Trump’s still polarizing after felony conviction
WINONA, Minn. – Reaction generally was predictable around Minnesota to Donald Trump’s dubious new status as the first U.S. president in history to be a convicted felon. Thus was after a Manhattan jury unanimously found Trump guilty on 34 counts for election fraud in a tawdry cover-up of hush money during his failed 2020 campaign for re-election. Among reaction:
> David Hann, state GOP chair: “This decision is a significant moment in our nation’s history, and it raises serious concerns about the fairness and impartiality of our judicial system. We stand with former President Trump and will continue to support efforts to ensure that his and all Americans’ rights are respected and upheld.”
> Jeremy Munson, of Lake Crystal, former MN1 congressional candidate, a Republican: “Is this when we’re supposed to loot?”
> Tina Liebling, of Rochester, a state legislator for District 24-B, a Democrat, hit hard at Republicans who criticized the jury: “To undermine the service of those 12 people, to undermine this process is just, really beyond the pale. I would just like to call on Republicans to actually defend our country and its judiciary.”
> Tom Emmer, of Delano, MN-6 member of Congress, a Republican, and Trump stalwart: “The American people won’t forget this corrupt, two-tiered system of justice and will issue the real verdict at the ballot box in November.”
> Pete Stauber, of Hermantown, MN-8 member of Congress, a Republican: “Americans will release their own verdict this November on Joe Biden’s sham administration. We must unite behind Donald Trump to save America and stop this political witch hunt once and for all.”
> Michelle Fischbach, of Woodbury, MN-7 member of Congress, a Republican: “The American people are rightfully seeing through the attempt to abuse the judicial system against political opponents.”
> Betty McCollum, of St. Paul, MN-4 member of Congress, a Democrat: “Today our system of justice worked. No person is above the law.”
NOTE: This article will be expanded as further reaction is voiced. Please check back.
Cops find hit-run car, make drunk-driving arrest
WINONA, Minn. – Police tracked down a car after a hit-and-run accident and arrested a Winona woman. Arrested was Chloe Autumn Kleinschmidt, age 22. Her blood-alcohol tested at 0.18% in a brerath test, more than twice the allowable level. She told police she drove off because she was scared and anxious. There had been no injuries. Both cars were drivable. The accident was about 6:20 p.m. near West Broadway and Fourth Street. Police located the car parked a few blocks away at 200 East Third. They phoned Kleinschmidt as the registered owner, and she walked over to the car. Police said she failed field sobriety tests Also, they said, her speech was slurred and her yes bloodshot and watery.
Kleinschmidt. Booked for drunken driving, leavjng accident.
Update: Candidates with hats in ring for 2024
WINONA, Minn. – Six days before the deadline to file documents for her candidacy, Sarah Kruger plunked down her filing$300 fee to make her bid official for the state Legislature from Winona. Kruger’s payment assures there be a runoff in Augist between Kruger and Dwayne Voegeli to hold the Democratic slot on November ballot. There also is an August runoff between Stephen Doerr and Aaron Repinski for the Republican slot. It is possible that other candidates may emerge from the woodwork in the next few days. The candidacy filing period closes June 4.
Congressional District MN-1
> Brad Finstad (Republican incumbent)
> Rachel Bohman (Democrat)
> Gregory Goetzman (Republican)
> Gregory Tweten (Republican)
State House District 26-A
> Stephen Doerr (Republican)
> Sarah Kruger (Democrat)
> Aaron Repinski (Republican)
> Dwayne Voegeli (Democrat)
Winona County Board
> Josh Elsing (District 3 incumbent)
> Jerald Hettenbach (District 4)
> Greg Olson (District 4 incumbent)
Winona City Council
> Scott Sherman (mayor incumbent)
> Jason David Dicus (at large)
> Steven Young (Ward 1 incumbent)
> Jon Krofchalk (Ward 3)
> Samantha Zierden Shortridge (Ward 3)
861 School Board
> None as of May 30 (District 3)
> Gregory Fellman (District 4)
> Monica Siegfried (District 4)
> Martin Stickney (District 5)
Third District Court
> None as of May 30 (Winona County)
Update: Candidates with hats in ring for 2024
WINONA, Minn. – Six days before the deadline to file documents for her candidacy, Sarah Kruger plunked down her $300 fee to make her bid official for the state Legislature from Winona. Kruger’s payment assures there be a runoff in Augst between Kruger and Dwayne Voegeli to hold the Democratic slot on November ballot. There also is an August runoff between Stephen Doerr and Aaron Repinski for the Republican slot. It is possible that other candidates may emerge from the woodwork in the next few days. The candidacy filing period closes June 4.
Congressional District MN-1
> Brad Finstad (Republican incumbent)
> Rachel Bohman (Democrat)
> Gregory Goetzman (Republican)
> Gregory Tweten (Republican)
State House District 26-A
> Stephen Doerr (Republican)
> Sarah Kruger (Democrat)
> Aaron Repinski (Republican)
> Dwayne Voegeli (Democrat)
Winona County Board
> Josh Elsing (District 3 incumbent)
> Jerald Hettenbach (District 4)
> Greg Olson (District 4 incumbent)
Winona City Council
> Scott Sherman (mayor incumbent)
> Jason David Dicus (at large)
> Steven Young (Ward 1 incumbent)
> Jon Krofchalk (Ward 3)
> Samantha Zierden Shortridge (Ward 3)
School Board
> None as of May 30 (District 3)
> Gregory Fellman (District 4)
> Monica Siegfried (District 4)
> Martin Stickney (District 5
Winonan loses control of car, injured
LAKE CITY, Minn. – A Winona driver was injured when her vehicle left the right-of-way and crashed into a sign on Highway 61. Bonnie Lou Moen, 66, was taken to the Lake City hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The accident was about 12 p.m. at the West Jewell Avenue intersection. Moen was driving a 2010 Jeep Liberty north toward Red Wing.
Three years prison for Maplewood gun incident
WINONA, Minn. – A Winona man has been sent to prison for firing a gun at another man during a street bawl in the Maplewood neighborhood in March. Jayden Michael Jessie, 20, had pleaded guilty. The sentence: Two years behind bars and one year of supervised release if he maintains good behavior. In the plea, Jessie admitted to firing shots at another person. He said, however, that someone forced the pistol on him. There was crowd gathered around the brawl. The criminal complaint says that surveillance video showed Jessie in a “shooting stance” as the crowd was scattering. Meanwhile 100 miles away in Albert Lea, Jessie faces a separate charge of pointing a loaded firearm at another person.
Jessie. Claims he didn’t carry gun into the brawl.
Slaying of Minneapolis police officer an “ambush”
MINNEAPOLIS — A man lying on the ground and faking to be a shooting victim shot a killed Minneapolis police officer. It was an ambush, said Drew Evans, chief of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. Evans said he had seen the video: “I’m using the term ‘ambush’ for a reason.” Killed was Jamal Mitchell, who had been on the police force 1-1/2 years. He was pronounced dead at a hospital. Police reported is sequence:
> Police responded to a call of a double shooting at an apartment in the Whittier neigborhood in south Minneapolis.
> Mitchell, two blocks away, he saw an injured individuals on the ground.
> Mitchell got out of his squad car to assist,
> One of them shot Mitchell.
> Another officer arrived and exchanged gunfire with the shooter.
> The shooter died despite life-saving efforts by officers.
Whether the two shooting scenes were related wasn’t immediately clear, police said. At the apartment to which the original call was made, police found two who had been shot. One was dead and the other was hospitalized in critical condition.
Mitchell. Badge 1867. A father and engaged to be married.
Winona legislative candidate posts billboards
Ready, set, go. Eleven weeks before Minnesota’s primary elections, legislative candidate Dwayne Voegeli has posted the first of five planned billboards around Winona for the House District 26-A seat. Voegeli and Sarah Kruger, both Democrats, are in an August run-off to be on the November ballot, although Kruger has yet to file official candidacy papers. In the Republican run-off are Stephen Doerr and Aaron Repinski. Image: Steve Lunde
Earlier: Winona Democrats split on 26-A candidates
Details: Go to the Winona Journal category Politics. In black at the top of the site.
News summary at mid-week: May 29, 2024
POLITICS: Candidates with hats in ring for 2024 ballot
COLLEGES: Viterbo enrollment down, staff layoffs ahead
COMMERCE: Winona loses its last central city gas station
CMMERCE: New life as boutique hotel in Lanesboro
RIVER: Boat with passed-out operator drifts into dam
CRIME: Brownsville heist went awry: Wrong tools
CRIME: Winonan arrested for blow-torch threats
CRIME: Bad acts: Sleeping on tracks, burglary, assault
CRIME: Cops: We lassoed the cattle rustler
CUISINE: Dining out: Our Galloping Gourmands at Pizza Ranch
ENVIRONMENT: Stewards adamant: No to more dairy manure
ENVIRONMENT: Army Corps: Take us out of Line 5 litigation
Boat gears jam, drifts powerless to isle
TREMPEALEAU, Wis. – A pleasure boat drifted onto a sandbar off Trempealeau, stranding the boaters. This was late, about 11:50 p.m. The boaters phoned for help. To their rescue came the Winona County sheriff’s dive and rescue team. The boaters were ferried to a landing, the disabled boat in tow. The call was the second of the night for the rescue team. Earlier in the day there was a rescue by firefighters at theAlma dam 35 miles upriver.
Minnesota prep
Baseball: Pine Island Panthers 3, Rochester Lourdes Eagles 2
Baseball: La Crescent-Hokah Lancers 9, Randolph Rockets 0
Golf (boys): Harmony Fillmore Central Falcons 336-339–674 (at 1st), Blooming Prairie Amazing Bloomers 355-362–717 (tied at 2nd), Lanesboro Burros 346-360–717 (tied at 2nd), Rushford-Peterson Trojans 355-370–725 (at 4th)
Golf (girls: Harmony Fillmore Central Falcons 351-365–716 (at 1st), Hayfield Vikings 396-39–794 (at 2nd), Lanesboro Burros 402-400–802 (at 3rd), Blooming Prairie Amazing Bloomers 427-452–879 (at 4th)
Lacrosse (girls): Lakeville North Panthers 18, Rochester Century Panthers 3
Wisconsin prep
Golf (boys): Cochrane-Fountain City Pirates 337 (at 1st), Durand-Arkansaw Panthers 336 (at 2nd)
Mississippi River boaters lose power, rescued
TREMPEALEAU, Wis. – Four people stranded on a Mississippi River sandbar were rescued by the Winona County sheriff’s dive and rescue team. The two adults and two juveniles had been on a boat that lost power. This was about 7 p.m. near Trempealeau.
Tornado claims overwhelm insurance companies
ROLLINGTONE, Minn. – Most farmers and others who were hit by a tornado eight days ago can’t get their insurance carriers to come to Rollingstone to verify damage for claims — at least not quickly. There aren’t enough adjusters to go around. Rollingstone resident John Guenther told television station KTTC that he contacted his insurance agency right away to file a claim. The response: No adjuster can be available until June 4 – 14 days after the disaster. In Winona, where agent Robert Wunderlich has written a lot of coverage around Rollingstone, he said that adjustors have been stretched thin throughout the region. He pointed to the EF-4 tornado that killed four people and flattened much of Greenfield, Iowa, on May 21. Wunderlich’s advice: “Patience.” The night of the Rollingstone tornado had dozens of touchdowns in southern Minnesota, northern Iowa and western Wisconsin.
Boat with passed-out operator drifts into dam
Bad place to dock. The 14-foot outboard ran up over one of the the dam’s orange-painted steel roller gates. Image: Buffalo County sheriff
Boater unresponsive as danger loomed
ALMA, Wis. – A small fishing craft drifted powerless into a gate at the Alma dam on the Mississippi River and wedged itself precariously into a roller gate. Crews rescued the lone person aboard and lifted him to safety uninjured. Apparently, said Sheriff Michael Osmond, the man was unconscious and unaware of the impending crash. The sheriff declined to release the boater’s name but said he was 64 years old and from Wabasha eight miles upriver. The man was charged with drunken boating. The boat was undamaged and towed to shore. An Army Corps dam operator had alerted the Alma Fire Department to impending crash about 2 p.m. The Corps operator had spotted the boat drifting in current toward the dam with an apparently unresponsive person aboard.
Name released in drug overdose death
WINONA, Minn. – Police released the name of a probable drug overdose victim found dead in a West Mill Street house on Monday: Nicholas Logan Stevens, age 33. An autopsy was ordered. The death remains an active investigation, police said.
Emergency, fire crews make 83 calls
WINONA, Minn. – The Fire Department reported 57 emergency medical calls plus 26 fire calls in recent days:
> Tuesday, May 28: 6 medical calls plus 4 fire call.
> Monday, May 27: 16 medical calls plus 1 fire call.
> Sunday, May 26: 8 medical calls plus 5 fire calls.
> Saturday, May 25: 8 medical calls plus 1 fire call.
> Friday, May 24: 11 medical calls plus 3 fire calls.
> Thursday, May 2: 4 medical calls plus 7 fire calls.
> Wednesday, May 22: 4 medical calls plus 4 fire call.
Earlier: Emergency, fire crews make 54 calls
Man arrested in violation of court order
WINONA, Minn. – A Winona man was arrested inside a residence where he had been barred from being by a court order. Rayshun Boler, 43 was booked for violation a restraining order based on an earlier allegation of domestic violence. Police had been called to remove Boler by the mother of children they had in common. She said she had been awakened by him shouting at the children. The mother said she suspected one of children let him in. The incident was in the 800 block West Fifth Street. He was booked about 2:05 a.m.
Boler. Woman: He’s back. Not supposed to be.
Minnesota prep
Baseball: Stewartville Tigers 9, Winona Winhawks 1
Golf (boys): Harmony Fillmore Central Falcons 335 (at 1st), Rushford-Peterson Trojans 355 (tied at 2nd), Rochester Eastwood 355 (tied at 2nd), Lewiston-Altura. Cardinals (at 6th), Winona Winhawks 405, Winona Cotter Ramblers 499.
Golf (boys): Northfield Raiders 305 (tied at 1st). Rochester Mayo Spartans 305 (tied at 1st), Lakeville North Panthers 307 (at 3rd), Lakeville South Cougars309 (at 4th), Rochester Century Panthers 313 313 (at 5th), Faribault Falcons 315, (at 6th), Austin Packers 316 (at 7th), Farmington Siberian Tigers 318 (at 8th), Owatonna Huskies322 (at 9th), Rochester Marshall Rockets 331 (at 19th)
Golf (girls): Harmony Fillmore Central Falcons 351 (at 1st), Hayfield Vikings 296 (at 2nd), Lanesboro Burros 402 (at 3rd) Blooming Praire Amazing Bloomers 427 (at 4th), Adams Southland Rebels 492 (at 5th), Houston Hurricanes 501 (at 6th)
Lacrosse: Rochester Century Panthers 10, Northfield Raiders 4
Softball: Winona Winhawks 6, Stewartville Tigers 4
Softball: Caledonia Warriors 1, Winna Cotter Ramblers 0
Softball: Caledonia Warriors 7, St. Charles Saints 2
Wisconsin prep
Baseball: Hammond St. Croix Central 5, Galesville Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau Red Hawks 1
Winonan arrested for blow-torch threats
WINONA, Minn. – A Winona man was arrested for online threats to burn up a house where he once had been a tenant — and who later showed outside with a blow torch. The threats were Monday morning. On Tuesday about 9:45 p.m. Dylan Thomas McKenzie, 42, was arrested loitering outside the Cornerstone Bar on West Fourth Street. He offered no resistance, police said. The booking charge: Threatening violence with an incendiary device. McKenzie also was wanted by Wisconsin prison authorities who had issued a warrant for his arrest. About the blow-torch threats the homeowner said McKenzie showed up outside the house,in the 600 block of West Fourth Street and yelled threats, this after the series of threats online. He was gone when police arrived. Police contacted him by phone. He denied any threats, police said. They put out a call to arrest him anyway.
McKenzie. The booking charge: Threatening violence with an incendiary device
Legislative hopeful Kruger names campaign chief
WINONA, Minn. – A political scientist at Winona State University, Darrell Downs, is managing the Sarah Kruger campaign for Winona’s 26-A seat in the Minnesota House of Representatives. At Winona State he teaches American public policy with special interest in natural resource management and higher education labor issues. He holds a 1992 doctorate from Colorado State and earlier degrees from Oregon State and | Montana State. He’s 65. He has been president of the Winona State faculty and an advisory board member of MN Vote Smart.
New life as boutique hotel in Lanesboro
LANESBORO, Minn. – The old Thompson furniture store in downtown Lanesboro has been reinvented as a boutique hotel. Chelsey and Levi Skelly, newcomers to Lanesboro, presided at a ribbon-cutting ceremony and began taking reservations. The 150-year-old Victorian building, on Parkway Avenue North, is on the National Register of Historic Places. The Skellys have nine guest rooms in the $100 a night range. They said they have no immediate plans to reopen a former gourmet in the basement.
Hotel Lanesboro. Skellys have completed a top-to-bottom renovation.
Rochester trio seek return to Minnesota House
ROCHESTER, Minn. – Three Democratic incumbents in the Minnesota House filed for re-election:
> Kim Hicks of District 25-A, who won her second term in 2022 by 55% to 44% over Republican Wendy Phillips.
>Tina Liebling of District 24-B, who won her 11th term in 2022 by 56% to 43% over Republican Katrina Pulham.
> Andy Smith of District 25-B, who won his first term in 2022 by 54% to 35% over Republican John Robinson.
All have been endorsed for re-election by their local Democratic units.
Cops: We lassoed the cattle rustler
BLACK RJVER FALLS, Wis. – A Sparta man accused of stealing cattle from a farm near Alma Center has been arrested. Jackson County Sheriff Duane Waldera said that the theft occurred overnight. The investigation, he said, led to Jennings Christenson, 20, who was arrested in adjoining Monroe County. Investigators also found the cattle, which were rounded up and returned to their usual grazing fields, the sheriff said. Their value was pegged at $20,000.
Cattle-stealing odds
Cattle rustling is nothing like in the Wild West but still occurs. About 250 head stolen annually in the United States. About 50 are butchered and disappear into the meat industry chain before authorities can trace them. In short, most rustlers get away with it. No, they don’t still hang rustlers.
Christenson. Faces charges of grand larceny,
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