LACROSSE, Wis.  – Fast current over the access road isolated the Pettibone Boat Club restaurant. Joey Graves, manager, tried sand-bagging to keep the road open but gave up. The current, he said, could wash a car away. The restaurant itself, on a beach pinnacle, remained above water. The Mississippi River at La Crosse was at 14.8 feet.

WABASHA, Minn. — Bail was set at $100,000 for the father of a 6-year- old boy wo was wounded seriously by a shotgun blast while playing unattended with other youngsters. Raymond Duque, 41, of Elgin, faces several charges, among them negligence. Judge Christopher Neisen set the bail. The judge released the boy’s mother. Nicole McGee, 33, without bail. She too faces negligence charges.

Earlier: Negligence charged in Elgin child shooting

MANKATO, Minn. – The crisis at the Rapidan Dam upriver from Mankato has deepened. The dam remains in jeopardy but now so too is the County Road 9 bridge a few yards behind the dam. Debris has piled up at the concrete piers that support the bridge, creating structural pressure that is crumbling at the piers. The debris is all the worse because a stand of trees, already dead from droughts, has been carried down river and dammed tightly into the bridge. The two-lane bridge, about 40 years years old, has been closed since the crisis began at the dam. The bridge is a vital connection over the Blue Earth River for rural people southwest of Mankato. The Rapidan Dam, meanwhile, remains in place but also in imminent danger of failure. Last week the raging river carved a new path through saturated soil on one side of the dam. The gaping gash widened and widened and disabled a power station and swallowed a house on the bank. Later the Rapidan general store, a neighborhood fixture, was abandoned because it too was in danger of going next. In all this there have been no injuries.

Bridge now in peril too. County road engineers can’t get close enough to insect bridge damage thoroughly. It’s too dangerous to go out there. Also: Heavy equipment operators don’t dare venture on forays onto the bridge to remove the accumulated debris.

WINONA, Minn. – The Fire Department reported 3 1 emergency medical calls plus 13 fire calls in recent days:

> Tuesday, July 2: 4 medical calls plus 3 fire call.

> Monday, July 1: 3 medical calls plus 1 fire call.

> Sunday, June 30: 6 medical calls plus 1 fire calls.

> Saturday, June 29: 4 medical calls plus 5 fire calls.

> Friday, June 28:  4 medical calls plus no fire calls.

> Thursday, June 27: 3 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.

> Wednesday, June 26: 7 medical calls plus 1 fire call.

Earlier: Emergency, fire crews make 50 calls

WABASHA, Minn. – A plea deal from a Wabasha. bookkeeper in a $3.7 million embezzlement case has been accepted by Judge Christopher Neisen. The judge sentenced Sharon Ann Schmalzriedt, 62, to five years of supervised probation and 1,000 hours of community service.  She was ordered to repay the money, which was stolen from National Chemical of Lewiston. Her explanation: Being duped in an online romance by a man who led her on.

Earlier: Embezzler offers deal for $3.7 million Lewiston theft

Earlier: Wabasha bookkeeper blamed for $3.7 million embezzlement

LEWISTON, Minn. – A Lewiston man reported that a neighbor accused him of blowing grass clippings onto his driveway, pulled a gun, and threatened to kill him. The man quit mowing and went hack into his house and called 911. Deputies arrested Michael I Martinson, 69. This was about 8:20 p.m. in the 600 block of North First Street. Martinson was booked at the Winona County jail on tentative charges of threatening violence, terroristic assault, and pointing a dangerous weapon. Bad blood between Martinson and the neighbor was obvious, deputies said. The grass-mowing neighbor said Martinson had charged out of his house and pulled a 45-calibre handgun from a pants pocket: “I’ll kill you and your daughter and your wife.” Neither the wife nor daughter  was outside when the confrontation occurred.

Martinson. Upset reportedly at grass clippings on his driveway.

ELGIN, Minn. – The parents of a 6-year-old boy who was shot while playing inside car outside the family home have been arrested. Tony Duque, 41, and Nicole Lynn McGee, 33, were taken into custody a week after the incident. Wabasha County Attorney Matthew Stinson said the boy was shot by an 8-year-old cousin. They were left unattended with access to a loaded shotgun, Stinson said. The cousin and he victim’s 9-year-old sister, who was also present, have been assigned to social workers. The victim remains hospitalized in Rochester with an abdomen wound. Stinson doesn’t anticipate more charges: “It doesn’t seem to have been an intentional act, and also the age of the child is so young as to whether or not you can even find a child that young culpable.”

Earlier: Child shot, wounded in Elgin incident

WINONA, Minn. – With the Prairie Island Campground under water, most recreational vehicles have been towed home or at least to higher ground. Jamie Schell, manager, said it’s hoped the flood will recede by July 8 so the 170-stall campground can repopulate. RV slots rent for $175 to $215 a week. Meanwhile, staff who live seasonally in pick-up mounted  campers  are remaining as long as  possible, Schell said

WINONA, Minn. – Police took three complaints about illegal fireworks Monday night — a prelude to what inevitably becomes an exhausting nightshift flurry on the Fourth of July. The law provides stiff penalties, but tickets are few. Culprits are almost always gone once officers locate their launch sites. Will the nightmare for police end on July 5? Probably not. There are people with left-over gunpowder devices  to shoot off, although the frequency  will taper off.

Earlier: Fun metaphor: Firecrackers and crickets

Earlier: Aerial fireworks: In Minnesota you go to jail

WINONA, Minn. – Among commercial property sales in Winona County logged by Bob Bambenek, county recorder, in June:

Winona: 217 Johnson Street, Erickson Oil Products to Man Square Development, $1.4 million.

Earlier: Winona County commercial property in Ma 2024

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. – Police officers responded to a call from a driver of being chased by someone throwing cheese at his car. This was at 9:46 p.m. Police didn’t solve ghe case but went online to speculate that the behavior “not gouda” and “un-brie-lievable.”

WINONA, Minn. – A police officer said he witnessed a car brake suddenly and skid past a stop sign into a busy East End intersection. The driver, Carla Jo Holland, 67, of Dakota, explained she had been at the Hei N Low tavern five blocks away and was heading home. Her speech was slurred and she smelled of alcohol, the officer said. Her blood tested close to 0.15% alcohol – about twice the allowable threshold for driving. This was about 6:40 p.m. at Mankato Avenue and Wabasha Street.

WINONA, Minn. – Police Sergeant Brad Barrientos says his most frustrating season as a police officer has begun with the first complaint calls about fireworks. “It’s like a cricket in a garage,” he said. “As soon as you think you’ve located the sound, the cricket goes silent.” It’s the same with fireworks, he said: “Get there, it’s gone”.

Earlier: Aerial fireworks: In Minnesota you go to jail

Verbatim

Barrientos has a boom test on what’s legal in Minnesota: “ If it’s in the air, booms or pops, it’s against the law.”

WINONA, Minn.  – For its grand-opening last week, the crew at the new Pizza Ranch buffet unlocked the doors at 11 a.m. There people waiting, some in lawn chairs for a couple hours.

Earlier: Flux in West End landscape for eating out

Earlier: Dining out: Our Galloping Gourmands at Pizza Ranch

WINONA, Minn. – Using a car license plate caught on surveillance video, police went to a Minnesota City address and asked the resident about driving into Winona and using somebody else’s trash bin. Yes, he admitted the deed, police said. Dana Mathew Schwartz, 62, was ticketed for illegal dumping in a large apartment building bin a couple miles away in the 650 block of West Sarnia Street.

WINONA, Minn.  – For its grand-opening last week, the crew at the new Pizza Ranch buffet unlocked the doors at 11 a.m. There were people waiting, some in lawn chairs for a couple hours.

WINONA, Minn. – Somebody unchained a canoe from a tree  on Latsch Island and stole it. Police were informed about 10 a.m. The chain appeared undisturbed, officers said. The address: 600 block of Latsch Island.