Jewelry missing from home safe
WINONA, Minn. – Jewelry was reported stolen from a home safe at an East Side residence. The owner told police that acquaintances were suspected. The owner gad not compiled an inventory nor assessed the value. The address: The 350 block of Easr Fifth Street. The theft was reported about 6:20 p.m.
Rescuers hoist biker up bluff after crash
WINONA, Minn. – A mountain biker lost control on a wooded trail off Wincrest Drive and crashed down the bluffs. He suffered shoulder and head injuries. This was about 5:15 p.m. A rescue team applied a C-collar and used a basket and a one-wheel cart to haul the biker up an ambulance 150 yards away in the b1200 block of Wincrest Drive.
Arrow-like darts fired at East End house
WINONA, Minn. – A fusillade of small arrows was fired at a lower porch window on the Far East Side and caused damage, police said. The damage was reported about 1:20 p.m. but occurred a week earlier. The arrows were metal and six to 12 inches in length. This was the 400 block of Mankato Avenue.
Walz lowers flags to show Israel solidarity
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Governor Tim Walz ordered all flags at state buildings to fly at half-staff through Sunday as a gesture of support for Israel following the massacre by Hamas terrorists. The surprise attacks killed more than 1,000 Israelis at 20 sites. The terrorists also took 150 prisoners as hostages. In Minnesota, in addition to flags at half staff, the state Transportation Demonstration was illuminating the support pillars under the Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis in blue and white — the colors of the Israeli flag, through Friday night.
Good to be on the inside looking out
At the Arches. Yes, that’s frost on the cabin roof next door. This was just after dawn up the Peterson Creek coulee near Farmers Park in central Winona County. For most of us, this was the first hard frost of the season. Image: Steve Lunde.
Emergency, fire crews make 57 calls
emergency medical calls plus 17 fire calls in recent days:
> Tuesday, October 10: 8 medical calls plus 4 fire calls.
> Monday, October 9: 4 medical calls plus no fire calls.
> Sunday, October 1: 8: 6 medical calls plus no fire calls.
> Saturday, October 7: 7 medical calls plus 4 fire calls.
> Friday, October 6: 6 medical calls plus 5 calls.
> Thursday, October 5: 5 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.
> Wednesday, October 4: 4 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.
Earlier: Emergency, fire crews 49 calls
Cause of Eyota farm fire: Probe inconclusive
EYOTA, Minn. – The state fire marshal has been unable to affix blame for a fire that destroyed a barn and damaged four nearby structure near Eyota last week. One theory is that an angle grinder had thrown off sparks earlier when somebody was working. The theory is that a spark started something smoldering perhaps for hours. No one was home when the fire erupted.
River level down at Ford Dam spillway for fixes
ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Army Corps of Engineers and the state Natural Resources Department are lowering the Mississippi River water level one foot between Lower St. Anthony Falls and Lock and Dam 1, near the old Ford factory, starting Friday. This is to inspect and repair the rubber dam atop the spillway. Once the repairs are one, the normal water elevations will be restored., the Corps said. Navigation was not expected to be affected.
College scores
Soccer (women): St. Olaf 1, Saint Mary’s 0
Volleyball (women): Winona State 3, Upper Iowa 0
Minnesota prep
Soccer (boys): Rochester Mayo Spartans 3, Lakeville South Cougars 1
Volleyball (girls): Austin Packers 3, Winona Winhawks 2
Volleyball (girls): Chatfield Gophers 3, Lewiston-Altura Cardinals 1
Volleyball (girls): Harmony Fillmore Central Falcons 3, Winona Cotter Ramblers 0
Volleyball (girls): Rushford-Peterson Trojans 3, Wabasha-Kellogg Falcons 0
Stabbing reported in Hixton home invasion
HIXTON Wis. – A man broke into a Hixton home and stabbed a person in a confrontation. Reportedly the man brandished a gun. Sheriff Duane Waldera confirmed that the incident had been reported about 12:45 p.m., but, typically tight-lipped, as he is, Waldera declined to release details except that the intruder fled and that deputies were unable to find him. Hixton, population 400, is on Interstate 94 about eight miles west of Black River Falls. It was believed, other sources said, that the stab wounds were non-life threatening.
Repinski throws hat in ring for State Legislature
Captain Aaron. Revels in his role as as a tour boat captain. He owns the boat and runs tours, 1-1/2 to two hours, from May to October.
Aims to unseat 19-term veteran Pelowski
WINONA, Minn. – First-term City Council member Aaron Repinski declared his candidacy for the Minnesota House district that includes most of Winona County. Repinski is the first challenger to emerge against 19-term legislator Gene Pelowski, a Democrat who is expected to seek re-election. Repinski said he’s “concerned about the consequences that come with billions in tax increases and new mandates for our schools and businesses.” Repinski, age 50, has never been active in patisan politics. When he lived in Wilson Township near Lewiston, he was listed in voting records as “unenrolled.” In Winona the elected municipal government positions are nonpartisan by law. Locally Repinsk is known mostly for his local Mississippi River cruises between the dams at Fountain City and Trempealeau. He calls himself “Captain Aaron and dresses in Navy whites with epaulets and a matching billed cap with gold braid. Sunglasses too. For 17 years he also has operated Rip-Roaring Entertainment, which books local acts including his own shows as a magician. Repinski claims to be a life-long Winona resident but has lived also in rural Lewiston and Fountain City in Wisconsin, He is a Winona State University alum.
House District 26-A. Includes the Winona County cities and townships in white. The district runs up the Mississippi almost to Minneiska and down to northern neighborhoods of LaCrescent and as far west as Rollingstone and Utica.
Repinski. Elected to an at large seat on the City Council in 2020. He defeated Paul Schollmeier 55% to 43%. It was Repinski’s first bid for public office.
Drones reported over Dresbach: A threat?
DRESBACH, Minn. – A Dresbach man told sheriff’s deputies that multiple drones had been flying over his house. At one point, he said, there were five – one only 15 to 2 feet up. There were no drones when deputies arrived from Winona. The man said he had no idea where the drones came from.The man lives less than a mile from the Interstate 90 bridge across the Mississippi River , which is essential to east-west transcontinental commerce, and also from Lock and Dam 7, which is essential to flood control and north-south river commerce.
Graffiti at Arches: Rain will wash it off
LEWISTON, Minn. – A deputy found graffiti chalked on the ionic railroad stone arches bridge at Farmers Park after someone called in a vandalism report. The caller said the arched columns were being spray-painted by a woman in a dark car with Wisconsin plates. Actually the graffiti wasn’t paint but chalk and would wash off with rain, the deputy said. The deputy was unable to decipher any message in the graffiti. Perhaps it was just misguided folk art. The artist and car were gone when the deputy arrived.
Double-header. Two steam engines, probably in the 1930s, drag a freight train over the Arches and up Garvin Brook to Lewiston. The bridge, built in 1882 by the Winona and St. Peter Railroad, is twin semi-circular arches of stone-faced, coursed-ashlar limestone. Now, 141 years later, the bridge carries two Canadian Pacific trains daily between Winona and the South Dakota border.
Search chair for new WSU leader from Southwest State
WINONA, Minn. – The search for a new president of Winona State University will be chaired by an outsider — Kumara Jayasuriya, who is president of Southwest State in Marshall. The appointment was announced by state Chancellor Scott Olson, who himself was president at Winona until he became chancellor in August. Jayasuriya, a Sri Lanka native, was earlier the chief academic officer at West Virginia State. Before that he was at Purdue University. He holds a bachelor’s degree inath from the University of Colombo in Sri Lanka; a master’s, also in math, from Southern Illinois University; and a doctorate, also math, from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Members of the search committee, who are still to be appointed, will represent various Winna State shareholders, including faculty, students and townspeople. As chancellor, Olson will make the eventual choice for a president to take over next fall. Olson conducted listening sessions this week with a range of Winona groups. He noted that his Winona successor will need to provide strategic direction for the university, to raise money and to recruit students. Olson was president 11 years.
Jayasuriya. At Southwest State University four years.
Verbatim
Olson: “I’m looking for somebody who really understands what’s unique and special about this institution, what makes it distinctive, how it works with its community; somebody who is really good at shared governance and collaborating with students and the employees.”
Earlier: WSU president bids campus farewell
Earlier: Contract signed, sealed, delivered for interim WSU chief
Earlier: Interim WSU president named: Ken Janz
Earlier: Three inside candidates for WSU interim president
Earlier: What next for Winona State leadership?
Earlier: New MinnState chief plans statewide “listening tour”
Earlier: Almanac: Scott Olson legacy at WSU
Earlie: Quest for interim UM president narrows
School cancels football game following death
ROCHESTER, Minn. – In remembrance of Century High School student Davin Tukua, who died Saturday in a car wreck, Century’s football game with Northfield this Friday has been cancelled. Mark Kuisle, athletic directorm , confirmed the cancellation. School leaders made a difficult decision last weekend to go ahead with a homecoming pep rally and football game because of the logistical impossibility of notifying everyone in time about what had happened.
Tukua. His family retrieved this photograph from a memory book.
Notable journalism
Noah Caplan (KTTC, October i9, 2023): “PEM School Leaders Meet; Provide No Comment on Investigation into Student Misbehavior”
Gabriel Hathaway (Winona Post, September 6, 2023): “Frat Now Owns Winona Landmark”
Kristen Leigh Painter and Stephen Montemayor (Minneapolis Star Tribune, March 12, 2021): “Mike Lindell’s Biggest Gamble: Giving Hard Sell ro Baseless Election Fraud Claims”
Cops find cocaine on boozed-up driver
WINONA, Minn. – A woman stopped by police for bad driving admitted right away that she had cocaine in a pocket. Sure enough, the officer discovered two bags — one with 0.01 gram, the other with 0.33 grams. Frances Elizabeth Young, 23, of Winona, was booked for possession of a controlled substance. This was about 12:15 a.m. at Third and Center streets downtown. But the officer had first made the stop not for drugs but because Young was in the Third Street bar district and driving like a drunk — over the fog line nearly hitting the sidewalk and a signal violation. She had an odor of alcoholic beverage, slurred speech, and bloodshot and watery eyes, the officer said. Then she failed several standardized field sobriety tests. A breathalyzer showed her blood-alcohol content at 0.15% — almost double the allowable proportion. So she also was booked for drunken driving.
UW campus shutters or disguises diversity projects
WHITEWATER, Wis. – The chancellor at University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Corey King, has stricken the words “diversity” and “multicultural” from campus programs. King admitted that the change was duepartly to the Republican-controlled Legislature, which has blocked campus funding statewide unless colleges dismantle program aimed at racial, ethnic and gender equity. At UW-Whitewater, the programs will assume more ambiguous names like “inclusive” and “belonging.” King said the changes had been in discussion before the state GOP became adamant against socially progressive language, but he added: “The legislature has played a part in our continued discussions.” At issue is $23 million statewide in college budgets. Without the state funds, some several UW campuses have laid offs or furloughed employees. At UW-Whitewater, some initiatives will end entirely. Others are being renamed or folded into other departments where they will have lesser visibility. Among changes: The Student Diversity, Engagement and Success Office becomes the Warhawk Connection Center.
King. First year as UW-Whitewater chancellor.
Question looms
Will racist- and sexist-inclined GOP legislators accept UW-Whitewater changes? Or will they see them as mere window-dressing for socially progressive programs?
College scores
Soccer (women): UW-Lacrosse 0, Milwaukee Engineering 0
Minnesota prep
Volleyball (girls): Winona Cotter Ramblers 3, Rochester Lourdes Eagles 1
Volleyball (girls): Chatfield Gophers 3, Rushford-Peterson Trojans 0
Birdshot takes down dog in Elba
ELBA, Minn. – Somebody shot and killed a German shepherd that often wandered free about town. The dog was hit with 12-gauge birdshot. The dog’s owner blamed neighbors, but they denied it when a deputy queried them. This was about 5:25 p.m. in the 1300 block of North Main Street. Deputies checked for doorbell cams for video in the area but found none. There had been no complaints that anyone at the sheriff’s office can remember about the dog as a nuisance. Deputies were called back to Elba a couple hours later about a disturbance involving the dog owner and the same neighbors. Deputies mediated the situation.
Plainview School Board bars public from meeting
Playing loose with the law. The School Board met two hours in secret and failed to comport with legal requirements for meetings to be open. The violation defied a principle of democracy — that the public’s business be conducted openly. Provisions in the law for exceptions were not followed. Do they teach civics in Plainview?
Board members scurry away from reporter questions
PLAINVIEW, Minn. – The Plainville School Board met behind closed doors – no outsiders allowed — as community concern kept rising over student misbehaviour and school administrators’ response that led to cancellation of the high school homecoming parade and pep rally. News reporters and the public were barred from the meeting. Principal Mike Walton was seen walking in. The superintendent of Plainview-Elgin-Millville Schools, Darrin Strosahl, who handled the original public responses to the misbehavior, was not in attendance. The School Board meeting reportedly had only one purpose but the agenda, contrary to statutory requirements, was not published. After the meeting Board members walked away as reproters attempted to ask what had occurred. Not even a “no comment.” Just silence.
School Board
Julie LaBare, of Elgin.
Stacy Fox, of Millville.
Julie Hart, of Elgin.
Roger Rahman, of Elgin.
Rod Springer, of Millville.
Jake Thompson, of Millville.
Monica Sveen-Ziebell, of Elgin.
Walton. Plainview High School principal
Open meeting law
The Plainville School Board meeting violated state open-meeting requirements, which are designed to assure htat the public’s business be conducted in public. The premise: Accountability to the citizenry. Closed meetings are allowed under the law for sensitive issues, such as personnel. but there are strict conditions for going behind closed doors:
> The meeting’s ourpose must be announced in public session. This was not done, although the Board did post notice that it would hold a meeting at 6 p.m. at the high school. The notice did not list the subject to be discussed.
> No additional issues may be taken up in the closed session.
> Any vote in a closed meeting must be announced immediately afterward in open session with public present — or whether here was no vote This was not done.
> Any action taken at a closed meeting, such as a vote, is null and void if these requirements are not met. There are fines for violations. In some states, open-meetig laws provide for jail time for repeated violations.
It’s not uncommon for local school board and village boards to violate open-meeting requirements unwittingly. Few locally elected representatives are lawyers, but boards have counsel available to guide them on legal requirements.
Earlier: Plainview cops consider criminality in homecoming case
Earlier: Probe widens in Plainview homecoming abuse
Driver killed when manure truck overturns, burns
Cause of accident. Unknown. Being investigated. Image: Buffalo County sheriff
Rescue team unable to save driver, still in cab
NELSON, Wis. – A semi-truck loaded with 5,000 pounds of manure overturned on State Highway 25 near Nelson, killing the driver. The truck tractor exploded in flames. Manure burst from the trailer-mounted tank and pooled roadside. First-responders found the driver dead inside. Buffalo County Sheriff Michael Osmond declined to release the driver’s name immediately but said he was 63 years old. The accident was about 5:05 pm. at South 868 Highway 25 The driver had just loaded the manure at farm and was headed south. Deputies said the rig crossed the centerline, went into the opposite ditch, hit an embankment on a driveway, and rolled onto its side. Fire crews extinguished the fire.
Unlicensed driver stopped 10th time
WINONA Minn. – An Altura man, Brandon Max Richards, 33, doesn’t seem to be geting the message. Police stopped him at King and High Forest streets about 8:55 a.m. – his 10th stop since May 2022 for driving after his license had been revoked. Richards told officers he didn’t need a license. Huh? He explained that the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution says so. The officer had never heard that befire and didn’t buy it. Richards was taken downtown to jail. Now he will need to explain the 14th Amendment the judge.
Verbatim
14th Amendment: “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
Richards. Also charged with driving without proof of insurance.
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