Newsletter: Tuesday, September 18th 2018
NEWS
--More than 650 deploying Soldiers of the Minnesota National Guard’s 34th Red Bull Infantry Division Headquarters, their family members and friends will gather for a deployment departure event at the Legendary Roy Wilkins Auditorium in Saint Paul on Thursday with the ceremony beginning at 3:30pm. After a month of training at Fort Hood, Texas, the deploying Soldiers will be primarily stationed at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait until their return home in late July 2019. The Division's mission is command and control within Operation Spartan Shield, which builds partner capacity in the Middle East, promotes regional self-reliance and increased security,” said Division Chief of Staff, Army Col. Simon Schaefer. The Division will be responsible for operations in approximately 10 countries. The deploying Soldiers come from more than 220 communities across Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, North and South Dakota, and several other states.
–Rescue crews responded to Quarry Park and Nature Preserve on Saturday afternoon at about 4:00pm after a four year old girl had gone under water. Police Chief Dave Bentrud says the girl was pulled out of the water by another swimmer who started CPR until officers arrived. The Stearns County Sheriff's Department says Nathan Sisk of Foley heard the mother of the girl yell that her daughter was drowning. Sisk ordered everyone out of the water. Then he asked strong swimmers to go back in the water and look for her. A number of people started searching. Jason Weber of Elk River found the girl in 10 to 15 feet of water. The girl was brought to St. Cloud Hospital with a pulse. Hazel Dobbs was listed in critical condition.
--The Staples-Motley School District is considering a $60 million referendum to renovate its elementary school and build additions onto it to bring elementary, middle and high school students under one roof. Superintendent Ron Bratlie presented information about the plan at Monday’s meeting of the Motley City Council. The decision to look into updating the district’s schools came after hearing from the community, parents, students and staff, as well as looking at maintenance costs and issues with current buildings and seeing 300 students exit the district through open enrollment. If the school board approves the referendum vote it would not take place until May of 2019. Other central Minnesota schools have referendum votes coming up on the November general election ballot.
--A one year old was hurt when the H-Haul truck he was riding in crashed. The Minnesota State Patrol says it happened at about 11:30 p.m. Sunday on westbound Interstate 94 at Stearns County Road 2, in St. Joseph Township. The driver, 40-year-old Yvonne Pahn of Broomall, Pennsylvania swerved to avoid a deer, struck a guard rail, and came to a stop on the left shoulder. Pahn was not hurt.. Raphel Yaney (age 1) of Broomall was taken to St. Cloud Hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Two other kids in the truck were not hurt.
--St. Cloud firefighters responded to a house with smoke in a second-floor bedroom around 5:00am Monday. Crews pulled the ceiling to extinguish fire that was found in the attic. No one was hurt and one resident was displaced by the fire located at 506 Fifth Avenue South in St. Cloud. The building is described as a "rooming house" in the report. It's next to the St. Cloud State University Community Garden. The cause of the fire is still under investigation. The cost of the damage was not yet available.
--Morrison County Kids Day September 29th 9-11:30 at Fairgounds.
--A suspect(s) is damaging mailboxes in Morrison County. Morrison County Sheriff Shawn Larsen says about 36 mailboxes were damaged at homes along Nature Road, Partridge Road, and Highway 15 in Buckman, Morrill and Hillman Townships. Larsen says the incidents happened between 11:30pm Saturday and 7:00am Sunday. Larsen said the mailboxes were smashed with pumpkins and wooden objects. Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call the Morrison County Sheriff's Office at 320-632-9233.
--A Holdingford man was taken to the hospital after running a stop sign, and hitting a tree in Bellevue Township, near Royalton. The Morrison County Sheriff's Office says around 6:45pm Sunday, 46-year old Eugene Loehrer was heading west on 83rd Street. Loehrer's car went through the stop sign at the intersection with Hilton Road, went into the ditch and hit a tree. Loehrer was brought to St. Cloud Hospital via ambulance with unknown injuries.
--Work continues on the Little Falls Dam on the Mississippi River. On Saturday the water was lowered for maintenance to be done. The work should be completed today (if not already), and the water level should be back to normal by September 22nd.
--More than 100 snowplow operators from the Minnesota Department of Transportation, the cities of Minneapolis and Rochester, and Scott County are training during the next two weeks at Camp Ripley near Little Falls to learn how to safely and effectively plow snow. Although most of the training takes place at Camp Ripley, motorists are advised that snowplows may be seen on Highway 10. MnDOT’s snowplow operator training program, known as SPOT, is a two-week session that highlights a variety of safety measures, plowing techniques and best practices. The session provides trainees with updates on new equipment, policies and procedures related to winter highway maintenance operations. As part of SPOT, MnDOT maintenance supervisors and other staff provide classroom and hands-on training and share their experience and insights with the trainees. MnDOT will conduct a second SPOT session October15-19 and October 22-26, where an additional 60 MnDOT snowplow operators will be trained. MnDOT has trained more than 1,900 snowplow operators since the training began in 2004.
DEATH NOTICES
--Maggie Kegg, age 90 of Onamia.