WINONA, Minn. — A 7-year-old Cedar Valley lad, Luke Cisewski, was proclaimed a boy-hero at a County Board ceremony for quick thinking after his dad crashed and was seriously injured in a four-wheeler accident. Sheriff Ron Ganrude presented the boy a Life-Saving Award. The citation cited “bravery and quick thinking and quick actions in helping his injured dad.” The boy himself suffered cuts from grass and brush as he drove his own ATV and then ran to the nearest house for help. “Luke’s bravery would have likely been crucial in life-saving efforts being applied in a timely manner if the accident had caused more critical injuries,” the citation said. The accident was September 11.

Earlier: Four-wheeler crash injures Cedar Valley man

Life-Saving Award. Luke Cisewski scans his citation. His dad, now recoverd, couldn’t be prouder. Sheriff Ron Ganrude made the presentation.

WINONA, Minn. – A Rochester man was arrested after a girlfriend reported waking up being punched. Leonard Arnold Tucker, 55, was booked for domestic assault intending harm.  The woman reported the incident about 4 p.m. She said she aware of being punched three times and showed police bruises on an arm and hand. Tucker told police that there had been mutual pushing back and forth the after an argument.

Tucker. Incident in 50 block of West Broadway Street.

Jacob Yearous. Accepting a National Merit Scholarship Program comendation from Principal Luke Madsen. Yearous was among 50,000 scorers of more than 1.5 million top-tier students in the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship qualifying test.

WINONA, Minn. – A Winona man told police he paid almost $3,100 over the phone on an overdue Xcel energy bill but the payments didn’t show on his new monthly bill when it arrived. Police said it surely was a scam by a caller who had nothing to do wth Xcel but was probably in either Florida or Ohio. The victim sent three payments, all with a credit card: $2,000, $800 and $150.

SPRING VALLEY, Minn. – The fatalities in a collision between a motor vehicle and an Amish buggy on Monday were children.  Irma Miller, 11, and Wilma Miller, 7, died outright when a car rear-ended their two-wheel, horse-drawn buggy. Their names were released belatedly by Fillmore County Sheriff John DeGeorge. Two other children, age 13 and 9, were seriously hurt. The Amish children, all brothers and sisters, were from a farm family near Spring Valley. They were on their way toschool. The accident was at the crest of a hill. Sheriff DeGeorge said the circumstances of the crash will be reconstructed to sort through details of  what happened. The motor vehicle, a Toyota 4Runner, was driven by a 35-year-old Spring Valley woman. The sheriff declined to release her name.

Earlier: Two killed when car strikes Amish buggy

ROCHESTER, Minn. – A Wisconsin woman died in a Rochester hospital of critical injuries from an accident on Interstate e 90 near Dover. Joan Ray Yeatman, 83, was driving into the sun Monday morning. Her car overturned. She was alone in the vehicle. She was wearing a seatbelt, first-responders said.

Earlier: Rollover injures LaCrosse driver on I-90 at Dover

Volleyball (girls): Winona Cotter Ramblers 3, Lake City Tigers 0

Volleyball (girls): Rochester Lourdes Eagles 3, St. Charles Saints 0

ALBERT LEA, Minn. — The Albert Lea City Council voted unanimously to eliminate overdue fees for adult library materials. The decision followed a one-year expeiment to end late fees for youth materials. There us a stipulation: Patrons who don’t return an item won’t be able to check out anything else until it’s returned.

Verbatim

Annice Sevett, chief librarian: “We know there are people who might stay away from the library because of the fear of getting fines and not being able to pay them down, so we hope that we get some more card holders as well as increase circulation.” Anyone feeling guilty about being late can always make a donation to Friends of the Library, she said.

CHATFIELD, Minn. – A Chatfield woman was killed when a skid-loader crashed into her motorized wheelchair. Sandra “Sandy” Hulbert, 82, was pronounced dead at the scene.. The accident occurred as a landscaper was backing the skid-loader. A neighbor called it “a complete and total accident.” The accident occurred on residential Fifth Street Southwest about 1 p.m. Hulbert was known around the neighborhood for cruising the area and chatting with everyone. She was retired as a music teacher in Chatfield and earlier in Wykoff. For decades she also ran a camper-selling business with her husband in Spring Valley.

Hulbert. In wrong place at wrong time, said a neighbor.

AUSTIN, Minn. – A judge approved a delay in the case of a Grand Meadow woman accused of throwing a knife and a chair at a man for opening a bag of cheese. Nikki Rae Heitland, 36, requested thae delay.  Heitland has pleaded not guilty to assault with a dangerous weapon and intent to cause bodily harm. The incident was in February. The man called 911. To police he explained that he had opened a bag of cheese, which he said sent Hietland into a rage.  The man said she threw a large non-serrated knife at him and then hurled a chair at his face and punched him. Police said that the nose was “bent at an odd angle,” that there was blood splattered on the floor, and that a wall had a large knife slash. The broken nose was treated at a hospital. Heitland’s side of the  story:  She threw the chair at the man  and punched him in self-defense. She denied throwing a knife.

Heitland. Why did she throw a chair and punch the guy? Self-defense, she says.

BLACK RIVER FALLS, Wis. – A Brockway woman was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the stabbing death of her domestic partner. Kellie Schmidt, 55, was charged with reckless homicide. She had taken a fillet knife to Thomas Boetcher, 52, during a late night dispute at their home outside Black River Falls. That was in September 2021. Boetcher was found on a neighbor’s doorstep bleeding from a puncture wound on an arm. He died the next day at a Marshfield hospital.

Earlier: Court document reveals murder details, background

Earlier: Woman charged with murder in manfriend stabbing

Earlier: Details fuzzy on death, injury at Black River house

LACRESCENT, Minn. – A merry-go-round operator at the Applefest celebration was arrested on a teen-age girl’s complaint of lewd behavior. Peter John Guse, 33, of Mapleton, was charged with nonconsensual sexual contact and disorderly conduct. The incident was two weekends ago. The girl said that Guse had stared at her chest, touched her inappropriately, and looked down her shirt. She was riding the carousel.

Guse. Charged in Houston County Court at Caledonia.

GOODHUE, Minn. – It started with a pop-up purportedly rom Microsoft on a computer screen. But, you guessed it, the pop-up wasn’t really from Microsoft.  Before all was over and done, the victim had forked over $63,000. Goodhue County Sheriff Marty Kelly reported the sad tale online as an alert to other possible scam victims. This, said Kelly, is what happened:

> A person in Belle Creek Township, 10 miles from Goodhue, opened the pop-up.

> She followed instructions to call a telephone number.

> Someone on the other end said she had had been the victim of a hack of $31,500 from her bank account.

> To recover loss, she was told to send twice as much in bitcoin.

> She did.

Like most 21st century scams, this one probably originated overseas. Recovery prospects are nil, Kelly said.

SPRING VALLEY, Minn. – Two people in a horse-drawn buggy were killed when the buggy was rear-ended by a motor vehicle. The horse also died. Two people iwere  injured and taken 21 miles to a Rochester hospital. Fillmore County Sheriff  John DeGeoge declined to release the victims’ names immediately. The accident was about 8:30 am. near the Sumner Center Church south of Stewartville on County Road 1. The road, which connects Spring Valley and Rochester, was closed several  hours.

Bluffs a blaze. The first wave of fall, yellowing hillsides, is shifting to oranges and bronzes as September progresses. Such is the spectacle as lit by sun penetrating through an uneven sodden sky along the Mississippi River bluffs. Image: Steve Lunde

DOVER, Minn. –– A LaCrosse driver was gravely injured when her vehicle rolled into the Interstate 90 median near the exit to Dover. Joan Ray Yeatman, 83, was taken 24 miles to a Rochester hospital. The accident was about 7:40 a.m. There was no immediate explanation for the accident. Pavement was dry. Yeatman was driving east a 2018 Hinda HR-V toward Winona and LaCrosse.