R.I.P. Art VanDeWater
RIVER FALLS, Wis. — Arthur “Art” MacDonnell VanDeWater, 85, of River Falls, a math professor at Winona State University for 31 years, died at age 85. He also taught at Hogskolan i Boros in Sweden and returned often. He held a math degree from Bowdoin College in Maine and a doctorate from the University of South Carolina. He was an Eagle Scout, sailing teacher, pilot, master woodworker, and enthusiastic model railroader. He was a barbershop quartet singer and director for 60 years. He also played the guitar, banjo, and piano. He served 34 years on a ski patrol.
Details: Summit Funeral Home
1938-2023
R.I.P.: Charles Ryan
ROCHESTER, Minn. – Charles “Chuck” R. Ryan, 41, of Rochester, died of heart failure at home. He graduated from Dover-Eyota High School.
Details: Hoff Funeral Home
1982-2023
Need job? Try the Lake Park shelter
WINONA, Minn. – A job fair with 20-some employers has been scheduled at Jaycee Shelter at 340 Lake Park Drive on Thyrsday 10 a.m. to noon. A gift for showing up: A tote bag. Sponsors: The Winoa Public Library and CareerForce. If too hi and miserable for outdoors the job fair will move to the East End Rec Center at 210 Zumbro Street. The job openings at:
> Ashley Furniture.
> Benchmark.
> CD Terminal.
> City of Winona.
> Cotter Schools.
> Express Employment
> Family & Children’s Center.
> Fanatics.
> First Student.
> Hiawatha Valley Education District.
> Home and Community Options.
> Legacies.
> Lifespark.
> Sugar Loaf Senior Living
> McDonald’s.
> Minnesota Transportation Department.
> Olmsted County.
> Partners in Excellence.
> Semcac.
> Solvay.
> Treasure Island resort casino.
> Winona Public Schools,
> Winona Health.
> Winona State University.
Wildfires force Canadians to abandon tundra city
YELLOWKNIFE, Northwest Territories – This northern city of 20,000 on Great Slave Lake has been evacuated as giant wildfires closed in and threatened to block the only highway out. The fires were among 1,000 across Canada that have sent smoke south into Minnesota and other U.S. border states for weeks. No let-up is in sight until perhaps mid-October. Evacuations included fleets of military and civilian flights 600 miles to Edmonton in Alberta, the nearest major city.
Yellowknife. 250 miles from Arctic Circle.
Hot spots. Satellite image of western Canada fires in forests, grass lands and croplands. Not shown are hundreds of lesser fires obscured by cloud cover. Image: Natural Resources Canada
Eitzen driver hurt in Hokah rollover
HOKAH, Minn. – An Eitzen woman leaving Hokah on State Highway 44 lost control of her 2006 Toyota Avalon and overturned. Shelby Jean Steele, 57, was taken 11 miles to a LaCrosse hospital with sustainable injuries. The accident was about 3:30 p.m. two miles outside Hokah. Her airbag deployed, Houston County deputies said.
Finstad on Quie: A credit to southern Minnesota
NEW ULM, Minn. – The southern Minnesota member of Congress, Brad Finstad, called his predecessor 40 years ago, Al Quie, an exemplary citizen. Finstad said that Quie, who died last week, was “a true man of service whose leadership, work ethic, and commitment to faith set a great example for many of us across southern Minnesota.” Finstad and Quie both were born into farming in southern Minnesota but 80 miles and 2-1/2 generations apart. Although both Republicans, their oaths bever crossed.
Back-to-campus busy at WSU but not rowdy
WINONA, Minn. – The campus at Winona State has been repopulating for fall semester. Freshmen, the university’s Class of 2027, began arriving Thursday for dorm-centric orientation activities. Older students arrived en masse over the weekend, many to dorms but most to private off-campus housing. Vacancies were aplenty in off-campus apartments, which private landlords, not anticipating enrollment drops, have overbuilt in recent years. A major question is whether the enrollment slippage, off a third in the last decade, will be bottoming out. Enrollment a year ago was the equivalent of 5,422 full-time students. There may also be a shift in campus culture. Unlike a decade ago, when back-to-campus partying was a bigger deal, police reported no uptick over the weekend in noise and disorderly complaints around campus and the downtown bar district.
Quiet rental market. Huff Street is lined with recently built apartments, mostly studio units. Lots of vacancies. Image: Steve Lunde
Heat dome slides north into our backyard
Drenching scorcher. Heat index to climbing to highest for the season. Triangular Winona County is in the lower right, one county up from the Iowa border. Image: National Weather Service
Don’t be surprised if wet heat index hits108
WINONA, Minn. A weather dome that has pushed the temperature and humidity index to 130s in Kansas has moved north. The latest National Weather Service forecast shows 108 degrees in Winona and higher at scattered points in southern Minnesota and western Wisconsin. Predicted temperatures without factoring in humidity: 100. The dome is expected to settle in through Wednesday, then break for a seasonally pleasant weekend in the upper 70s.
R.I.P.: Virginia Mullin
ST. CHARLES, Minn. – Virginia “Ginnie” Jean Mullin, of St. Charles, who held a degree from St. Marys nursing school in Rochester and who spent most of her as a missionary, died at age 92. She was a graduate of Elgin High School, She attended Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. She did missionary work in Thailand and sent next 40 years as a leprosy nurse in rural clinics. She also taught English to wives of doctors studying at Mayo clinic.
Details: Hoff Funeral Home
1930-2023
Posthumously recounting a life worth living
WINONA, Minn. – When the long-term Winona activist Joe Morse learned he was dying of cancer in 2014, his friend Doug Nopar, also a cause-driven activist, suggested he put his journey’s story on tape. Now it’s a book, pulled together from the audio tapes by Jerome Christenson, the retired dean of Winona journalism. The book, “No Ordinary Joe,” is largely in Miroe’s own words. It’s has been called oral history at its best. The book, 166 pages, has been out since May. Morse, of course, never got to see it. He died in 2017. Nopar and Christenson say he would be pleased.
The Morse saga
At 20, Morse ventured to Mississippi help black people register to vote, this was in the 1960s after three civil rights workers were murdered. Morse had run-ins with the Ku Klux Klan and spent time in jail. He was undeterred. As he says in the book: “If you ain’t caught shit, you ain’t done shit.” Back in Winona, he jumped into numerous causes ty the next 50-some years:
> Men Opposing Sexism and Violence, for counseling men against domestic violence.
> Beyond Tough Guise, a related cause.
> The Prairie Island Coalition Against Nuclear Storage, an environmental cause.
> Bluff Land Environment Watch.
> Citizens Against Incineration. In the 1980s.
At the end, as he was dying, Morse and Nopar were at the core of Citizens Against Silica Mining. The cause succeeded in Winona County’s historic ban against frac-sand extraction.
His day job
Morse made his living as a county-appointed guardian for children’s interests in divorces and other family difficulties.
Narrative autobiography. Available through Amazon in hardcover, $25; in paperback, $18; and in Kindle electric format, $4. Locally at Chapter 2 Books and the Winona Historical Society.
Week’s summary: Ending August 19, 2023
CRIME: Winona ghost gun saga: Nobody’s talking
WILDLIFE: How busy this rattlesnake season? Expert: Typical
PASSAGES:Death claims Minnesota Governor Al Quie at 99
RESCUE:Massive search finds child missing three hours
CRIME: Breeder loses 3,000 mink in animal-rights attack
CRIME: Minnesota insurrectionist switches plea to guilty
COLLEGES: Frosh arriving at WSU: “Bye, mom; bye dad”
COLLEGES: Double anniversary for Southeast State – 75th and 50th
COLLEGES: Tentative accord averts MinnState employee strike
GOVERNANCE: Where those “Walz Checks”? Any day now
CUISINE: Our galloping gourmands: At Dublin Square
POLICING: Goodhue scraps police, will outsource
SCHOOLS: Walz sees exceptions on school policing limits
CRIME: Balloons: Worrisome prequel to pumpkin-smashing
CRIME: More sex abuse claims against Catholic Diocese
CRIME: Deputies end hair-yanking brawl inside trailer
RIVER: “Party Cove” on Crater island closed to boaters
Goodview fire destroys warehouse garage
GOODVIEW, Minn. – Fire destroyed an old warehouse in the 53rd Avenue cul-de-sac. No on was injured. Flames were burning through the roof and the structure was engulfed when Goodview firefighters arrived about 6:20 p.m. Winona crews were brought in. Thermal imaging found the fire at 900 degrees inside. The fire was under control by 7:30, but crews remained until 11 to extinguish hot spots. Fire Chief Jason Gruett called the state fire marshal to identify the cause.
Neighbors kept a distance. Firefighters needed 50 minutes to control the fire.
Massive search finds child missing three hours
WINONA, Minn. – Searchers homed-in on a radio-transmitting bracelet worn by an autistic child who wandered off from her family’s home on Valley Oaks Drive. The 8-year-old girl was safe but exhausted. She had been missing three hours. Winona police called in other agencies to help. The girl was found on the steep slope behind the home, up from County Road 17 across Bridges golf course. The girl’s radio bracelet is one that needs monthly recharging, Officers were concerned it might be low on batteries. Such was not the case.
Verbatim
Winona Police: “Thank you to the Winona Fire Department, Winona County Sheriff’s Office, Winona County SOAR team, Winona County Emergency Management, Winona Ambulance, Goodview police, Goodview fire and rescue, LaCrescnt police, Dodge County Sheriff’s Office, Houston County Sheriff’s Office, Minnesota State Patrol, state Natural Resources Department, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, St. Charles police, Wilson fire and first-responders, and the neighbors and concerned citizens that offered water, checked their yards, or assisted in searching. We live in an area filled with big hearts.”
Walz shares fond memories of predecessor Quie
ST. PAUL, Minn. – Governor Tim Walz eulogized Al Quie, who was governor from 1979 to 1983, as “a veteran, a man of faith, and a life-long public servant.” Quie died Friday at age 99. The political path of Walz followed Quie’s. Walz, a Democrat, was elected to Congress in 2008 and re-elected five times from the southern Minnesota MN-1 district. Quie, a Republican, also from MN-1. served 10 terms in Congress, albeit four decades earlier and then became governor. In his tribute on Quie’s death, Walz said: “Just months ago I had the honor of attending a celebration for his 99th birthday, where I thanked him for his mentorship, wisdom, and leadership. He was as caring, funny, and generous as ever.”
Verbatim
Walz: “Governor Quie had a deep commitment to the betterment of our state and a legacy that extends beyond his time in office. His advocacy for education, eliminating discrimination, and rural development demonstrated his unwavering dedication to creating a better life for all Minnesotans.
Biker killed in car crash near Independence
INDEPENDENCE, Wis. – A motorcyclist was killed, apparently instantly, when a vehicle approaching U.S. Highway 93 failed to stop at an intersection north of Independence and hit the bike. The accident happened about 10:50 a.m. at County Road E. Although the driver of the bike that was struck was killed, a passenger escaped serious injury. The passenger was treated at the scene and released. The driver of a second bike was also treated at the scene. Trempealeau County Sheriff Brett Semingson declined to release the names of anyone in the accident immediately.
Notable journalism
Madeline Heim (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, August 18, 2023): “The Mississippi River’s Floodplain Forests Are Dying: The Race Is On to Bring Them Back”
Chris Rogers (Winona Post, August 11, 2023): “Winona County Board Weighing New Police Station”
Steve Rundio (LaCrosse Tribune, August 17, 2023): “Alexavier Pedrin Death: ‘No Environment for a Helpless Young Child’: Family Warned About Conditions Before 6-Year-Old’s Death”
R.I.P.: James Ranzenbeger
RUSHFORD, Minn. – James A. Ranzenberger, 70, of Rushford, who worked at Staggmeyer Stave Company in Caledonia and was a logger. died at the Good Shepherd Lutheran Home in Rushford. . He also worked part-time at the American Legion in Lanesboro. He was a graduate of Caledonia High School. James raised Appaloosa horses and led trail rides.
Details: Hoff Funeral Home
1953-2023
North Woods search for missing ultralight paraplane
Rugged terrain. Searchers looking for a silky blue fabric craft missing with a hobbyist flier. Lake Superior in background.
Last seen turning for home between Superior bays
HOVLAND Minn. – A Hovland man strapped a blue parachute with a light engine to his back and took off from his backyard airstrip and didn’t return. That was Friday. Searchers began a search at dawn for Denny Pechcek in the deep woods near this Lake Superior village on the North Shore, 10 miles from the Canada border. Cook County Sheriff Pat Eliasen called the terrain rugged and brushy. Pechcek was last seen banking his paraplane between Horseshoe Bay and Big Bay upshore from Hovland and turning back to his little airstrip on Flute Reed Road, the sheriff said. If he had engine trouble, he would have tried to use the chute to glide into any opening, Eliasen said. Since he has not walked out, the thinking is that he was hurt or way back in the woods. Pechcek had lived in Hovland 20 years. Around town he was known as “Grandpa.”
Woman’s neck bruises lead to strangulation arrest
WINONA, Minn. – A Caledonia man was arrested after a former girlfriend reported being beat up at her Winona place. Police stopped Ronnie Lee Shefelbine Jr., 41, walking away. He denied ever touching the woman. Officers concluded differently. When they had arrived, they said, the woman showed them bruises on her neck, rug burns on her elbows, and a left ear swelled and red. This was about 12:5 a.m. on Howard Street. The woman gave this account: An argument turned violent. Shefelbine grabbed her by the throat, pushed her to the floor, and choked her for something like 30 to 50 seconds, until she was dizzy and had problems breathing. She managed to kick him in the chest and fled to a bathroom and locked the door and called 911. In the street, where police stopped Shefelbine, he said it didn’t happen that way – that she had attacked him — and that he wouldn’t press charges. Police noted that an existing court order in effect against Shefelbine on behalf of the woman.
Shefelbine. To jail accused of strangulation.
How busy this rattlesnake season? Expert: Typical
WINONA, Minn. – Wildlife biologist Stephen Winter said the frequency of rattlesnake encounters in Winona County this summer probably is in a typical range. Winter, himself a snake-handler, said the season so far might be considered a bit “busy” with nine reports from law enforcement agencies to the rattlesnake response network – although not out of the norm. The state Natural Resources department has set up these county-level networks where rattlers have dens. It is the network that police call when a rattlesnake is reported. These are the calls to the network in Winona County in recent years:
> 2017: 12 calls.
> 2018: 12.
> 2019: 10.
> 2020: 8.
> 2021: 12.
> 2022: 10.
> 2023 so far: 9.
Winter, who is with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, noted that the numbers represent only snake reports to agencies. Some people may summon someone they know to remove a snake, he said. About a dozen trained and certified snake-handlers are on the Winona city and county police call list.
Hooking a rattler. Trained handlers use tongs and hooks to keep a rattlesnake’s fangs at a distance. Rare is it that a handler is bitten. If it happens, they know what to do. Image: Stephen Winter
Winter. A federal wildlife biologist based in Winona With his his wildlife camera.
If you see a rattler: What to do
WWSheriff Ron Ganrude: “Rattlesnakes see us as predators, not food, and as a result they don’t want anything to do with us. If you encounter a rattlesnake while you’re out and about, the best thing to do is to leave it alone. Rattlesnake bites are extremely rare. When they do happen they’re typically defensive bites because someone untrained decided to handle or harass a rattlesnake, and the snake didn’t like it.”
It is illegal to harm, harass, collect or kill rattlesnakes in Minnesota. They are listed as protected species.
If you have a rattlesnake in your yard, call the Winona Law Enforcement Center at (507) 457-6368. Ask that a rattlesnake handler. About a dozen handlers are on-call, all of them trained in handling snakes and relocating the snakes. When a report is called in, the police dispatcher sends a pre-recorded voice message to everyone on the county’s rattlesnake responder network, as well as a text message. Whoever calls the dispatcher back first is told the name, address, and phone number where the rattlesnake is located. Handlers use long tongs and a hook to guide the snake into a canvas bag. Snakes aren’t injured in the process. They are taken to a remote location and released. The snake usually slither out of the bag, shake their rattles loudly, and disappear quietly into the brush. Releases are on public lands or property where owners have granted permission.
R.I.P.: Audrey Kluzik
WINONA, Minn. – Audrey Jeanne Woof Engen Kluzik, 92, of Winona, an artist nd a poet , died at age 92 at Watkins Manor. Her creative work was under the pen name Audre Ionia. Some of her poems were published. She was working on two books that combined her love of art and poetry. She was a follower of for 40 years, and believed in reincarnation.
Detail: Watkowski-Mulyck Funeral Home
1931-2023
Walz sees exceptions on school policing limits
ST. PAUL, Minn. – Governor Tim Walz says he’s examined the updated state school law on school policing and determined there not a total ban on physical restraints on unruly students. A clarification on the law will be forthcoming, Walz said in response to concerns from school resource officers that the law precludes them from necessary action when physical intervention is warrahted. “There are exceptions for health and safety of students and the officers, just like there is for everything,” Walz said. “I certainly think we should agree that we should not be on the necks of students unless someone’s life is at risk.” Some large school districts have as many as eigt school police resource officers.
Wisconsin prep
FOOTBALL: Cochrane-Fountain City Pirates 30, Brookwood Falcons 20
FOOTBALL: Arcadia Raiders 32, Osseo-Fairchild Thunder 0
FOOTBALL: Mondovi Buffaloes 20, Galesville-Ettrick-Trempealeau Red Hawks 0
FOOTBALL: Colfax Vikings 19, Whitehall Norse 14
FOOTBALL: Boyceville Bulldogs 49, Independence Indees 0
Sand Hill Road claims another accident
Notorious 90-degre turn. So bad is the corner that nearby farmers have erected a makeshift barrier to alert people to stop. There is no stop sign. There are no rumble strips. Image: Steve Lunde
Cops: Alcohol a factored in rollover
UTICA, Minn. – A St. Charles man and two passengers escaped serious injury when he crashed through a T-intersection dead-end on a backroad south of Utica. The vehicle overturned. Juan Carlos Cruz, 44, failed field sobriety tests on the scene, Winona County deputies said. The accident was about 8:20 p.m. at County Road 18 and Sand Hill Road.
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GOP plan: Relax Wisconsin child-labor law
MADISON, Wis. – At the urging of Wisconsin employers, Republicans in the Legislature have proposed eliminating restrictions on hiring 14-year-olds and 15-year-olds. The sponsors said the current youth work permits are a “needless administrative barriers that slow down the hiring process.” The sponsors: Senator Cory Tomczyk of Mosinee and Representatives Amy Binsfeld of Sheboygan and Clint Moses of Menomonie. Their bill would end requirements for a work permit or parental permission. In unveiling their proposal, the sponsors said: “It’s important that young people have the opportunity to work without having to endure excessive government regulation.” If bill passed, the bill would mean Wisconsin would have be the lowest such age hiring limit in the nation.
National GOP move
The Wisconsin bill rubberstamps a national Republican initiative for hiring kids to work longer hours and in more hazardous occupations. Their argument: Looser age-dependent hiring rules would help employers deal with worker shortages. Backers also say early work experience is valuable for kids. Iowa adopted such a law in May. Similar GOP legislation is active in 14 other states.
Especially ill-timed?
The work change is oddly timed. A teenager, Michael Schuls, 16, was killed in a wood-stacking machine at a factory near Viroqua in May. In February a Wisconsin-based company, Packers Sanitation, was fined $15 million by the U.S. Labor Department for violating federal child-labor laws at slaughterhouses. More than 100 teens, ages 13 to 17, were in overnight industrial clean-up jobs with dangerous chemicals.
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