A 77 year old Biwabik man drowned this week on Silver Lake. According to the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office, family members arrived at the home of Elmer Willman to discover his body in Silver Lake near his canoe. Family members went to his home when relatives weren’t able to contact Willman. The St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office reports the incident does not appear suspicious in nature but remains under investigation.
A 24 year old Bena man died in a truck/motorcycle accident Thursday night on Highway 371 in Walker. According to the Minnesota State Patrol, 24 year old Seth Michael Raines of Bena was traveling on Highway 371 when he crossed the center line and collided with a Silverado pickup truck driven by 62 year old Ricklin Schmidtke of Walker.
Raines was killed in the accident. Schmidtke was taken to Sanford Hospital in Bemidji by private vehicle with non-life-threatening injuries.
More than 8500 people are without power after the strong winds blew through our area this morning.
Line crews are out working to restore power.
Lake Country Power reports 7500 customers without power. LCP called in both Lake States Construction, Highline Construction, and Cooperative Light and Power to help restore power as soon as possible.
Affected areas are primarily north of Virginia, Side Lake, Lake Vermillion, and Ely. Select areas near Grand Rapids were also affected.
Members can call 1-800-421-9959 to report an outage.
Minnesota Power is reporting 14 separate outages, affecting almost 1000 residents, mainly in the Floodwood, Duluth, and Brainerd area.
A tubing accident last Friday in Pengilly injured three people. According to information just released from the Itasca County Sheriff’s office, a woman and two of her grandchildren were tubing behind a boat when the tube collided with a pontoon boat on a lift on shore.
Injured was Sharon Benson and two children, 6 and 7 years old.
According to the report, Benson was on a tube with the children, when the tube left the boat’s wake. Neither the spotter nor the driver were aware the tube was on the wrong side of the boat. The tube collided with a pontoon, in a boat lift, at the end of the dock.
Itasca County sheriff’s office, Nashwauk Ambulance, and Hibbing Fire Department Paramedics responded.
Truency isn’t the problem. It’s usually a symptom of a bigger problem. Tuesday, Linda and Amy Ross of Ross Resources presented some of the services Ross perform for the county, including drug testing and screening, truancy prevention, and supervised visitation.
Students that miss 10% of the school year (17 to 18 days a year), are less likely to succeed. Kim Geislinger has a staff of 10 who work with teachers, principals, law enforcement, and counselors to keep kids in 4 area school districts in school. She said absenteeism often is a symptom of other issues within the family, including mental health issues, chemical dependency, and poverty.
Cass County Sheriff
PINE RIVER, MN
ONE ADULT MALE RESCUED FROM HAY LAKE, SEARCH CONTINUES FOR SECOND PARTY
Cass County Sheriff Tom Burch reports that on June 12, 2018 at 1:30 PM, the Cass County Sheriff’s Office received a report of two parties that had been thrown from a boat on Hay Lake, located in Ponto Lake Township, rural Pine River, MN. Responders and Deputies arrived and located an adult male, who had been operating the boat. This party was transported to shore and treated on scene for minor injuries. The search continues for the adult male who was a passenger in the boat. Assisting the Cass County Sheriff’s Office is North Memorial Ambulance, North Memorial AirCare, Lakes Area Dive Team and the MN DNR Conservation and aircraft.
The Arrowhead Pro-Care Pool has voted to dissolve group health insurance as of June 30th.
Itasca County employees needed an alternate plan. For the balance of the year, the county will move to the Northeast Service Cooperative. On Tuesday, Human Resources Director Lynn Hart came before the Itasca County Board of Commissioners and asked the board to accept the changes. All of the county’s 11 unions have agreed. Some changes include a fifty percent premium increase in all the plans. A new, higher deductible HSA plan, which includes a deductible of $3500 for single and $7000 per family.
The county has held an open enrollment period, allowing employees to make changes.
For the year 2019, other options will be considered.
A 25 year old Cass Lake man was taken to Cass Lake Indian Health Services Hospital Thursday night with injuries suffered in an assault. The man was pronounced dead shortly after. Two search warrants were issued to residences in Pike Bay Township. Tom Burch, Cass County Sheriff, and the Leech Lake Tribal Police are investigating. An autopsy is planned.
A semi, carrying approximately 7400 gallons of #2 diesel fuel rolled over in Mountain Iron early Saturday morning. The driver, 42 year old Joseph Mickle of Grand Rapids, was not injured. The tanker rolled over on the Parkville Road in Mountain Iron around 4:30am. Mountain Iron Fire Department was called as a precaution while the fuel was transferred from the over-turned tanker to a second tanker. No fuel was leaked. The scene was cleared around 9am.
Two Deer River residents were injured in a two-vehicle accident Friday afternoon on Highway 53 in Cook. According to the State Patrol, a vehicle driven by 48 year old Gretchen Bachman of Deer River was stopped on Highway 53, waiting to turn north onto Highway 1 when the vehicle was rear ended by a vehicle driven by 19 year old Kristen Lilya of Orr. Bachman, her passenger, 27 year old Aaron Burnside also of Deer River, and Lilya were all transported to the Cook Hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
