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News
05/08/2008 12:00 AM
April 25
• A woman called and said a man who had been drinking wouldn’t leave her house. An officer was able to make contact with the man at his home. He said the woman had been at his home before he had gone to her home. He told the officer she had been coming over and harassing him quite a bit lately. He wanted to know about a harassment restraining order. The officer told him to contact court administration during business hours. While speaking with the man, the officer couldn’t determine if he had been drinking or not. The officer attempted to contact the woman but was unsuccessful.
• A woman had a temporary restraining order against a man and he had just called her, he said. Two calls were made from a phone she knew belonged to a friend of the man who she has the restraining order against. She recognized his voice when he called and he told her “if you quit talking about me, I’ll quit talking about you.” She then said she hung up on him. The officer was unable to find the man.
• A caller said a chocolate Lab showed up at the house sometime in the middle of the night. It had no collar and she didn’t want to let her dogs outside until that one was gone. The dog was found in the back yard and impounded.
• A chihuahua was almost run over on U.S. Highway 10. It was impounded.
April 26
• An officer stopped a vehicle that had very darkly tinted back windows. The driver said he had “no idea” why he had been stopped. He was told it was because the tint was too dark on his windows. A tint meter measured 13 percent light transmittal and Minnesota law requires at least 50 percent light transmittal. He had been warned by other officers about the same issue so he was issued a citation. He said he understood the ticket.
April 27
• A caller said the neighbors were asked to turn down the music in their vehicle and they turned it up. An officer responded and spoke to two men. They were installing a stereo system in a vehicle. They agreed to keep the music down and were cooperative.
• A caller reported a suspicious blue vehicle with two men parked by some storage units. The vehicle had been there earlier in the afternoon. An officer spoke with them. A man was retrieving items from a storage bin. He had grabbed the wrong key earlier and now returned with the correct key. Everything was OK.
• A caller said a small silver two-door car was stuck on top of Toby’s Hill. It was gone when an officer arrived.
April 28
• Officers were dispatched at about 9:28 p.m. to a domestic situation at an apartment. A woman said she wanted her keys back from a man and he wouldn’t give them back. She also said she wanted a harassment restraining order against him. The officer went to talk with the man and noticed he had a cut above his left eye that was bleeding. He said everything was good and he was fine. He said the woman came over and was playing cards with him and two other men. They began arguing and pushed each other. Then, her brother punched him in the face. He said everything was “cool,” though. The man said the officer could check the apartment for the keys but he couldn’t find them. Since the keys couldn’t be found, the woman was told to leave and not return to the apartment. Later, the woman called law enforcement again and said the man had called her six times and told her he was going to have his brother come up from the Cities and “shoot the house up.” An officer spoke with the man and told him not to have any contact with the woman.
April 29
• A woman reported a damaged screen door on the south side of the house. It appeared someone pried open the hinges. There was no other damage.
April 30
• An anonymous caller requested an animal welfare check. An officer went to see a brown-brindle colored pit bull tied up at a home. The dog had adequate food, water and shelter. The leash was about four feet long. The officer didn’t have reason to believe the pit bull was being neglected.
• A woman said she had been jogging with her two dogs when a black Schnauzer came running after them in the street. An officer was going to make contact with the property owner and attempt to find the owner of the dog. The woman said she has encountered other dogs running loose in the area. She was encouraged to call when she sees the dogs so officers can make contact with the owners.
• A man reported that a ladder was taken off his work pickup truck. Someone had cut the nylon rope that held the ladder to the pickup.
May 1
• An officer ticketed a vehicle for partially blocking the cross walk near an intersection by the Wadena-Deer Creek school. A courtesy ticket had been written to the driver for the same violation on April 23. This time, an administration citation was issued and placed on the windshield.
• A woman said a man whom she had an active harassment order against kept calling her. Each time he calls she answers and carries on brief conversations with him. She gave a phone number that she said the man called from but when the officer tried to call the number, it said the number was not reachable.
• An officer stopped a vehicle for traveling above the speed limit. The vehicle also didn’t have a front license plate and the windows were very dark.
May 2
• A woman who had a warrant out for her arrest was seen walking in Wadena at about 4:23 a.m. The woman was arrested and taken to the Wadena County Jail.
May 3
• An officer stopped a vehicle at about 1:23 a.m. for making a wide right hand turn and almost hitting the north curb as he made the turn. The vehicle didn’t have any tail lights. The driver smelled of alcohol and his speech was slurred. The man said he was going to Wadena but then said he lived in Hewitt and was going home. He said he was lost and got turned around and didn’t know where he was. He performed field sobriety tests and was arrested for DWI.
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05/08/2008 12:00 AM
April 27
• A man was backing out of a parking lot and hit a parked car at about 1:18 p.m. He said it happened about an hour before. He tried to knock on the police department front door but no one answered. He said he debated about calling on Monday because he didn’t know whose car he had hit. An officer checked the license plate and found the owner. Photos were taken. There were no injuries reported. He hit a rearview mirror and scratched her driver’s door.
April 29
• A driver was attempting to cross the intersection of U.S. Highway 71 and Aldrich Avenue and didn’t see a vehicle that was traveling on the road. The driver of the second vehicle didn’t have time to react and hit the vehicle. The damage to the passenger side of the vehicle was severe. The other vehicle sustained moderate damage to the front end. The woman didn’t have insurance on the vehicle and she was cited. The vehicle was towed. No injuries were reported.
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05/08/2008 12:00 AM
A group of local woodcarvers have whittled a niche in the social life of the Senior Citizen Center in downtown Wadena. From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Thursday, a tiny basement room serves as the headquarters for an informal gathering of eight to 10 regulars to bond over carving, conversation and coffee.
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05/08/2008 12:00 AM
The Minnesota Court of Appeals dismissed the final criminal complaint filed against a mother who left her daughter on the side of the road, which she said was tough love punishment.
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05/08/2008 12:00 AM
Zosel probes Wadena’s news oddities
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05/08/2008 12:00 AM
Filmmaker’s documentary probes people’s special bond with the lake
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Pastors’ Appreciation Breakfast |
05/08/2008 12:00 AM
The 22nd annual Pastors’ Appreciation Breakfast was on May 1 at St. John Lutheran Church (Missouri Synod).
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05/08/2008 12:00 AM
Wadena Soil and Water Conservation District has a new Haybuster no-till drill to rent to area farmers, replacing a 15-year-old drill.
No-till farming has many benefits, said Molly Costin, district technician for SWCD.
“It helps reduce erosion and preserve soil quality,” she said.
A no-till drill requires fewer passes in the field to save time and money as well.
With the size of most farms in this area, it makes more sense to rent a drill rather than buy a new drill, Costin said. It has become popular for many farmers and 30 people were signed up to use the drill as of last week, she said.
The drill works well for planting native grasses, as well as soy beans and alfalfa.
For more information about renting the no-till drill, call Costin at the SWCD office at (218) 631-3195.
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05/08/2008 12:00 AM
A special meeting of the Wadena County Commissioners will be held at 9 a.m. on Thursday, May 8, at the Wadena County Highway Department, 221 Harry and Rich Dr., Wadena.
The purpose of the meeting will be to review the Wadena County road system during the annual “Road Tour.”
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05/08/2008 12:00 AM
Robert Schafer, 54, of Staples is the new Central Lakes Ag Center director. He replaces retired Norm Krause.
Schafer owns a farm two miles west of Staples and is involved with his parents’ farm near Clarissa.
“My first goal is to not break what Norm has so successfully built,” said Schafer, who also said he values the experience of employees under his supervision — Shirley Judd, Ron Nelson, and Shelly Johnson.
“I have a vested interest in and a love for this area,” he said. “I look forward to building a good working relationship with colleagues and using our combined resources to keep the Ag Center strong and contributing to the economy of the Staples area.”
Schafer has worked in education and industry for almost 30 years, including Pine River. From 1979-82, he worked for the Heartland Co-Op Center and started an agriculture program for the Pine River School District. One of the courses he taught was the production of ethanol fuel.
More recently he has been a volunteer with Wadena Ag Alternatives, a group exploring the potential for cellulosic ethanol using crop residue, switch grass and woody materials.
Schafer is a 1979 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, with a BS in agricultural education. He studied ethanol production in 2002 course at Minnesota West Technical College in Granite Falls.
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05/08/2008 12:00 AM
Skogen to Serve as Keynote Speaker
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05/08/2008 12:00 AM
Butler Township, in northeast Otter Tail County, will celebrate its 125th year of existence on Saturday, July 26, at the Holy Cross Church grounds in Butler. The one-day event will start with a picnic-style lunch at noon.
The day will be filled with old-fashioned children’s games, horseshoe tournament, buggy rides, old-time photo taking and a parade.
Music will be provided all day by local musical talents featuring jazz, bluegrass, country-western, and rock ‘n roll.
Butler history will come to life through a display of old pictures and antique machinery exhibits.
The day will conclude with a show of fireworks at dusk.
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05/08/2008 12:00 AM
Butler’s 125th year celebration is July 26, and organizers are looking for more entries for the parade.
Contact Cheech at (218) 385-3143 or Bette at rbruther@lakesplus.com
Organizers are also looking for vintage/old fashion clothes that people can wear for a photo taking project. Contact Dan Schik at (218) 385-3307 or da_schik@hotmail.com.
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05/08/2008 12:00 AM
The annual meeting of the New York Mills Regional Cultural Center was held on Tuesday, April 22. Five new board members joined the board of the 19-year-old non-profit arts organization.
Newly elected to the board of directors are Bill Warner and Victoria McWane-Creek of New York Mills. Warner is a member of the New York Mills City Council and McWane-Creek is employed at the Community Action Council. Also elected were Gillette Kempf, owner of the Borealis Book Store in Wadena, the Rev. John Husband of Detroit Lakes, priest at St. Helen’s Episcopal Church in Wadena, and Manley Nichols of rural Henning.
Toni Ebner of rural New York Mills and Todd Cameron, New York Mills school superintendent, completed their terms of service on the organization.
Continuing as directors of the organization are Trisha McCarthy, Perham, Mary Harrison, Sebeka, Rebecca Imsande, Randy Clarksean, Elisa Korenne, Chris Klein, Pam Robinson, and Alice Martin, all of New York Mills.
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05/08/2008 12:00 AM
The Verndale School along with the Educational Advisory Committee will be hosting a substance abuse educational forum on Tuesday, May 13. “What’s Driving You: The Forum Against Drinking and Driving” focuses specifically on drinking and driving awareness among youth. Included with the forum is a mock accident presentation being held at a 1:30 p.m. school assembly. The mock accident will demonstrate to the student body in a realistic format the resulting consequences of a car accident caused by drinking and driving. It was developed with assistance from the Tri-County Hospital Emergency Medical Services Team and Roxy Hejhal, Tri-County Healthcare community relations manager. Parents are invited and encouraged to attend the mock accident. In addition to the afternoon accident presentation, Stephen E. Davis, M.D., will be speaking with parents and students at a 7 p.m. evening forum. The topics for discussion with Davis include information regarding the short- and long-term effects of drinking related to an individual’s health and to actual brain development. Students in grades 7-12 will be given extra credit points for their attendance. Childcare will be provided during the evening forum by the Verndale PEP Club staff and the West Jolly Jets 4-H Club.
The “What’s Driving You” forum will be held in conjunction with the Verndale Pirate Enrichment Program Club Family Fun Night. “Hoots and Toots” will be the focus for students in grades K-6.
Family Fun Night will begin at 5 p.m. There will be a light dinner in the school cafeteria, followed by ambulance, fire truck, police emergency vehicles, Wadena County Posse, and the “Whopper Hopper” for younger children to enjoy.
New to the May Family Fun Night is the First Annual Ethnic Fest. The Verndale Foreign Exchange students will be hosting the event in the Verndale School Library from 5-7 p.m. The students will share stories of their culture and home countries with booths, pictures and slide show presentations.
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Band and choir concertWadena-Deer Creek Band Director Lisa Weniger directs the fifth grade band in playing “Primus.” From left, Anissa Mench on clarinet, Kaitlin Wegscheid on bass clarinet, Autumn Jahnke on flute, Kristy Ament on flute and Morgan Zeise on flute.
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05/08/2008 12:00 AM
More than 450 men took part in Tri-County Health Care’s eighth annual “Men’s Nite Out” health-education program on April 29 at Memorial Auditorium in Wadena.
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05/08/2008 12:00 AM
Charter Communications, Inc. announced the launch of Charter Telephone covering Nisswa, Fergus Falls, Aitkin, Park Rapids, Crosby, Ironton, Wadena, Staples, Deerwood, Browerville, Long Prairie, offering customers a new choice for residential telephone service. For more information, go to
www.charter.com.
Charter currently serves more than 1 million telephone customers nationwide, and Charter Telephone is now available to over 9 million homes, with additional launches of the service planned.
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05/08/2008 12:00 AM
The Minnesota Department of Transportation has announced that seasonal load limits will end at 12:01 a.m. on May 13 for the central, north central and north frost zones of the state. The south and south eastern frost zones, seasonal load limits will end at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday, May 8, and at 12:01 a.m. and in the Twin Cities metro area on Friday, May 9. For more information please go to the Mn/DOT Web site at: www.mrr.dot.state.mn.us/research/seasonal_load_limits.
Mn/DOT, along with counties and cities, limit truck weights in the spring to reduce damage to roadways during the spring thaw. As the ground thaws in the spring the road subgrades become saturated and weaken. The road sub-grades need time to drain and dry out to reach their full strength.
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05/08/2008 12:00 AM
Augustus Aspinwall snow-shoed to Old Wadena to make his fortune, and had visions of a railroad depot, steamboat landing, town square and 1,500 lots.
Learn about the history of Old Wadena with University of Minnesota Professor of Anthropology Guy Gibbon, along with local historians John Crandall and Mary Harrison, at 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 10.
To get to Old Wadena from the current city of Wadena, take U.S. Highway 10 east to Aldrich, turn north on County Road 26. At County Road 2, turn east and proceed to Highway 29, then turn north. A gravel road to the east will lead to the park entrance.
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05/08/2008 12:00 AM
The fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade music program will present “Get In The Game,” a sports musical for young voices, at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, May 13, at the Wadena Memorial Auditorium.
Students should meet in the elementary cafeteria by 6:45 p.m.
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05/08/2008 12:00 AM
A support group meeting for Celiac Disease will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, May 12 at the Wadena Public Library.
Info will include a safe/unsafe list, holiday dining, fast food restaurants, and questions for manufacturers.
Please bring a gluten-free dessert to share along with a recipe — or just copies of your favorite dessert recipe.
If you have any questions, call Meagan at (701) 306-4855.
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05/08/2008 12:00 AM
During World War II, the U.S. government interned 15,000 German-American civilians, including citizens and Latin-American Germans brought here and later exchanged for Nazi-held Americans in one of the lesser known chapters of American history. Housed in a school bus converted into a mobile museum with its own 21-seat theater, “VANISHED” illustrates this unknown story through narrative texts, artifacts and multi-media. The BUS-eum will be parked at the Perham High School from noon to 3 p.m. on Friday, May 9, and in front of the ITOW Veterans Museum from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 10.
There is no charge to visit the exhibit. For more information call the ITOW Veterans Museum at (218) 346-7678.
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05/08/2008 12:00 AM
Wadena County Law enforcement agencies working an enhanced speeding patrol effort cited 26 motorists traveling at illegal speeds during a statewide Safe & Sober effort in April.
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SWCD treesPhoto by Steve Schulz
Roy Hemphill of Sebeka looks around for the trees he ordered from the Wadena County Soil and Water Conservation District, which were distributed last week at the Wadena County Fairgrounds. Hemphill said he was adding some apple trees this year.
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In light of the WDC levy not passing, what should the district do?
Reduce staff 11.66%
Reduce budgets for buildings, transportation 16.25%
Let class sizes increase 10.60%
Seek another, smaller levy referendum 31.45%
Consolidate the school with another district 27.21%
Total votes: 283
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