WEST CONCORD, Minn. – Sheriff Scott Rose has filled in gaps in the sequence of events that led to a police chase Sunday and the suicide of the pursued driver. The chase began in West Concord, population 860, a town in the agricultural flatlands of Mower County 30 miles. northwest of Rochester. The sheriff’s account:

> Police officer David Curtis Myrom, age 40, in the town squad car. was parked on the North End on Highhway56 near the crossroads with County Road 24. This a\was about 7:45 p.m.

> A Cannon Falls man, Adam Michael Lawrence, 48, 30 miles from home, came up behind Myrom’s squad car in a 2005 Ford Explorer and swerved, just missing the side of the squad car.

> The officer turned on his overhead lights to pull the vehicle over.

> Lawrence pulled into the parking lot at a Casey’s convenience store.

> Lawrence drove toward the squad car, “again aggressively.”

> Lawrence stopped briefly, made a U-turn, put the Explorer in reverse, and rammed the squad car, setting off the airbags and injuring the officer.

> Lawrence drove into the Hgway56 and County Road 24 intersection and sped off.

> Mower County officers gave chase north into rural Goodhue County.

> Deputies from neighboring Rice County laid stop sticks in Lawrence’s path, puncturing the right front tire.

> A Dodge County deputy laid a second strip stick, damaging at least one other tire.

> In Cannon Falls Lawrence stopped his Explorer in the Mayo hospital parking lot. The hospital went into lockdown.

> Lawrence shot himself dead as officers approached his disabled Explorer.

Earlier: Driver dead after ramming police car, fleeing

ROCHESTER, Minn. – Police arrested a Rose Creek man at a Rochester hospital where he was taken after a two-car collision that injured four people in the other car. Arrested was Jordan Heimer, age 30. He was booked on suspicion of criminal vehicular operation causing substantial bodily harm. The head-on crash was about 11:30 a.m. This was on 40th Street Southwest a mile west of where the two-lane becomes four. Heimer had crossed the center line and appeared to be under the influence of inhalants, deputies said. They took a blood sample to see for sure. Two adults and two juveniles were taken to a hospital.  Injuries included a broken leg.

Heimer. Formal charges depend on outcome of a blood test.

And who’s the Mad Hatter? At Winona High School the cast and crew are in final rehearsals for their take on Lewis Carroll’s 1865 classic “Alice in Wonderland.” Curtain times: 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday Tickets at door: $3 to $7.

ROCHESTER, Minn. – The National Weather Service urged caution with fire across southern Minnesota because of continuing warm, dry and breezy conditions. North-northwesterly winds were predicted at 15 mph with gusts to 25.

Earlier: Grass fire forces evacuation south of Kellogg

Earlier: Wildfire alert in tinder-dry southern Minnesota

Baseball: Augustana 4, Winona State 0

Softball: Winona State 9, Minot State 6

Softball: Minot State 5, Winona State 2

Softball: St. Olaf 5, Saint Mary’s 2

Softball: St. Olaf 5, Saint Mary’s 1

CANNON FALLS, Minn. – In an apparent suicide, a driver shot himself to death in the Mayo hospital parking lot in Cannon Falls after a police chase that began 30 miles away in Dodge County. Dead was Adam Michael Lawrence, 48, of Cannon Falls. Police said Lawrence had jammed his vehicle into reverse during a traffic stop and rammed a squad. This was near the Casey’s convenience store in West Concord about 7:45 p.m. The officer in the squad car, David Curtis Myrom, 40, of Dodge Center, was injured and taken 20 miles to the Owatonna hospital. His condition was described as non-life threatening. A witness followed Lawrence’s vehicle, a 2005 Ford Explorer, as be drove off and called 911. Deputies spotted he vehicle and gave chase. Other deputies deployed stop sticks to no effect. The pursuit continued into Goodhue County and ended about 8:05 at the Cannon Falls hospital. As officers approached Lawrence’s vehicle, they said, he pulled a gun and shot himself. Dodge County Sheriff Scott Rose sad no firearms were discharged by officers. The ramming, in West Concord, was north of the Concord Street intersection with State Highway 56. The Explorer’s airbag did not deploy in the impact.

Why here? Not immediately clear was whether Lawrence was himself inured in the ramming incident and chose therefore to head for the Mayo emergency room in Cannon Falls.

WINONA, Minn. – Two men, age 61 and 47, were stopped fighting outside Valley View Tower over comments by one of them about a woman resident. The comment, said one man, was dishonoring and inappropriate and deserved a punch. The police report didn’t specify what was said. The woman, age 58, was present. This was about 4:10 p.m. There was no arrest.

Valley View Tower. Twelve stories of apartments at 150 East Fourth Street.

ROLLINGSTONE, Minn. – A Byron motorcyclist, 60 miles from home, was hurt when he flipped on a gentle curve on County Road 25 before the steep descent into Rollingstone. John Joseph Laugen, 57, was taken 12 miles to the Winona hospital with profusely bleeding injuries. He was not wearing a helmet, deputies said. Deputies, alarmed about blood loss, first called for a med-evac helicopter, but none was immediately available. Laugen instead was loaded in a ground ambulance. The accident wssd about 1:25 p.m.

ROCHESTER, Minn. – It’s back to the Mount – err, “the mound” —  for the bishop of the Winona-Rochester Catholic diocese. Robert Barron will throw out the honorary first pitch on August 9 for the Minnesota Twins game against the Cleveland Guardians at Target Feld. Time: 7:10 p.m. Tickets depending on where you sit: $39 to $1,019. This isn’t the bishop’s first time. He threw out the first pitch at a Los Angeles Dodgers game in 2016 when he auxiliary bishop in Los Angeles. A native Chicago, Barron grew up a Cubs fan. He still recounts when the Cubs ’ blew a 10-game lead to miss going to the World Series.  “A terrible loss,” he says. And don’t get him going about his childhood heroes Jack Brickhouse and Harry Caray at microphones in press box.

Ever the fan. “I’m an evangelist for baseball,” Barron says. “You love something, and you want to share it.”

Sins of the past

The baseball industry seems to have forgiven Barron for his 2023 call on Catholics to boycott the Los Angeles Dodgers. He saw sacrilege in the team’s invitation to a queer and trans drag group, Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, for a Dodgers’ pride event. Barron didn’t take kindly to the group’s spoofing of a mythical order of nuns.  He called Sisters an “anti-Catholic hate group.” The Dodgers didn’t budge.

WINONA, Minn. – Game wardens in airboats rescued a Winona man lost in the dark in the Prairie Island backwaters after he ran off a road and then, apparently in a stupor, perhaps from the wreck, wandered into swamps. Searchers with a drone and K-9s could hear Joseph Bernard Diekmann, 33, Winona, yelling for help, but he wasn’t located  until more than five hours after the accident. He was lifted into one of the airboats and taken to the Vercohta boat landing near the Mississippi River spillway. He was unhurt. Deputies had found Diekmann’s vehicle, a GMC Acadia, down a rocky embankment about 9:40 p.m. With no driver around, deputies notified the vehicle owner, and Diekmann’s father set out to look for the son. The father could hear cries for help but couldn’t figure out where. He called deputies to come back. The search was extensive:

> Sheriff’s dive and rescue team.

> Sheriff’s deputies with a drone and a thermal scope.

> Natural Resources Department wardens with two airboats.

> Sheriff’s deputies with K-9 aide.

> A State Patrol helicopter.

Deputies said Diekmann had been drinking. Asked after the rescue why he fled, he told deputies: “An idiot.” No charges were filed pending further examination of circumstances. Apparently Diekmann had been alone when he ran off the road. He said he fell asleep at the wheel.

Daffodils approach full bloom.  A weekend in the 70s  brought forth the splendor. This along U/S. Hghway 14 between Stockton and Lewiston.  Image: Steve Lunde

Earlier: Perennial anticipation of Minnesota gardeners

Earlier: Some thermometers around town reach 60s

Baseball: Augustana 13, Winona State 6

Baseball: Augustana 5, Winona State 2

Baseball: Saint Mary’s 12, St. Olaf 4

Baseball: St. Olaf 7, Saint Mary’s 4

Softball: Winona State 10, Mary 0

Softball: Winona State 10, Mary 0 (five innings)

Softball: Saint Mary’s 7, Bethel 4

Softball: Saint Mary’s 4, Bethel 1

ROCHESTER, Minn. – A Kasson man, alone in his vehicle, was injured when he left U.S. 14 in northwest Rochester and struck a reflector post and culvert. The vehicle rolled.  Stuart Spencer Weatherstone, 19, was taken to a hospital with sustainable injuries. This was about 9:15 p.m. Weatherstone was driving a 2013 Dodge Journey. The airbag deployed.

Weaver Dunes. The view from State Highway 61 looking south. Image: Sananda McCall

Fire contained: Scrub oak and pine forests spared

FOLEY, Minn. – Two women in an off-road four-wheeler died when they crashed head-on into a pickup truck  on a rural North Woods road. The SV burst into flames. Witnesses pulled the women out of the burning four-wheeler, but it was too late. First-responders pronounced them dead. The victims were from nearby: Jamie Jendro, 44, of Princeton, and Lindsay Karsky, 34, of Oak Park. Jendro was driving, said Sheriff Troy Heck. The crash was about 2:20 p.m. on Ronneby Road northeast of Foley. The pickup driver, Todd Lee Henke, 57, of Foley, suffered minor injuries in trying to rescue the women. Witness said the women had been driving down the middle of the road at highway speeds. Deputies said there were no signs that Henke was impaired. Autopsies were ordered on the women.

ALBERT LEA, Minn. – Because of wildfire concern, the National Weather Service issued a Red Flag Warning for 16 southern Minnesota counties the rest of the day. fires can get out of control quicky because of warm temperatures, strong wind gusts, and low humidity. People were asked to check their recent burns to ensure fire is completely out.  Meanwhile, the state isn’t issuing open burning permits. Campfires are discouraged. Affected counties:

Blue Earth

Brown

Cottonwood

Faribault

Freeborn

Jackson

Lincoln

Lyon

Martin

Murray

Nobles

Pipestone

Redwood

Rock

Watonwan

Yellow Medicine

Bridge jeopardy. At the 150-acre Eau Galle reservoir. Popular for miles of hiking and bridle trails.

Much of Wisconsin park still open to campers

SPRING VALLEY, Wis.  –The Army Corps of Engineers closed a bridge at its Eau Galle Recreation Area north of Spring Valley due to deterioration.   The signs are absolute: No vehicles. No horses. No people. The bridge had been an

access to a day-use area in the park. A second area remains open with a beach, a boat launch, a campground and several miles of hiking and equestrian trails.

WINONA, Minn. – Acting on a call about a suspicious character doing a “meth dance” in Sobieski Park, police took Austin John Presson into custody. Nothing is illegal about dancing alone in a park – even at 3:50 a.m. — but police figured out soon enough that Presson was on a wanted list for theft. What about the “meth dance” that the caller reported? Cops were scratching their heads, but there is a medical definiton: “Choreoathetoid movements typically involving the limbs, neck and face, often has a rhythmic dance-like quality.” Yes, it can methamphetamine-induced. So besides the old theft charge, Presson, age 30, of Winona,  now also faces a charge of offensive, abusive, boisterous and disorderly conduct.

Presson, Dancing the night away at Sobieski Park at 750 East Wabasha Street.

Latsch State Park. Off U.S. Highway 61 north of Winona. The half-mile hike up Mount Charity is all stairs, but not for the easily winded. The reward: Breathtaking views up the Mississippi River valley to Minneiska and beyond. Mount Charity is one of three mounds atop the bluffs at the day-use-only park.  Image: Steve Lunde

WINONA, Minn. – A couple splitting up got into altercation and a man ended up stabbed in the neck. He declined medical attention when medics arrived. Arrested was 43-year-old Karen Ann Swinehart. She was charged with domestic assault with a dangerous weapon — a scissors. The couple had been in an on-again, off-again relationship, police said. The stabbing was about midnight in the 170 block of Kraemer Drive on the Far West End. Swinehart said she had gone to his place to pick up her belongings.

Swinehart. Accused of intending substantial bodily  harm.