NEWS --Around 11:45pm Monday the Morrison County Sheriff’s Office received a call of a suspicious vehicle which deputies located at the Pow Wow Grounds, west of Royalton on Nature Road. While deputies were investigating this matter, the male suspect fled in the vehicle and led them on a pursuit ending near the city of Rice. Deputies were able to determine that the license plate on the vehicle involved had been altered with black tape and was found to be stolen out of St Cloud. 36-year old Matthew Bellanger of St Cloud was arrested and is being held in Morrison County Jail pending formal charges. Morrison County Sheriff Shawn Larsen wants residents to continue to call in any suspicious activity. In this particular case, the Sheriff’s Office was able to arrest a suspect who had multiple warrants and was in possession of a stolen vehicle.
--The Little Falls City Council met on Monday night. At the meeting the council approved a conditional use permit for a potential Aldi grocery store to be put in on 18th street NE. The council also accepted a $2,500 grant to support the feasibility study of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway railroad crossing on Trunk Highway 27, which has hampered business development and growth on the western side of Little Falls. This study will analyze the alternatives to minimize this barrier. The council approved a liquor request on the Rock the Park event June 29th. A request from a resident to have a stop sign installed on 4th Avenue and 7th Street SW was denied. The Little Falls City Council will meet again on July 3rd.
--The Royalton School District will be searching for a new superintendant. Current Superintendant Jon Ellerbusch is resigning effective June 30th. He has accepted the position of Director of Finances and Human Resources for North Branch Area Schools.
--A major road project is planned in Little Falls for Trunk Highway 27 in 2019. The 2019 road improvement project from west of 15th Street West to 9th Street East will address the need for upgrades and repairs to the road and infrastructure. The project will reconstruct Trunk Highway 27 from 6th Street West to 2nd Street East, which includes work on underground utilities, sidewalks and other infrastructure. The road pavement will also be resurfaced on both the west and east end segments of Trunk Highway 27. A public open house on this project is scheduled for Thursday, June 29th, from 6:00pm to 7:30pm at the Little Falls City Hall.
--A Stearns County jury last week found a St. Cloud man not guilty of attempted murder and assault for shooting another man in the chest during a fight. 54-year old Herbert Owen Campbell shot 36-year old Enrique Lopez Perez in late March in the driveway of a Waite Park home, nearly killing him. Lopez Perez lost consciousness and stopped breathing on the way to St. Cloud Hospital and had to be revived. He did recover. Campbell argued he shot Lopez Perez in self-defense after a fight in which Lopez Perez lunged at Campbell. The jury deliberated for almost six hours before reaching its verdict. Campbell had been charged with attempted second-degree murder and first-degree assault.
--The Little Falls Dam Festival raffle winners were $1,000 to Greg Zylka; $500 to Pete Wetzel; $250 to Tim Witucki; $100 to Amby Bzdok; and $50 to Shantel Trutwin.
--Today is officially the first day of summer as the Summer Solstice occurred at 11:24pm last night in the central time zone.
--Two people were hurt Monday around 8:30pm on Highway 238 in Upsala. 47-year old Sheila Brezinka of Upsala was exiting her vehicle when a motorcycle driven by 34-year old Daniel Halonen of St. Cloud struck the back of the parked car and then struck Brezinka. Both were taken to St. Cloud Hospital for treatment of their injuries.
--A Sauk Rapids man is accused of raping a woman Friday at her workplace in Sartell. 42-year old Simon Peter Lwiza made his first court appearance Tuesday on the charge of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and was ordered held in lieu of $400,000 bail by a Stearns County District Court Judge. A sexual assault examination at St. Cloud Hospital revealed bruising to the victim's neck, legs and other injuries consistent with a sexual assault.
--Quick action by employees at the Holiday Stationstore off of Dellwood Drive in Baxter may have kept an already serious situation from becoming a gas station nightmare. A worker at the store said around 2:00pm Monday, a gas pump ignited into fire. A woman, who was at the gas pump, accidentally hit the gas pedal instead of the brake, starting the fire. When workers saw the smoke and yelled fire and asked everyone to move their vehicles. There were two other vehicles near the gas pumps. There were about a dozen firefighters on scene. No one was injured from the fire.
--A 54-year-old Prior Lake man was killed Saturday after the Harley Davidson he was driving collided with a deer on West Winnie Road, also known as Cass County Road 91, in rural Bena. The Cass County Sheriff's Office was called at 5:40pm. to the motorcycle crash. Upon arrival, authorities learned a group of motorcycles were travelling north on County 91 when a deer ran onto the roadway striking the motorcycle, throwing its driver off the machine. The driver, Glen Sass, was treated on scene and transported to a Fargo Hospital, where he died from injuries sustained from the crash.
--The Todd County Breakfast on the Farm is this Saturday at the Hengemuhle Dairy Farm which was started in 1913. Todd County’s “Breakfast on the Farm,” Saturday is from 10:00am to 2:00pm. Parking available at CHS Prairie Lakes Co-op at 20298 US Highway 71 in Long Prairie and buses will transport visitors to the farm.
DEATH NOTICE --Bernard “Bernie” Gallus, age 79 of Royalton
WEATHER TODAY= partly cloudy, showers & storms in afternoon, high 78. TONIGHT= showers and storms before midnight, cloudy, low 55. THURSDAY= partly cloudy, showers in afternoon, high 75, low 52. FRIDAY= sunny and breezy, chance of T-storms late, high near 70.
SPORTS TWINS= a wild game between White Sox and Twins last with a lot of long balls. Vergas and Sano went deep for the Twins as they hold on to a 9-7 win over Chicago. The Twins (35-33) and White Sox play game 2 tonight 6:30pm on Q92 WYRQ. VL= Sobieski vs. Raymond a rematch from last years' Class C State Championship game will take place this Saturday at Target Field in Minneapolis. Hear the action Saturday at 10am on AM960 KLTF. LYNX= after their first loss of the season last Saturday, the Lynx will host Washington Friday night and San Antonio on Sunday at the XCEL Energry Center in St. Paul to get back on the winning track