Suspects in Otsego robbery turn themselves in

Two suspects have been identified in the robbery of the Otsego branch of the Bank of Elk River Dec. 27.

Wright County sheriff deputies responded and confirmed that a single black male, later identified as Donald Anthony Jackson, 20 of St. Paul, had entered the bank and demanded money. Jackson fled the bank with an undisclosed amount of money.

Investigators were able to determine by video surveillance and witness statements that Jackson was assisted in the robbery by Kelsie Lynn Becklin, 19 of Elk River. Arrest warrants for felony simple robbery were obtained for Jackson and Becklin.

Jackson and Becklin turned themselves into authorities Dec. 29,  at approximately 4:45 pm. They are currently being held on robbery charges at the Wright County Jail.

Winsted Lake has a mysterious submerged island

The Winsted Lake Watershed Association had a global positioning system map made of Winsted Lake to identify where the curly leaf pondweed is located. It also showed the weed around a submerged island. Our family cabin is located on a lake that also has a submerged island. Submerged islands are very mysterious. It seems doubtful the island actually moved down into the water, although it’s possible. Maybe an earthquake could do it. Most likely, the top of the island eroded away, or there was an extra amount of water flowing into the lake that covered it up. It would be fun to be a scuba diver and study the island from all sides. Were there buildings on it? What wildlife hunted and lived there? Does the island have steep banks or shallow banks? How deep is the water above the highest point on the island? Now that the water in Winsted Lake is clear, maybe we can see the island from a boat on a sunny day. It sounds like a fun expedition.

“Texting” Craze

I had heard that today’s teenagers will have a higher rate of carpel tunnel when they are adults than those in the past decade. The cause being cell phone texting. It’s crazy! They seem addicted. Texting while in the movies, while eating, walking the halls at school, sitting in the bathroom, and even driving. 1st of all I’d like to remind anyone reading this that teenage cell phone use is ILLEGAL while driving!

Have you seen the cost of texting contracts, so many for this much and then each additional text is like 10 cents when you go over the limit. What teenager doesn’t go over the limit? I mean a text can contain “k” in response and cost the sender or receiver 10 cents. YES! Texting counts against the sender AND receiver! But cell phone companies are starting to help us out by offering unlimited texts. A Blessing to the pocket book but a menace to the person carrying on a verbal conversation with someone just to find out they had been reading or texting to someone else and didn’t hear a word they said.

Kewl ! 2nite kan u pik up a dubl ches burgr 4 me b4 u com hom? c u l8er.

If you didn’t get the jist of that let me translate- “ Cool! Tonight can you pick up a double cheese burger for me. See you later.” It seems that kids have cleverly found a way to avoid spelling out the whole word enabling them to get their message to the recipient quicker.

Words that consist of letters on the same key have been given their own language in the texting world saving the time it takes for the cursor to catch up. Words such as night, containing “igh”, result in nite. “kan” is quicker to key in than can. Also avoiding the double vowels, making cool, “kewl”, or look, “luk”. Another trick, dropping a silent letter, such as with “dubl” for double. And we cannot forget to mention the single letters or numbers to represent words such as C U l8er. Isn’t that cute how they replace the sound with the number 8.

While I am all for proper grammar, formal spelling on formal documents, and the proper use of the English language, I see no harm in this texter’s lingo and I have to admit “texters” are creative.

On a negative note.  Cell phone texting can be quite rude if one lets it be.  As I mentioned above, when someone is talking to you, put the cell phone away!

So tell me what you think!

Snowplow accident in Winsted

By Ivan Raconteur
Staff Writer
A 1992 Ford snowplow owned by the City of Winsted and driven by John Henry Schlechter, 37, of Winsted struck a parked and unoccupied 2001 Subaru owned by Gary Hansen of Lombard, Ill. on Christmas Day, according to the McLeod County Sheriff’s Office.
The incident took place on Northgate Drive north of Northgate Circle.
Schlechter was not injured, and each vehicle sustained less than $1,000 in damage, according to the report.

Bank robbed in Otsego

A single male suspect entered the Ostego Branch of the Bank of Elk River and demanded money from a teller and an undetermined amount of money was stolen Dec. 27, according to the Wright County Sheriff’s Office.

No weapon was used or implied. The suspect left the scene and it is unknown whether he left on foot or in a vehicle. The robbery is being investigated by the Wright County Sheriff’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Wright County Sheriff’s Office was assisted by the Minnesota State Patrol and the Elk River Police Department.

McLeod County looks at options for structurally deficient bridge near LP

The bridge across the crow river on McLeod County Road 84 south of Lester Prairie was closed Dec. 7 due to “serious deficiencies in the superstructure,” according to McLeod County Engineer John Brunkhorst.

Brunkhorst said the bridge will not reopen, and the county is looking at funding options for replacement of the bridge.

No bridge bonding funds are currently available, and Brunkhorst said he hopes the state legislature will consider a bridge bonding bill early in the session, which begins Feb. 12.

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