Two Coach buses full of National Guard soldiers returning home Wednesday were welcomed home as they were escorted to their home base in Litchfield. Nearly 100 soldiers of the 849th Mobility Augmentation Company came through Cokato around 11:45 a.m. and escorted through town by the Cokato Fire Department. Meeker County Sheriff’s deputies met the buses near the high school were they were then escorted to Litchfield. Signs of the returning soldiers lined the roads from Howard Lake to Litchfield. Pictured are the employees of Paisley Consulting waiting for the soldiers to come through Cokato.
Monthly Archive for April, 2008
Thanks to generous contributions from the City of Darwin, Lions Club, and the Community Club, Darwin will soon be getting signs along Highway 12 entering the town. The signs will be done by Darwin Monument. It is yet to be determined when the signs will be up, but the ball is rolling on the project. Currently, the only signs signifying it’s a town is the “If you lived in Darwin, you’d be home now.”
The accident that took the life of a Maple Plain man recently (initially reported as from Plymouth by the State Patrol) south of Winsted was counted as one of nine deaths in 10 days that were attributed the lack of seat belt usage by the State Patrol, according to a report just released. Continue reading ‘McLeod accident is counted as one of 9 fatalities in 10 days’
Erik Haapala of Dassel and two others from the 7th Congressional District were elected delegates April 19 to the Republican National Convention in St. Paul in September.
The other two delegates are Nancy Haapoja of Redwood Falls and Gus Booth of Warroad. The alternate delegates are Michael Barrett of Browerville, Arles Cumpala of New York Mills and Brent Frazier of Pelican Rapids.
Glen Menze of Starbuck was endorsed by the Republicans at the 7th District Convention in Moorhead to go up against Democrat incumbent US Rep. Collin Peterson. Menze is an accountant and former farmer. This is Menze’s second run for Congress, having lost to Peterson in 2000.
Renovation work on the Gust Akerlund Studio foundation is underway, as noted at the Cokato City Council meeting last Monday.
Work began Wednesday, and will include the front half of the building put up on jacks facing Broadway. The whole building will not be jacked up, however, said Museum Director Mike Worcester.
Before the bracing, some initial work is necessary such as disconnecting the ventilation ducting in the crawl space.
The best case scenario is that the work can be done in one month’s time, Worcester noted.
Part of the venting cost was a surprise budget wise, but Worcester hopes it will be small in nature. Council Member Butch Amundsen expressed concern about the extra cost, and that the bid was too low.
Amundsen wanted to know if more surprises would come.
Worcester built in a personal visit from each bidder into the bidding process, and made extra precautions to make sure that bidders knew what they were walking into.
This work is being paid for with a matching grant by the state.
Neither of two drivers saw each other April 11 when their vehicles collided in downtown Dassel.
Kristin Carlson of Dassel was turning her 2001 Pontiac left out of the alley next to Wells Fargo Bank onto Third Street in Dassel.
At the same time, David Hendrickson of Dassel was backing his 1999 Ford out of a parking space on Third Street. It was snowing, so the snow might have obscured the drivers’ vision, said Meeker County Sheriff’s Captain Brad Lindgren.
The vehicles collided, but no one was injured. The vehicles sustained minor damage, according to the Meeker County Sheriff’s Office.
The are five applicants for Al Dunn’s position on the Dassel city council as of Wednesday. Dunn’s position is vacant because he moved out of Dassel. The applicants are Wayne Medcraft, Sam House, Deb Suchy, former Dassel chief of police Duane Benoit, and Mike Scanlon.
House attended the city council meeting April 7 and introduced himself to council members. He said he is related to the Pettit family in Howard Lake, and his wife is a nurse.
A snowmobile trailer was reported stolen April 7 from Paul Opsahl of Dassel.
The 1995 white trailer, valued at about $300, was stolen from Atlantic Avenue West, Dassel, according to the Meeker County Sheriff’s Office.
Two bodies were found at a home on Lace Avenue, two miles west of Silver Lake at 7:21 p.m. Sunday, April 13. The bodies were those of Katrin Rose Czeck, 35, and Donald Francis Czeck, 41. The initial investigation revealed Katrin died from multiple stab wounds and Donald from self-inflicted wounds, according to a McLeod County Sheriff’s Office report. According to KARE 11 News, a neighbor reported them having three children ages 8, 11, and 19. The incident is under investigation.
The Meeker County Jail’s practice of strip-searching and photographing inmates is the subject of a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court. The West Central Tribune reports County Attorney Stephanie Beckman announced during Tuesday’s county commissioners meeting that the county jail is involved in a class-action lawsuit in U.S. District Court. The lawsuit is challenging whether the county’s policies for strip-searching and photographing intimate body regions violates the 4th and 14th Amendments of the Constitution. According to the complaint filed March 31st, plaintiff Gail Lynn Simpson of Big Lake alleges that her right to be free of unreasonable searches was violated.
