Winona County farmer has state’s top corn yield
WILSON, Minn. – Corn grower Janneke Sobeck won the state Corn Growers Association yield contest with 292 bushels per acre. Sobeck used DeKalb DKC59-82RIB brand blend in the No-Till Irrigated Class. He also won in 2023 with 277 bushels
Sobeck family. With DeKalb agent Dipal Chaudhari on left.
Smoke shop burgled: Loss may be $20,000
WINONA, Minn. – Somebody reportedly stole $15,000 to $20,000 in tobacco products from a retail puff shop across Huff Street from Winona State University. Police found no sign of forced entry at the shop –Warriors Convenience and Tobacco, at 555 Huff Street. The shop was in the process of being sold and had been closed and locked about a week, police were told. The theft was reported to police about 5:25 p.m. An exterior lock box with a key inside could have been utilized to gain entry, police said. The case was turned over to the police investigative unit along with a list people to interview. An inventory of missing items was being compiled.
Huff Street puff shop. No sign of forced entry. Image: Steve Lunde
Police now know how Burnsville shooter got guns
Shot-out, boarded-over windows. This is the suburban Burnsvile house from which gunman Shannon Gooden killed three first-responders in a sand-off. He was armed with three semiautomatic AR-15-style rifles, two handguns.
Charge: Girlfriend bought him Glocks, AR-15s
BURNSVILLE, Minn. –A Burnsville woman was indicted for purchasing weapons and giving them to the felon who killed two police officers and a firefighter in a stand-off in February and wounded a fourth first-responder. The indictment charged that shooter, Shannon Gooden, age 38, had been barred as a felon from possessing firearms, consorted with his live-in girlfriend to make the purchases. “Straw deals,” they’re called. The indictment accused Ashley Anne Dyrdahl, 35, of making false statements at federally licensed gun shops. The purchases were between September 21 and January 25. The stand-off was three weeks later. The 16-page indictment alleges these details:
> In 2020 Dyrdahl supported Gooden’s request to a judge restore his firearm rights to protect their family if need be. The judge denied he request. Twelve years earlier Gooden had been convicted of assault, As a convicted felon, he e=was barred from owning a gun.
> Dyrdahl purchased a Glock 47 9mm semiautomatic pistol from a licensed dealer in September.
> Last October she went online and arranged the purchase of a Glock 43X pistol, which she picked up at a licensed dealer and gave to Gooden.
> Among Dyrdahl’s purchases were three semiautomatic AR-15-style firearms. These included a Franklin Armory FAI-15 .300 caliber semiautomatic firearm equipped with a binary trigger. The binary trigger fires one shot when the trigger is pulled, and another shot when the trigger is released, effectively doubling the rate of fire. The gun had an optional a .300 caliber barrel for heavier ammunition to increase lethality.
Dyrdahl. She surrendered to federal marshals and pleaded not guilty. She asked for a public defender. Judge Elizabeth Cowan Wright released her pending further proceedings. She was told not to leave the state.
After initial hearing. Dyrdahl shields her face from news reporters as she scurries from the federal courthouse.
Walz signs school policing guides into law
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Governor Tim Walz signed a bipartisan bill into law to guide school police in controlling disruptive students. The bill requires that model guidelines be established. Ialso funds training for school resource officers and. The bill clarifies a 2023 law that led many police departments to quit school services because physical restraints, especially prone holds, were seen vulnerable to overly broad interpretation. Said Walz: “This bill provides comprehensive guidance and clarity, allowing school resource officers to continue to do their jobs effectively. I’m grateful to legislators, school leaders, education advocates, youth voices, and law enforcement for working together to get this done and ensure we’re keeping our kids safe.”
Driver, possibly high, found after bumper-thumper
WINONA, Minn. – A Winona man was arrested after a report that he had bumped another car and driven on not stopping. Why didn’t he stop? Taylor Allen Suchla, 32, told officers he was in a hurry to get home and gather up personal gear he needed to go the hospital for treatment. This arrest was about 11 a.m. on Braeburn Road out on Highway 43. The initial incident was at Highway 61 and Parks Avenue near the hospital. A woman reported that her car had been bumped in traffic. The other driver didn’t stop. She followed the car south out of town on Highway 43 and called police. She lost the other car near Braeburn Road. Police quickly found the vehicle returnng back on Highway 43 and confronted Suchla. Officers described him as fidgety and said he admitted to marijuana in the preceding half-hour. He failed field sobriety tests, police said. There was damage to both cars from the bump incident.
Suchla. Charges included failing to stop for a traffic incident. Also: No car insurance, no driver license. Blood was drawn to check drug levels.
Legislator: Cap train length for safety
ST. PAUL, Minn. – A state senator says railroads are running trains too long to be safe – sometimes three miles. Rob Kupec, D-Moorhead, introduced a bill to limit trains to 8,500 feet. That’s about 1-1/2 miles. “Hundreds of trains travel across Minnesota every day, many carrying cargo that could be hazardous if an accident occurred,” Kupec said. The longer a train, the longer it takes to stop in an emergency and the greater the risk to communities and trackside residents, he said. Major lines, including Burlington Northern, Canadian Pacific and Union Pacific, have found new economies in what the rail industry calls “distributive power” – remote controlled locomotives pushing and pulling mid-train as well as pushers at the back. The technology allows what formerly would be two or three trains to be hooked together into a single unit. It’s meant vastly more cargo tonnage and smaller crews.
Earlier: Petro-filled train cars derail: No fire
Earlier: Railroad plan: One-person train crew
Earlier: More trans-con Winona rail traffic due
Earlier: Freight cars, engine jump rails in North Dakota
Earlier: Train traffic restored at Ferryville derailment
Earlier: Broken rail possible cause of train wreck
Earlier: Chemicals, gasses escape in Dakota train crash
Earlier: Raymond evacuees told: Safe to go home
Earlier: Railroad: No idea when tracks can reopen
Earlier: Walz scopes scopes ethanol train wreck
Earlier: Ethanol explodes in train wreck; evacuation follows
Kupec. A Democrat. First elected 2022 from Moorhead.
Recent wrecks
A major BNSF derailment occurred in March 2023 in Raymond, south of his District MN-4, and another, on CP, also in March 2023, across he North Dakota border in Wyndmere.
ATV crash fatal to driver at his driveway
LEWISTON, Minn. – A rural man died after pulling out of his driveway on an all-terrain vehicle and striking a passing pickup truck. Willard Reuben Prigge, 85, died aboard an air ambulance on a14-minute flight to the Winona hospital. The crash was about 9:05 a.m. on County Road 25. The driver of the pickup, age 17, was injured and taken also to the Winona hospital. His injuries were described as non-life threatening. Police said the youth had swerved in an attempt to avoid impact. The truck went into a ditch and rolled on its side. Prigge, on the ATV, wasn’t wearing a helmet, police said. The crash was near White Avenue four miles north of Lewiston. The pickup was northbound toward Rollingstone.
Two men stabbed in West Side bar fight
WINONA, Minn. – Two men were stabbed, one critically, in a bar fight that spilled into the street at closing time. Police broke up the brawl and arrested Larry Tramone Hudson, 40. Witnesses said that Hudson pulled a pocketknife during the fight and slashed two of the dozen or so people in the melee. The wounded men, both 23 years old, were taken to the Winona hospital. One man was transferred immediately to a Trauma Level 2 hospital in LaCrosse with stab wounds to his rib cage. The other man was kept at the Winona hospital for a thigh wound. He was described in stable condition. All this started about 1 a.m. at the neighborhood Cornerstone bar at 501 West Fourth Street. Police arrested Hudson at the scene. At the jail, however, the jailer refused to accept him because he too had a knife wound. Officers took him to the hospital emergency room. Once cleared medically, Hudson was taken back to jail and booked finally at 4:06 a.m. The tentative charges: Two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon. Police found the knife, bloodied, under a car in the Cornerstone Bar parking lot. Apparently the knife had been discarded in haste. The knife was a a seven-inch weapon with a three-inch blade, police said.
Hudson. Wounds show in mugshot after bar fight and the street brawl that followed.
Prequel to brawl
Police said the people involved in the fight were uncooperative when asked to explain what happened. The Cornerstone Bar is a neighborhood hangout. The clientele mostly know one another and have for years. A bartender told police that an argument had erupted just before closing time and escalated quickly. The bartender said he separated the disputants as best he could and ordered everyone out, which police said was confirmed by the bar’s surveillance video. Outside, the bad blood escalated further. When police arrived, combatants were going at it in the West Fourth and Olmstead intersection.
Next step in investigation
Consistent with the clubby nature of the Cornerstone bar, nobody was talking. In writing up their report, police called them “uncooperative.” Police were unsure they will ever figure out what started the disturbance. Clearly a lot of customers had been drinking a lot. Police planed to go door-to-door in the morning to see if anyone in the neighborhood had Ring door-bell cameras or other surveillance devices that could shed light on details of the knife being pulled.
News summary at mid-week: March 13, 2024
CRIME: Request to Fravel judge: Please seal murder evidence
CRIME: Arrest after murder threats, possible mental crisis
CRIME: $13,000 in jewelry gone: House guest to blame?
GOVERNANCE: For ol’ times sake: Homer town hall saved
GOVERNANCE: How they voted: On Tik Tok /1
COLLGES: Major career leap: UW-L has new chancellor
TRAGEDY: Update: Trucker knew his Wisconsin roads
TRAGEDY: Townfolks grieve at Wisconsin wreck 900 miles away
TRAGEDY: Most victims of nine-death wreck: Amish
HERO: Marine vet rescues lone Merrillan wreck survivor
COMMERCE: Farewell to Hardt’s: Landmark music shop sold
FIRE: Persistent fire hits plant’s matting inventory
HEALTH: New tick’s tricky bite triggers meat allergy
SCHOOLS: Senate: Yes to prone holds at school — with limits
COLLEGES: Acting Southeast nursing dean to post
Spring house-cleaning at police evidence room
WINONA, Minn. – The evidence room at the police station suddenly has 350 pounds less drugs in storage. The drugs had accumulated over recent months from citizen drop-in bins for outdated prescriptions. With the bins full up, the pills, salves and drops were destroyed in a periodic purge, said sheriff’s investigator Mark Dungy.
Retirement beckons: Arcadia merchant hangs it up
Craig Bawek. At 63, 50 of them selling shoes, Craig Bawek is retiring. He’s closing his Arcadia shop. He began in the eighth grade to support his family — five brothers and sisters. The store, at 119 West Main Street, has always featured quality brands. “Anybody can sell shoes, but not us,” Bawek told a WEAU interviewer. “I want to retire before all my hair is gone and I can still walk.”
College scores
Baseball: UW-LaCrosse 14, Wheaton 4 (8 innings)
Lacrosse (women): UW-Eau Claire 18, UW-LaCrosse 13
Tennis (men): UW-LaCrosse 9, Edgewood 0
Tennis (women): UW-LaCrosse 7, Edgewood 2
Tennis (women): Ohio Northern 6, UW-LaCrosse 3
Minnesota prep
Basketball (girls): Albany Huskies 58, Rochester Lourdes Eagles 41
Basketball (girls): Stewartville Tigers 47, St. Peter Saints 46
Two tales: Drunken driving? Or only two vodkas?
WINONA, Minn. – A cop clocked a car at 51 mph in a 30 zone. The squad’s lights lit up. The driver, Damein Lamont Smith, 29, of Winna, stopped. He told the officer thought he going only 40. In explaining himself, Smith was exuding alcohol-laced breath, the officer said – and had watery and blood-shot eyes and slurred speech. The officer said that Smith admitted to two vodkas. Smith twice refused the usual blood-alcohol tests, but a draw was taken with a search warrant at the jail. Those results usually take a few days to come back from a certified lab.
How they voted: On Tik Tok /1
WASHINGTON – The U.S. House voted 352-65 to require the social media app Tik Tok to severe corporate connections with its Chinese owner. The bill next goes to the Senate. A premise of the bill is that the Chinese government could use Tik Tok ’s massive subscriber list to undermine national security. Tik Tok has 70 million U.S. users. A counter argument was that government shouldn’t interfere with platforms of for free expression. Here is how the Minnesota and Wisconsin delegations voted:
To end Chinese link
> Angie Craig, D-Mn2 (south suburbs).
> Tom Emmer, R-Mn6 (north suburbs).
> Michelle Fischbach, R-Mn7 (rural west).
> Brad Finstad, R-Mn1 (south).
> Betty McCollum, D-Mn4 (St. Paul).
> Pete Stauber, R-Mn 8 (Iron Range).
.—
> Scott Fitzgerald, R-Wi5 (Clyman).
> Mike Gallagher, R-Wi8 (Green Bay).
> Glen Grothman, R-Wi6 (Campbellsport).
> Bryan Steil, R-Wi1 (Janesville).
> Tom Tiffany, R-Wi7 (Hazelburst).
> Derrick Van Orden, R-Wi3 (Prairie du Chien).
Against
> Ilhan Omar, D-Mn5 (Minneapolis).
> Dean Phillips, D-Mn3 (west suburbs).
.–
> Gwen Moore, D-Wi4 (Milwaukee).
> Mark Pocan, D-Wi2 (Madison).
Wife gives husband a piece of her mind: Bops him
WINONA, Minn. – A Winona woman bashed her husband and left him a black eye to let him know she was displeased about his carrying on, police said. The husband called police about 2 p.m. Police arrested Brenda Lee Pellowski, age 63, at their apartment in the 50 block of High Forest Street. The husband, age 57, said the assault was in the bathroom at their apartment in a converted house. Pellowski said she never hit her husband but police said his black eye spoke for itself.
Pellowski. Booked for domestic assault.
East End assault on woman: Adult son arrested
WINONA, Minn. – Police arrested a Winona man after an incident in which his mother was punched in the face. Melvin Earl Kimp, 33, was stopped on High Street near the East Rec Center – a few blocks from his mother’s place in the 1000 block of East Broadway. Kimp admitted he had argued with his mother but denied any punch, officers said. The officers, however, said they had observed a bleeding scratch on one of the mother’s cheeks and her jaw. She didn’t ask for medical treatment. From what police were told, the argument involved a second adult son The two brothers were arguing when police made he arrest. This was about 2 p.m.
Kimp. Booked for felony domestic assault. Records show past incidents of violence.
$13,000 in jewelry gone: House guest to blame?
WINONA, Minn. – Two women reported jewelry tentatively valued at $13,000 missing from their house. They blamed a homeless woman they had befriended and who had stayed with them for a month. Police planned to begin a sweep of pawn shops as soon as the homeowners assemble an inventory with detailed descriptions. The jewelry was mostly gold, the women said. They described their temporary guest as 44 years old and from Talladega, Alabama. The woman had stayed with them at their house on 1000 block of West King Street from December 12 to January 14, at which point they asked her to leave. Only recently, they told police, did they realize the jewelry was missing. Police said they didn’t know the backstory of how the homeowners, age 67 and 60, had met the homeless Alabama woman but that they wanted to help her get on her feet. Police were unsure why she was asked her eventually to move on.
Request to Fravel judge: Please seal murder evidence
Sonnemon. At earlier news conference with Police Chief Tom Williams and her prosecution team.
How horrific was what the grand jury heard?
WINONA, Minn. – The chief county prosecutor, Karin Sonneman, wants grand jury documents in the Adam Fravel murder indictment kept out of public circulation. In her latest court filing, Sonneman asked the judge to seal the documents. Her concern was that the jury pool might be contaminated. Such would strengthen the pending argument by Fravel’s attorney to move the trial out of town. Fravel, 30, has been charged with slaying Maddi Fravel of Winona in 2023 and concealing her body in an area near Mabel, 40 miles away, where he grew up. In her new request to Judge Nancy Buytendorp, Sonneman suggested that the grand jury heard gruesome details that haven’t yet been released. Buyendorp will consider Sonneman’s request in open court next week. Fravel’s attorney, Thomas Braun, earlier filed a request, still pending, that the trial be relocated somewhere elsew because Winona was so saturated with news coverage during the 10-week search for Kingsbury that a “clean jury” cannot be found locally. On a related issue, Judge Buytendorp earlier denied a request by Rochester television station KKTC to cover proceedings with a camera in the courtroom. In Minnesota, both parties in a trial must consent to cameras – and Sonneman said no. Meanwhile, Fravel is in jail in lieu of $3 million in Rochester
Verbatim
Sonneman: “It is likely that there will continue to be extensive public interest and media coverage in Winona County as the case proceeds to trial. Should public access to the grand jury transcript and exhibits be allowed, the court will have no control over the manner, amount, content, and accuracy of the information consumed by potential residents of Winona County.”
Major career leap: UW-L has new chancellor
LACROSSE, Wis. – The chief academic officer at Keene Stae College in New Hampshire, James Beeby, has been named chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse. Beeby, age 54, succeeds Joe Gow, who had been chancellor 14 yeas. Beeby’s aademic background is African American history. Beeby has been at Keene Sate three years. Earlier he was liberal arts dean at Southern Indiana and a history professor at Middle Tennessee State. He has written peer-reviewed articles and chapters about African American history, the history of the American South, and race relations. At Keene State, Beeby introduced several new undergraduate and graduate programs through collaborative strategic planning. Programs also were developed to improve student retention and graduation. His UW-LaCrosse salary will be $281,000 — $18,000 more than Gow was making. Beeby begins in July.
Beeby profile
James Beeby grew up in a small village in eastern England. He was a first-generation college student. He holds a bachelor’s degree with honors in history from the University of Wales and both a master’s degree and a doctorate in American culture from Bowling Green State in Ohio.
Verbatim
Ashok Rai, the UW System regent who chaired the search committee: “Dr. Beeby has the attributes that will make him a fantastic ambassador for UWL on campus and in the community. He’s a student advocate in his core while also bringing experience and enthusiasm to connect with La Crosse business partners.”
Beeby. Leaving Keene State, enrollment 3,100, for UW-LaCrosse, 10,500.
Emergency, fire crews make 50 calls
WINONA, Minn. – The Fire Department reported 36 emergency medical calls plus 14 fire calls in recent days:
> Tuesday, March 12: 6 medical calls plus 3 fire call.
> Monday, March 11: 5 medical calls plus no fire calls.
> Sunday, March 10: 2 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.
> Saturday, March 9: 7 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.
> Friday, J March 8: 2 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.
> Thursday, March 7: 3 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.
> Wednesday, March 6: 11 medical calls plus 3 fire calls.
Earlier: Emergency, fire crews 47 calls
Notable journalism
Sarah Arend-Beyer (Coulee Region Women, February-March 2024): “A Fastenal Story: Moving Product, Moving People”
Michael Germaine (WKBT, February 9, 2024): “How WinCraft Prepares for the Biggest Game of Year”
Gabriel Hathaway and Chris Rogers (Winona Post, January 24, 2024): “Plans for Brewery, Restaurant by Levee Announced”
Chicken coop hit by fire; one bird dies
WINONA, Minn. – Except for one chicken, which died, the other occupants of a coop on the Far East End survived a fire. Firefighters were called about 12:20 a.m. to the coop at Riverway School on Storrs Pond Road. The fire was small and quickly extinguished, said Fire Chief Joel Corcoran.
College scores
Baseball: UM-Crookston 6, Winona State 3
Baseball: College of New Jersey 15, UW-LaCrosse 7
Softball: Whittier 8, UW-LaCrosse 2
Softball: Central of Iowa 15, UW-LaCrosse 7
Tennis (men): UW-LaCrosse 5, UW-Superior 4
Tennis (women): UW-LaCrosse 8, UW-Superior 1
For ol’ times sake: Homer town hall saved
HOMER, Minn. – In a rebuff to the township board, the people of this Winona suburb voted 139-84 to save their 103-year-old town hall. Nostalgia reigned. Many Homer residents had started their schooling in the building before it was converted into the town hall. The Town Board had wanted to build a new town hall, which would have been far less costly than bringing the original structure up to grade. The citizen vote was at the Witoka tavern and banquet hall, which is 8-1/2 miles up County Road 15. The town hall back in Homer was too small to fit the 200-some people who wanted to vote.
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