College scores
Basketball (men): Saint Mary’s 102, Finlandia 68
Minnesota prep
Basketball (boys): Lanesboro Burros 68, Mabel-Canton Cougars 46
Basketball (girls): Spring Grove Lions 58, Lyle/Pacelli Athletics 45
Basketball (girls): Rushford-Peterson Trojans 73, Kellogg-Wabasha Falcons 2
Wisconsin prep
Basketball (boys): Cashton Eagles 66, Independence Indees 33
Hockey (boys): Reedsburg Beavers 7, LaCrosse Aquinas Blugolds 0
Way paved for Holte as chief county executive
WINONA, Minn. – in an unusual if not awkward hiring process, the County Board voted 3-1 to negotiate a contract with the interim county administrator, Maureen Holte, to take the position long term — but not quite offering her the position. In part this was because contrarian Board member Marcia Ward wouldn’t go along with the majority unless Holte be interviewed formally. Other Board members called Ward silly. noting that Holte has been running the county with the interim title since 2021. Before that she was the assistant county administrator and personnel director for 30 years. Said Board member Chris Meyer: “I think we have worked with Maureen for a long time. Maureen has proven herself.”
Holte. Talks under way about offering her top job running Winona County government. Scope: 250 employees, $70 million budget. Salary: $133,000 a year.
Record of failed searches
The Board hired a consulting. firm to organize a national search when Ken Fritz retired in 2021.The first round produced no candidates to the liking of a Board majority. In the second round, one applicant was offered the position but turned it down. Head-hunting consultant Pat Melvin recommended against going right away for a third round. The undercurrent in county government circles was that word was getting around that the Board was not only often sharply divided but hard to work with. Melvin, the recruiter, put it this way: “I don’t think you would have a good turnout for a third recruitment.” Melvin suggested Holte as a viable option.
Holte waffled on job
Holte applied to be county administrator in 2015 but lost to Ken Fritz, an outsider. Holte did not apply in the first recruiting rounds after Fritz retired, although some Board members approached her to do so. Nor did she apply in the second also unsuccessful round. Now, however, Holte has expressed interest anew.
Earlier: Next county administrator: Still up in air
Earlier: Search for Winona County exec on hold
Earlier: Ex-city manager seeks top county job
Walz: ”Happy days are here again”
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Governor Tim Walz promised that Minnesotans will see an era of progress the next two years. Speaking at his swearing-in ceremony, Walz, a Democrat, noted that voters created a “trifecta” in the November elections – Democratic control of the Senate, the House and the executive branch. ‘The era of gridlock in St. Paul is over,” he said. The Democratic agenda, he said, will emphasize education, expand access to childcare and healthcare, and create better housing and economic security. There will be strides on women’s reproductive rights and gun legislation, he said.
R.I.P.: Lois Krause
WINONA, Minn. – Lois F. Krause, 82, of Winona, who worked for the J.R. Watkins household goods company, died at home. She also worked at the family automobile and Jeep dealership. She was a graduate of Winona High School.
Detail: Watkowski-Mulyck Funeral Home
1940-2022
Eau Claire ski-jump tournament relocated
EAU CLAIRE, Wis.—The 91st Flying Eagles Invitational ski jump competition will be Sunday but not at the traditional Silver Hill Mine site. Because repairs are needed at Silver Hill, the invitational will be in Eau Claire itself at iMount Washington. The Flying Eagles coach, Nick Mattoon, said the new 180-foot Mount Washington run will be limited to a national qualifying even for juniors. Temporarily, he said, juniors and building for next Eau Claire jumpers.
Earlier: Landmark ski jump needful of repair
Silver Mine profile
Silver Mine has been home to the Flying Eagles Ski Club for over 130 years. It’s believed that there were only two sports in Eau Claire in 1885 — ski jumping and log rolling. Fans today stay warm around the bonfires, eat and drink local foods, and kick back in the heated tents at the base.
No prosecution against Byron poll judges
ROCHESTER, Minn. – The Olmsted County attorney, Mark Ostrem, said two Byron election judges, Margaret Sherman and Frederick Nolting, will not be charged with wrong-doing. Evidence was insufficient, Ostrem said. The allegations involved the August 2022 primary election. Sherman was reported to have run a report off a voting machine and taken the copy home. Nolting was reported to have attempted to break into secure internet connections to voting machines.
Analysis: Finstad’s pseudo-testing of voter views
WASHINGTON – The newly elected southern Minnesota member of Congress, Brad Finstad, already is eyeing re-election in 2024. He sent a mailer to constituents that purports to be a solicitation of their views. In actuality the mailer is a GOP boilerplate tool to assemble an email list of possible campaign donors next time around. The mailer asks for an email address and phone number with a detachable return-mail postcard. The mailer’s purports, however, to seek a sample of voter views through a check-off list of issues: “What issues matter most to you?” But that’s a ruse. Consider: these items from a list of issues with a binary checkbox for each:
> Second Amendment. Pointless as a yea-nay option. Everybody favors the Second Amendment, The issue is whether the amendment should be interpreted to allow unlimited availability of firearms or common-sense limits or some middle ground. Finstad isn’t measuring where constituents come down on the issue.
> Protecting the unborn. As a category, a yes-no response offers no opportunity for intelligent constituent feedback for Finstad. The binary option misses the nuanced complexity and sophistication of the abortion debate as it has evolved.
> Taxes. How can this be an intelligent yea or nay check-off category? Isn’t the question about taxes always what are the taxes for?
Other yea-nay options: Government spending? Illegal immigration? Inflation? Medicare? National security? Social Security? The mindlessness of the mailer bespeaks its purpose not as an honest query for constituent thinking but an early-onset 2024 campaign fund-raising device.
Finstad. Elected in August 2022 to fill the MN-1 seat created by the death of Jim Hagedorn. Elected to a full two-year term in November 2022.
Meaningless survey. The mailer was funded for Postal Service delivery from the congressman’s tax-funded franking account. Images: Steve Lunde
Front side. Expensively printed, glossy slick paper, full color on thick stock.
Although car parked, drunken-driving charged
WINONA, Minn. – It can’t be said, only assumed., that Kyle Thomas Nichols, 26, of Winona was driving drunk. There he was slumped over his steering wheel in a parking lot in the 150 block of West Second Street. That’s the bar district. The hour was 1:38 a.m. Police knocked on the car window, then banged. They could see the keys in the ignition. Finally Nichols stirred. He looked and smelled impaired and couldn’t walk straight, officers said. The alcohol in his blood tested 0.22%, almost triple what’s allowed by law. He was arrested for drunken driving. Although technically not driving — the car was parked — being drunk in the driver’s seat with the key in the ignition was sufficient evidence, police said.
Nichols. Key in ignition became evidence.
Woman says assaulted on way out of party
WINONA, Minn. – A Rochester man was arrested at a New Year’s party on the East End after a woman reported being molested as she was leaving. Darren Lavonne Evans, 56, was booked for fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct. The woman said Evans followed her down a hallway and encroached on her personal space. She said that she pushed him away but he came back and pinched a nipple through her shirt. To police Evans denied the incident. A hallway security camera, however, corroborated the woman’s account, police said. This was in the 600 block of Mankato Avenue. Police, meanwhile, had found Evans was carrying 0.28 grams of marijuana.
Evans. Visiting from Rochester and partying.
UM Board again in ethics imbroglio
MINNEAPOLIS – The brouhaha over University of Minnesota President Joan Gabel taking a second job with a university insurance carrier isn’t the first ethics quagmire that the current UM Board of Regents has gotten itself into. Last summer the regents appointed one of their fellow members — retired Duluth business executive David McMillan — as interim chancellor at UM -Duluth despite his lack of academic background. The criticism: The regents have become an Ol’ Boys Club that’s oblivious to perceptions of conflicts of interest.
New Minnesota minimum wage for 2023
ST. PAUL, Minn. – An inflation adjustment has kicked in for the Minnesota minimum wage. Effective January 1 the rates were adjusted to:
> $10.59 an hour for large employers.
> $8.63 for employers with $500,000 annal revenue or less.
> $8.63 for employees younger than 20 for their first 90 days.
> $8.63 if younger than 18.
Employers based in Minneapolis-St. Paul there, including state government, have separate minimums: $14.50 to $15.19.
Alpaca farm ends open-house visits
ROCHESTER, Minn. – The Pauley Alpaca Farm southeast of Rochester is discontinuing public visits. Brett Pauley, co-owner, said the company will continue manufacturing and retailing alpaca wool products. For the past 10 years, the farm has had about eight open houses a year.
Weather permitting, back to school Tuesday
ALTURA, Minn. – Just ask the kids: All good things come to an end. Well, let’s not overstate it. Most kids have the same holiday fatigue as the rest of us. They’re eager to be returning class Tuesday after an 11-day break. The holiday break ends Tuesday for Minnesota and Wisvonsin schools, including at Altura. This depends, of course, on the severity of an ice storm predicted for late Monday. A possibility: Yet another “snow day” cancellation.
Barren and still. Until Tuesday. Image: Steve Lunde
Renewed winter fury: Watch for ice, then snow
WINONA, Minn. – After a few says respite from winter’s most horrid ravages, forecasters are expecting another turn for the worse. The National Weather Service issued a southeast Minnesota storm watch beginning about 6 p.m. on Monday. In an area extending into Wisconsin and Iowa, expect widespread ice accumulations of one-10th of an inch to four-10ths mostly on the Minnesota side of the Mississippi River. The watch period extends through 6 p.m. Tuesday. On Tuesday the mixed precipitation will switch to snow.
Words over music volume lead to jail
WINONA Minn. – A Winona woman told police that she feared for her life when attacked in a fight that began over loud music. The woman said she had asked a roommate, Munira Abdikar Hassan, 25, to turn down the music. Hassan, she said, lunged at her, hands outstretched and going for her throat. A third person told police she pulled Hassan away but at that point Hassan kicked the roommate. This was about 2:15 a.m. in the 800 block of West Ninth Street. When police arrived they said the roommate’s knee was bruised. Hassan denied the assault, but a witness corroborated the story. Police booked Hassan for domestic assault.
Hassan. She likes music her way.
Odd recovery of stolen items in Rollingstone
ROLLINGSTONE, Minn. – Two stone statues shoplifted from the Treasures Under Sugar Loaf antique store in Winona were recovered at a Rollingstone house. A clerk said a woman stuffed the statues, valued at $160, in her purse and left. Deputies traced a car to a Rollingstone address, knocked on the door, and asked for Denise Colleen Fuentes, 61. She denied having the statues, turned around in the doorway, and disappeared, deputies said. Soon thereafter a man appeared and handed the statues to the deputies. A shoplifting complaint was drafted and mailed.
Treasures Under Sugar Loaf. At 1000 Sugarloaf Road.
Almanac: City of Winona payroll
WINONA, Minn. – The 2023 Winona city budget authorizes roughly the same number of employees as 2022: The equivalent of 174 full-time employees. These are the totals by major departments:
Police: 41.65.
Fire: 24.
Park maintenance: 13.15.
Sanitary sewer: 12.
Streets: 11.
Library: 10.5.
Recreation: 9.7.
Water, power and pumping: 8.0.
Finance: 7.
Inspectors: 6.5.
Recreation programs: 4.35.
Engineering: 4.35.
Central garage: 4.
Tree crew: 4.
UM president: No conflict moonlighting
MINNEAPOLIS –The president of the University of Minnesota, Joan Gabel, denied an ethics complaint that she would be serving two masters and, also, although it’s nit an ethics issue, being paid handsomely to do so. Gabel called the complaint misleading. She noted that the UM Board of Regents had approved her taking a second job as a member of the board of directors of Securian Financial. The ethics rub, say critics, is that Securian, an insurance carrier, bills the university millions or dollars a year for employee life insurance. IN shoort: Gabel would have a role, say critics, in both setting premiums and paying for them. Gabel promised, however, to recuse herself from decisions on contracts between the university and Securian. The institutional and personal sums involved are staggering:
> University of Minnesota annual budget: $4.2 billion.
> Securian assets: $1.2 trillion.
.> Securian’s annual billing to university: $4.6 million.
> Gabel’s UM salary: $800,000.
> Gabel’s Securian compensation: $130,000.
The Securian appointment was approved by UM regents in December. The vote was 9-3.
Gabel profile
Before becoming University of Minnesota president, Gabel was academic vice president at the University of South Carolina. Previously she held business school leadership roles at University of Missouri, Florida State and Georgia State. At Florida State she chaired the Department of Risk Management/Insurance.
Gabel. During her three years at UM, she has served on boards of the Minnesota Business Partnership, the Minneapolis Saint Paul Regional Economic Development Partnership, and the Council on Competitiveness.
To you a happy and prosperous year ahead
Image: Steve Lunde
A toast
May your celebration of the new year with family and friends portend all the hope for peace and prosperity you could possibly imagine.
From your friends at the Winona Journal
Party-giver: Unwanted guest persistent
WINONA, Minn. — After leaving a party, there he was at the door again at 2:14 a.m. wanting back. The woman hosting the party shut the door in his face and locked it. At that point, she said, he began kicking the door and breaking through. The woman, who said she had been assaulted by the man in the past, fled to a bedroom with friends still at the party. She locked the bedroom door and called 911. This was all in 50 block of Links Lane in the Pleasant Valley neighborhood. When police arrived, they found Bobby Darnell Green, 40, Winona, hiding in a closet. As Green was being led outside to a squad car, he tried tripping an officer but himself fell, police said.
Green. Charges include domestic assault, fleeing, and obstructing officers.
The saga of black eyed peas and New Year’s
WINONA, Minn. – Black eyed peas may be dismissed as mealy, bland rejects to Upper Midwest palates. But in the American South they’ve been valued culturally since 1865 when they came to mean survival. To this day, Southerners, especially in Georgia, start every New Year’s Day morning with black eyed peas for good luck the year ahead. The story:
He knows his peas. The iconic Norse gnome Godfrey has no roots in old Confederacy but appreciates why Southerners revere black eyed peas for breakfast on New Year’s Day. These days they’re canned or frozen in plastic bags. Image: Steve Lunde
After capturing Savannah in 1864 the Union general Tecumseh Sherman launched a 250-mile “march to the sea” to Savannah to cut off Confederate supply lines. It was a scorched earth campaign. Sherman ordered crops burned and livestock slaughtered. Militarily the campaign succeeded but at horrible civilian cost. By December people in the Union’s path were starving. There was, however, a resilient crop — the black eyed pea, which came back in time to see people through the miserable tough winter of 1864 and 1865. This humble but hardy legume, which had been mostly hog feed, saved the people from staration. To this day, black eyed peas are a Southern symbol for good luck. Every January 1 begins with a bowl of black eyed peas.
Ravages of war. After the war, in 1868, artist and engraver Alexander Hay Ritchie depicted “Sherman’s March to the Sea.”
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Holiday greeting
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