track. It didn’t work. The wagon overturned and took a second hay wagon with it – a wagon that had a second load of kids. In all, 25 kids and chaperones on a school field from Eau Claire were on the wagons. Miraculously, the sheriff said, nobody died.
Winona adventurer missing in remote Absarokees
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. – A Winona man who set out September 12 to scale the remote and difficult 11,000-foot Eagle Peak in Yellowstone National Park missed a rendezvous with a boat to take him back to civilization. Austin King-Henke, 22, was alone on what he planned as a seven-day backpack adventure. It would be a finale to a summer job at the park, he told friends. It was known that he made it to the summit. He called family from the summit Thursday. He described fog, rain, sleet, hail and harsh wind. This was five days after he departed from a boat landing at the southeast arm of Yellowstone Lake. It was expected he would be descending to the lake, camping one last night on the be way back.
Wilderness. Eagle Peak is in the Absarokee Range, which divides Paradise Valley in the Park and the Bighorn Basin in northwest Wyoming. The Absarokees Are remnants of tectonic forces that pulled the geography apart 50 million years ago.
Eagle Peak profile
At 11,367 feet, Eagle Peak is the highest point in Yellowstone National Park. It is the most remote place in the Lower 48. It is a 15-mile hike from any road in the park. Most experts do not recommend scaling the peak itself.
Gust sweeps truck off highway in Fillmore County
SPRING VALLEY, Minn. – Wind blew a Freightliner truck and semi-trailer off U.S. Highway 63, injuring the driver. The rig fell on its side in a ditch. The name of the driver was not released immediately, but sources said he was from Oelwein in northeast Iowa. The accident was on a straight stretch six miles south of Spring Valley, near Ostrander, about 4 p.m.
Wounded bear attacks hunter, his son to rescue
SIREN, Wis. — A 12-year-old boy saved his father’s life when a wounded bear attacked. The son, Owen Beierman, fired a rifle at close range and killed the bear. The animal, a 200-pounder, fell dead on the father, ending a struggle that lasted perhaps 45 seconds. The father, 43-year-old Ryan Beierman, took lots of bites snd claws. Five stitches were needed reattach a flap of skin on his cheek. The cheek wound itself required 23 stitches. There were seven puncture wounds and a cut on Beierman’s right arm. The attack was in the woods 70 miles north of River Falls in the St. Croix drainage. To game wardens, the father and son gave this account:
> The son shot the black bear, which ran off wounded into the woods. The family dog followed the bear’s blood trail.
> Apparently having found the animal writhing from the Owen’s wound, the dog shot back out of the woods back to Ryan and Owen.
> The father and son moved into the woods for the bear. Suddenly the animal was right in front of them and angry.
> The bear swiped the father on his back.
> The father, armed with a handgun, tried pistol-whipping the bear’s ears and mouth but to little avail. “It felt like I was striking a brick wall,” he said.
> The son Owen shot and killed the bear with his rifle.
“I’m punching and kicking and flailing around, said the father. “That’s when I saw a flash from the muzzle of Owen’s rifle. Owen is my hero.”
Father and son. Safe on porch back home and deciding how to have a taxidermist mount the bear for the family trophy room. The carcass is in the black plastic bag. Mount the head? Front quarters including claws too? The attack was the weekend of September 7 and 8.
Bear attack profile
The Wisconsin Natural Resources Department says 24,000 black bears live in the state, most in far northern counties. Attacks are rare — fewer than one a year on average. Across the border in Minnesota, eight unprovoked bear attacks have been reported since 1987. All the victims survived.
Rescuers reach kayaker stranded on island
WINONA, Minn. – A Fire Department river rescue team picked up a kayaker who had swum to an island in the Mississippi River after his kayak overturned. This was about 11:50 a.m. The kayaker, uninjured, was driven to his campsite on Prairie Island.
Hunter rescued deep in Tiffany forest, swamps
Search missions assigned. First-responders gather to be assigned quadrants. Image: Buffalo County sheriff
Man located near Chippewa delta rail line
NELSON, Wis. – A 74-year-old hunter missing overnight in the Chippewas River delta was found all right in a massive search involving 125 volunteers from several counties. He had become lost. The man was taken out of the delta by an all-terrain emergency vehicle and transported to the Durand hospital to be checked over. The hunter had failed to show at an agreed-upon meeting place about 5 p.m. The initial search included a police hound and an aerial drone. By dawn Buffalo County Sheriff Michael Osmond had called in dozens of first-responders to scour the thick bottom-lands forest of the 13,000-acre Tiffany Wildlife Preserve along the Chippewa River from Durand down to the Mississippi. The State Patrol flew sorties. Game wardens used an airboat through backwaters and sloughs. The man was found near the Burlington Northern railroad right-of-way about 10:45 a.m. Overnight temperatures had been in the lower 60s.
Probe ongoing in huge Behrens scam
WINONA, Minn. – Police have an investigator assigned to the $53,000 online scam from a Behrens Manufacturing bank account. So far the investigation has been a dead-end, police said.
Earlier: Winona foundry scammed for $53,000
Notable journalism
Scott Bauer and Elliot Spahat (Associated Press, September 17, 2024): “Vance Touts Deportation Plan in Eau Claire, Where Tensions Flared over Refugee Resettlement”
Alex Derosier (St. Paul Pioneer Press, September 17, 2024): “DFL Control of Minnesota Government Hinges on State House Elections: A Handful of Districts Will Be Key”
Caden Perry (LaCrosse Tribune, September 17, 2024): “Ron Wanek Gifts $6.5 Million for Advanced Manufacturing Building, Systems at Western Technical College”
Quiz for Winona news hounds /8
> What do you do see issues playing out at the next hearing for former UW-LaCrosse Chancellor Joe Gow? Clue
> What was the thrust of COP vice-president nominee JD Vance’s message campaigning in Eau Claire? Clue
> What’s the U.S. speed limit for passenger trains when track and the conditions are ideal? Clue
> Who appears ahead in the closely watched WI-3 Congressional race in western Wisconsin? Clue
> How much was lost in the largest Winona online scam in recent memory? Clue
Earlier: Quiz for Winona news hounds /7
U.S. Senator Klobuchar backs Kruger for 26-A
Kruger with Klobuchar. Sarah Kruger has stressed endorsements in her campaign for House District 26-A from Winona County. Most recent is backing from Klobuchar, a fellow Democrat. Kruger: “Our U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar consistently demonstrates true leadership through hard work, bipartisanship, and common-sense solutions.”
Fish spawning again in upper Red River
Before and after. Dam has been replaced on Minnesota-North Dakta border with fish-friendly rapids. The Red River is now dam-free for 300 miles from the St. Andrews Lock and Dam, north of Winnipeg.
More as nature untended. The dam was built in a less environmentally conscious period. Among many dams being removed one one.
Removal of 12-foot dam restores fish life cycle
DRAYTON, N.D. — The final dam blocking fish from spawning into the headwaters of the Red River has been torn out, the Army Corps Engineers announced. In the dam’s place is a sloping set of rapids formed by rocks and boulders with pools through which fish can easily pass. The dam had blocked fish from the upper 170 miles of the river for 60 years. To mark completion of the $7.7 million project, the Corps has scheduled a dedication ceremony at 1 p.m., Thursday.
News summary at mid-week: September 18, 2024
KIDS INJURED: Mass casualties in Lafayette hayride accident
CRIME: Winona foundry scammed for $53,000
PROBE: Extortion case: Priest’s bank data opened
HEALTH: Slaggies fund Mayo’s cancer home-care project
COLLEGES: Gow’s adult-film appeal: Now to Madison hearing
COLLGES: Wanek gift: $6.5 million for Western Tech job-training
ASTRONOMY: When Earth’s umbra shadowed our moon
POLITICS: GOP goes sexist against Winona House candidate
POLITICS: Wisconsin polls: Harris leading by a hair
POLITICS: Mega-size Trump banner yanked down
POLITICS: Vance: Migrants causing Wisconsin health crisis
POLITICS: WI-3 incumbent Van Orden may be in trouble
GASOLINE: Fuel prices continue “torrid decline”
GIOVERNANCE: City Council locks in salaries through 2027
POLICING: How did cop run over two men? “Poor lighting”
ENVIRONMENT: Fish spawning again in upper Red River
Driver tells cops about consuming; arrested
WINONA, Minn. – A Winona driver, Marsha Lynn Hall, 69, was charged with impaired driving after a traffic stop near Fifth and Junction streets on the West End. Her blood-alcohol tested twice at 0.11%, police said. Anything more than 0.08% is considered impaired. Hall had been stopped about 11:30 p.m. The reporting officer said she had crossed the centerline several times. Hall admitted to consuming several alcoholic beverages, the officer said. The car smelled of alcohol and Hall’s eyes were watery and bloodshot and her speech slurred, the officer said. She also failed roadside sobriety tests, he said.
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