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A Longfellow special needs pre-schooler was left alone on his school bus Friday morning. School Superintendent Dr. Chris Richardson says the driver inadvertently failed to get the student off the bus. The driver went home and discovered the boy later, when she returned to the bus to get ready to pick up students from school that morning. The driver is a 15-year veteran of Benjamin Bus, the company that provides transportation to Northfield schools. Once she realized what had happened, she brought the boy to Longfellow for an examination by the school nurse. Dr. Richardson says the nurse determined the boy was physically fine. Director of student services for Northfield Schools, Gary Lewis, phoned the boy’s mother to tell her what occurred, he says she was understandably very upset. The owner of Benjamin Bus, John Benjamin says the company is reevaluating procedures with drivers and considering procedural changes to ensure nothing like this happens again. As for the driver in this case, Benjamin says she is devastated by what happened. She has not worked since the incident. It’s not yet known yet, what, if any disciplinary actions will be taken against the bus driver or if the 3-year old boy will continue taking the bus to school. KYMN will have continuing coverage of this story as there are developments.
- A Northfield man is the last of five defendants sentenced for the 2008 kidnapping and beating of a mentally disabled man in Dakota County. Judge Tim Wermager sentenced 22-year-old Jonathan Diepold to ten years in prison Friday. That’s a stiffer sentence than recommended by state sentencing guidelines. Diepold waived his right to a jury trial and was found guilty by the judge last October of kidnapping, aggravated robbery, assault, false imprisonment and theft. Diepold and four others were charged in the beating of 24-year-old Justin Hamilton. Hamilton was twice lured from his home and tortured for hours. Three other men and a teenage girl pleaded guilty. The girl had said that Hamilton assaulted her, but prosecutors say she made that up.
- Starting this week, the Northfield city council will convene for meetings and work sessions on Tuesday evenings, instead of Mondays. The council voted in December to switch its meeting night to avoid conflicts with legal holidays. This Tuesday the council is scheduled for a work session. Items on the agenda include discussing residential zoning issues in the Land Development Code. The council will also review financing options for facility projects proposed in the Capital Improvement Plan. The goal of the discussion is to move the process along for the planning of new police and fire facilities and the Northfield library expansion. Specifically, the council will consider the types of bond financing available. Finally, the council will review training options and procedural changes for city boards and commissions. KYMN will have more coverage of the council’s work session throughout the week.
- On Thursday of last week, the city of Northfield accepted its annual contribution from St. Olaf and Carleton Colleges. Each year, the colleges contribute $73,000 to the city as an acknowledgment of the city services provided. In his weekly memo, City Administrator Joel Walinski says it’s the largest annual contribution given by colleges to a local government in the state of Minnesota.
