Death claims Minnesota Governor Al Quie at 99
WAYZATA, Minn. –Former Governor Al Quie, who represented southeast Minnesota in Congress from 1958 to 1979, died at a senior-living home. He was 99. Quie was a moderate Republican known for working across the aisle. In 1980 he was on Ronald Reagan’s shortlist as a running mate for vice president. He also was also considered for Gerald Ford’s running mate in 1974. Quie had been in declining health in recent months but still enjoyed meeting and greeting people. At a family gathering two weeks ago, his son Joel daid, he read aloud to his great-grandchildren from their favorite storybook.
Quie’s personal history
Quie grew up on his family’s dairy farm in Goodhue County. He was a Navy fighter pilot in World War II, although he never saw combat. After the war he returned home to resume farming. He earned a political science degree from St. Olaf College. Death came for Quie a few days before what would have been his 100th birthday. His family used his 99th birthday celebration as a dress rehearsal for what his 100th. His son Joel said his father’s goal for his 100th birthday was saddle a horse. He had been an avid horseman and last rode at age 92. When Quie turned 97, Governor Tim Walz, a Democrat, proclaimed it Al Quie Day. On that occasion, Quie, the World War II pilot, flew in an open cockpit plane, albeit with another pilot at the controls.
Quie. Served single term as governor. Elected 1978. A Republican. Earlier served three terms in Congress from southern Minnesota’s MN-1.
Verbatim
Quie, in his farewell address as governor: “I entered public life with a strong, though still-developing belief in the sanctity of the individual, the centrality of the family, and the compassion and good sense of people in neighborhoods and local communities. I believed that all people have infinite worth, and that all people possess gifts that can be known fully by no one, My belief in these ideas gained in strength as the years passed and I better saw their worth, and as they withstood the doubts of skeptics and the strain of great change. Nothing … has successfully challenged my early — and lasting — belief in them.”
Political and public service record
Quie ran unsuccessfully for the Minnesota House in 1952. He was elected to the Minnesota Senate in 1954. He won a special election for the vacant MN-1 southern Minnesota congressional seat in 1958 and was re-elected 10 times. He developed legislative expertise on education and agriculture. In a bid for statewide office in1978 Quie unseated Democratic Governor Rudy Perpich. Quie’s single term as governor didn’t go well. A budget shortfall worked against him. So did the fact that Democrats controlled the Legislature. He chose not to seek a second term. And Perpich, deja vu, succeeded him.
Quie in rift with GOP
In 2010 Quie broke with Republicans ranks and endorsed centrist Independence Party candidate Tom Horner for governor. Horner’s campaign faltered, and Tom Emmer won. Emmer never forgave Quie. GOP leaders banned Quie and 17 other Republicans from party activities for two years. In the end Emmer lost the governorship to Democrat Mark Dayton. Emmer, meanwhile, has found his way to Congress from MN-6, which covers western and northern Twin Cities suburbs all the way to St. Cloud. Emmer now has climbed his way to being majority whip in the U.S. House.
Later years
Quie, a Lutheran, remained active in church affairs after leaving office. He was a national leader of the ministry Prison Fellowship. In 2006, he led a commission that recommended steps to keep the state’s judiciary independent and nonpartisan after some Republicans sought to bring politics into judicial elections.
Child-porn fan to prison for three years
SPARTA Wis. — A Sparta man charged with 71 counts of possession of child pornography was sentenced to three years in prison. George Bradley, 55, had pleaded no contest to five of the counts. As part of a plea deal the other counts were dropped. Bradley was arrested on a tip from the Verizon cell-service provider that Bradley had uploaded lewd child mages to his cloud account.
Somebody pooped in Menomonie swim pool
MENONOMIE, Wis. – The city’s Wakanda Water Park has been closed for the remainder of the season for a super-cleansing after what city administrators call “a fecal incident.” Wakanda is the only municipal pool in Menomonie.
Judge in murder case: You’re sane enough for trial
ROCHESTER, Minn. – A Rochester man accused of murdering an Eyota woman is competent to stand trial, a judge ruled. Mustafa Bush, 40, has been held since December in the death of Kimberly Ann Robinson. Her body was found in a snow-covered ditch on West River Road in northwest Rochester.
West Nile virus makes summer debut
MADISON, Wis. – The first human infection of threaded West Nile virus in Wisconsin this year has been has been reported. The case is in Dane County. Earlier three horses were found infected. The mosquito that caries the disease has been found in the Darlington, Madison and Neillsville areas, the state Health Department said. The outbreak should end with the first frost.
New report: Minnesota workforce still short
ST. PAUL, Minn. – The workforce shortage continues in Minnesota but isn’t as severe as many places elsewhere in the nation, the state jobs agency reported. In July the labor force participation rate was at 68.5% in Minnesota — almost 6 points above the national average. The agency counted 3,900 new entries in the labor force. This, the agency said, was despite a 0.1% increase in unemployment. State jobs Commissioner Matt Varilek put a a positive spin on the data: “Ongoing growth in our state’s labor force is a positive sign as many Minnesota employers continue looking for the workers they need.” Varilek noted that hourly wages grew 5% in July over a year earlier – up 83 cents an hour in average.
Double anniversary for Southeast State – 75th and 50th
Twin campuses. Winona and Red Wing.
College’s vocational roots at Winona High School
WINONA Minn. –Minnesota State College Southeast is marking a double anniversary this coming academic year . In 1949, the predecessor Winona Area Vocational-Technical School opened at Winona High School. And in 1973 the Red Wing campus opened. Marsha Danielson, the current president, said: “Through many transformations, Minnesota State College Southeast is now a comprehensive technical and community college. Toda we are a ‘both/and’ college – offering degrees designed for transfer to four-year institutions as well as a wealth of career and technical programs.” To note the occasion, the college has solicited testimonials from alumni, past employees, and friends of the college. Among them:
Verbatim
Calvin Jones, a band instrument repair technician who attended Southeast in 1991-1992, wrote from the US Virgin Islands: “The thing I remember most about Red Wing is the love that I felt at the school. Gene Beckwith and John Huth, my teachers in band instrument repair, made me feel so welcomed and so involved. This was the first time in my life that I could say that I loved school. Coming from the Virgin Islands to Red Wing was challenging but it changed my life forever.”
Verbatim
David Wessin, who graduated from the construction program in Winona in 1983: “After graduating, I moved to St. Paul and my career brought me to a large kitchen cabinet company. I held this position almost 15 years, then moved to Florida to work for a small contractor. Over the years, I advanced to a vice president position managing 25 safety managers for a company with one billion in work. I recently joined a private commercial insurance broker as Vice President of Risk Engineering and travel the southeastern United States working with our clients to build a strong safety culture. Thank you.”
R.I.P.: Jerry Bork
WINONA, Minn. – Jerome L. “Jerry” and “JB” Bork, 76, of Winona, a designer and restorer at O’Brien stained glass windows in Rollingstone, died while working in his backyard. He also worked 20 years as a road crew foreman and at several stained-glass companies including Cathedral Crafts. He grew up on the family farm in Pieper’s Valley in Buffalo County. He was in the in the U.S> Army in Korea during the Vietnam war. He attended the Minnesota Southeast Technical College truck driving program while working at Badger Foundry. Over the years he drove for Minnesota City Transfer, Cool Runnings, California Overland, and Barth Trucking.
Detail: Watkowski-Mulyck Funeral Home
1947-2023
Arcing internet connection scorches house
WINONA, Minn. – Something went wrong with an HBC cable connection on a West Side house and scorched the siding. Firefighters called crews from HBC and Xcel Energy to resolve the issue. The home owner, in the 400 block of West Sanborn, said the internet had been acting up and he went outside and found the router mounted on the exterior was arcing. The connection was still arcing when firefighters arrived. This was about 3:20 p.m.
R.I.P.: Ross Boyum
PETERSON, Minn. – Ross A. Boyum, 80, of Peterson, who was on the board of the Rushford State Bank for 20 years, died at home. He also was on the Farmers Elevator board and the Ferndale Golf Course board. He was raised on the family farm where he lived all his life. He raised hogs from farrow to finish as well as growing corn and soybeans. In retirement he wintered in Arizona.
Details: Hoff Funeral Home
1943-2023
Minnesota insurrectionist switches plea to guilty
Caught on tape. FBI agents scoured thousands of hours of video on social media to identify individuals in the Trump mob that violently forced its way inside the Capitol. Victoria White of Rochester was at several hot points and hardly looking on meekly. Here she’s circled for FBI identification purposes in a red Trump cap and black coat. In the melees that followed she lost the cap and coat but was still identifiable.
Prosecutions for 2021 Capitol riot now top 1,000
WASHINGTON — A Minnesota woman pleaded guilty to invading the U.S. Capitol with the January 6 insurrection mob in 2021. In a plea deal. Victoria Charity White, 41, of Rochester, admitted to a single count of civil disorder and aiding and abetting. Federal Judge John Bates scheduled sentencing for November. One insurrectionist leader, Stewart Rhodes of the Oath Keepers, has been sent away for 14 years. Most sentences have been far less, some a short as six months plus sharing in $1.5 million of costs to repair the Capitol. Originally White was charged with violently entering Capitol grounds, entering a restricted building or grounds, and obstructing justice. According t court documents and other sources, this what White did:
Circled in red. In this FBI screen capture.
> She drove from Rochester to Washington to a post-election rally organized by outgoing President Donald Trump to overturn his bid for re-election, which he had lost.
> She attended the Trump rally on the Ellipsis outside the White House, where he prodded the supporters to march on the Capitol, where Congress was in session to ratify the election of Joe Biden to replace Trump.
> On Capitol Hill she pushed her way toward a tunnel entrance, where police were preventing rioters from entering the building.
> As the mob chanted, “Pull the cops out.” White raised her fist and cheered as the rioters forced a large flagpole into the entryway where the officers stood guard.
> White pushed her way closer to the entrance, where she helped to hoist up another rioter who proceeded to assault officers. She pointed and cheered as a rioter swung from the top of the entryway and kicked officers.
> She made her way to the lower West Terrace entrance. After losing her red cap and black coat in the chaos, she grabbed for one of the officers standing on a ledge. Officers pushed White back with their riot shields and fended her off with a baton. White then grabbed one of the shields and blocked the baton with her hand.
> Minutes later, officers apprehended White and escorted out of the Capitol.
FBI agents arrested White two months late, They had open-source video of her with rioters who were attempting to break the glass doors of a Capitol entrance. Despite the video she originally pleaded not guilty. In the 31 months since insurrection, 1,100 individuals have been arrested in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the Capitol. She was held briefly and released.
R.I.P.: Lorraine Feine
RUSHFORD, Minn. – Lorraine “Tudy” Feine, 98, of Rushford, who farmed with her husband in the Hart area for 16 years before moving to Winona in 1959, died at the Good Shepherd nursing home. She drove school bus and worked at Stott Glove Company, National food store, at Red Owl, grocery and Winona Knitting Mills.. She wintered in Arizona and summered at the Money Creek campground near Houston,
Details: Hoff Funeral Home
1925-2023
How far can school police go to break up fights?
NEW BRIGHTON, Minn. – Police expressed concern about limits in the 2023 revised state education law that seem to limit how they can subdue disorderly conduct ranging from cafeteria food fights to schoolyard brawls. Jeff Potts, executive director of the Minnesota Chiefs of Police Association, wrote to Governor Tim Walz on behalf of school resource officers. Buried deep in the new law is a prohibition on placing students in a prone position or anything that restrains the head, neck and most of the torso. This, said Potts, effectively bans common tactics for breaking up fights. “Prohibiting the most basic measure of safely restraining and controlling the aggressor in a fight severely impacts the SRO’s ability to intervene, stop the altercation, and protect everyone’s safety,” Potts wrote.
Earlier: Rochester ponders ending police school presence
Earlier: City agrees to end school policing contract
Earlier: LaCrosse to phase out school police
Wisconsin plane crash blamed on engine
GRAND RAPIDS, Wis. – A light airplane crash that injured two people in May was caused by a loss of power to the engine, the Federal Aviation Administration concluded. The forced landing was on a residential street. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage and empennage. The occupants of the plane were treated for head trauma.
R.I.P.: Audrey Luehmann
WINONA, Minn. — Audrey Faith Luehmann, 95, of Winona, who sang many years in the Silo Serenades, died at Sauer Healthcare in Winona. She formerly lived in Altura. She taught Sunday School at at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Silo. She grew up in the Racina area of Olmsted County.
Details: Hoff Funeral Home
1927-2023
Black River arrest in rash of 50 wildfires
BLACK RIVER FALLS, Wis. – The arsonist who started 50-plus wildfires un central Jackson County over the past five months has been caught,Daniel Johnson, 44, of nearby Brockway, was in jail, County Attorney Emily Hynek said. The fires, on public and private lands, began in April. The arrest followed a task force investigation by the state Natural Resources Department, the state Criminal Investigation Division, Black River Falls police, the Jackson County sheriff’s office, the Black River Falls Fire Department and the Monroe County sheriff’s office.
R.I.P.: Charlotte Lemke
ARCADIA, Wis. – Charlotte “Char” Ann Lemke, 72, the curriculum director for Cochrane-Fountain City schools and als schoolz in Cashton and Melrose-Mindoro, died at home in rural Arcadia. She also was libraian at Arcadia schools. She was a 1969 graduate of La Crescent High School. She held a librarian degree from Mankato State University-Mankato and an advanced degree in administration from the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse.Along the weay she managed the I-90 truck-stop restaurant at Nodine. Later she was general manager for DIDD Inc., overseeing five restaurants
Details: Hoff Funeral Home
1951-2023
R.I.P.: Michael Cronin
WINONA, Minn. – Michael J. Cronin, 57, a priest who served many clerical roles in the Winona-Rochester Catholic Diocese, died of complications after heart bypass surgery. “Father Michael,” as he was called, held a political science degree from St. John’s University in Collegeville. He interned in Washington for Congressman Timothy Penny and later joined the staff full time. He did seminary studies at Immaculate Heart of Mary in Winona. Later at the University of St. Thomas he earned a divinity degree. His first parish duty was at Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Winona. Among other assignments were parishes in Minneiska, Rollingstone, Wilson and Winona State Universuty. In 2005 after two heart attacks, he began a medical leave and returned to Congress as House historian and then as administrative director in the Office of Inspector General. In 2011 he returned to active ministry at Cathedral of the Sacred Heart and St. Casimir parish in Winona and as chaplain at Winona State.
Details: Ranfranz and Vine Funeral Home
1965-2023
Tentative accord averts MinnState employee strike
ST. PAUL, Minn. – A strike by campus managers at the seven MinnState university campuses, including Winona State, has been averted. Negotiators for MinnState and the union reached a tentative agreement after a marathon 15-hour session. The union had been prepared to srike next week just as fall classes were starting. Salaries were the main issue. The settlement terms were not announced. Acceptance was expected by the members of the Administrative and Service Faculty union,
Hormel’s canned Spam joins Maui recovery effort
AUSTIN, Minn. – Austin-based Hormel Foods is shipping planeloads of its canned meat product Spam to disaster-struck Maui in the Hawaiian Islands. Spam has been a Hawaii staple since World War II as an easily sipped and long-lasting K-ration item. It caught on throughout the islands morning, noon and night. Never heard of Spam-fried wontons/ oer Spam musubi? Then you haven’t been to Hawaii. Hawaiians buy 8 million cans a year.
Frosh arriving at WSU: “Bye, mom, bye dad”
Autumn exuberance. Student dorm proctors, whose job is leadership and discipline in the dorms, were all tumbs up in posing last August for the annual freshmen Move-In Week.
Campus streets clogged at dorm drop-off points
WINONA, Minn.— The dorms at Winona State University, mostly formant for the summer, buzzed with excitement and anxiety as new freshmen signed in for fall semester. It’s Move-In Week – a prelude to the start of classes Tuesday. The program includes informational sessions, walking tours, and evening entertainment. Last year the university had 1,170 new students – the smallest cohort in a decade. Budget-minded administrators have fingers crossed that a decade of enrollment declines will turn around. The formal count will be the 10h day pf cases. Even with enrollment losses, down one-third since 2013, Winona State remains a major contributor to the local economy. The university’s chief publicist, Vice President Jon Olson, said students generate $421 million a year in economic impact in the region, as calculated through compounding ripple effects. This includes sustaining 3,000 jobs, Olson said.
Dark cloud hangs over new semester
The effect of a possible strike Tuesday by 111 campus managers and support personnel has dampened the usual excitement about a new academic year. Campus executives say they stand ready with contingency lans if 11th-hour contact negotiations for the whole MinnState university system falter in St. Paul. Even so, uncertainty is in the air. Members of the Association of Administrative and Service Faculty have been working without a contract since June. At issue is salaries. At the low end, new employees represented by the union earn $34,000. Employees in higher grades star at $37,00 to $60,000.
Olson. New semester, he says, is a reminder of WSU’s economic impact.
Emergency, fire crews make 49 calls
WINONA, Minn. – The Fire Department reported 42 emergency medical calls plus 7 fire calls in recent days:
> Tuesday, August 15: 7 medical calls plus no fire calls.
> Monday, August 14: 2 medical calls plus no fire calls.
> Sunday, August 13: 5 medical calls plus no fire calls.
> Saturday, August 12: 8 medical calls plus 4 fire calls.
> Friday, August 11: 4 medical calls plus no calls.
> Thursday, August 10: 6 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.
> Wednesday, August 9: 10 medical calls plus 1 fire call.
Earlier: Emergency, fire crews 56 calls
R.I.P.: David Olson
WARTRACE, Tenn. – David Eugene Olson, 88, of Wartrace, a house-builder, died after an extended illness. He was born in Minnesota in Rushford. The family has arranged burial in rural Lanesboro.
Details: Hoff Funeral Home
1935-2023
Where those “Walz Checks”? Any day now
ST. PAUL, Minn. – Tax rebate checks, as much as $1,300, will be in mailboxes or direct-deposit accounts by the end of September, Governor Tim Walz announced. This is the Walz-proposed rebates from the state’s budget surplus that the Legislature approved in May. The first batch was being delivered Wednesday, he said: “Just in time for back to school expenses.” The payments:
> $520: For married couples filing a joint 2021 income or property tax return with adjusted gross income of $150,000 or less
> $260: For all other individuals with 2021 adjusted gross income of $75,000 or less
> $260: for each dependent, up to three.
Notable journalism
Gabriel Hathaway (Winona Post, August 9, 2023): “Galesville’s Old Main Under Structural Review”
Rachel Mantos (KAAL, August 10, 2023): “New Clergy Sex Abuse Lawsuits”
Kelsey Marier (KTTC, August 16, 2023): “Making an Impact: Winona County Nonprofit Helps Newcomers Feel at Home”
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