Cops break up fight in 500s of East Wabasha
WINONA, Minn. – Police quieted a street fight near the Hei and Low Tap on East Wabasha Street. No arrests were made, police said, but an investigator was assigned to follow up. The disturbance call to police was about 10:45 p.m. after an argument turned physical Police identified the principals as a 37-year-old man, a 35-year-old man and a 28-year-old woman. No one required medical attention, police said
Notable journalism
Dene Dryden (Rochester Post Bulletin, June 10, 2024): “Proposed Med City Nurses Union Aims to Up Awareness, Start Union Card Drive This Summer”
Rachel Mergen (Winona Daily News, June 6, 2024): “Pinball Machine Restoration Club Offers Winona Students Valuable Skills”
Caden Perry (LaCrosse Tribune, June 17, 2024): “UW-LaCrosse Begins Wednesday: What’s Happened and What to Expect”
New chief for Winona schools fund-raising
WININA, Minn. – A volunteer with the Foundation for Winona Area Public Schools, Jenny Baertsch, has been named the Foundation’s executive director. Most recently she has been marketing manager for the bank WNB Financial. Baertsch succeeds Luke Merchlewitz, who has been the Foundation’s interim executive director. Baertsch was a Junior Achievement classroom volunteer for 15years She has been a board member of the Ready Set School fund-raising project for six years.
Baertsch. In new position beginning July.
Big vehicle, small vehicle crash; two hurt
RED WING, Minn. – Two Wisconsin persons were injured when an oversize vehicle on a truck chassis and a min-car collided on U.S. Highway 61 in Red Wing. Chao Vang, 30, of Sheboygan, who was driving a 2023 Nissan Kicks, and Mai Doua Lee, 61, also of Sheboygan, a passenger, were treated for non-life threatening injuries at the Red Wing hospital. A third person in the vehicle, Lue Xiong, 31, of St. Paul, was unhurt. The crash was about 6:05 p.m. at Bench Street on the Far West End. Neither person in the truck, a 2018 GMC Yukon, was hurt: Jillian Ann Scharr, 30, of
Stockholm, the driver and Katelyn Jean Callstrom, 37, also of Stockholm,
Charges filed in Ettrick drive-by fatality
WHITEHALL, Wis. – A Melrose man was charged with reckless homicide in the shooting of an Ettrick motorist in his car on the highway between Galesville and Ettrick in mid-May. The criminal complaint says Todd Eric Gieck, 61, admitted during three weeks in jail that he accidentally discharged the gun. More incriminating are statements from a man in Gieck’s car. Dustin Rommel is quoted telling investigators that Gieck had been agitated and on edge that day. While the two were parked on the side of the U.S. Highway 53, Gieck became further agitated, paranoid even, when a vehicle passed them slowly. Gieck pulled a gun, drove to catch up with the other car, said something like “watch this,” and fired the gun into the driver’s window. All this according to Rommel, as quoted in the criminal complaint. The bullet struck Kyle Dahl, 36, in an eye. Dahl’s car crossed the centerline, went into the southbound ditch, continued for 45 yards and stuck a culvert. He died 31 miles away in intensive care at a LaCrosse hospital.
Earlier Murder charges prepared against Melrose man
Earlier: Official: Name released in Ettrick highway murder
Earlier: Cops jail suspect in drive-by Ettrick fatality
Litany of charges
Gieck faces three charges:
> First-degree reckless homicide, which can mean 60 years in prison.
> Discharge of a firearm from a moving vehicle, 12-1/2 years and a $25,000 fine
> Illegal firearm possession as a convicted felon, five years.
Gieck could also face a six-year extension on a California assault conviction that banned him from further possession of a firearm. A search of Gieck’s home found firearms and ammunition, the criminal complaint said.
Motorcyclist killed in Blooming Prairie collision
BLOOMING PRAIRIE, Minn. –An Austin motorcyclist died in a collision with an automobile at a north Blooming Prairie intersection. Darren Samuel Thomas, 57, died apparently on imact. Both the motorcycle and the car were northbound on U.S. Highway 218 toward Owatonna, police said. The motorcycle was a 2008 Honda. The car was a 2003 Saturn L300 driven by Mya Anne Gaul, 21, of Montgomery. Neither she nor her passengers were injured: Elsa Renae Blake, 15, of Lansing, Iowa, and Allison Caelynn Olson, 16, of Austin. The accident was about 11:55 a.m.
Amish in buggy unhurt in crash; horse dies
CANTON, Minn. – Four people escaped injury when their horse-drawn buggy was struck by a car north of the Iowa border town of Canton. The horse died. Fillmore County Sheriff John DeGeorge said a pickup truck on County Road 21 swerved to avoid the buggy and struck the horse. The pickup driver suffered minor scrapes but did not require medical treatment, the sheriff said. The accident occurred about 4 p.m. It was the third in the past year in Fillmore County involving a motor vehicle and an Amish buggy.
R.I.P.: Terri Block
WINONA, Minn. – Teresa “Terri” Block, 57, of Winona, who worked for seven years for Randall Foods and 22 years for Shopko, died at home of cancer. She played softball Winona Cotter High School and graduated in 1985. She enjoyed, cooking, needle point and gardening.
Detail: Watkowski-Mulyck Funeral Home
1966-2024
DWI arrest follows call from worried friend
WINONA, Minn. – Police located a Winona woman after a friend expressed concern for her well-being for too many drinks. Police spotted Amber Lynn Gunn, 39, exiting her car at a convenience store near the Highway 61 roundabout. The motor was left running, police said. Significant impairment was confirmed on-site — a 0.12% blood-alcohol reading in a breath-analysis device, 1-1/2 times impairment threshold. This was abut 2:55 a.m. Later at the police station the reading was up to 0.13%.
News summary at mid-week: June 19, 2024
COLLEGES: Uptick at WSU: More students stay the course
COLLEGES: Why massive St. Cloud State cutbacks? “Data”
ARTS: For Winona’s Bard devotees: “Hamlet,” “Much Ado”
ENVIRONMENT: Belated news: Accident idled Xcel’s nuclear plant
POLITICS: Kruger steps up billboard campaign for House
POLITICS: Milwaukeeans take offense at Trump denigration
CRIME: Murder charges prepared against Melrose man
CRIME: Fravel loses key defense pleas in murder trial
CRIME: Fraudster finagles $4,200 from Winona shop
JOURNALISM: Winona Daily News further downsizes
RIVER: Army Corps plans mooring shields at Dresbach
HEALTH: Gundersen aims northward with Mondovi clinic
SPORTS: Xcel Center’s name up for bids
Intruder pushes dog-sitter, takes dog
WINONA, Minn. – A dog-sitter said she answered her door and was ushed back inside by a man who took the dog and left. The woman, age 61, told police was in physical pain but not needing medical attention. The incident was about 10:50 p.m. in the 100 block of West Wabasha Street in the central city. The woman said she had agreed to take care of the dog for a couple days. She told police she couldn’t explain the incident. Police said they identified an 18-year-old male suspect.
Body near tracks? Cops find hobo campsite
WINONA, Minn. – Deputies responding to a report of a person lying along the Canadian Pacific mainline tracks just south of town didn’t find anybody, but there was a makeshift campsite nearby. A tent and personal belongings appeared to have been abandoned, deputies said. It was believed the campsite tp belong to a homeless person who’s been in the area a few weeks. The site was near the municipal sewage plant on the extreme South End and accessible from the other side of the tracks from the Black Horse tavern area in Homer.
UW-LaCrosse showdown: Gow v. regents
LACROSSE, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse’s recent chancellor, Joe Gow, called it disappointing that he was fired in December for sex books and videos. “It’s very disappointing that it is clearly not only UW-L but the leadership of the UW system is so opposed to free speech and free expression,” Gow said at a public hearing. “When they say all the time ‘Oh we’re all about free speech, free expression,’ clearly in this case they’re not.” The hearing was at the Omni Center arena in suburban Onalaska. The issue was whether Gow should be allowed to retire a tenured faculty position, as is standard practice for retired chancellors. Months before the UW regents learned about the sex guides that Gow and his wife were producihg, he had announced his plan to retire this spring.
“Happy Sex Couple.” The videos were structured on Gow and wife, Carmen Wilson, share the kitchen joys of cooking together. They had a rotating support cast of established sex performers of their acquaintance. In this promotional image it’s Lauren Phillips in red. The “happy sex couple,” as Gow and Wilson called themselves, then would retreat by themselves to a bedroom formulaically for joys of a carnally explicit sort. Their stated purpose: To sexuality for peoplemofnallages. Gow is in his 60s, Wilson her 50s.
Regents: Gow knowingly went too far
At the adversarial hearing in Onalaska, te UW university system attorney, Wade Harrison, said tat Gow must have realized the sex books and video were unacceptable because, he alleged, they were cloaked in anonymity. “Dr. Gow just doesn’t get it,” Harrison told a judging panel. “His conduct was premeditated.” Gow was on notice as early as 2018 that his association with the porn industry was a breach. It was “clear insubordination,” Harrison said. In 2018 Gow had invited a porn actress to speak on campus as a demonstration of the university as a welcome place for free expression and dialogue. UW system leaders in Madison frowned with dissatisfaction at the time but took no action against Gow. The sex books came later under but their authorship was anonymous. I the subsequent videos, Gow and his wife were identified only as “a professional couple,” although anyone who knew them would recognize them. Even so, until this December, when UW regents fired Gow, nobody in Madison or LaCrosse had made any connection, at least not publicly.
Regents: Gow embarrassed UW
Harrison claimed that the reputation of UW-LaCrosse and the whole UW system had been sullied. Gow acknowledged that some donors and others may have expressed concern, but he countered that others –including students, faculty and the LaCrosse community — thought his removal, coming only six months before his scheduled retirement, was an “egregious overreaction.” Denying him the usual courtesy of a faculty position was excessive. As chancellor, Gow was earning $272,000. As a senior professor on the communications faculty, his salary would be in the upper $100,000s. Further, the regents have discussed denying him a $300,000 benefits package.
Earlier: UW-L chancellor denied graceful retirement
Earlier: Any advance tip on Gow firing at UW-L? Barely
Earlier: Earlier: Experts unsure on legality of Gow’s dismissal
Earlier: Background: Rothman all out against UW-L’s Joe Gow
Earlier: Hot brew for hot chancellor: Sold out
An unusual public hearing
The university usually deals secretly with personnel issues, ostensibly to protect the person being reviewed. Gow, however, insisted bat that the hearing be public. – a signal of self-confidence that he has an earned right and contractual to a faculty position. The panel’s post-hearing deliberations, however, will be closed – like a jury’s deliberations. Whether the their findings are reported publicy or not — and in what detail – hasn’t been made clear.
What next?
A five-member faculty review panel conducted the two days of hearings. The chair, history professor Anne Galbraith, said a decision will be made “as soon as practicable.” The decision will be a written report delivered to Gow and interim chancellor Betsy Morgan. An odd dynamic: Morgan was a vice chancellor under Gow. She turned against him when the UW system’s regents decided to fire him. Morgan emerged from the chaos being appointed by the regents as interim chancellor. If the faculty panel finds in favor of Gow, Morgan could choose to accept it in deference to the widely accepted principle of faculty governance. If the faculty panel decides against Gow, Morgan could pass the recommendation on to the regents in Madison to decide
Police report: Punches climax smoking feud
WINONA, Minn. – A Winona man told police that he was punched in the face twice by a neighbor when he answered a knock at his apartment door. The assailant turned and left, the man said. The man, age 60, still was bleeding from a cut lip when police arrived. The incident appeared to culminate an ongoing feud over cigarette smoking, police said. The assailant, police were told, had complained about smoke drifting into his unit and had left notes not to smoke. The apartment building, in the 450 block of West Sarnia, has a no smoking policy. Both parties were asked to complete statement papers within five days to help determine whether an assault charge would be filed.
Stolen motorbike shows up for sale online
WINONA, Minn. – A man whose motorized minibike was stolen a few weeks ago told police he found it – kinda, sorta. The bike, he said, was for sale on an online marketplace site. That gave new clues to the police investigator on the case.
Xcel Center’s name up for bids
ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Minnesota-based giant utility Xcel may lose its name in lights on the city-owned hockey arena for which pays $3 million a year. Charley Walters, a sports reporter for the St. Paul pioneer Press, wrote that at least one other company has entered a competitive bid for naming rights Walters named neither the new bidder company nor his source. The 18,000-seat hockey arena and concert venue has carried the Xcel name since it opened in 2020.
New name in works? Fans for a quarter century s have called it simply “the X.”
Tri-wheel motorcycle passenger hurt in wreck
DOVER, Minn. – A Wisconsin woman was injured when she fell off an out-of-control tri-wheel motorcycle on Interstate 90. Angela Elizabeth Gierok, 56, of Whitehall, was airlifted 19 miles to a Rochester hospital. Her injuries appeared non-life threatening, said an Olmsted County deputy. The driver, James E Gierok, 58, of Whitehall, was unhurt. Both were helmeted. The accident was about 12:15 p.m. at the I-90 Dover ramps. The bike, a 2016 Can Am Spyder Roadster, was westbound toward Rochester on dry pavement when control was lost, the deputy said.
Belated news: Accident idled Xcel’s nuclear plant
RED WING, Minn. – Both nuclear generators at the Prairie Island nuclear station were out of operation for months after a crew mistakenly cut an underground cable last year, it has been learned. There were no injuries or radioactive leakage. The massive Prairie Island nuclear facility sits on the Mississippi River upstream eight miles from Red Wing. A spokesperson for Xcel Energy, which operates the plant, confirmed the incident, which occured in October. When the cable was severed, said Theo Keith, the plant’s Unit 1 took “itself offline, as it is designed to do.” Unit 2 already had been offline since May for scheduled refueling. Not until January was Unit 1 restarted. Unit 2 returned to service in March. Over those months there was no power generated. Xcel had to buy power from other sources for an estimated $38 million. No Xcel customers were ever without power, Keith said. Costs of repair and getting the units up and going again were estimated as high as $12 million.
Supermax inmate: State stole our computers
BOSCOBEL, Wis. – An inmate at Wisconsin’s max-security prison says a state contractor has confiscated digital media devices wrongfully from inmates, including himself. Robert Wayne Huber Jr., 55, made the allegation in a class-action suit in federal court. Huber said that IC Solutions, a private prison contractor, took away tablets and digital media and required inmates to repurchase them. Huber claimed the action violated the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment. A similar suit in Florida required the state to give millions of digital media credits to 11,000 prisoners to purchase content.
Prison purveyor. At issue are procedures of Texas-based IC Solutions. The company is the new state contractor to provide inmate access to digital music, books and movies.
Super-max prison. For Wisconsin’s most dangerous and disruptive inmates.
Boscobel profile
The $47.5 million 500-bed supermax prison Boscobel opened 1999. The one-level four-unit prison houses inmates in single isolated cells. The perimeter is surrounded by a lethal electrified fence. The prison is near Boscobel, population 3,200, upstream 30 miles from Prairie du Chien on the Wisconsin River.
For Winona’s Bard devotees: “Hamlet,” “Much Ado”
WINONA, Minn. – The Great River Shakespeare Festival in Winona opens its 21st season with “Hamlet” on June 29 and “Much Ado about Nothing” on June 30. The plays run alternate nights, albeit some nlack nights. There are some 1 p.m. matinees. Tickets: $18 to $52, although a preview performance of each production a day ahead of openings is $4. Final curtains are the last weekend in July. The venue: Fusillo Theater at Winna State University.
Image: “Hamlet and Horatio” in the Graveyard” by Eugene Delacroix (1839)
Tanah Flanagan. A guest director for Winona festival. From New York.
Her take on “Hamlet”: “Tarah Flanagan takes on one of the most complex characters of the Shakespeare canon. For centuries, women have played the role of Hamlet, sometimes portraying him as a man and sometimes, as supported by Danish legend, as a woman. In consultation with director Doug Scholz-Carlson, Tarah has decided to play Hamlet as a man. She explains that the women in Hamlet are highly criticized for the decisions that they make, but both culture and the text do not afford them the ability to choose their circumstance. Approaching the role of one of the men who is most critical of the women’s choices presents an opportunity for Tarah to more fully understand the mental and emotional struggles that Hamlet faces.”
Image: “Kill Claudio” by Max Cowper (1905)
Gaby Rodriguez. A guest director for Winona festival. Cuba-born.
Her take on Much Ado”: “Director Gaby Rodriguez says she’s always drawn to connect stories to specific communities.“Much Ado” is the perfect play to do this with. It is a play about a neighborhood celebrating the return of their loved ones but also grasping with consent, building of trust, and the unsung heroes saving the day. Winona today is not unlike Messina, as a society we are constantly celebrating together and renegotiating relationships. This production will place young people at the center of the story. As the ones that save the day and the ones that represent the future of the community. As a director and educator, I’ve always admired the way young people question and challenge the world we live in and and and often are able to pinpoint truths that adults get lost in.”
Emergency, fire crews make 55 calls
WINONA, Minn. – The Fire Department reported 40 emergency medical calls plus 15 fire calls in recent days:
> Tuesday, June 18: 1 medical call plus 5 fire calls.
> Monday, June 17: 8 medical calls plus 1 fire call.
> Sunday, June 16: 13 medical calls plus 3 fire calls.
> Saturday, June 15: 4 medical calls plus no fire calls.
> Friday, June 14: 4 medical calls plus 3 fire calls.
> Thursday, June 13: 5 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.
> Wednesday, June 12: 5 medical calls plus 1 fire call.
Earlier: Emergency, fire crews make 65 calls
R.I.P.: Arlene Sobeck
WILSON, Minn. – Arlene Leone Sobeck, age 93, of Wilson, who was employed at First National Bank in Winona, died at Valley View Care Center in Houston. She was born in Winona. As a bowler she made it to state and national tournaments. She inducted into the Winona Bowling Hall of Fame. She was a world traveler served as a consultant for Christmas Around the World from 1987 to 2001.
Detail: Watkowski-Mulyck Funeral Home
1930-2024
Berm planned to protect Indian burial mounds
HARPERS FERRY, Iowa – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has unveiled plans for a 2,000-foot rock berm to protect Native American burial mounds in the Sny Magill-Effigy national monument. A public hearing on the proposed $12 million berm will be Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. at the National Park Service visitor center at 151 Highway 76 in Harpers Ferry. The mounds are along Johnsons Slough upriver from the Corps-operated Guttenberg dam on the Mississippi River. The mounds are under threat due to shoreline erosion, said the Corps, which controls navigation and water levels on the Mississippi. The mounds are sacred to 19 culturally associated tribal nations. If approved, the boat launch at Sny Magill would be temporally closed in 2026 for construction.
Vacating tenant reports Roku TV stolen
WINONA, Minn. – A 36-inch Roku streaming television set was reported stolen while left briefly on a table outside by a man moving out of an apartment. The theft occurred about 5 p.m. within a 10-minute window, police were told. This was in the 1100 block of Sugar Loaf Road.
Murder charges prepared against Melrose man
WHITEHALL, Wis. – Eighteen days after being arrested in the grisly drive-by shooting of a motorist near Ettrick, a Melrose man is being charged. Multiple charges against Todd Eric Gieck, 61, were recommended to the Trempealeau County district attorney by Sheriff Brett Semingson:
> First-degree reckless homicide.
> First-degree recklessly endangering safety.
> Possession of a firearm by a felon.
The victim, Kyle Dahl in Ettrick, 36, of Ettrick, was killed the evening May 15. He suffered two bullet wounds in his head on U.S. Highway 53 south of Ettrick while driving home from the Twin Cities. Sheriff Brett Semingson arrested Gieck 15 days later on an unrelated charge as investigators assembled and assessed evidence. Their conclusions were expected to be in a criminal complaint when District Attorney John Sacia files the document in court. Unclear in the meantime:
> What was the unrelated charge on which Gieck and arrested and held.
> What was the felony conviction that precluded Gieck from possessing a gun legally.
A search of Wisconsin court records found no cases against Gieck. In California, where Gieck lived earlier, there was a 2010 drunken-driving and attempted assault case and a 1996 vehicle theft case. In Melrose Gieck has been living a few miles northwest of town on Osley Road. This is in Jackson County and about 19 miles from where Dahl lived.
Earlier: Official: Name released in Ettrick highway murder
Earlier: Cops jail suspect in drive-by Ettrick fatality
Gieck. Held in the Trempealeau County jail in Whitehall.
Dahl. Shot five weeks ago on highway between Ettrick and Galesville.
What we don’t know
Questions linger in the public’s mind about the slaying of Kyle Dahl. It’s believed two shots were fired from a passing car as he was enroute home toward Ettrick. Unclear: What led to the shooting? Was there a motive? Had the paths of Gieck and Dahl ever crossed before? Was Dahl targeted? Or was it a random shooting?
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