ELBA, Minn. – Sheriff’s deputies responded to a disturbance call in Elba but found the place unusually still – odd for what’s typically a rollicking summer night. It turned out that word had spread quickly at Elba’s two water holes, Tony’s Saloon and Mauer Brothers Tavern, that the cops were on their way – and everybody was too drunk but still sober enough  to risk going outside to drive home and risk being stopped for impaired driving. The deputies stood around a while, then it was back to their usual patrols or to end their shifts 22 miles away in Winona.

WINONA, Minn. – Something sermed awry to the trained eye of the police officer.. The car was moving oddly slow along four-lane Broadway Street, especially for 9 p.m. when there was hardly any traffic. The driver, Anne Jo Sackett, 37, of Winona, admitted to two beverages, the officer said. . At the jailhouse Sackett refused to submit to a blood alcohol test.  She was locked up anyway for smelling of alcohol and other impairment signs. Among them was failing to keep her car in her lane The stop was near Kansas Stret on the East Side.

Sackett. Refusing a blood-alcohol test is itself a crime.

TREMPEALEAU, Wis. – A World War II soldier from Trempealeau, who survived the Bataan Death March 1942 in the Philippines, only to die in a Japanese prison camp un December , has been identified by DNA 82 years later. Sergeant Jack H. Hohlfeld, 29 at the time, will be buried in La Crosse at a later date. Just as fittingly, he will be memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in the Philippines. A rosette will be placed next to his name, marking him finally as accounted for.

Trempealeau soldier. Had been in the Army Air Corps headquarters in Manila when Japan invaded.

Bataan Death March

Hohlfeld was captured in April 1942 when Japan invaded the Philippines. Some 60,000 to 80,000 U.S. and Filipino soldiers were marched 65 miles to a remote war prisoner camp. Many died and were left along the way. Hohfeld survived until December. He was buried in a common grave with hundreds other prisoners. The bodies were exhumed after the war. New technology — mitochondrial DNA analysis — was applied beginning in 2018 to identify Bataan victims. Thus was three-quarters of a century after the the International Military Tribunal for the Far East declared what happened constituted war crimes.

HEGG, Wis.  – A Mondovi man in a farm tractor parade drove off a rural road and was pinned under the tractor and died. The victim’s name was withheld from the public by Sheriff Brett Semingson, but the sheriff said the man was 41 years old and from the Mondovi area in neighboring Buffalo County. The accident was about 10:25 a.m. on County Road Snear Heimdahl Toad between Blair and Ettrick. The tractors were heading north toward Blair. A driver on another tractor reported seeing the driver reach down and the tractor drift off the shoulder into the ditch and overturn. First Responders used cables to lift the tractor, but it was too late.

RUSHFORD, Minn. – A Spring Grove motorcyclist was injured when he crashed into a ditch just south of Rushford and driving toward town. Terry Lee Lund, 57, was taken 24 miles to the Winona hospital with sustainable injuries.  The accident was about 10:15 a.m. on State Highway 43. Lund was not wearing a helmet, officers said. He was on a 2007 Harley Davidson.

MINNEAPOLIS – Police tactical squads in Minneapolis soon will be required to wear helmet cameras, Assistant Chief Katie Blackwell reported. The goal, Blackwell said, is accountability to inspires public confidence in policing. SWAT cameras will be governed by the same policies as body cameras that officers already wear on patrol, she said. Since the police choking death of George Floyd in 2020, officers on patrol duty have been required activate cameras during arrests without an option turn to turn them off.

Good job, Luke. Extra kibbles to you when your handler, Deputy Eduardo Hernandez, gets you home. Image: Trempealeau County sheriff

Pile of drug-stuffed bags found inside duffle bags

BROOKLYN PARK, Minn. — A 3-year-old Minnesota boy is not expected to survive an attack by two pit bulls last week, his family said. The family of Covil Allen was at a house in this northwest Minneapolis suburb to buy a dog when the attack occurred. The police report says adults tried to beat back the dogs off Covil with hammers and pick axes, but it was a struggle. Covil’s mother too was bitten, on a leg, and has had several surgeries. Covil has undergne several surgeries. When police arrived, they shot one dog dead and wounded the other, which was taken to a veterinarian and euthanized. The attack was July 19.

ST. PAUL, Minn. – With 12 Minnesota athletes in the Paris Olympics, Governor Tim Walz proclaimed Friday as Minnesota Olympians Day. Athlete with Minnesota ties:

> Sarah Bacon, diving. From Indianapolis. Schooled at University of Minnesota.

> Naphessa Collier, basketball. From Jefferson City, Missouri. Schooled at University of Connecticut. Played with Minnesota Lynx.

> Lara Dallman-Weiss, sailing. From Shoreview, Minnesota.

> Anthony Edwards, basketball. From Atlanta, Georgia. Schooled at University of Georgia. Played with Minnesota Timberwolves.

> Sunisa Lee, artistic gymnastics. From St. Paul. Schooled at Auburn University in Alabama.

> Dakotah Lindwurm, marathon. From ST. Francis, Minnesota. Schooled at Northen State University in South Dakota.

>Payton Otterdahl, shot put. From Rosemount, Minnesota. Schooled at North Dakota State University.

> Cheryl Reeve, Team USA’s women’s basketball coach. From Sewell. New Jersey. Schooled at LaSalle University n Pennsylvania.

> Regan Smith, swimming. From Apple Valley, Minnesota. Schooled at Stanford University and Arizona State University.

> Jordan Thompson, volleyball. From Edna, Minnesota. Schooled at University of Cincinnati.

>Matthew Wilkinson, 3000 steeplechase. From Minnetonka, Minnesota. Schooled at Carleton College and University of Minnesota.

>Alise Willoughby, BMX racing. From St. Cloud, Minnesota. Raced in the National Bicycle League and American Bicycle Association.

SIEBAR

Verbatim

Walz: “For decades, Minnesota athletes have excelled on the Olympic stage with record-breaking performances and inspiring achievements. I am immensely proud of the passionate, hard-working, determined individuals who will be representing Minnesota in the Paris Olympics. Regardless of the hardware brought home, Minnesota has a lot to celebrate this Olympic season.”

WINONA, Minn. – A woman told police that a neighbor ripped out a new lilac bush by the roots from her yard — and she had video to prove it. Police reviewed the video and tried without success to contact the neighbor. They then mailed a citation to Sheila Marie Johnson, 51, for malicious damage to property. This was in the 400 block of Mankato Avenue. There had been bad blood. The lilac was valued at $25. It was left, its roots exposed, next where it had been ripped up. Whether it’s likely to survive was uncertain, as well as whether it blossoms next spring and whether the neighbor will enjoy the view and the sweet scent.

LACROSSE, Wis. – With its new $200 million LaCrosse hospital due to open September, Mayo Clinic will have less need for most of the existing main structure, according to Karen Finneman Killinger, chair of facilities. Details still are being worked through, but expect the massive 90-year-old structure to be razed, she told the LaCrosse Tribune. For the time being, she said, some services will remain in place but eventually will be transferred to other places on the campus. It’s likely the massive nine-story facility – remembered by many as Franciscan Skemp — will be gone by 2029, she said.

Earlier: Mayo expanding old Franciscan hospital

August 22 to September 2

Hard-to-miss rural endorsement. This may be the first Kamala Harris for President yard sign in Winona County. At an obviously Democratic household on State Highway 74 south of St. Charles. Image: Steve Lunde

Earlier: Democrats laud Biden’s exit as heroic, patriotic

LAMOTTE, Iowa – A LaMotte man accused of terrorizing a Lewiston, Minnesota, woman last week has refused a routine extradition to Minnesota. Steven Michael Conroy, 34, was arrested  in LaMotte on a Minnesota warrant. It is Iowa’s right as a sovereign state not to recognize extradition requests from other states. It’s rare, however, for a prisoner to invoke the sovereignty privilege. Usually it is a legal delay tactic that’s resolved in a few days by a local judge who reviews the allegations from the other state and assesses whether the other state’s prosecution will be fair. In occasional high profile cases, the resolution can mean a formal request signed by the governor  of one state to the governor of the other state.  Extradition cases that reach this level  usually are for major crime and capital punishment cases. The core issue in the Conroy case is child support.

Earlier: SWAT team aids arrest for Lewiston violence threats

WINONA, Minn. – The Fire Department reported 32 emergency medical calls plus 20 fire calls in recent days:

> Tuesday, July 23: 6 medical calls plus 3 fire call.

> Monday, July 22: 6 medical calls plus 2 fire call.

> Sunday, July 21: 2 medical calls plus 3 fire calls.

> Saturday, July 20: 2 medical calls plus 1 fire call.

> Friday, J July 19:  4 medical calls plus 5 fire calls.

> Thursday, J July 18: 7 medical calls plus 3 fire calls.

> Wednesday, July 17: 5 medical calls plus 3 fire calls.

Earlier: Emergency, fire crews make 50 calls

TROY, Minn. – A Steele County man, 80 miles from home, Kyle Steven Eckhoff, 48, of Ellendale, was arrested for drugs while parked at a remote cell tower in extreme southwest Winona County. A deputy found Eckhoff’s vehicle after a caller reported a black SUV suspiciously at the driveway into the tower in the 31000 block of Ma Dailey Road. The deputy said Eckhoff was jittery and sweating profusely and making no sense. “Why sweating?” “I’m always nervous around law enforcement.” The deputy said he asked several times for permission to search the vehicle but couldn’t get a straight answer.  The deputy said Eckhoff kept repeating: “I have nothing to hide.” “Is that a yes?” “I have nothing to hide.” When a second deputy arrived, Eckhoff relented. In frisking the vehicle, rhe deputies found an improvised water bong, a marijuana pipe, and a pipe commonly used for meth. Asked then whether he was high on meth, Eckhoff said no. Asked again, the deputies said, he explained he had experienced car problems and pulled over at the tower and smoked some meth. The deputies found a plastic baggy in Eckhoff’s shoes. That, said the first deputy, probably explained why Eckhoff had been wiggling around somewhat frantically in the vehicle’s cab and bobbing up and down – concealing the meth — when the deputy drove up. Originally Eckhoff had explained he was tidying up cookie crumbs in the passenger seat. The meth totaled 1.5 grams, the deputies said. Eckhoff was hauled 30 miles to the Winona County jail and booked four hours later.

Details: Minnesota Statute 142.02 controlled drugs