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WSU retires in front of glass-firing furnaceWINONA, Minn., July 31, 2006 -- The former academic vice president at Winona State University, Steve Richardson,says that stepping aside a year ago seemed the right thing to do. Now he's sure of it. Richardson, 60, works full-time in his wife's studio, Touchstone Glass, where she makes intricate paperweights valued by fine-glass art collectors. It's a "radical path of reinvention," Richardson said in an essay in the Daily News. "From the universityÕs perspective, IÕm retiring -- closing a door. From mine, IÕm opening one."
Discussing his decision to retire, Richardson said he assumed when Judith Ramaley stepped in as Winona State president last July that she would be looking to build a fresh administration. "I've watched that happen elsewhere, almost always to the ultimate benefit of the university, albeit not necessarily to the old team," he said. "In late August, the president and I had a cordial conversation about change." An interim vice president was named, and Richardson moved down the hall to work on special projects. In June he retired officially.
Richardson called his wife's studio "a highly-charged, creative atmosphere." For him it's a major change: "I'll be practicing a dramatically new set of manual and mental skills." His wife, Cathy, has a heavy demand for her work, he said: "She seems pleased to have my novice help, especially since I come cheap and don't mind a random accidental singeing in front of the glass furnace."
The Richardsons arrived in Winona in 1999 when he was appointed by university President Darrell Krueger as the university's chief academic officer. He had co-authored a college textbook on geoscience, published by Columbia University Press. He had been undergraduate dean at Bowling Green State in Ohio. His doctorate was from Harvard. At Winona State Richardson came to aspire to succeed Krueger but was passed over. His capabilities and commitment to Winona State were widely recognized but some members of the search committee felt he was too close to Krueger and were troubled by his strident support of Krueger's New University reforms. The Krueger plan was in deep trouble with students at the time and having difficulty gaining traction with faculty. After Richardson failed to make the short list of candidates, most observers thought he would spend his last months on campus writing resumes for a presidency elsewhere.
Not so, said Richardson in his Daily News essay. Instead, he started considering his retirement options seriously.
"More than once I have taken the opportunity to advance my career by moving on. A good teacher, doctor, cook or barber can always set up shop in a new town, applying familiar skills to new challenges and new clients. ItÕs the life of a pioneer, and itÕs rather exhilarating.... At my age, moving to a new campus felt like another form of denial, which I was finally ready to abandon. By the time I finally got around to retiring from a new position, there wouldnÕt be much time to enjoy it. Besides, moving would mean leaving Winona, and I like it here."
"I'm not old yet by any means, but I can see old age on the horizon. From my seat at the leading edge of the Baby Boomer generation, it looms ahead like a vast black hole. IÕve done the research, so I know that I have better than a 20 percent chance of being around for another 25 years. If my parents and grandparents are any guide, IÕll probably live a good deal longer than that. Frankly, the thought of spending my later years sitting on the porch, waiting for God, is more than a little unsettling."
Richardson said his idea of retirement is to be "very busy alongside people I love." |
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GLASS
PAPERWEIGHT
From Cathy Richardson's Touchstone studio |
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STEVE
RICHARDSON
WSU's chief academic officer for six years |
CATHY RICHARDSON
At her furnace in quest of glass splendor |
Background: Richardson leaving WSU at end of year
WSU plans $200,000 cafeteria upgradeWINONA, Minn., July 31, 2006 -- Winona State University applied for a city permit to redo the food service area in Kryzsko Commons. The university listed the project at $200,000 with Schwab Co. of Winona as the contractor.
COMMENT
PRESIDENTIAL JOB PERFORMANCE
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In recent weeks Judith Ramaley, president of Winona State University, has made routine appearances at a few public forums. Her comments were routine, mostly touting her latest Ramaleyism, "communiversity." Communiversity? What's that mean? Only Ramaley knows for sure. It seems she is intending to somehow to boil her thoughts about community and university integration into a single word that captures it all. It doesn't, at least not for us lesser beings. Or could it be that the thoughts are too loose to be epitomized? Dictionary English would belp. Maybe we then could figure out what she has in mind.
The CyberIndee invites reader input for periodic updates of the Ramaley presidential approval rating. Brief comments on Ramaley's latest performance will be shared with readers. Anonynmity is assured if requested. Your input
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Background: Previous Ramaley report cards
Wellstone activist training planned at WSUWINONA, Minn., July 31, 2006 -- The Camp Wellstone chapter at Winona State University announced an activiest training program will be conducted Sept. 29 and 30 in the Kryzsko Commons solarium. Erin Crooks, an organizer, said the Friday and Saturday sessions will include tips on starting a recycling program, getting a special interest club going, and fighting tuition increases. The camp is free and nonpartisan, Crooks said.
Contact: Erin Crooks
Walz: Gutknecht's Iraq plan would endanger troopsMANKATO, Minn., Aug. 30, 2006 -- U.S. soldiers in Iraq would be in jeopardy during a partial troop withdrawal that has been proposed by Rep. Gil Gutknecht, R-Minn., according to his Democratic challenger. Tim Walz called Gutknecht's plan ill-conceived. The American troops left behind would be in even greater danger than they are today, said Walz, a 24-year National Guard veteran. "As someone with extensive training in combat techniques, I know that unless we've reduced the insurgent violence, removing part but not all of our soldiers is a foolish tactical option," said Walz, a retired Army Guard command sergeant major.Ê "By redeploying only some of our troops, Congressman Gutknecht leaves those still in Iraq more vulnerable to continuing attacks."
Walz noted that Gutknecht's withdrawal proposed is an "about face." Until a trip to Baghdad two weeks ago, Gutknecht had been a lockstep supporter of President Bush's Iraq policy. Last week Bush ordered 15,000 additional solders to Iraq. Walz said he was pleased that Gutknecht finally seems willing to discuss the Iraq occupation issue. Walz added, however, that he suspects Gutknecht merely is reacting to political pressure and polling data.
Walz said his Iraq plan, modeled on the Bosnia experience, is to rebuild the infrastructure of civil society, which, he said, would result in a decrease in violence.Ê "It's important that we get sewage, drinkable water and electricity all back to pre-war levels," he said. Walz also repeated his call for seeking participaton by Jordan, Kuwait, Egypt and other Arab nations in a regional security force.Ê "A plan that includes measurable milestones and increased involvement from the Arab world will ensure that we are able to bring American troops home as quickly as possible without further jeopardizing their safety," he said.
Walz said Gutknecht has a troop-unfriendly record.Ê"Gutknecht has repeatedly opposed expanding TRICARE to Guard and Reserve soldiers, providing temporary exemption to the bankruptcy bill for soldiers recently back from Iraq, adding additional funding to PTSD and prosthetic programs, and providing small bonuses for soldiers serving abroad," Walz said.
Background: Hutknecht: Troop pulldown might being Iraq progress
Background: Races campus people are watching
| FREE EXPRESSION / FREE INQUIRY |
Judge to college: Reinstate newspaper adviserTRENTON, N.J., July 31, 2006 -- A federal judge ordered Ocean County College to put Karen Bosley back in place as adviser to the student newspaper. Bosley had been removed after student stories and opinion pieces that criticized college President Jon Larson. Bosley said her removal was retaliation. Students and professional organziations, including College Media Advisers and the Society of Professional Journalists, rallied in Bosley's support. In a prelimianry injunction, U.S. District Judge Stanley Chesler said that Bosley's removal constituted a "chilling effect" on freedom of expression.
Bosley, adviser to the Viking News for 35 years, now will return as adviser in the fall. In December the college's trustees had voted against renewing Bosley's contract as the newspaper's adviser but did keep her on as a professor of humanities, fine arts and media studies. Student editors went to court on First Amendment grounds. About Judge Chesler's injunction, Bosley said she was "privileged to have this kind of caliber of student" who would sue to keep their student newspaper adviser. Alberto Morales, one of three editors who filed the suit, said: "This is a great message to the administration and to other administrations that the college free press is free. We aren't in high school anymore."
Background: Heads roll after student paper irks prez
Woman charged in Schyde's fightWINONA, Minn., July 31 , 2006 -- A Winona woman, Renee Marie Barlow, 33, was charged with second-degree assault and possession of a dangerous weapon for an incident outside the college bar Schyde's. She was scheduled for a further court appearance Aug. 10. Barlow was arrested about 1:30 a.m., Friday, a few blocks from Schyde's after police were called about a fight in the parking lot. A Schyde's bouncer said he went outside to check the parking lot after brief fights earlier at the bar. The criminal complaint against Barlow quoted the bouncer that she was fighting with four women at the entrance and threatened to kill them. The bouncer said he saw Barlow punch one woman. When a man grabbed her and told her to stop, he said, she broke free and charged the women, punching and kicking them. She pulled out a folding pocketknife and lunged at one man, the bouncer said. Police said that no witness could say that the knife was open. After the bouncer told Barlow that the cops were coming, she left. Police found her three blocks away on foot.
Background: Woman jailed after Schyde's parking-lot fight |
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SCHYDE'S
DRINKS AND WHATNOT
102 Johnson St. |
New WSU academic chief earns $140,000WINONA, Minn., July 31, 2006 -- The new acadwmic vice president at Winona State University, Sally Johnstone, will earn $140,000 a year, records show. Johnstone's predecessor, Steve Richardson, was at $126,800. Johnstone, formerly an executive with Western Cooperative for Educational Telecommunications in Boulder, Colo., begins her duties Tuesday.
Background: New WSU academic chief starts Aug. 1 |
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SALLY
JOHNSTONE
From Colorado-
based college telecom organization
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WSU president sees competition for students aheadWINONA, Minn., July 31, 2006 -- Winona State University President Judith Ramaley said she has her eye more on competition from the University of Wisconsin and other major regional institutions than on the new university planned 40 miles away in Rochester. In an inteview on Winona Radio, Ramaley said the real threat to Winona State in the next 10 years will be from universities in the larger region. She said she expects Wisconsin to seek more students who might otherwise come to Winona State. The higher-ed field, she said, will become more crowded. The challenge for Winona State, she said, will be to stand out from the crowd. About the new Rochester university, to be operated as part of the University of Minnesota, Ramaley said she sees it as a "remarkable research engine" that will connect with the needs of major Rochester employers Mayo Clinic and IBM.
Southern Illinois execs: Plagiary unintendedEDWARDSVILLE, Ill., July 30, 2006 -- The chancellor of the Southern Illinois University, Vaughn Vandergrift, said he takes responsibility for authorship of a speech marking the birthday of civil-rights activist Martin Luther King Day speech with a passage that bears remarkable similarity to remarks by President Bush in 2003. Vandergrift has been accused of plagiary. Vandergrift said he relies heavily on aides to write his speeches but added: "I approved the speech, and I take full responsibility for its content. If mistakes were made, we will take steps so that it doesn't happen in the future."
Here are passages from Vandegrift's speech and from a speech by President Bush:
| "For generations, African-Americans have strengthened our nation by urging reforms, overcoming obstacles, breaking down barriers, rising above injustice, and enriching our society." |
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| | "For generations, African-Americans have strengthened our nation by urging reforms, overcoming obstacles, and breaking down barriers. We see the greatness of America in those who have risen above injustice and enriched our society." |
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The plagiarism charge came from supporters of Chris Dussold, a former prof fired in 2004 for plagiarizing a two-page teaching statement. Dussold is suing for wrongful dismissal. Other Southern Illinois executives also also have been accused of plagiary. In response, Walter Wendler, chancellor of Southern Illinois-Carbondale, admitted that portions of his 2005 state-of-the-university address came verbatim from a 1986 book. The speeches, Wendler said, had been written by a staff member. The president of the Southern Illinois system, Glenn Poshard, has apologized for copying the welcome statement of the university's previous president from university's web site.
Death claims former WSU bookstore workerWINONA, Minn., July 30, 2006 -- A former Winona State University bookstore employee, Ruth Thiewes, died at the hospital. She was 87.
Colleges off hook for Michael Moore speechesWASHINGTON, July 31, 2006 -- The Federal Election Commission won't pursue a complaint against colleges that paid speaker fees to filmmaker Michael Moore during the 2004 presidential campaign. After Moore's campaign tour on behalf of Democrat John Kerry, a vocal crutic of Moore accused the colleges of violating a ban on corporate donations to political campaigns. In turning away the complaint, the commission said there "no reason to believe" that the law was violated. Among colleges accused of violations were Penn State, Syracuse University, the University of Cincinnati, and the University of Florida. At Penn State, Vice President Steve MacCarthy noted that student Democrats had invited Moore and paid his speaker fee. "Student groups have every right to invite who they want as a speaker, and we're not going to interfere with that process," MacCarthy said. It was students groups who invited Moore also at the other campuses, usually for $30,000. The complaints against the colleges were filed by David Hardy, co-author of "Michael Moore Is a Big Fat Stupid White Man."
Background: Colleges hit for Michael Moore speeches
Background: "Fahrenheit" creator at Luther: Bush a liar
RECENT DAYS IN THE CITY
POSTED JULY 31, 2006
EBB TIDE. The Army Army Corps of Engineers changed its mind about drawing down the Mississippi River pool behind the Minnieska dam any further. There has been too much muck accumulating on the bottom for navigation. Barges ran aground two miles upstream from the dam July 8, closing shipping for two days.
DOWN WITH THE OLD. The city Plannng Commission vioted 4-2 to approve Merchant Bank's plan to eight buildings on Third Street for employee parking. Preservationists had objected. Others said the buildings were not of historic significance, just old. Background
HISTORICAL GRANT. The Laird Norton Co., a pioneer lumber company with Winona roots, donated $1.5 million to expand the Historical Society's downtown bulding, a former armory, by 15,000 square feet. The Society must raise a match sum by mid-2008.
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Woman jailed after Schyde's parking-lot fightWINONA, Minn., July 28, 2006 -- Police arrested a woman on a downtown street after a ruckus in the Schyde's drinkery parking lot. The woman had swung a pocketkife at a crowd about closing time, witnesses told police. Also, witnesses said, the woman slapped a second woman and stomped and kicked another in the stomach. No one was seriously injured. When police arrived, the woman was gone, but they found her three blocks away. Police quoted the woman as confirming she had a knife in her purse and had used it to fend off four women who, she said, had threatened her. She denied that the blade of the knife had been open. Also, she denied that she had lunged at anyone. Police handcuffed the wman and found the knife and a bottle of rum in her purse. Her blood-alcohol content measured 0.17 percent, twice the state definiton for drunkenness, police said. She was arrested.
The icident was the second involving a knife at Schyde's in six months. In February bouncer Steve Adams was stabbed while dealing with an underage patron in the parking lot. Adams survived five, perhaps more, stab wounds in the lower back. Jonathan Hans Minor, now 21, of Anoka, Minn., was charged with the assault and is in jail awaiting further proceedings.
Background: Stabbing victim, others recount what happened |
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SCHYDE'S
DRINKS AND WHATNOT
102 Johnson St. |
Prof on lam after molestation chargesMOREHEAD CITY, N.C., July 27, 2006 -- A former prof at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania, Richard Gibbs, disappeared from his vacation home just ahead of the cops, who arrived with an arrest warrant alleging 14 sexual abuse incidents with children. The place, at Harkers Island, was "cleaned out," police said. The arrest warrant was from Pennsylvania. Gibbs, 65, had been arrested at Harkers Island in June on an Ohio warrant alleging sexual molestation but was out on $25,000 bail. Gibbs also is wanted, it turns out, on child molestation charges from San Diego, Calif., police said. He had served six months in jail in 1987 after he pleaded guilty to indecent assault on a 13-year-old boy on an overnight church trip.
Gibbs, an associate profesor at Shippensburg, was brought on to the faculty in 1990 to teach public relations. He resigned in April after police showed up on campus with a warrant. They had seized his computer at home and, they said, found child pornography. Gibbs' June arrest in North Carolina was a result of that investgation. Gibbs' fellow profs were shocked. Ed Carlin, chair of the communication and journalism department, told the local newspaper: "He didn't stick out in any way. He was a gregarious person, very good in class, very project oriented, a very hands-on person."
When police arrived at Gibbs' North Carolina vacation house with the Pennsylvania arrest warrant, they found a for-sale sign on the lawn. His brother-in-law, police learned, had just been given power of attorney to sell the place and keep the money. Police quoted the brother-in-law that he and Gibbs had said good-bye "like they would never see each other again." It was the brother-in-law who a few days earlier had posted the $25,000 bail.
Southwest State offers degree in Red WIngMARSHALL, Minn., July 27, 2006 -- Southwest Minnesota State University announced a new online bachelor of applied science degree available through the Red Wing campus of Winona-based Southeast Tech. The program begins this year. The degree is geared for supervisory and management-level training, the university said.
Kennedy: Some colleges still issuing, selling loansWASHINGTON, July 31, 2006 -- Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., called on the U.S. Education Department to act against colleges that are profiting from a loophole in federal student-aid law and making loans directly to students. Congress acted in February to restrict School-as-Lender programs, in which colleges were making federally guaranteed loans, then selling them at a profit to commercial lenders. In a letter drafted to Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, Kennedy wrote that millions of students and families put their trust in the federal government to ensure the integrity of the financial aid process: "Aggressive enforcement of the restrictions on the school-as-lender program is critical to protecting their interests."
Barton ex-athletic director pleads guiltyWICHITA, Kan., July 31, 2006 -- A former Barton County Community College athletic director, Neil Elliott, pleaded guilty to mail fraud in seeking a false medical hardship ruling on behalf of a student athlete. Other charges, including conspiracy, theft of federal funds, embezzlement from student assistance programs and mail fraud, were dropped in exchange for the plea. Elliott had sought the hardship ruling in a letter to the National Junior College Athletic Association in Colorado Spring, Colo.
Background: Sixth Barton college coach pleads guilty
Backgrond: Coach indicted for phony records, theft
Grand jury indicts college ex-presidentHOUSTON, Texas, July 31, 2006 -- A grand jury indicted the former president of Texas Southern University on charges of spending university money to furnish her luxury home. The indictent cited an audit that found $286,000 had been spent on furniture, landscaping and security. In all, there had been $647,900 in questionable personal spending over seven years, investigators said in April. Slade was fired as a result. She has maintained that the expenses were appropriate because she frequently used the house for university business. In the grand jury indictment, three of Slade's former administrators were accused of Slade facilitate her purchases. If convicted, Slade faces as much as life in prison.
Background: Texas college president fired over spending
WSU hosts all-state choirWINONA, Minn., July 30, 2006 -- The Minnesota All-State Choir will finish a week-long summer camp with a public concert at Winona State University. The women's, men's and mixed choirs will perform, said music prof Jim Hoch. To be performed is a new piece, "Together (Divided We Are Nothing),"composed Minnesotan Steve Heitzeg. The performance will be recorded and CDs available for order, Hoch said. Conductors at the camp are Brad Holmes from Millikin University, Rene Clausen from Concordia University and Judith Willoughby from Oklahoma City University. The choir program is open to high school sophomores and juniors.
Ex-Schawn Foods exec heads college boardST. PAUL, Minn., July 30, 2006 -- Attorney Dave Paskach, president of the Southwest Initiative Foundation, a regional unit of the McKnight Foundation, has been elected chair of the Minnesota college system governing baord. Paskach has been on the board since 2002. As chair his term runs one year, Earlier Paskach was president of the Schwan's Venture Group, a division of The Schwan Food Company. Paskach holds a law degree from the University of Illinois. His ubdergrad is in accounting from Iowa State.
Clarence Hightower, chief executive at the Minneapolis Urban League, was elected vice chair. Hightower, an ordained minister, holds a degree from Southwest Minnesota State and a master's in human and community service from George Williams College.
Michael Boulton, one of three student representatives on the board, was elected treasurer. Boulton is pursuing a masterÕs at Minnesota State-Mankato. He holds a earned a bachelor's in political science and business administration from Southwest Minnesota State. As an undergrad, Boulton served on the governing board of the Minnesota State University Student Association. He also was student president at Southwest Minnesota State.
WSU
SECURITY REPORT
WEEK ENDING JULY 29, 2006
July 29, 2006: Several students were cited for an alcohol violation near Somsen Hall at 11:20 p.m.
July 29, 2006: Security guards responded to a large group near the middle of campus at 10:30 p.m. due to excessive noise. Police were called. The group was broken up and left campus.
July 28, 2006: On Security guards and the police responded to an accident in the north silver parking lot at the Sheehan dorm at 3:02 p.m. There were no no injuries.
July 27, 2006: On 7/27/06 at 11:30 a.m. Security guards responded to a fire alarm in the Pasteur science building. An alarm had malfunctioned.
July 26, 2006: At 10 a.m. security guards assisted liberal arts Dean Troy Paino with a personnel issue at his Minne office.
July 25, 2006: At 10 a.m. the Media Services office reported the theft of some equipment over the past month.
July 23, 2006: Damage was found in the Prentiss-Lucas dorm at 3:30 p.m. after some water faucets were left on.
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The day the music diedWINONA, Minn., July 28, 2006 -- A Winona State student told police that her laptop computer, leased from the university, was stolen during a King Street house party. The computer was being used to play party music, she said.
WSU bestows College for Kids diplomas on 180WINONA, Minn., July 27, 2006 -- The summer College For Kids program at Winona State University enrolled 180 elementary and middle-school students in its first session. Bill Murphy, director, said most students were from Minnesota and Wisconsin with some from Florida and Georgia and one from Ireland. The students studied art and theater, electronics and robotics, sciences, digital imaging and computers, languages, model aviation, culinary skills, advertising and marketing, photography, writing, logic and creative thinking, forensics, and reptiles and amphibians. The program is 19 years old.
Background: College For Kids registration opens
Smoke detector disables SMU elevatorWINONA, Minn., July 27, 2006-- A smoke detector was activated in a first-floor lunch area at St. Mary's University a little before 1 a.m. An elevagor was temporarily disabled.
Drug-dealer pleads guilty to murders, arson coverupWINONA, Minn., July 27, 2006 -- Drug-dealer Paul Allen Gordon told a courtroom that he killed his pregnant ex-womanfriend, who was a Winona State University student, and her 10-year-old daughter in grisly murders just before Christmas two years ago. Gordon, 23, offered some details of crimes in pleading guilty at a pre-trial conference. Gordon confessed to walking a few blocks from where he was staying to the Sugar Loaf Apartments, where 29-year-old Stacy Smith lived. His intent, he said, was to kill Smith. According to telephone records, Gordon and Smith had been in escalating arguments over the phone regarding her threats to turn him in for drug dealing unless he produced abortion money. She was pregnant with his child. At the apartment, Gordon said, Smith's daughter, Nicole, woke up an came out of her bedroom. Then, he said, he decided to kill them both. He said he strangled Smith, then raped the girl with a blunt object and strangled her. He admitted to setting the aparment on fire and fleeing.
The guilty plea precludes a trial. Judge Jeff Thompson accepted the plea and ordered a pre-sentence investigation. Thompson said he then will decide whether to accept the plea agreement. Sentencing was set for Sept. 7. Gordon, in prison on other convictions, had been brought to Winona for the pre-trial conference, which Thompson had scheduled to run two days. The trial itself had been set for September. County Attorney Chuck MacLean said the guilty plea had been negotiated in lieu of one murder count that carries a mandatory life sentence without parole. The plea agreement could keep Gordon behind bars until he is 54 years old.
Gordon pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree murder, including the death of the unborn child; one count of first-degree criminal misconduct; and one count of first-degree arson. The plea bargain calls for Gordon to receive three life sentences for the murders and 12 years for sexual assault. Those terms would be served concurrently with eligibility for parole in 2037. The agreeent also calls for 52 months for arson to follow the concurrent terms. In an unrelated case, Gordon pleaded guilty to forging an alias on an apartment lease.
On the witness stand Gordon recited details of early the morning of Dec. 16, 2004. He stared into his lap as he spoke. Occasionally he wiped his eyes. After he was done and escorted away, Stacy Smith's mother, Cheryl Hodge, broke into uncontrollable tears and clutched MacLean. Outside the courtroom, Hodge hugged Gordon's father, Leonard Gordon of Detroit. Gordon's sister Crystal, also from Detroit, said to a cluster of Smith's family: "I am so sorry for your loss."
MacLean said that his prosecution team and the victims' survivors are pleased that closure is near. Cheryl Hodge and other family have been at Gordon's every court appearance since he was returned to Winona after being arrested at the Mexico border 2-1/2 weeks after the slayings. One of GordonÕs public defenders, Julie Maxwell, said Gordon chose to plead guilty to avoid a trial. Maxwell said that the impact of the case against had taken "a long time" for Gordon to grasp fully. MacLean applauded police work in the case and commended his assistants on the case, Kevin O'Laughlin and Tom Gort. OÕLaughlin spent several days recently in Detroit, Gordon's hometown, to gather more evidence for the trial.
Stacy Smith held a diploma from Southeast Tech and enrolled in occasional Winona State courses. She considered herself a psychology major and spoke with friends about graduate work. Friends say she had been working to overcome her own demons and was trying to extricate herself from a local drug crowd. She had met Gordon in late summer or early fall 2004 after he arrived in Winona from Bentonville, Ark., and began supplying cocaine. Earlier this summer he was convicted on charges from a back-alley drug bust and a drug-related pistol-whipping. Those incidents preceded the Sugar Loaf murders.
For almost 20 months police have kept Smith's fire-damaged apartment blocked with yellow tape. With the case in effect closed, police are expected to remove the tape. |
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PAUL ALLEN GORDON
Murder trial now canceled
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CHUCK
MACLEAN
Prosecutor commends "literally hundreds of law enforcement personnel across the country who assisted in this case."
"I have never worked on a case so meticulously crafted from start to finish." |
STACY
SMITH
Aspired to grad studies in psychology | 
TAYLOR
SWANSON
Grade-school daughter |
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Reporter: Megan Buesgens
Background: Gordon transferred to stillwater prison
Security hurdle proposed for Canadian studentsWASHINGTON, July 27, 2006 -- The U.S. Department of Homeland Security proposed ending the special status of Canadian students to study at U.S. colleges. Digital figerprints and photographs would be required, as also has been required of other foreign students since 2003. The data would go into a biometric database that the government maintains on all foreigners in the country. The Homeland Security proposal is a further step in tightened anti-terrorism precautions by the government.
Suit proceeds against U.S. grant for church trainingCHICAGO, Ill., July 27, 2006 --A federal court appeals panel approved further legal proceedings in a lawsuit against using federal grant money to train Roman Catholic schoolteachers. A Dstrict Court judge earlier dismissed the suit, whjch targets a $500,000 grant to the University of Notre Dame. The American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the suit, contends that the grant violates the separation of church and state clause in the U.S. Constitution.
| AFTERMATH OF A HORRIBLE NIGHT |
Attorney: Applewick friend will plead guiltyWINONA, Minn, July 27, 2006 -- An 19-year-old man, Benjamin Douglas Johnson, charged with furnishing vodka to a teen-age driver who plowed into a car carrying two Winona State University coaches, was released on his own recognizance. Judge Mary Leahy waived bail. Johnson's attorney, Karin Sonneman, told the court that Johnson intends to plead guilty to a reduced charge. Originally Johnson was charged with a felony, but Sonneman said that an agreement had been reached with prosecutor Nancy Bostrack to make it a gross misdemeanor. Sonneman said the agreement calls for two years of probation instead of jail. Sonneman noted that Johnson has no prior convictions and has cooperated with the investigation. "He's a good kid," she said.
In the accident, a truck driven by Johnson's neighbor, Katelyn Appelwick, 18, hit a car driven by Winona State football coach Tom Sawyer. Both Sawyer and volleyball coach Connie Mettille were injured seriously. Appelwick, who police say was drunk, has been charged with four felony counts of criminal vehicular injury. In Johnson's case, Judge Leahy set sentencing for Aug. 30 -- the day before he starts freshman classes at the University of Minnesota. Johnson is a 2005 Winona High School grad. According to police, Johnson obtained raspberry-flavored vodka for Applewick by asking someone, who has never been identified, to go into a liquor store and make the purchase. Then, police said, he gave the bottle to Appelwick. Four hours later Appelwich ran a stop sign at Franklin and Mark streets.
Background: Judge trusts Appelwick will stay sober
Tulane in battle for Katrina insurance moneyNEW ORLEANS, La., July 26, 2006 --A British insuarnce company, Amlin Underwriting, went to court to avoid a Tulane University claim for damage to its fine-arts collection by Hurricane Katrina. Amblin acknowledged that Tulane's policy covers "fine arts of every description" but not reference books, research materials, microfilm, and other rsearch documents that Tulane wants replaced. Tulane, neanwhile, has gone to court against another insurance carrier, Allianz Global Risks, which the university claims should pick up additional costs after the university's primary carriers reached their coverage limits.
| FREE EXPRESSION / FREE INQUIRY |
Legislators on 9-11 conspiracy terrorist: Fire himMADISON, Wis., July 25, 2006 -- Sixty-one state legislators called for the University of Wisconsin to fire a controversial lecturer, Kevin Barrett, who claims the U.S. government orchestrated the 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. Barrett, a part-time lecturer, is an Islam scholar who is scheduled to teach an introductory course this fall. Provost Patruck Farrell said that would not allow political pressure to trump academic freedom. Barrett will teach as scheduled this fall, the provost said.
Gas line punctured at SMUWINONA, Minn., July 24, 2006 -- A one-inch natural gas line was severed under a parking lot outside the St. Edward's Hall at St. Mary's University. There was no explosion. By the tume firefighter arrived after the 12:10 p.m. call, the leak had been stipped. An Xcel utility crew a=took over at 12:50 p.m.
Ramaley on WSU's role in economic developmentWINONA, Minn., July 24, 2006 -- The role of Winona State in economic development will be discussed by university President Judith Ramaley at a meeting of Partners in Housing, Agriculture and Sustainable Economic Development. Ramaley said she will focus on the evolution of higher-ed in the 21st century and explains how Winona State is responding. "We are seeking to create models of scholarship that are collaborative -- partnerships that allow for the blending of university resources with the resources of other organizations and communities," Ramaley said. She cited these recent initatives: the Center for Mississippi River Studies, the National Child Protection Training Center, the Center for Integrated Health Science Education and Practice, the planned expansion of Composite Engineering/Nanosciences programming, and the upcoming Center for Entrepreneurship. All, she said, are aligned closely with the philosophy of, in her coinage, "CommUniversity."
Date: Tuesday, July 25
Time: 7 a.m.
Place: Dining Rooms C and D, Kryzsko Commons
Cost: Free |
Two pre-season lists rank WSU football WINONA, Minn., July 24, 2006 -- Two preseason rankings put Winona State in the 20s among NCAA Division II football teams. The Street & Smith Yearbook ranks the Warriors 21st, Don Hansen's weekly Gazette 29th. Only one other Northern Sun conference member, Concordia of St. Paul, made the rankings -- 22nd on the Street & Smith list, right behind Winona State. Both Street & Smith and Hansen chose Winona State linebacker John Tackman and Chris Zimmerman for their all-America list. Hansen also put kicker-punter Mike Salero on its all-America list.
Last season the Warriors were 8-3 overall and tied for the Northern Sun championship. The team started the seaon ranked on some lists but fell off after losing the opener. This season among non-conference competitors, only North Dakota has made early lists -- No. 7 at Street & Smith, No. 13 at Hansen, and No. 16 at Lindy's magazine.
WSU jobs chief talks on staffing, budgetingWINONA, Minn., July 23, 2006 -- The chief jobs counselor at Winona State, Vicki Decker, presented a session, "Visioning for SuccessÐCreative Solutions for Career Services:ÊStaffing and Budgeting Appropriately to Align with University Goals,Ó at a conference of the Minnesota College and University Career Services Association.
R.I.P.: Noel F. HolstWINONA, Minn., July 23, 2006 -- A Winona State College grad, Noel Holst, 74, died at the hospital after declining health. Holt was retired from Schott Distributing Co. Earlier he was a partner in Hamm's Beer Distributing Co.
New Mexico Highlands prez gives upLAS VEGAS, N.M., July 23, 2006 -- New Mexico political broker Manny Aragon resigned from New Mexico Highlands University, ending a two-year presidency that escalated into a faculty call for his removal. Aragon had been placed on paid leave for a month. At one point 20 profs, about a third of the tenured faculty, complained to the university's accrediting agency that Aragon had belittled the faculty and ignored time-honored principles of shared governance. The American Association of University Professors censured the administration for violating tenure standardsand academic freedom.
Background: Troubled Highlands president put on leave
COURT
CONVICTIONS
WEEK ENDING JULY 22,
2006
IN WINONA COUNTY DISTRICT COURT
UNDERAGE BOOZING
Nina Louise Affeldt, 21, New Brighton, Minn., $177.
Brendon Alan Albrecht, 20 321 McBride St., $277.
Kristi Lyn Humfield, 20, Galesville, Wis., $177.
Zahary Elliot Kendall, 19, Burnsville, Minn., $227.
Maria Helene Kiselicka, 20, 630 Franklin A-302-2, WSU, $177.
Samuel Bennet Lange, 19, Stillwater, Minn., $217.
Nathaniel Joseph Stetter, 19, Holmen, Wis., $177.
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WSU
SECURITY REPORT
WEEK ENDING JULY 22, 2006
July 18, 2006: At 9:40 a.m. police requested assistance in locating a student at the East Lake dorm. The person was eventually located but determined not a student at the nniversity.
July 18, 2006: Security guards responded to the Quad dorm at 4:43 p.m. concerning a fire alarm. Someone had activated an alarm after setting off an extinguisher.
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WSU bio prof shares floodplain findingsWINONA, Minn., July 22, 2006 -- A Winona State University biology prof, Michael Delong, gave an invited presentation, "Transported Organic Matter in Large Floodplain Rivers: Evidence of Hydrological Controls," before the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography in Victoria, B.C.ÊDelong covered research by Winona State biology majors.
Samp back from Europe football| WINONA, Minn., July 21, 2006 -- Former Winona State University wide receiver Chris Samp joined the Carolina Panthers for spring training. Samp was picked by the Panthers last year just after the National Football League draft. With the Rhein Fire in Europe this past season Samp scored 32 receptions for 400 yards and five touchdowns. With the Panthers, Samp is among 11 receivers hoping to catch on with an NFL team. Samp was graduated from Winona State in 2005 and was taken on by his hometown Green Bay Packers but after an injury was let go. He then trained with the Phialdelphia Eagles and the Pittsburgh Steelers. |
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CHRIS
SAMP
Panthers training camp ahead |
WSU prof discusses gender, race ethicsWINONA, Minn., July 27, 2006 -- A Winona State University communications prof, Tammy Swenson Lepper, presented a paper, "'So, Is She White?': Making Organizational Communication Ethics Relevant to Middle America," beore the National Communication Association biannual ethics conference at Duquesne University.
Minnesota-Wisconsin tuition reciprocity renewedST. PAUL, Minn., July 20, 2006 -- Minnesota state colleges are more a bargain than ever for Wisconsin students. The two states have renewed a tuition reciprocity agreement to honor the other state's tuition for students who cross the border. The deal means Wisconsin students pay $1,000 to $2,700 less than Minnesota students at Minnesota state colleges and universities, including Winona State. The amount varies from college to college.
COMMENT: ELECTION 2006
OUELLETTE
HEADLINES AHEAD
In a perverse way you've got to admire the chutzpah of Todd Ouellette. The irrepressible former Winona State University student is running for City Council against 21-year incumbent Gerry Krage. It will be a fascinating race if for nothing more than Oullette's array of ideas, some good but mostly crackpot, and his tendency sometimes to lose control and act out his impulses. Will there be a candidate debate? Ouellette wants one "anytime anywhere." But what if debate sponsors schedule it at Winona State, where Oullette's a persona non grata and where security guards have standing orders to escort him off campus or call in the cops? That would make news. A university, after all, traditionally is supposed to be a forum for exchanges in the political life of the society.
Or how about a debate at the HBC cable-television studio? The mass media, including television, is obligated to serve as a forum. But HBC President Gary Evans, long a target of Ouellette's tirades, has a restraining order to keep him off the premises. Ouellette sure has a knack for creating conundrums that go to the heart of unchallenged values. And for this we all as thinking people should be grateful, lest we become too comfortable with our unevaluated premises.
And who should moderate a debate? Ouellette has skewered so many communty leaders and politically active Winona people on his web sites, in opinion letters to newspapers and on erstwhile television commentaries that we wonder whether an impartial moderator can be found. Then, during the campaign, will come Ouellette's trial on a charge that he violated the HBC restraining order. Who says politics is dull. |
Background: Oullette baits Krage with debate challenge
Background: Races campus people are watching
Fastenal director to SMU trustees boardWINONA, Minn., July 20, 3006 -- The St. Mary's University governing board has named seven new trustees, including alum Mike Gostomski, a Winona builder who has been a major donor. Gostomski is president of Winona Heating & Ventilation. He has been on the board of the Fastenal construction supply company since 1973. Gostomski fills one of the seats vacated by Don Ross of Fontana, Wis., a St. Mary's trustee for 20 years, and Howard Toner of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., a trustee for 10 years. Also named as new trustees:
James Coogan, Chicago, a 1969 alum, a parter is in KPMG.Margaret Anne Houlihan, Chicago, a public relations executuve with United Air Lines.
Vincent Malham, a 1958 grad and a Christian Brother, now president of Christian Brothers University in Memphis, Tenn.
Paul Meyer, Phoenix, Ariz., a 1964 grad, who is chief executive of Clear Channel One.
Richard Reedy, Sleepy Hollow, Ill., a 1976 grad, a retired travel agency owner.
Mary Ann Smith, a Chicago alderman, who is a College of St. Teresa alum.
Gostomski, Malham and Meyer have served on the St. Mary's board in the past.
R.I.P.: Virgil S. DuellmanWABASHA, Minn;, July 20, 2006 -- A St.Mary's College grad, long-time Catholic priest Virgil Duellman, 73, died at the Wabasha hospital. Father Duellman held a theology degree from St. JohnÕs University. He also held a master's degree in psychology from Winona State College and a medical ethics degree from Georgetown University. He served in nunerous parishes in the Winona diocese.
| WHAT CAMPUS PEOPLE ARE READING |
Britt Johnsen. "Making Connections." Winona Daily News (July 20, 2006), Pages 1A, 3A.
Johnsen, a news reporter interviews for Winona State University computer whiz Mohammed Elhindi, now at Southeast Tech, on an electronic library he developed for the United Nations for a Sudan university. Now he's expanded the project to 125 Sudan universities.
Cynthia Porter. "Ramaley Reflects on Her First Year," Winona Post (July 19, 2006), Pages 1A, 5A.
Porter, news editor at the Post, lets Winona State's Judith Ramaley, ramble on about her direction for the university on the occasion of her first anniversary as president. Ramaley's themes center on collaboration with the community, for which Porter coins the word "communiversity." It's a soft interview, no tough questions, but nonetheless a useful summation of where Ramaley sees the institution.
Read anything good lately?
Please share your recommendations |
SMU picks prep coach for men's soccerWINONA, Minn., July 20, 2006 -- The soccer coach at Prairie School in Racine, Wis., for 10 years, Chris Dembiec, has been hried to coach St. Mary's University men's soccer. Dembiec twice has been named Wisconsin high-school soccer coach of the year. His Prairie boys' and girls' teams had a 298-121-24 record and eight conference titles. St. Mary's Athletic Director Nikki Fennern announced the appointment. Salary was not announced. Dembiec succeeds Erc Luzzi, who has moved to the NCAA Division I program at Northern Illinois as an assistant coach. Dembiec palyed college soccer at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, S.C.
Oullette challenges Krage to debateWINONA, Minn., July 20, 2006 -- City Council candidate Todd Oullette challenged incumbent Gerry Krage to a debate "anytime, anywhere, under any circumstances." Oullette proposed that admission be charged -- $5 and a can of soup for needy children.
Background: Oulette claims City Council ballot spot
Background: Races campus people are watching
R.I.P.: Darlene A. (Triggs) MorrisonWINONA, Minn., July 20, 2006 -- A Winona State University alum, Darlene Morrison, 71, died at home in the Hidden Valley neighborhood northwest of Winona. She retired from the Wabasha County, Min., DAC in 1997.
At Cotter Hall, walls come tumbling downWINONA, Minn., July 19, 2006 -- A demolition crew has moved into St Mary's University to raze fire-gutted Cotter Hall. The three-story brick building, once a hardware baron's mansion overlooking the valley from Terrace Heights, was destroyed in an early-morning fire June 12. Although arson is suspected, inspectors gave permission for the demoltion because of the precarious integiry of remaiing walls. Meanwhile, the state fire marshal is continuing a $2,500 reward for information on how the fire started and who possibly did it.
Background: Bounty posted for Cotter arsonist
Kiselicka pays boozing fine, moves onWINONA, Minn., July 19, 2006 -- The saga of Winona State University super-jumper Maria Kiselicka in the Winona County judicial system came to an end, apparently, when she paid a fine for $177 for underage boozing. The fine was paid in absentia. Kiselicka, 20, has since moved on to Milwaukee, Wis., ending her athletic career at Winona State. Court records, howeverm still list her addess as the East Lake dorm. Kiselicka had been charged with illegal possession of precription drugs, as well as underage alcohol consumption, in February. The cases lingered for months, Kiselicka claiming all the while that she had been handed two pills by a friend to hold during a late-night arrest on the East End. In recent days, the prosecution agreed to drop the drug charges in exchange for Kiselicka acknowledging the underage boozing. It's a conditional arrangement that requires Kiselicka, who is still under the legal drinking age, to stay out of trouble and off booze.
Background: Drug charge to be dropped against WSU athlete |
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MARIA
KISELICKA
WSU scholar-
ship athlete in track and field |
Wrobel aiming for Packer quarterback slot| WINONA, Minn., July 19, 2006 -- Former Winona State University quarterback Brian Wrobel joined the Green Bay Packers for spring training after a summer of Europe football with the Berlin Thunder. Wrobel, a 2005 Winona State grad, is hoping to be noticed at the Packer camp for a roster spot this season. He is competing for a third-string position with rookie Ingle Martin and second-year veteran Tom Ash. Last season Wrobel trained with the Seattle Seahawks. |
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BRIAN
WROBEL
Green Bay training camp ahead |
RECENT DAYS IN THE CITY
POSTED JULY 19, 2006
NO VALENTINE. Winona broadcast news veteran Wayne Valentine ended speculation that he would run for the County Board, Valentine acknowledged that he had been encouarged to challenge Board Chair Dwayne Voegli, who is seeking re-election from the Second District, but would defer to his friend Mike Haney who has filed for the seat. Background
SCHOOL BOARD. There are candidates for the Winona School Board:
At-large: Stacy Mounce Arnold, Susan Brown (incumbent), Michael Deiss, Cindy Donahue, Greg Fellman, John Goplen, Kenneth Kersting, Natalie Siderius (incumbent).District 1: Ted Hamilton, Larry Laber (incumbent).District 2: Brian Neil.
County Board. These are candidate for the County Board:
District 1. Duane Bell (incumbent), Jim Pomeroy.District 2. Mike Haney, Dwayne Viegli (incumbent).District 5. Keith Beach, Jerry Delaney, Greg Erickson, Mike Kirschmann, Marcia Ward (incumbent).
THREE-WAY SHERIFF RACE. Winona Police Sgt. Chris Nelson field for sheriff, putting the race into a three-way contest that will require a primry election Sept. 12 to narrow the November ballot to two. Sheriff Dave Brand and Deputy Sheriff Rod Hansen filed earlier. Nelson said he would move toward consolidating county and city police agencies into a single department. Nelson has 18 years police experience, including eight with the Winona. Earlier he was a sheriff's officer in Madison, Wis. Background
TRAIL OF UNDERGARMENTS. After a woman reported waking up about midnight and finding a man rummaging through her bedroom, police followed a trail of the woman's undies and arrested a a 25-year-old man. The guy fled on a bike, trailing his booty. The woman, 20, lives in the 400 block of Wilson Street, said Deputy Police Chief Tom Williams. Pending are charges of second-degree burglary, fleeing the cops, and probation violation, William said. Nineteen undergarments were recovered.
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Ballot taking form as September primaries nearWINONA, Minn., July 19, 2006 -- These are the 2006
races that Winona campus people are watching:
U.S. SENATE
Robert Fitzgerald (Independence): Won his party's endorsment
Mark
Kennedy (Republican): Unchallenged as party's candidate
Amy
Klobuchar (Democrat): Holds party endorsement
GOVERNOR
Mike
Hatch (Democrat): Won his party's endorsement with Judi Dutcher as runningmate
Peter
Hutchinson (Independence): Won his party's endorsement with Maureen Reed as runningmate
Becky Lourey (Independence): Running in primary with Tim Baylor as runningmate
Sue Jeffers (Republican): Has announced candidacy
Tim
Pawlenty (Republican): Has announced for second term
Ken Pentel (Green): Won his party's endorsement
U.S. HOUSE
Gil
Gutknecht (Republican): Announced for seventh term
Tim
Walz (Democrat): Endorsed candidate
MINNESOTA SENATE
Brenda
Johnson (Republican): Has announced candidacy
Kevin Kelleher (independent): Has announced candidacy
Lewis Relman
(Republican): Has announced candidacy
Sharon Ropes
(Democrat): Has won the party endorsement
MINNESOTA HOUSE
Gene
Pelowski (Democrat): Has won the party endorsement for an 11th term
CITY COUNCIL (2nd Ward) (Near West End)
Gerry
Krage: Filed for re-election
Todd Oullette: Filed candidacy papers
CITY COUNCIL (4th Ward) (East End)
George
Borzyskowski: Unopposed for re-election
CITY COUNCIL (At-large)
Tim
Breza: Unopposed for re-election
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WSU j-grad heads sports marketing firmSOUTH JORDAN, Utah, July 19, 2006 -- A Winona State University journalism grad, Ron Goch, founder of the Telios Group, a national sports marketing firm, has been named company president. Telios provides consultant services in professional, collegiate and amateur sports. In college Goch served as editor of Winona Campus Life, a predecessor to the CyberIndee. He was graduated in 1988. He also played football at Winona State and was the university's first full-time media relations director for women's athletics.
Background: WSU masscom alumni site |
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RON
GOCH
Telios Group president |
R.I.P. Howard Alexander RowencrazMYSTIC, Conn., July 19, 2006 -- A 1991 recipient of the Winona State University Distinguished Alumni Award, Howard Rosencranz of Mystic, died Sept. 8, it was learned belatedly in his hometown of Winona. Rosencranz was a 1947 grad He later earned a doctoral degree. He spent most of his career at the University of Connecticut, where he directed the program in gerontology. From 1976 to 1978, he was on the editorial board of the Journal of Educational Gerontology. He was state delegate to the White House Conference on Aging.
Fitzgerald's evidentiary hearing delayedWINONA, Minn, July 18, 2006 -- The hearing for a Winona State student charged with breaking into a Winona couple's home and beating both husband and wife with a pool cue, John Fitzgerald, has been delayed. Assistant County Sttorney Nancy Bostrack said that Deputy Police Chief Tom Williams, who interrogated Fitzgerald, would be unable to testify at the hearing, which had been sheduled for Thursday, for family reasons. A new hearing date has yet to be set.
At Thursday's hearing, Fitzgerald's attorney had been expected to argue for dismissing a portion of Fitzgerald's statement to Williams because halfway through his interrogation he had said "I don't want to talk about it." The issue before the court, Williams said, is whether Fitzgerald was in fact summoning his Miranda rights for an attorney or simply indicating discomfort talking about the incident. Whether the court agrees with Fitzgerald, Williams said, only the portion after Fitzgerald voiced his unwillingness to continue the interrogation is open for debate on admissibility.
To a reporter's question, Williams defended the interview, saying that the Fitzgerald's intertogation was done properly and that Fitzgerlad waived his Miranda of rights at the beginning. "At the end of the interview I asked if everything was fine," Williams said, to which he said Fitzgerald replied "yeah."
Williams, who is 19 years as a Winona police officer has testified in many cases, said that it's common for defendants' attorneys to challenge whether police processes were proper or whetehr the interrogation was recorded. Both tape recordings and written transcripts of Fitzgerald's statement were made, Williams said.
Asked if Bostrack had briefed him on the questions she intended to ask him at the hearing, Williams said she hadn't yet. MacLean still officially leads the case, Bostrack said. Whether she is given charge of further hearings depends on the county prosecutor's schedule, she added.
Reporter: Kai Oehler
Backgrond: Prosecutor's Fitzy file three inches thick |
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JOHN
FITZGERALD
How much of police interrogation can be used as evidence |
WSU, Southeast Tech in displaced worker projectST. PAUL, Minn., July 18, 2006 -- The Minnesota Job Skills Partnership Program has awarded $256,000 to Winona State University and three two-year colleges to identify 210 low-income, disadvantaged individuals to be trained as certified nursing assistants. The grant, actually awarded last year but just-now announced, pays for training individuals with incomes less than twice the federal poverty line. The project involves Southeast Tech in Winona, Rochester Community and Technical College, Riverland Community College, and Workforce Development Inc.
Gutknecht: Troop pulldown might bring Iraq progressWASHINGTON, July 18, 2006 -- Back from Iraq, Rep. Gil Gutknecht, R-Minn., a consistent supporter for President Bush for the war, proclaimed he saw little progress in the capital city. Gutknecht called Baghdad "a serious problem." In a conference call with news reporters, the southern Minnesota congressman said he rejects proposals for a timetable for U.S. troop withdrawal. But, he said, a gradual pulldown of troops "will force the Iraqis to step up and take responsibility." Gutknecht noted Iraqis have taken control in Kurdish areas in the north. Gutknecht was on a five-member congressional trip to Iraq. "What I looked for everywhere we went was progress," he said. Until the capital city of the country is secure and has an operating infrastructure, "we cannot brag that we have much progress." He noted that utilities are running only half the time.
As in many congressional races, he war is shaping up as campaign issue in southern Minnesota's 1st Congressional District. Gutknecht's Democratic challenger, Tim Walz, is a retired National Guard command sergeant major who was activated for the war. Walz has been critical of the execution of the war.
Background: Races campus people are watching
Oullette claims City Council ballot spotWINONA, Minn., July 17, 2006 -- A colorful former Winona State University student whose claim to fame includes being banned from campus, Todd Oullette, filed for election to the City Council. Oullette, 38, prides himself on anti-establishment views that he parades on a variety of web sites, mostly veiled slightly under pseudonyms. His targets have included Catholic Bishop Bernard Harrington, Winona State President Judith Ramaley, and former university Vice President Gary Evans, now president of Hiawatha Broadband Communciations in Winona. On city issues, Oullette favors high-density retail-residential neighborhoods incluing downtown. He has been outspoken against city annexation of coulees for residential development, which he calls urban sprawl.
Oullette, who lives in the Second Ward on the near West End, works as a landscaper and also is a video producer. He will be challenging incumbent Gerry Krage. Krage has been on the Council since 1985. Mostly Krage has been relecected without unopposition. In 1996 he defeated lawyer Tess Kruger, who since has become a vice president at Winona State.
At Winona State, Oullette has been barred not only from campus but from e-mail communication from the outside to campus people. The university acted in 2004 when, Stacy Booth, the editor of the Winonan student newspaper, said she felt threatened. There had been a fiery exchange of letters with Oullette after he was cut off from contributing letters to the Winonan opinion page. Masscom prof John Weis, the Winonan adviser, was also a target of Oullette. Weis helped faciltate Oullette being classified an unwanted person on campus, which means security guards are provided his photo with instructions to escort him off campus or call police. In 2006 Oullette sent numerous e-mails to campus people, prompting the university to remind him that a restraining order is a possibility.
Oullette also has been fruistrated in attempts to use federal public-access requirements to air his views on Winona cable television. Hiawatha Broadband, one local cable provider, has aired some Oullette programs but, he says, not enough. Hiawatha has a court restraining order against Oullette, and he has has been charged with violating the order. A trial is scheduled during the campaign run-up to the November election. Oullette says he will defend himself successfully at trial.
Oullette holds a motley collection of generally liberal political views. No one doubts his persistence. In 1995, after two years of camping outside the White House to express concern about missing Vietnam soldiers, he had an audience with President Bill Clinton. That was despite beng arrested for scaling a White House fence at one point during his vigil. There have been other run-ins with the law. During the 2002 election, Republican legislative candidate Nick Ridge, who was just graduated from Winona State, told police that Oullette punched him out in broad daylight, without provocation, on Third Street downtown. |
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TODD
OULLETTE
Challenging Gerry krage for Ward 2 Council seat |
Background: Senator plans to silence libeling website
Background: Erstwhile student rails against Winonan
Background: Ugly Winonan exchanges continue; warning issued
Background: Races campus people are watching
City on Huff Street underpass: NoWINONA, Minn., July 17, 2006-- The City Council removed the Huff Street railroad underpass from a list of proposed street projects for funding by a proposed sales tax increase. The project, supported by Winona State University, had run into criticism about whether it could be engineered to avoid flooding. Mayor Jerry Miller was concerned that doubts about the viability of the underpass, compounded by Huff Street merchant opposition, could undermine support for the sales tax. The sales tax increase, a nickel per $10, is on the November ballot.
Congress already has approved $11.8 millon for the Huff Street underpas., leaving $3.3 million for the city to cover. City Manager Eric Sorensen said the federal money could be used by Winona State for pedestrian tunnels under the tracks at currently blocked-off Winona and Johnson streets. The pedestrian tunnels would link the main campus with athketic fields, parking and future acquisitions property acquisitions all the way to Lake Park.
Background:
Background: Expert: Huff underpass critics too hasty
Backgrund: Mayor: Drop Huff underpass from city budget
Teenager reports sex incident in SMU showerWINONA, Minn., July 17, 2006 -- A 13-year-old Illinois boy at a St. Mary's University hockey summer camp told police he was approached sexually by an older male in a St. Edwards dorm shower. There was no assault, Deputy Police Chief Tom Williams said. Police have a description of the guy from three witnesses, but, Williams said, neither the witnesses nor the target of the incident could identify him from photographs. Williams said misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct are possible. The incident was reported Saturday.
Pawlenty or Hatch? Poll: Toss-up MINNEAPOLIS, Minn., July 16, 2006 -- The gubernatorial race between Republican incumbent Tim Pawlenty and Democratic challenger ike hatch would be a dead heat if the election were now, according to a Star Tribune poll. With a 3.4 percent margin of error, Pawlenty was favored 43 to 41 percent. The poll drew on a sample of 813 likely voters.
Background: Races campus people are watching
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Iowa fundraiser falls short for art showcaseIOWA CITY, Iowa, July 17, 2006 -- The University of Iowa is digging into its pockets for $2.5 million to cover a fund-raising shortfall for a new art building. The university had hoped to raise $5 million from alumni, but, as art department chair Dorothy Johnson said, ""Artists tend not to make the kind of money that alums in other disciplines make." The $21.5 million, 67,000-square foot building, designed by Steven Holl, is expected to be completed in April.
Drug charge to be dropped against WSU athleteWINONA,Minn., July 17, 2006 -- A charge of possessing somebody else's prescription drugs would be dropped against a Winona State Unversity athlete, Maria Kiselicka, in exchange for pleaing guilty to underage boozing, according to prosecuting attorney Nancy Bostrack. The arrangement will be a done-deal as soon as Kiselicka's defense attorney, Kurt Knuesel, submits the necessary paperwork to the court, Bostrack said. Kiselicka is in Milwaukee and unlikely to be present at a pre-trial hearing scheduled for Thursday, Bostrack said. Dismisal of the prescriptiuon drug charge can be taken care of without Kiselicka present, Bostrack said. Kiselicka, a scholarship track-and-field athlete, was arrested in Feb. 10 on the East End after police asked her to show her ID. As she reached for her ID, pills identified as Trazadone and Clonazapam fell out of her pocket, police said. Kiselicka, 19 at the time, had been drinking, police said. Kiselicka has maintained she was holding the pills for a male friend who was with her and had no idea they were prescription drugs.
Bostrack said a condition in the plea arrangement would be for Kiselicka to avoid a run-in with the law for six months. Bostrack said that the drug charge would remain off Kiselicka's record but that she would pay a fine for underage drinking. There would be no jail or a fine beyond that, she said. If Kiselicka were to get in similar trouble within six months, Bostrack said, it would become more apparent whether Kiselicka had lied.
| Meanwhile, Kiselicka, now 20, has posted pictures of her birthday party on her page on the Facebook.com social-networking site. In captions she boasts of drinking beer. On the Facebook page, Kiselicka says. also, that she has transferred the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and is taking biochemistry this summer. At Winona State, Kiselicka, a sophomore, aimed her coursework at acceptance into the nursing program. |
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In the typical tone and loose spelling and punctuation of Facebook.com pages, Kiselicka posted this caption: "rying to get fucked up...what else do u expect from the bday girl?" |
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MARIA
KISELICKA
Fifth in Northern Sun conference with an indoor long jump of 16 feet, 7-1/4 inches last season
From Medford, Wis.
At UW-Milwaukee this summer |
Reporter: Kai Oehler
Backgrond: Judge delays Kiselicka pre-trial date
WSU grad seeks County Board seatWINONA Minn., July 16, 2006 -- Retired Winona National Bank executive Jim Pomeroy, a 1978 Winona State University grad, filed to run for the County Board. Pomeroy, 52, earlier was city clerk. He has never held elected office. He filed for the 1st District. Incumbent Duane Bell has held the seat since 1997. Bell has been under fire for traveling at taxpayer expenses to faraway national conventions in topuristy locales. Pomeroy hasn't made that an issuebut rather emphasized his experience in government and in business. Being retired, he said, "now I have the time to be involved." Pomeroy retired last fall from the Winona National Bank west branch.
Background:
Expert: Huff underpass critics too hastyWINONA, Minn., July 16, 2006 -- A retired public works manager, Stephen Profilet, urged caution in assessing dire warnings in the press about flooding in the proposed Huff Street underpass near Winona State University. In a letter to the Daily News opinion page, Profilet said there are numerous ways to minimize infiltration and runoff. There have been charges that the project is folly because groundwater in Winona isn't deep. Profilet called for a systematic analysis by the responsible public works authority: "Waterproofing and dewatering should be addressed based on thorough engineering, not dependent on editorial opinon."
The university has backed the underpass, which would dip under the Canadian Pacific tracks. Most of the project's $15.1 million cost has already been approved by Congress, but $3.3 million would be needed from a one-half cent sales tax increase on the Winona ballot in November. The tax increase would raise an estimated $20 million over 15 years -- far short of the city's "wish list" for street improvements.
Background: City faces choices with sales-tax revenue
Background: City plans pro-sales tax campaign
Background: Mayor: Drop Huff underpass from city budget
WSU
SECURITY REPORT
WEEK ENDING JULY 15, 2006
July 12, 2006: Security guards responded to a fire alarm in the science building at 8:15 a.m. It was a false alarm.
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COURT
CONVICTIONS
WEEK ENDING JULY 15,
2006
IN WINONA COUNTY DISTRICT COURT
UNDERAGE BOOZING
Stacy Lynn Amundson, 20, Rochester, Minn, $154.
Jeffrey Steven Beeman, 4140 W. Wabasha, $117.
Marcus Thomas Kronebusch 18, 23065 County 15, $117.
Julia Linda Starks, 19, 450 E. Wabasha 5, $177.
Ben Joshua Tidwell, 18, 419 W. Third St., $177.
<
Ryan Lee Womeldorff, 19, Rochester, Minn., $177.
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WSU begins image-builder searchWINONA, Minn., July 15, 2006 -- Winona State Universuty has launched a search for an assistant vice president for marketing and communications. A search committee is being rounded up to begin work by August. The administration said the search will be national search. The position is new but covers the responsibilities that Tim Grier performed under the title of communications director. Grier has resigned to join the university's public relations faculty.
RECENT DAYS IN THE CITY
POSTED JULY 14, 2006
LAKE PARK HAZARD. Medical waste, including liquid filled colostomy bags and used bandages, have been found almost weekly in Lake Park garbage cans for at least a year, police said. Whoever dumps the stuff rotates among cans. Also, medical waste has been found at Bluffside Park.
County Commissioners Duane Bell and Dave Stoltman, who were gigged a year ago for traveling to a Hawaii meeting on the taxpayers' dime, have done it again, this time to the nation's capital, and then skipped out of meetings early, the Daily News reported. Expense records show that Bell and Stoltman arrived a day ahead of National Association of Counties meetings, stayed through two days of meetings, then left just as education sessions were beginning. They submitted $3,400 for expenses, including $1,200 for lodging. Asked by the Daily News why they skipped out, Bell and Stoltman said they wanted to save taxpayers the expense of additional lodging. Background
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WSU president to speak in Front Porch seriesWINONA, Minn., July 12, 2006 -- Winona State University President Judith Ramaley will discuss her pet project, "Universities in the 21st Century." as part of the Great River Shakespeare Festival's Front Porch Conversation Series. Ramaley said she will discuss changes in society and how educational institutions can shift to prepare graduates to thrive in a "conceptual age." "Education is not just about content," said Ramaley. "It's about what you learn, how you learn it and what you do with it." The Front Porch series was designed as casual forum for leaders in a wide range of feilds to share their insights and experiences.
Date: Sunday, July 16
Time: 1 p.m.
Place: Main Stage of the WSU Performing Arts Center
Cost: $10
Reservations: (507) 474-7900 |
Bell bows to Klochubar for U.S. SenateST. PAUL, Minn., July 11, 2006 -- An internecine battle for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate has gone away. Ford Bell announced his withdrawal, saying it became clear after Amy Klochur won the party's endorsement that he would have trouble raising sufficient funds to continue. "I will be supporting my opponent Amy Klobuchar in November, and I ask my supporters to do the same," Bell said.ÊMost important now, he said, is defeating the Bush-supported Republican Senate candidate -- incumbent Rep. Mark Kennedy.
Bell called for Democrats to press for:
Deadline for Iraq troop withdrawal: "Our soldiers have won the war and deposed a brutal tyrant. American Marines and GIs have stood guard while the Iraqis held their first elections in living memory. We must now insist that our civilian leadership honor the service and sacrifice of our troops by ending the occupation."
Health care reform: "That 45 million Americans, 12 million children are uninsured is a failure of imagination.Ê That the government passed a fraudulent prescription drug bill is a failure of political will.Ê That people all over America have to choose between insulin and heat is a failure of morality. The solution is single-payer insurance, Medicare for all."
Campaign finance reform: "The corrosive influence of money is strangling American democracy.Ê That our little outsider campaign raised almost a million dollars, stood for issues that the vast majority of our party endorsed, and couldnÕt compete, is an indictment of the system we have."
Background: Democrats endorse Klochubar for U.S. Senate
Background: Races campus people are watching |
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FORD
BELL
Campaign coffers sputter on empty |
New Busdicker music scholarship at WSUWINONA, Minn., July 11, 2006 -- The Hal Leonard Co., the world's largest sheet music publisher, which was founded by three Winona State University alums after World War II, has establoished a new music scholarship at the university. The scholarship, named for company co-founder Harry Busdicker, who died in June, is the latest Hal Leonard scholarship gift to Winona State. The amount of the gift was not announced, but the company said a recipient may renew the award for eight semesters. Earlier Hal Leonard schoalrships have benefited more than 30 music majors, the company said.
Background: R.I.P.: Roger H. (Harry) Busdicker
Klochubar favors "responsible" Iraq withdrawalWINONA, Minn., July 10, 2006 -- The Democrat endorsed for the U.S. Senate, Amy Klocubar, told a Winona gathering that she would have voted against going to war in Iraq had she been in the Senate in 2003 and favors a phase-down. The challenge, Klochubar said, is finding a "responsible way" to bring troops home. "We need to start pulling some troops out," she said. Klochubar spoke to about 60 people in a late-motning gathering at the Acoustic Cafe.
Background: Klochubar, Hatch win Democratic endorsements
Background: Races campus people are watching |
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AMY
KLOCHUBAR
Iraq war a mistake |
Water workshop planned aboard WSU boatWINONA, Minn., July 10, 2006 -- Ð The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has scheduled a water management workshop aboard the Winona State University motorboat River Explorer for school teachers, youth group leaders and others involved in educating K-8 students. The workshop is called Project WET, short for Water Education for Teachers.
Date: Monday, Aug. 7
Time: 8 a.m. departure
Place: Levee Park dock
Registration deadline: Monday, July 31
Cost: $30
Reservations: (507) 474-3902 |
Background: Plans for Winona Applebee's scuttled
ELECTION 2006
1ST CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT
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Walz favors stem-cell research funding| MANKATO, Minn., July 10, 2006 -- Democratic Congressional hopeful Tim Walz hailed a stem-cell research breakthrough at Johns Hopkins University and called for federal funding for further research. Scientists at Johns Hopkins U reversed partial paralysis in rats by injecting them with stem cells from mouse embryos, allowing the partially paralyzed rats to walk again. Walz noted that the research is being conducted "despite federal interference." He also expressed dismay that incumbent southern Minensota Congressman Gil Gutknecht has not supported stem-cell research. "Stem cells hold the key to improving the lives of millions of Americans," Walz said.Ê "I believe that the representative from the 1st District should be an advocate for those who would benefit from stem cell technology as well as for the Mayo Clinic where that research is being conducted." Walz pointed to a House vote in May 2005 in which Ê Gutknecht voted against expanding Federal funding of stem-cell research. Said Walz: "Since gaining control of the Congress in 1994, Representative Gutknecht and his Republican colleagues have successfully enacted laws preventing the use of federal funds to create or work with all but a few batches of human embryonic stem cells. Researchers have repeatedly stated that the number of stem cell lines and |
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