Garbage trailer ablaze at Miller scrapyard
WINONA, Minn. – Firefighters used an aerial rig to take control of a fire in an open trailer full of garbage at the Miller scrapyard on Shives Creek. Once the fames were suppressed, a Miller employee with a grappling tool pulled smoldering garbage from the trailer. Fire crews smothered the piles with foam. There were no injuries. The fire call was about 3:50 p.m.
Earlier: Fire marshal checks remnants of scrapyard fire
Earlie: Fire destroys structure at Miller scrapyard
Judge limits access to details in Fravel murder probe
WINONA, Minn. – The judge in the Adam Fravel murder case put a lid on public access to information that a grand jury heard against him. Attorneys for both the prosecution and defense had wanted the grand jury transcripts sealed. Judge Nancy Buytendrop agreed. Among information being suppressed at least for the time being are statements from police investigators to the grand jury. Attorneys for sides wanted the grand jury trascripts sealed; Among arguments to seal:
> Public revelation of details from the secret jury proceedings this winter could prejudice the local citizen pool from which jurors will be chosen for the trial next fall.
> Fravel’s attorneys need pre-trial opportunities to argue to throw out any flawed evidence that the grand jury heard in its closed-door proceedings.
Verbatim
Zachary Bauer, Fravel’s attorney, on why to seal grand jury documents: transcripts: “It is unknown what facts and information from the grand jury transcript and exhibits may be admissible or offered into evidence at trial.”
Why secrecy?
In the British-derived U.S. judicial system, grand juries are empaneled as an investigative tool to determine whether criminal charges are warranted. The job of these citizen juries is not to find guilt or innocence. A such, grand jury inqireis are lop-sided. Unlike a trial jury, there is no adversarial presentation. That, if there is an indictment, is left for a trial as a further step in the judicial process.
Courtroom profile
Deputies escorted Fravel through an innderground passage from the Winona County jail to Courtroom 1 in the next-door courthouse. He was in an orange jail uniform. Fravel, age 30, listened intently as the judge and discussed motions. He didn’t participate. He appeared emotionless and calm. In the courtroom:
> Phillip Prokopowicz, lead prosecuting attorney, who was hired out of retirement in Dakota County by Karin Sonneman, the elected Winona County attorney, to prosecute the case.
> Zachary Bauer, a criminal defense attorney from Rochester, representing Fravel.
> Nancy Buytentrop, appointed to fill a vacancy on the Winna bench in 2008 and elected to six-year terms in 2010, 2016, and 2022.
> Parents of Kingsbury, from Farmington, and other family.
> Parents of Fravel, from Mabel, and other family.
> News reporters, although no cameras were allowed per an earlier order from Judge Buytentrop.
Case profile
Fravel was arrested in June after a 10-week search for Maddi Kingsbury of Winona. She was his ex-girlfriend and mother of their two young children. Her body was found wrapped on a backroad near Mabel, where Fravel grew up. Fravel was charged in Winona on June 9 but jailed in Rochester because of inadequate facilities in Winona. Later, when construction of a new Winona jail was completed, he was transferred back.
Proposal: Keep judges’ data off internet
ST. PAUL, Minn. – Two House committees have passed a bill to keep personal data about judges and their staffs off the internet and out of other media. The primary sponsor, Brion Curran, D-Vadnais Heights, expressed concern about growing Trump-era threats against the safety of the judiciary. Curran cited a January survey sent to 300 county judges in Minnesota. Of the respondents, she said, 90% reported inappropriate communications because of their work. Some 72% said they felt threatened, Curran said. The bill needs to go to the full House.
Verbatim
Judge Todd Schoffelmanm, of Anoka County, in House committee testimony: “Many judges noted death threats. The threats involve very specific forms of torture directed at the judge. A judge’s chamber was firebombed. Someone attempted to break into a judge’s home and then defecated near it. Another judge shared that someone created a fake video of a bomb exploding outside the judge’s home.”
Verbatim
Munira Mohamed, of the Minnesota Civil Liberties Union, opposed the bill for constitutional reasons, at least in its current form: “What differentiates between harassment and intimidation, from constitutionally protected rights of protest and petition? Everyone here knows that judges stand for election and they can face community criticism.”
Curran. Elected 2022. Among committees Judiciary and Civil Law.
Garage squatter found? Maybe, maybe not
WINONA, Minn. – Police thought they had found the drug-injecting person shacked up unwanted over the winter in a little-used residential garage, but the guy, who was homeless and still is, denied it was him. The police solution Issue a no-trespass order effective for a year.
New LaCrosse Catholic bishop from Detroit
LACROSSE, Wis. –Catholics in western Wisconsin woke up to two announcements about their ecclesiastic leadership.
> In LaCrosse the Bishop William Patrick Callahan announced his retirement for health reasons at age 73 after 14 years.
> At the Vatican in Rome Pope Francis announced that Gerard William Battersby, age 63, currently an auxiliary bishop of Detroit, would succeed Callahan.
Battersby’s installation will be May 20 at the diocesan mother church, Cathedral of St. Joseph the Workman, in LaCrosse. The diocese lists 135,000 faithful in 19 secular counties – about one-sixth of the population. This includes the cities of Chippewa Falls, Eau Claire, LaCrosse, Marshfield, Mauston, Menomonie, Prairie du Chien and Wausau.
Battersby. He holds a divinity degree from Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit. Was a parish pastor 10 years. In 2011 he was named dean at the seminary. Since 2017 has been auxiliary bishop of the Detroit Diocese.
Callahan. He holds a degree from Loyola University in Chicago. He was ordained in Milwaukee. In 2005 he went to Rome as spiritual adviser for the Pontiffical North American College. In 2010 he became La Crosse bishop.
Winona’s Baby Angel update: Search warrant
Grave marker from 2013. Community donations went toward an angel adorned remembrance at Woodlawn Cemetery. About 150 mourners attended a graveside ceremony.
Warrant seeks DNA swab from Winona woman
WINONA Minn. – With 21st-century genetic testing, Mark Dungy believes he has identified the mother a newborn infant found floating in the Mississippi River 13-1/2 years ago. Dungy, chief Winona County sheriff’s investigator, obtained a search warrant for tissue or blood samples that conclusively could solve the so-called Baby Angel case — a cold case that never quite cooled for Dungy or Sheriff Ron Ganrude or retired Sheriff Dave Brand. Recent developments in the case:
> A year ago Dung yasked a non-profit genetic genealogy company, Firebird Forensics Group, to find match for Baby Angel’s DNA profile.
> This led to a potential match to a 41-year-old Winona woman, now with two young children.
> Dungy twice reached out to the woman for a DNA swab. She was uncooperative. The woman stated she first wanted to research Firebird Forensics Group. A week later, when asked again, she had not gotten around to it — in effect: “Don’t call me, I’ll call you.”
> An attorney for the woman directed that all future sheriff’s communication should directed to to the law firm rather than the woman.
> Dungy went to a trash bin, awaiting for pick-ip outside the woman’s house, and recovered a menstrual pad.
> The lab at the state Bureau if Criminal Apprehension found a potential match. The Bureau noted, however, that “discarded samples are not considered known samples for direct comparison.”
> With the BCA’s potential match, a Winona judge agreed there was sufficient evidence for a search warrant.
Gravestone
“Baby Angel was named for the tiny porcelain angels tucked in the bag in which she was found. The newborn was discovered floating in the Mississippi River six miles south of Winona on Labor Day 20l1, and the tragedy of her death has lingered over the years among all the heats she touched. More than 150 people gathered to mourn the child they had bever met. The investigation of her death is ongoing by the Winona County sheriff. God bless all he Baby Angels out there in the world.”
Mother: What we know
Autopsy. May have been an unassisted birth. Amateur severance of umbilical cord. No natural and inflicted defects.Several fractures on the front and side of skull but no visible bruising. She was full term and seven pounds.
Mother’s caring touches. Found swaddled under a green T-shirt inside two plastic bags. Four small angel figurines in the bag. Also a seeing-eye bracelet.
Dungy. Sergeant of investigations with Winona County sheriff’s office. Earlier police chief in Lewiston, where he gained a no-nonsense reputation. Forensics consultant with the Crescent private detective agency in Rochester. Member of Minnesota Crimes against Children Task Force.
College scores
Baseball: UW-LaCrosse 5, William Paterson 4
Vehicle flips on loose gavel; four injured
RED WING, Minn. – Four people, including children 12 and 5, were injured when their vehicle wandered off the pavement, skidded on gravel, and overturned on its roof. They were treated at the Red Wing hospital for non-critical injuries and released. Police said the driver, Anthony John Cuchetti, 49, of Red Wing, was northbound on Highway 61 approaching the bridge at East Fifth Street.
6-year-old kid OK after auto encounter
WINONA, Minn. – A 6-year-old child suffered minor injuries – thank goodness it wasn’t worse — after darting out between parked cars into a passing car. The child was taken to the hospital for a bloody nose, police said. Everything was OK, albeit a lot of tears. The incident was about 5:45 p.m. in the 300 block of Pelzer Street on the Far West End. The driver was going about 5 mph, police were told.
Mystery remains in Huff tobacco theft
WINONA, Minn. – A tobacco heist from a Huff Street smoke shop last week remained under investigation pending more complete information on what was taken, police said. The initial report from the proprietor was that at least $15,000 in merchandise was taken, perhaps as much as $20,000.
Water taxis subbing for disabled Lansing bridge
LANSING, Iowa – Water taxis began service across the Mississippi River at Lansing while the unstable Black Hawk bridge is closed for repairs. The bridge has been out of commission since February 26. Travelers have been forced into 60-mile detours by way of LaCrosse or Prairie du Chien. Water taxi departure points:
> Lansing Marina. On the Iowa side.
> Big Slough Landing. On the Wisconsin side.
The water taxis are not car ferries, said Clayton Burke, the Iowa project manager for bridge repairs. Parking is available on both sides. Vand will convey passengers to their destinations. The service is free — just like the old toll-free brige.
Official: Mississippi River open all the way
HASTINGS, Minn. — The Army Corps of Engineers, which controls navigable waterways within U.S. borders, declared the whole Mississippi open for the 2024 shipping season. It happened Sunday night when the M.V. Joseph Patrick Eckstein pushed 12 barges through the Hastings lock – at the last dam before the head of navigation at Twin Cities ports. The inaugural Hastings passage means all of the Upper Mississippi locks are ice-free and accessible to commercial and recreational vessels. The average start date of the navigation season historically is March 22. The earliest was March 4, in 1983, 1984 and 2000.
At mile-marker 815 at Hastings. The M.V. Joseph Patrick Eckstein revs its 6,100-horsepower engines to clear Lock and Dam Number 2. The pusher-tug is operated by Marquette Transportation of Paducah, Kentucky. Built 1978.
A deserved rest on journey north
Image: Steve Lunde
Snow geese. This pair has chosen the swamp along the the Pembroke swamp gateway into Wabasha for a few days to bulk up nourishment for the rest of their journey north. Eventual destination: Western Siberia, northern Alaska, northern Canada, or Greenland. The snow goose flights are broken up by long stopovers in staging areas. They winter as far south as the Rio Grande and breed as far as 3,900 miles away in the Arctic.
Migratiory routes. In pale yellow for those that migrate.
Red Flag alert for wildfire danger
Heed the alert. At playground on U.S. Highway 35 outside the Fountain City fire hall. Image: Steve Lunde
Wicked combination: High winds, winter drought
FOUNTAIN CITY, Wis. – Winds at 40 mph whipped through the Coulee Region a second day, heightening concern about wildfires. Terrain already was in a winter drought from unseasonably light snowpacks. The National Weather Service posted Red Flag alerts for western Wisconsin and 41 southern Minnesota counties. Some local fire agencies stopped issuing burn permits, some only with stern cautionary warning.
Churning a vigorous farewell to Bass Camp
Next port ahoy. The motor vessel William Hank’s captain engages all 4,000 twin-screw horsepower to clear the lock at Bass Camp upriver from Fountain City. This was the first William Hank voyage on the Upper Mississippi since navigation opened for the 2024 shipping season. Image: Steve Lunde
Cop: Yes, three or four beers can do it
WINONA, Minn. – A Rollingstone driver on whom police smelled alcohol and who admitted to three or four beers in an hour was charged with drunkenness a the wheel. Jeffrey John Kanz, 62, was stopped about 11:35 p.m. for erratic driving. His blood-alcohol tested at 0.12% — 1-1/2 times the legal max. A second test at the jailhouse was still high — 0.11%. The stop was a Second and Huff streets. The arresting officer reported seeing Kanz ignore a stop sign in the downtown bar district and wander into an oncoming lane.
College scores
Baseball: UW-LaCrosse 12, Washington and Jefferson 9
Softball: Central Oklahoma 7, Winona State 2
Softball: Central Oklahoma 11, Winona State 0
Tennis (men): Concordia of Moorhead 8, Saint Mary’s
Store cops spot magnet-equipped thievery
WINONA, Minn. – Store detectives at the big-box Fleet Farm hardware store, monitoring cameras aimed at customers in the aisles, saw a woman using a magnetic device to disable product code tags from merchandise. Police intercepted Connie Lyn ziemannn, 50, of Rochester, the parking lot. With her was $1,270 in small power tools, officers said. With her too, officers said, was a magnet device that neuters neodymium loss-prevention tags designed to sound alarms at checkout counters and exits.
Ziemann: Charges: Felony burglary, possessing burglary tool.
If it worked once, why not twice?
WINONA, Minn. – A Minnesota City man was cited for theft – two shoplifting incidents at Walmart 13 minutes apart. Michael Thomas Breza, 32, was accused if taking $38 in merchandise — a vacuum and sander – at 10:26 a.m. Then, says the citation, he was back at 10:39 and walked out with a toaster.
$13,000 jewelry theft status: Ongoing
WINONA, Minn. – The next step in a home theft of gold jewelrylast week, estimated originally at$13,000, was awaiting detailed descriptions for a police canvass of pawn shops. Police listed the investigation ongoing.
Cop takes face blows, cuts in arrest
WINONA, Minn. – Displeased at the prospect of arrest, a Stewartville man punched an officer repeatedly in the face and attempted to kick him. And after being arrested, the man spit in another officer’s face. This according to the officers’ report of the incident at 707 West Broadway Street about 2:10 a.m. Police had responded to a call from a woman that her roommate was pinned down by a man. Police intercepted Philip Glen Gonzalez, 24, coming out of the address. This is the police account:
> Asked what happened, Gonzalez turned hostile and began swearing
> Gonzalez had his hands in his pockets. When asked to pull them out, he did so but also assumed a threatening assault posture.
> To head off an assault Officers told Gonzalez to put his hands behind his back. Instead threatened to hit the officers.
> An officer took Gonzalez to the ground, but he resisted and punched the officer in the face three or four times with a closed fist and attempted to kick him.
> The officer suffered a cut on his right cheek and on a finger. His glasses were broken.
The woman later said she had on-and-off relationship with Gonzalez. She said that despite her roommate’s call to police, no physical assault happened and that she wasn’t afraid of Gonzalez. There had been drinking, police said.
Gonzalez. Two charges of assault and obstructing the legal process with force.
Fire consumes shed, leaps to tinder-dry flora
Lighting the night sky. Shed a total loss. Cause unknown. In 1300 block of 48th Street Northeast. Image: Rochester Fire Deportment
10 Rochester fire units at 2 a.m. call
ROCHESTER, Minn. – Fire destroyed a large abandoned shed in a Rochester and was spreading to adjoining trees and brush when firefighters arrived. Ten fire united responded to corral the fire from reaching nearby structures. As soon as entry to the shed was possible, firefighters went inside and found no one had been trapped.
UTV accident claims life near Sparta
SPARTA Wis. – A woman was killed and a man injured when a four-wheel off-road vehicle overturned southwest of Sparta on Janus Avenue. The woman was thrown off the vehicle. She was dead when first-responders arrived about 12:15 a.m.. Sheriff Wesley Revels declined to release the names of the victims.
News summary at week’s end: March 16, 2024
RIVER: Commercial shipping resumes on Upper Mississippi
GOVERNANCE: Port Authority OKs $1 million for riverfront land
GOVERNANCE: How they voted: On Tik Tok /1
GOVERNANCE: Legislator: Cap train length for safety
ACCIDENT: Pedestrian struck unconscious, badly hurt
HONORS: Winona County farmer has state’s top corn yield
CRIME: Two men stabbed in West Side bar fight
CRIME: Smoke shop burgled: Loss may be $20,000
CRIME: Police now know how Burnsville shooter got guns
Cop’s leg messed up in combative arrest
WINONA, Minn. – A police officer was injured attempting to take down a man in a street arrest when one foot became twisted in the grate of a storm sewer. The Police Department didn’t release the officer’s name but said the injury was painful and severe. The officer was taken to the Winona hospital. The incident, about 11:20 p.m., began in just east of downtown on Second Street. Police responded to a report of a man and woman fighting in a parking lot. The pair — Xavier Gage Mercer and Anastasia Marie Smith, both 18, both from Winona — denied fighting. Mercer turned uncooperative and stand-offish when officers, smelling alcohol, asked if he had been drinking. According to the police write-up of the incident: Officers tried give Mercer a breath test and he became combative. He pushed an officer in the chest and began screaming. Smith slapped another officer in the face and gabbed an arm. In trying to subdue Mercer, one officer’s foot got caught in the storm drain. Smith then slapped an officer in the face. Once Mercer was subdued, his blood-alcohol level tested at O.14% — almost twice the maximum allowed level. On Mercer’s person officers found marijuana and Jose Cuervo tequila.
Mercer. Charges: Obstructing legal process, assaulting police officer, underage consumption.
Smith. Charges: Obstructing legal process, assaulting two police officers, disorderly conduct.
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