REGIONAL BRIEFS: Duck hunters rescued after boat capsizes

News from Forum Communications News Bureau

Minnesota

Duck hunters rescued after boat capsizes

BEMIDJI, Minn. – Four duck hunters were rescued after their boat capsized Monday evening on Three Island Lake north of Bemidji.

According to a press release from the Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office, the boat capsized about 200 yards from shore near the Wood Haven Resort in Port Hope Township. They were floundering in the water near their boat in 10 to 12 feet of water.

The resort owner and a bystander launched a boat in an attempt to rescue the hunters. Sheriff’s deputies, the Bemidji Fire Department, Minnesota State Patrol, first responders and Bemidji Ambulance Service responded to the scene.

Witnesses said the hunters had floatation devices but were not wearing them at the time of the accident, according to the press release. EMS personnel treated the hunters for exposure, but they are expected to fully recover.

They were released from the scene, according to the sheriff’s blotter.

(BP)

More than 60 cats taken from home

DULUTH -- Duluth police animal-control workers are working on an animal-hoarding case where more than 60 cats and kittens were found in a Duluth home.

“We are still working on the details of it,” Duluth Police Department’s lead animal-control worker Carrie Lane said. “We have gotten 63 cats out of the house.”

The felines are being cared for and examined at the city’s animal-control shelter while the Animal Allies Humane Society makes room for them at its shelters in Duluth and Superior, Wis.

Most of the cats are in fairly good physical condition and can be handled, Lane said.

“As is very common with hoarders, I think he has been neglecting himself to take care of the cats,” she said. “We are working to determine whether or not this person can care for himself.”

The hoarding was discovered as animal-control workers investigated a problem with stray cats in the Central Hillside area of Duluth.

(DNT)

Assisted living facility makes state-ordered changes

PARK RAPIDS, Minn. -- A Park Rapids assisted living facility was ordered to beef up its alarm system after a dementia patient was found wandering along busy Minnesota Highway 34.

Care Age Country Home’s alarm and other safeguards were determined by the Minnesota Department of Health to be inadequate in warning staff to the man’s wandering tendencies.

On June 9, two Care Age employees received a report of the man wandering a quarter mile away from the facility.

Between 2010 and June of 2012, there were 11 incidents in which the client was wandering out of the facility, the Department of Health report report states.

Owners Chris and Lynn Niemeyer were given the report Aug. 31 and had 30 days to rectify the deficiencies.

“Everything is corrected,” said Lynn Niemeyer. “We had a door alarm that was not being set appropriately and we had to make some corrections here with our staff and change some other safety policies and procedures just so that we could have some increased monitoring in place, make sure everybody’s kept safe.”

(PRE)

Man killed by falling tree

MADISON, Minn. — A 32-year-old Madison man has died as a result of injuries sustained Sunday afternoon when a tree fell on him at a rural Madison location.

According to a news release from Lac qui Parle Sheriff Rick Halvorson, Robert Tonn was one of three men cutting down trees. Apparently, a tree twisted and fell the wrong way, striking Tonn.

The incident was reported around 2 p.m. Sunday. Tonn was taken by ambulance to Madison Hospital and later air lifted to Avera McKennan Hospital in Sioux Falls, S.D. where he died.

(WCT, filed Monday)

Man dressed as woman accused of assault

MOORHEAD, Minn. – Police responding to a report that a female had broken into a Moorhead apartment and assaulted a tenant discovered that the suspect was actually a man dressed as a woman, according to charges filed in Clay County District Court.

When they arrived shortly after 4 a.m. Sunday, police found the suspect lying on the stairs between two apartments. He was wearing a tight pink shirt, a ponytail and full makeup, the complaint states.

Jevon Arthur Timothy Mincey, 24, faces two counts of first-degree burglary, each punishable by up to 20 years in prison, as well as fifth-degree assault, disorderly conduct and damage to property.

The alleged victim told police he woke up to someone pounding on his door and heard mumbling outside the door. When he unlocked the deadbolt, the door flew open and Mincey allegedly entered the apartment, grabbed and threw the resident and punched him in the face and the back of the head, the complaint states.

Moorhead police Lt. Tory Jacobson said Mincey’s intoxication appeared to be a factor in the incident.

(FF)

Red Wing Shoe closes Kentucky plant

RED WING, Minn. -- Red Wing Shoe Co. announced Tuesday that it will officially close its Danville, Ky., plant at the end of the year.

“It’s more efficient to run two plants than three plants,” Shoe spokesman Peter Engel said Tuesday. The Shoe also operates plants in Potosi, Mo., and Red Wing.

This is the second time the Shoe has announced that the Kentucky plant will close. In November 2009, the company said it would close to deal with a downturned economy.

But just five months later, the economy had improved and the Shoe opted to keep the plant open, though with about 70 employees instead of 200.

“It’s just time to complete the closure,” Engel said Tuesday.

(RE)

North Dakota

Man gets three year for drunk driving death

FARGO -- A St. Michael, N.D., man has been sentenced to three years in prison, with a year already served, and three years of probation for killing a Grand Forks, N.D., man while driving drunk, the North Dakota U.S. Attorney’s office said Monday.

Douglas Allen Baker, 24, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter July 24.

He must also pay $15,700 in restitution for the cost of the funeral, $6,100 for medical expenses and $1,600 for the loss of the car.

Law enforcement determined that Baker’s blood-alcohol concentration was .210 after he’d been drinking all night and into the morning, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.

The accident occurred on the Spirit Lake Indian Reservation at 7:22 a.m. on Sept. 8, 2011.

Baker’s vehicle exited a curve on the gravel road at high speed and swerved into the other lane, colliding head on with a vehicle driven by Dana Grow, who was on his way to work.

(GFH)

Candidate makes scary discovery

FARGO – The legs poked out from underneath the looming evergreen like those of the Wicked Witch of the West, but Sen. Tim Flakoll, R-Fargo, was unsure if he had stumbled across a Halloween display or something more serious.

Flakoll, campaigning for Senate District 44 re-election, was going door to door Monday afternoon in north Fargo when he saw a body lying face down in a yard.

“There are some very sophisticated displays in people’s front yards, and so that threw me off a little bit,” Flakoll said.

So the lawmaker grabbed the leg and discovered it was true flesh and bone. He called 911 and said emergency crews arrived within minutes.

“I was treating it like a life-or-death situation,” he said.

Assistant Fire Chief Gary Lorenz said first responders were able to wake the man fairly easily, and he refused to be transported.

“He had just laid down to take a little nap,” Lorenz said. “It looks like he had too much to drink.”

It was a first for Flakoll. “I’ve been doing door to door for 14 years and never had to call 911 before,” he said.

(FF, filed late Monday)

Costco opens first store in N.D.

WEST FARGO, N.D. – Steve Grant usually has to drive to Maple Grove, Minn., to reach the nearest Costco store. Tuesday morning, the Garfield, Minn., resident found out the new store in West Fargo is closer – by four miles.

Grant, who retired from the military last year, was the first shopper through the doors this morning as Costco officially opened its West Fargo warehouse store at 750 23rd Ave. E.

“I’m going to fill up probably five or six carts,” he said.

Shortly before 8 a.m., West Fargo Mayor Rich Mattern and store manager Angela Bauer cut a blue ribbon to mark the store’s official opening.

Mattern welcomed the company to West Fargo – and to North Dakota, as this is Costco’s first store in the state. He remarked about how many people have approached him to talk about Costco, saying, “Never has a store … created so much buzz.”

(FF)

Housing aid approved for law enforcement

BISMARCK – Law enforcement agencies in western North Dakota will receive an additional $1.1 million to support affordable housing, the North Dakota Housing Finance Agency announced Monday.

The agency created the law enforcement pilot program to provide affordable rental housing for officers in energy-impacted areas.

The cities of Crosby and Ray will each receive assistance for one housing unit; Killdeer and Minot will receive assistance for two units; and Williston will receive assistance for six units.

Previously, the agency approved dollars for projects in Belfield, Dickinson, Stanley and Watford City. The program is funded with the state’s share of a national mortgage settlement.

(FCC)

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