NEWS
--17 students from Little Falls participated in the annual Minnesota DECA State Conference March 4th-6th in Minneapolis. Over 2,000 students from across the state competed in the areas of entrepreneurship, finance, hospitality, marketing and other related fields. The competitions are designed to simulate real life business scenarios and test students' academic understanding and skills development. Students from Little Falls advancing to the International competition are: Anthony Vetter, Kailey Ginter, and Trinity Roering in Entrepreneurship Promotion Project; Mason Dempsey and Allie Steinmetz in Financial Literacy Promotion; Elizabeth Johnson in Public Relations Project; Connor Peterschick and Connor Gradin in School-based Enterprise. These students will travel to Atlanta, Georgia to compete with 20,000 top students from around the world.
--38-year old Jason Frederick Harrison of Pierz, has been sentenced to 41 months in prison after being convicted of Criminal Sexual Conduct in the Third Degree. Morrison County District Court Judge Douglas P. Anderson imposed the sentence on Wednesday also ordering Harrison to register as a Predatory Sex Offender and provide a DNA sample for storage and comparison. On February 16th, 2016 a child victim reported being abused by Jason Harrison on multiple occasions. The victim reported the abuse began at 12 years of age. The abuse occurred in the cities of Buckman and Pierz. Following the initial report, a Morrison county social worker and Investigator Rekstad of the Morrison County Sheriff’s Office took a statement from Harrison in which he admitted sexually abusing the victim. The Defendant plead guilty on January 8th, 2018. At the sentencing, the Defense argued that he should receive treatment and local jail time. The State argued for an executed prison sentence noting that the defendant continued to blame the victim for his crime. Judge Anderson imposed the prison sentence recommended by the prosecution and community corrections. The Judge noted that the Defendant showed no remorse and was not fully cooperative in the pre-sentencing process. The victim delivered a statement in court before sentencing. Assistant County Attorney Todd Kosovich said after the hearing, “The victim showed great courage, first in reporting the abuse, and then today when they appeared in court in front of the defendant during the sentencing hearing.” County Attorney Brian Middendorf said, “These types of cases are very difficult to prosecute. I want to thank law enforcement for their efforts in making this a successful prosecution".
--A Waite Park man has been arrested for allegedly assaulting an infant. Waite Park Police Chief Dave Bentrud says officers responded to a medical emergency in the 1200 block of 7th Street South at about 10:15pm Wednesday. Officers found a six month old child unconscious and having difficulty breathing. The baby was taken to St. Cloud Hospital and later to HCMC in Minneapolis. Bentrud says a follow-up investigation determined the child was suffering from non-accidental brain trauma and remains in critical condition. 21-year old Cody Anderson has been arrested and is facing possible charges of Assault in the First Degree.
--Kinship of Morrison County has their Soup and Chili cook-off for Kids on March 27th. If you wish to participate in the cook-off for your business or organization contact Aaron Olson at 632-8806.
Remember to Spring Ahead 1 Hour, Sunday at 2am.
--A 37-year old from Little Falls injured in an accident Thursday just after 8:30am on Highway 71 in Todd County. Stacy Pedley struck the back of a semi that was turning into a business. Pedley had non life threatening injuries. The semi-driver 54-year old James Mugg was not injured in the accident.
--On Wednesday Brainerd Police received information regarding a student making verbal threats to commit a shooting at Brainerd High School. Police reacted immediately to the information and quickly identified a 16-year old male suspect. He was located and taken into custody without incident around 11:00pm Wednesday. Because this matter involves a juvenile, no other information is available at this time. Authorities have no reason to believe that any others were involved with this threat. The Brainerd Police Department wants to remind all students and parents regarding the seriousness of making any type of threats about our schools. All reports like this will be investigated and requested to be prosecuted. Anyone with information regarding this case should call the Brainerd Police Dept.
--Cass County this week announced that a Bemidji man found dead at the International Eelpout Festival on February 25th in Walker died of accidental carbon monoxide poisoning. 21-year old Sam Schooley’s body was found in a fish house on Leech Lake. Schooley was taken to a hospital in Park Rapids, where he was pronounced dead.
--Foley is looking to fill a vacant city council seat after councilman Brian Weis died in January. Weis served on the council since 2012. He had over two years remaining on his term. The city will be holding a special election in November to fill his seat. The council will appoint someone to the position before the special election in November. The city will be taking applicants for the open seat until March 23rd. Applicants will be discussed in April with a recommendation being made at the meeting to fill the position by mid April.
--A busy weekend of events includes many fish frys tonight, including Sons of American Legion fundraiser fish fry at the LF Legion, Pierz Pizzazz soup fundraiser Saturday, Royalton bean bag tournament Saturday, Crane Meadows Habitat day on Saturday, KC Brunch in Randall Sunday, Holy Trinity Carnival in Pierz Sunday, pork chop dinner at Our Lady of Lourdes Sunday, Little Falls massed band concert Monday night, Royalton grades 5-12 also has their band concert on Monday night at 7pm, plus many more events this weekend can be found on community calendar at fallsradio.com.
DEATH NOTICES
--Lucille Sowers, age 80 of Poplar.
--Aja Maurer, age 34 of Rice.
WEATHER
TODAY= partly cloudy, high 33, snow after midnight, low 21.
SATURDAY= snow early, rain/snow in afternoon, high 36, low 17.
SUNDAY= light snow early, then sunny in PM hours, high 36, low 22.
MONDAY= sunny skies, high 35, low around 15.
SPORTS
PARA= Kimball native Mike Schultz has been named the flag bearer for Team USA at the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Winter Games tonight. Schultz is one of the top snowboarders in the world.
BBB= Royalton, Upsala, Swanville, Foley and Holdingford all lost last night in boys basketball playoffs.