Mayor: No for now to weekend gym access
ROCHESTER, Minn. — Mayor Kim Norton vetoed a City Council plan to open school gyms for youth on the weekends. The Council had voted 5-1 to approve $50,000 for the project a a 30-week pilot. Norton said her veto was not so much a rejection but an opportunity to examine the idea further.
Golf course kitchen fryers fill place with haze
WINONA, Minn. – A power outage led to lots of smoky haze at the Westfield Golf Course restaurant during the lunch hour. An electrical outage was blamed. The smoke came from grease fryers. A cook told firefighters about hearing a loud pop outside, apparently from a power line. A fuse blew, cutting off power to vents above the fryers. There was smoke everywhere but no fire. Firefighters cleared the haze by opening the doors and windows. This was about 12:30 p.m.
Railroad switch engine derails in yard
WINONA, Minn. – A Union Pacific locomotive derailed during a slow-speed switching operation on Riverview Drive across from the CD harbor terminal. There were no injuries. No spills either. This was about 10:30 a.m.
These weren’t light-fingered thieves
WINONA. Minn. — Thieves willing to do some heavy-lifting stole two cubes of solid stainless steel overnight from Hossfeld Universal Benders on Breezy Lane on the industrial East End. The cubes, 3-1/2 by 5 feet, were valued at $9,480. Also missing were 29 pallets. Police were called in the morning when an employee arriving for work discovered the theft.
Family hopeful at new leadership in Maddi search
WINONA, Minn. – The family of Maddi Kingsbury, missing now 54 days, consistently has praised police for their investigation but also has been increasingly distressed that the case remains unsolved. “How is she still missing — like, how?’ said Maddi’s sister Megan. “I just don’t understand. Somebody has to know something about what happened to her and where she is. She didn’t just walk away.” While not making accusations publicly, the family has been suspicious of Maddi’s ex-boyfriend, who is father of her two children, but police have said that he is neither a “suspect” nor a “person of interest.” Sister Megan is hopeful that an outside investigator, Phillip Prokopowicz, can move the case along. Prokopowicz has been brought in by Winna County prosecutor Karin Sonneman. Prokopowicz retired recently as chief deputy attorney in Dakota County. Megan Kingsbury said she understands that Prokopowicz is “one of the best in the business.”
Earlier: Probe restructured in Maddi Kingsbury disappearance
Sister Megan. Calls external investigator “one of the best in the business.”
Biker badly hurt in pickup collision
SPRING GROVE, Minn. – A Spring Grove motorcyclist was injured critically when he ran into a pickup truck that was pulling out of a side road on the west end of town. Mark Ronald Peterson, 64, of, Spring Grove, was taken 38 miles to a La Crosse hospital with life-threatening injuries. The collision was about 4:40 p.m. at Main Street and County Road 4. The driver of the pickup, Timothy Mikal Morken, 36, of Spring Grove, was unhurt. Police said the pickup, a 1006 Ford F150, was southbound on County Road 4 attempting to turn east on to Main Street . which also is Highway 44. Peterson’s 2015 Harley Davidson was heading west out of town on Highway44. He was wearing a helmet, police said.
$1 million bail for mom accused of murdering son
LACROSSE, Wis. – Bail was set at $$1 million for a rural woman charged with drugging, abusing and killing her 6-year-old son. The boy, AJ Pedrin, was found in bed by first-responders with rigor mortis setting in on a Saturday morning in February. The bail was set by Josie Dikeman by Judge Ramona Gonzalez after the prosecutor described her as a threat to the community with potential for intimidating witnesses who include family members. The prosecutor also noted Dikeman’s record of child abuse. The charges against Dikeman, age 31, in the 16-page criminal complaint:
> Intentional homicide.
> Chronic child neglect.
> Physical child abuse.
The bail hearing was the first court appearance for Dikeman. The courtroom was packed. These included the father of AJ Pedrin and family members, including children..
Dikeman. Death was un February at a house in Medary township.
Canada wildfire smoke keeps blowing south
ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency issued an air-quality alert for much of central and southern Minnesota from noon Tuesday through 8 p.m. Southerly winds were expected to bring wildfire smoke into the state from as far as 2,700 moles away in northern Alberta and Manitoba. With sunny skies, warm temperatures and low humidity, the pollutants were expected to produce ground-level ozone that will be highest during the afternoon and early evening. People especially sensitive to smoke particles were advised to reduce outdoor physical activities, take more breaks, and limit themselves to intense activities.
Orange is unhealthy. For sensitive groups. Image: Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
What to do if drugs on your doorstep
WINONA, Minn. — Somebody dropped a bag of white chunky stuff at the entrance to the Winona hospital. Police were called. They suspected the stuff was an illegal drug but not worth trying to trace the source. They followed protocol snd destroyed it.
Author-speaker named outstanding Southeast grad
WINONA, Minn. – A 2020 graduate of Minnesota State Southeast, Jesse Horn, of Buffalo City, Wisconsin, has been named the college’s outstanding alum. Horn’s biography, “Stacked Against the Odds,” recounts his experience with autism, diagnosed at age 3, and his discovery of the unique sport of sport stacking. The sport set off a passion that propelled Horn’s personal growth and self-confidence. He won his first national award in stacking at the 2014 AAU Junior Olympics Games. With the book, he’s become a motivational speaker. Horn earned an associate degree in individualized studies from Southeast with near-perfect 3.98 grades.
Horn. His sport is stacking. His book is “Stacked Against the Odds,” published at 116 pages in 2020 by the Random House imprint Ten 16 Press.
Probe restructured in Maddi Kingsbury disappearance
WINONA, Minn. – Winona County’s attorney, Karin Sonneman, needs more evidence in the disappearance of Maddi Kingsbury and asked for further outside assistance in the stalled investigation. Being brought in as a consultant is Phillip Prokopowicz, the retired chief deputy attorney for Dakota County. His title is special prosecutor with a mandate to work with Winona police and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. It was not clear what Prokopowicz’s relationship with local police will be, butiut was believed that he will report directly to Sonneman. Prokopowicz’s appointment was leaked to news media through the Kingsbury family last week. A Winona police spokesperson declined Monday to discuss the appointment and referred reporters to Sonneman. Neither Sonneman nor Winona police nor BCA announced the appointment, and Prokopowicz’s role has not been defined publicly. Police Chief Tom Williams said April 3, four days after Maddi Kingsbury disappeared, that the disappearance was “involuntary” and “suspicious” but there was insufficient evidence to identify a “suspect” or “person of interest.” That remains the status of the case 3 days later despite massive searches for Kingsbury and hundreds of tips and dozens of police interviews.
Prokopowicz. He’s been brought out of retirement in Dakota County apparently to take over the investigation at the request of the Winona County prosecutor.
Sonneman. Elected in 2010 as Winona County’s chief prosecutor. Earlier a public defender for Minnesota’s Rochester-based Third Judicial District.
In jeopardy: DQ blizzards at Mall of America
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – The Mall of America has gone to court to evict the Dairy Queen franchise-holder for back-rent. The franchisee, Non-Typical Companies, owes $74,000 going back to January, the suit says. The Dairy Queen has been at the mall since it opened in 1992.
Sand Hill batterer whacks mailboxes
UTICA, Minn. – Somebody with a big board or maybe a baseball bat whacked at least five rural mailboxes along Sand Hill Road between Utica and Lewiston overnight. Why? Lunacy? Meanness? Sheer hooliganism? Something against Postmaster General Louis DeJoy? Sheriff’s officers were scratching their heads.
Alert to river rats: Danger lurks on river
Trees and debris. Lodged against piers of the old Chicago Northwestern railroad bridge into Winona – a reminder of recent flooding. Deadheads, as the uprooted trees are called when float just out of sight under the surface, are ready to wreck propellers and puncture hulls. Image: Steve Lunde
Currents still fast, even in backwaters
WINONA, Minn. – Dozens of boaters, canoeists, kayakers and jet-skiers couldn’t resist a sunny weekend on the river in the 70s. Even so, not a good idea, said Deputy Sheriff Jeff Mueller. The Mississippi remains just below flood-alert levels with currents swift and unpredictable.
“What stop sign?” Driver hurt at rural crossroads
UTICA, Minn. – A St. Charles driver went through a stop sign and smashed into a ditch on County Road 18 at the jerky intersection with San Hill Road east of Utica. Nallely Garcia-Romero, 26, who was alone in the vehicle, suffered non-life threatening injuries and was taken 18 miles to the Winona hospital. She was ticketed for not having a valid driving license.
Biker hurt when his hog hits ditch
RUSHFORD, Minn. – A Rochester motorcyclist was hurtwhen his blacked-out 2016 Harley Davidson FLSS went into a ditch between Rushford and the bluff-top Rushford airport. Darrell Gene Phillips, 73, suffered non-life treating injuries. This was on U.S. Highway 3 about 12:50 p.m. He was taken 35 miles to a Rochester hospital.
Woman: Slapped, held down; man arrested
WINONA, Minn. — A Winona man, Carter Davide Thomas Peterson, 22, was arrested after a woman reported being slapped and held down by her throat. This was about 8:30 a.m. in the 450 block of East Wabasha Street. Peterson denied assaulting the woman, but police noticed red marks on her face and emerging swells on her neck. She said she woke uopbeing slapped. She said she got away and called 911.
Maddi search turns again to Mississippi River
Answers proffered at forum on bad rural water
LEWISTON, Minn. – The League of Women Voters invited citizens concerned about Lewiston drinking water quality to a forum the League has titled “A Resource in Crisis.” Time: 6 p.m., Monday, at the Lewiston Community Center, 75 Rice Street. The program is in response to recent well-testing programs that confirmed significant nitrate contamination in rural drinking water. Sponsors: Minnesota Well Owners Organization, /Winona Will Dilg Chapter of the Izaak Walton League, Trout Unlimited and the Land Stewardship Project. Speakers will address how karst topography affects private wells, impaired municipal water sources, water contamination, and human health, and links between clean water and the Winona County economy.
Contamination levels
The Environmental Working Group had these findings in Lewiston drinking water in 2021:
Arsenic: 560 times the EWG guide of 2.24 units but within the legal limit 10 units.
Radium: 99 times the EWG guide of 4.96 units but with the legal 5 units.
Nitrate: 28 times more than the EWC guide of 3.93 units but within the legal 10 ppm.
Uranium: 2.8 times more than EWC guide of 1.21units but within the legal 20 units.
The Group criticizes thresholds for contamination as woefully low.
Environmental Working Group profile
The Environmental Working Group, founded in 1993 and based in Washington, is a nonprofit activist group that researches toxicity from government, corporate and agricultural sources. Critics have called its reports “alarmist” and “scaremongering” and “misleading.” It is true that the group rating system is more severe than most government scales for hazardous contaminant levels, it nonetheless has been influential in changing local policies for safer drinking water.
Among speakers
> Paul Wotzka, hydrologist and Minnesota Well Owners Organization founder: “Our Drinking Water Stinks and Our Trout Streams Are Sick.”
> Aleta Borrud, an epidemiology: “Do Dying Fish Tell Us Something about Risks from Our Drinking Water?”
> Monta Hayner, Guide with Driftless Fly Fishing: “The Importance of Clean Water to Recreation and Tourism.”
Lee Stoe, of Trout UnliMited: “A Magical Day on Rush Creek.”
> Carly Griffith, of the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy: “A Petition to Use Emergency Authority to Address the Drinking Water Crisis.”
Triple choices at the parking lot streamers
Not food trucks. But a line-up of three carnival-festooned trailer-wagons, each with its own menu: Cheese curds, mini-donuts and corn dogs. Either on your way in or out of shopping at the big-box FleetFarm hardware on Winona’s Far East End off U.S. Highway 61. Image: Steve Lunde
R.I.P.: Rita Meier
WINONA, Minn. – A. Rita Meier, 95 of Winona, a social worker for Winona County and later for Catholic Charities, died at Lake Winona Manor. She also helped at the Cotter High School office. She earned asocial work degree at the College of St. Teresa and continued on at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Details: Fawcett-Junker Funeral Home
1917-2023
The case of the overturned car’s missing driver
DRESBACH, Minn. – A sheriff’s deputy found an overturned car off Interstate 90 near the LaCrescent exit but no driver. A check for cell phone pings located the driver 18 miles away near the Gundersen Hospital emergency room in La Crosse, but, said the deputy, he wasn’t there. Twenty-four hours later the driver’s father called the Winona police dispatcher that he hadn’t heard from his son. Officers found pings near Gundersen again, but another search yielded nothing.
Minnesota joins national gun-limiting trend
ST. PAUL, Minn. – With the new firearms limits now signed into law by Governor Tim Walz, Minnesota becomes the 20th state to allow authorities to take firearms away from individuals posing a plausible threat to other people or themselves – a so-called “red flag” law. Minnesota, also. becomes the 17th state to require background checks for all gun sales. The red-flag provisions qualify Minnesota for federal financial support to administer red-flag laws as allowed in the federal Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which President Biden signed into law last year. The new Minnesota provisions did not come easily. For years, Republicans firmly opposed any gun limits. The GOP position: Criminals would still find ways to get a hold of weapons. So too the mentally disturbed, they said. In 2023 Democrats gained control of both the Senate and House. The debate was furious — 10 hours on the floor of the Senate, nine in the House, with myriad maneuvers to water down if not defeat the measures. The final Senate vote was by one vote: 34 to 33.
Earlier: Pair of Minnesota gun-limit laws on books soon
Earlier: How they voted: Gun restrictions / 2
Earlier: How they voted: Gun restrictions / 1
Gauging public opinion
A poll early in 2023 by Gabby Giffords’ gun-control lobby found 92% of Minnesota voters supported universal background checks and 67% supported extreme risk protection orders.
Public safety legislation
The gun restrictions signed by Governor Tim Walz were a minor part of a 522-page public safety bill. The bill was an umbrella that funds the courts, corrections and police systems, including salaries. Among provisions:
> $1.6 billion. To fund the state Corrections Department.
> $574 million. To fund the state Public Safety Department.
> $95 million. To hire 100 more public defenders in criminal cases.
> $37 million. To hire more lawyers, to represent low-income clients in civil cases.
National Eagle Center plans Wabasha cruises
Docked at Wabasha. The 49-passenger Cal Fremling is a floating classroom operated by Winona State University usually out of Winona.
Bald eagles up close but bring binoclars too
WABSAHA, Minn. – The National Eagle Center has scheduled four river cruises out of Wabasha, the center’s home port, in June. The two-hour cruises will be aboard the Winona-abased Cal Fremling with an experienced eagle-watch naturalist. Tickets: $60 to $75. Departures:
> June 24: 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.
> June 25: 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.
The Cal Fremling also has eagle-watch departures from the Winona Levee, all at 2 p.m.: June 17; July 8, 15, 29; August 26; September 2, 16, 20; October 14.
High water: Ol’ Man River ain’t done yet
WINONA, Minn. – The Mississippi River, at worrisome flood levels three weeks ago, has been retreating. But hang on. The levels as measured by the National Weather Service at the Winona Levee are expected to rise again in coming days. The next crest, at 11 feet, is forecast for Thursday – right at the threshold for taking porecautions. The first crest, on April 26, was 18.6 feet.
Next crest 11 feet. Coming Thursday. Image: National weather Service
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