Motel crisis ends when subject flees, sopped by taser
GALESVILLE, Wis. – A woman was tasered and arrested fleeing a motel west of Galesvlle after a disturbance. Police said that Marittza Mendoza, 33, had waved a knife and threatened them early in a prolonged stand-off. Officers had been called to the Sonic Motel about 12:40 a.m. This is what happened, according to the police report: Officers found Mendoza outside her motel room, but she retreated to the room, barricaded herself inside, and shouted threats at the officers. She eventually came out waving a knife and threatening to attack the officers, then went back inside. A Trempealeau County deputy arrived and began negotiations. Mendoza eventually came out again, this time without the knife, but fled on foot. Officers tased her. She suffered minor injuries from handling the knife but was otherwise all right, police said. At jail in Whitehall, the county seat, Mendoza was booked for disorderly conduct, domestic abuse, criminal damage to property, resisting. arrest, and battery against an officer.
Sonic Motel. Adjacent to Wason’s supper club at West 21278 Highway 54 and 93. Rates: $50 a night.
Mendoza. Held in jail in Whitehall, 25 miles away, pending a court appearance.
Notable journalism
Chloe Johnson (Minneapolis Star Tribune, December 17, 2023): “Nonstop Dredging Kept Mississippi River Open This Year, But Moving Sand Creates Its Own Problems”
Louis Krauss, Paul Walsh and Abby Simons (Minneapolis Star Tribune, December 9, 2023): “Gruesome Crime at Loring Park Grocery Shocks and Saddens a Neighborhood”
Rachel Mergen (Winona Daily News, December 7, 2023): “Adam Fravel’s Defense Attorney Suggests He Seek to Move Murder Case Out of Winona County”
Minnesota prep
Basketball (boys): LaCrescent-Hokah Lancers 68, Winona Winhawks 46
Basketball (boys): St. Charles Saints 89, Randolph Rockets 69
Basketball (girls): Rochester Lourdes Eagles 79, Lewiston-Altura Cardinals 26
Wisconsin prep
Basketball (boys): Prescott Cardinals 60, Durand-Arkansaw Panthers 35
Basketball (girls): Mauston Golden Eagles 71, Black River Falls Tigers 49
Basketball (girls): Melrose-Mindoro Mustangs 45, Cashton Eagles 38
City OKs financial package for riverfront hotel
Fifty years of asphalt. Site is between Center and Main streets, where long-gone sawmills once reigned. To the right: The Winona 7 movie house. To the left: An industrial railroad spur and the Mississippi levee. Since the 1970s, when remnants of former Latsch sawmill-era structures were razed, city planners have called it the 60 Main site. Image: Steve Lunde
$4.9 million tax break among incentives to developers
WINONA, Minn. – The City Council unanimously approved almost $5 million in tax breaks plus subsidies and other incentives to developers to build a long-planned downtown hotel-apartment complex. The complex will replace the parking lot behind the Winona 7 movie house. The subsidies clear the way for construction to begin in the spring. Tentatively a grand opening would be in late 2026. The subsidies go to:
> Rivers Hospitality, owned by Winona hotelier Mike Rivers.
> Winona Real Estate Fund, an investment group headed by Northfield hotelier Brett Reese and including veteran Winona developer Peter Shortridge
> Wieser Brothers, a LaCrescent-based general contractor.
The plan is for a five-story structure bounded by the Main Street farmers market, by the Winina 7 cinema, by the two-story River Plaza building, and by the former Jefferson bar and grill on Center Street. It’s the former Latsch Block on the 19th century sawmill riverfront. The Latsch Block was razed in the 1970s and converted to parking for a downtown shoppping mall that struggled and eventually failed. On one side, the new structure will face the Mississippi River across a Union Pacific industrial railroad spur and the Levee Park.
Classy digs. Plan is 70 to 80 hotel rooms, 20 to 30 market-rate apartments, and an event center in the former railroad freight house that most recently was occupied by the Jefferson restaurant and pub.
Subsidy details
Subsidiary components include:
> A $4.9 million tax break.
> City land valued at $545,000.
> $800,000 to prepare the site.
> $200,000 in city funds.
The project already had a $600,000 state grant.
Christmas grinches on loose at Rochester mall
ROCHESTER, Minn. – A Salvation Army red donation kettle at the JCPenney store in Apache Mall was stolen. Security cameras showed a man and woman breaking the kettle from its moorings in the late evening when nobody was around, police said. How much was in the kettle? Unknown, police said. The local Salvation Army has a goal of raising $350,000 through bell-ringing red kettles. “The Red Kettles and bells are a significant part of our fundraising efforts,” said Cornell Voeller, the Army’s local major.
Verbatim
Voeller: “We haven’t had a full-sized red kettle stolen in Rochester in years. We are especially glad that no one was adversely affected, and we can move forward with our Christmas campaign with hopes of meeting our kettle goal by year’s end. The people we serve are in severe need, and the funds we raise from the red kettles are critical to our operating budget in order to meet those needs.”
Since 1891.
Red Kettle profile
The Red Kettle charitable tradition dates to San Francisco in 1891. A Salvation Army officer, Joseph McFee, remembered from his seafaring days that a large pot was displayed on Stage Landing at Liverpool for passersby to make anonymous donations. McFee placed a crab pot and tripod at a San Francisco Bay ferry landing. He rang a bell and called passersby: “Keep the pot boiling.” It’s become a widespread Salvation Army tradition, although many kettles nowadays are self-ringing, play Christmas music, and accept credit cards. Anything goes. Most donations are cash but the Army also finds checks, jewlery, and sometimes bullion.
Experts: Waterways not yet ready for ice-fishing
ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Army Corps of Engineers. which administers many waterways in Minnesota and Wisconsin, issued its annual warning about recreation out on ice. “Current conditions are poor at best with minimal ice on most lakes and rivers,” the Corps said. When will ice-fishing and other winter activities be safe? The usual guidance:
> 4 inches for a person.
> 5 inches for a snowmobile.
> 10 to 12 inches for a small car.
> 12 to 18 inches for a light truck.
R.I.P.: Wayne Kirk
WINONA, Minn. – Wayne John Kirk, 92, of Winona, who taught at Winona State University, died at home. His specialty was elementary and social studies methods for students aspiring to teaching careers. He himself was a career teacher. He started college at La Crosse State for rural teaching degree. In the Korean war he received the Combat Infantry Badge for front-line duty. He then earned a bachelor degree in elementary education at LaCrosse, a master degree at the University of Illinois, and a doctorate at the University of Minnesota. In retirement he belonged to the No Gossip morning klatch at Hy-Vee.
Detail: Watkowski-Mulyck Funeral Home
1931-2023
Holiday gallery / 1
Richer dazzle every Christmas. Off Gilmore Avenue at Harriet Street. Just when you believe there couldn’t be more to see, your eyes catch the sign beckoning you down the driveway to Bunnyville. Image: Steve Lunde
New judge takes Treatment Court gavel
WINONA, Minn. – To clear her calendar for the Adam Fravel murder trial, Judge Nancy Buytendorp is leaving her duties with the Winona Treatment Court, which emphasizes treatment over punishment for addictive behavior. Buytendorp has presided over the Treatment Court 11 years. Taking over will be a fellow Third Judicial District judge, Carmaine Sturino of Houston County.
Buytendrop. Appointed, by Governor Tim Pawlenty in 2008. Elected in 2010, 2016 and 2022. Hamline Law School graduate.
Sturino. Appointed by Governor Mark Dayton in 2015. Elected in 2016 and 2022. Drake Law School ln graduate.
College scores
Basketball (men): UM-Duluth 73, Winona State 62
Basketball (women): UM-Duluth 765 Winona State 37
Minnesota prep
Basketball (boys): Rushford-Peterson Trojans 81, Faribault Bethlehem Cardinals 49
Basketball (girls): Rushford-Peterson Trojans 61, Faribault Bethlehem Cardinals 31
Wisconsin prep
Basketball (boys): Onalaska Hilltoppers 66, Verona Wildcats 53
Basketball (girls): Chippewa Falls McDonell Macks 60, Onalaska Hilltoppers 27
New Masterpiece venue taking form
Concert hall rising. Precast walls for the main section of Masterpiece Hall suggest the shape that the $35 million structure will take on Fifth Street next to the library. Braces temporarily shore up the walls. Image: Steve Lunde
Minnesota prep
Basketball (boys): Winona Winhawks 78, Albert lea Tigers 48
Basketball (boys): Winona Cotter Ramblers 63, Harmony Fillmore Central Falcons 43
Basketball (boys): St. Charles Saints 67. Chatfield Gophers 52
Basketball (boys): Lewiston-Altura Cardinals 78, Wabasha-Kellogg Falcons 57
Basketball (girls): Winona Cotter Ramblers 61, Harmony Fillmore Central Falcons 44
Basketball (girls): Lewiston-Altura Cardinals 57, Wabasha-Kellogg Falcons 33
Wisconsin prep
Wrestling: Prairie du Chien Blackhaws 44, Caledonia Warriors 19
Wabasha man hurt in North Bridge Road crash
ORONOCO, Minn. – A Wabasha driver was hurt in a two-vehicle collision east of Oronoco on White Bridge Road. William Joseph Flint, 34, was taken 22 miles to the Lake City hospital with non-life threatening. This was about 5:50 p.m. at the junction with U.S. Highway 63. Flint was eastbound on White Brydge Road in a 2007 Honda Pilot. The other driver, David Ben Gadient, 29, of Red Wing, was unhurt. Gadient was northbound on Highway 63 in a 2017 Ford F150. The impact was hard enough to deploy airbags jn both vehicles.
620 grams cocaine found in Winona apartment
WINONA, Minn. – Police arrested a Winona woman after finding a huge cache of cocaine at her apartment. The cocaine, said police, was in five clear baggies, each somewhere between the size of a ping-pong ball and a softball. Officers said they had never seen so much cocaine, almost 21 ounces, in one place at one time. Street value: $60,000. The woman also surrendered additional cocaine stuffed in her bra. Also at the apartment: Police found a gun, drug packaging equipment and materials, $12,000 cash, and a cash-counting device. Arrested was Tanya Sherrie McCain, 49. This was about 4 p.m. at 1600 Homer Road. The arrest began when officers equipped with a warrant stopped McCain in a car at Fifth and St. Charles streets on the East End. The warrant was based on a disturbance three nights earlier at Katie’s Place bar, also on the East End. McCain first denied to police that she had a gun at the barn, saying it was pepper spray, but later, when pressed about what the bar’s video showed, she admitted it was a gun – a Taurus 38-caliber, often called a “38 Special,” police said. At her apartment police also found ammunition for a second firearm but couldn’t locate it.
McCain. Immediate charges: Illegal drug and firearm possession. Still under investigation: Details of a disturbance at the bar whose security video shows her brandishing a handgun.
Rap sheet. In recent years McCain has had numerous convictions in Olmsted, Steele and Winona counties. Among those were charges for disorderly conduct, brawling, burglary, drug sales, domestic assault.
Minnesota flag: A bold new face to the world
ST. PAUL, Minn. – After six months of heavy discussion and what seemed endless pondering, the Minnesota State Emblems Redesign Commission has made its choice. The new state flag, if the Legislature accepts the Commission’s recommendation:
> A field of three bold horizontal stripes – a white, a firm green and a light blue.
> A firm blue inverse-triangular field evoking the shape of Minnesota.
> An eight-point star (yes, it’s the North Star).
The choice received favorable reviews as distinctive among the flags of the 50 states and as uniquely bespeaking Minnesota. The Commission will meet once more and perhaps rejigger some detail. But the parameters of the design are firm. The design was Number 1953 among more than 2,000 citizen submissions.
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Options on easel. Minor adjustments still to be worked out at final Commission meeting.
Commission’s mission
The Commission’s mandate from the 2923 Legislature to “accurately and respectfully reflect Minnesota’s shared history, resources and diverse cultural communities” but without “symbols, emblems, or likenesses that represent only a single community or person, regardless of whether real or stylized.” The current flag, which nobody likes much and which many disdain, features the outgoing state seal, which includes racist imagery — a white male settler tilling the land as an Indigenous man on horseback rides off into the distance.
Barge lockage at Trempealeau off 12%
TREMPEALEAU, Wis. – Commercial traffic through Lock and Dam 6 on the Mississippi River at Trempealeau slipped significantly this past shipping season. In its annual report, the Army Corps of Engineers, which operates the whole lock and dam system, said that 1,584 barges passed through the Trempealeau lock — 12% fewer than the 10-year average. The 2023 tonnage totaled 8 million tons. The Trempealeau lock is immediately downriver from Winona and reflects the barge traffic both to and from Winona and also upriver all the way to the head of navigation in Minneapolis. The Army Corps said also that more than 3,100 recreation vessels locked through Trempealeau in 2023. The 2023 shipping seasion ran 235 days.
Earlier: Corps closing several locks early for repairs
Earlier: Winona fleeting harbor has slow year
Charge: Man fondles teen at nudist resort
CIRCLE OF PINES, Minn. — A Wisconsin man was charged with sexual misbehavior on a complaint that he fondled a 14-year-old girl at a nudist club. The charge against Steven Wicklund, 66, could mean 15 years in prison and a $30,000 fine. The incident, the complaint alleged, was in a clubroom at the Oakwood Club. The girl had been taken to the resort by her grandparents, who considered Wicklund a family friend. Anoka County sheriff’s investigators said they found sexual text messages from Wicklund on the girl’s cell phone. The text messages asked for explicit photos.
Oakwood Club profile
The Oakwood Club promotes itself as a “family-friendly” nudist resort. The club features mostly outdoor music, picnicking and horsehoes, pickleball and other activities for sun-worshippers. The club was founded in 1942 on Grey Cloud Island northof Hastings in the Mississippi River. Its permanent home now, near Circle of Pines, 20 miles north of St. Paul, is 40 heavily wooded acres. The club was the first of its kind in Minnesota and one of the first in the United States.
Health agents close two Sonora cantaloupe plants
NOGALES Mexico — The government closed a two cantaloupe processing plant pending an investigating into salmonella contamination that now has killed nine people in the U.S. and Canada. Agents took samples from surfaces and water at plants operated by the Malichita and Rudy brands.
Earlier: U.S. cantaloupe deaths at 4 — 3 in Minnesota
R.I.P.: Carol Blumberg
SILVER SPRING, Md. — Carol Joyce Blumberg, of Silver Spring, who taught at Winona State University from 1987 to 2006, died at age 72. At Winona she was also a consultant on educational and psychological research. In retirement she worked for the U.S. Energy Information Administration as a mathematical statistician. She was known internationally for promoting statistics education. As such, she was appointed a Fellow of the American Statistical Association in 2010.
1951-2023
Stabbing victim once a leading man in dance
MINNEAPOLIS — Few people who shopped at the little neighborhood Oak Grove grocery knew the likable clerk, 66-year-old Robert Skafte, was once a leading man of dance in the Twin Cities. He was stabbed fatally behind his check-out counter and bled out before he could be gotten to a hospital last week. On stage he was known as inventive and imaginative. His main company over the years was Ballet of the Dolls. He starred as Don Jose in “Carmen,” as Duke Albrecht in “Giselle,” and as Salvador Dali in the title character in the spoof “Hello, Dali!” Among his collaborators interviewed by the Minneapolis Star Tribune:
> Myron Johnson, Dolls founder: “It’s hard to wrap your head around something so tragic happening to someone so sweet. Robert was rare because he was a great dancer who could also act. He was such a bright light.”
> Stephanie Fellner Grey, who danced with Skafte, called his death “evil colliding with the brightest of light.” She said: “I can’t even begin to wrap my head around the loss of our dear Robert. Our hearts ache and are broken, crying out to try and make any sense of this horror.”
Friends and admirers placed flowers at a spontaneous memorial outside the Oak Grove Grocery in the Loring Park neighborhood.
Earlier: Man surrenders in fatal savage grocery clerk stabbing
Earlier: Golf-club stabbing: Neighborhood grocery clerk dies
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Skafte. In a promotional photo for “Tennessee Three.”
And more recently at a community event in Loring Park.
Drug arrest: Urine being tested to identify substance
WINONA, Minn. – A Winona driver who went through a stop sign was arrested and booked as being under the influence of a controlled substance, deputies said. Shalonfda Fherice Walker, 37, was stopped at Homer Road and Links Lane. A urine sample was shipped to the state crime lab to identify the controlled substance.
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