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- UPDATE…….Mark Allen Cole faces four felony counts of arson. According to the criminal complaint, Cole first set his home on fire, then drove a few blocks to the city hall and started a fire in the parking lot that burned 3 vehicles, including his own. Officers observed Cole running from the scene with what appeared to be fire on his pant leg. Police apprehended Cole near the scene of the car fire without incident. According to the complaint, when police asked for Cole’s address, he said “You can’t miss it. I started it on fire.”Cole told police he didn’t want to hurt anybody. Cole told police he was under financial stress and had separated from his wife. He admitted he got some gas and paint thinner, spilled it all over the house and ripped up some sheets. He was standing 10 to 15 feet away from the front door when the fire started. Cole told police he then drove his car to city hall and parked his car between two city vehicles. He said he thought if he “trashed his car between them, they would notice.” He also said, “no one listens to anyone until they have nothing.” Cole also made references to the man who flew his plane into a government building in Texas recently. Cole face up to 55 years in prison, $85,000 in fines or both if convicted of all the charges. Judge Bernard E. Borene has set Cole’s bail at $50,000 without conditions or $10,000 with the following conditions: he may not leave the state of Minnesota; he may not enter the property of Northfield City Hall, he will be placed on the Rice County Pre-Trial Release Program; he must be of good behavior, have no further law violations and appear for all future court proceedings as ordered.
- Area townships held annual elections yesterday, KYMN has the results. In Bridgewater, Bruce Morlan received 82 votes for supervisor—he ran unopposed. Janalee Cooper received 81 votes—running unopposed for clerk. In Greenvale Township, Bob Winter, running for supervisor, received 73 votes, Ben Boyum received 51. Edith Nelson ran unopposed for city clerk. Northfield Township had 45 ballots cast for unopposed candidates Brian Peterson, supervisor and Marge Randolph clerk. And, in Waterford Township, 75 votes ballots were cast. John Dudley remains supervisor and Erin Johnson is clerk.
- Charges are pending against a Northfield man suspected of starting two fires early yesterday morning. Police arrested 43-year-old Mark Allen Cole as he was fleeing the scene of a vehicle fire at City Hall. Cole is suspected of starting the fire. Cole is also suspected of intentionally starting a fire at his own house a few blocks away at 611 College Street earlier in the morning. Police are calling the home a total loss. Police are trying to determine a motive. Northfield Police Chief Mark Taylor says Cole did not have an ax to grind with the city, that he had other reasons for why he did what he did. There were no injuries in the incidents.
- The Northfield jobless rate held steady at 6.2% in January. That’s according to the latest figures released by the state department of employment and economic development. The number for Rice County in January was 9.1%, that’s about a 1% increase from December of 2009. The state rate of seasonally adjusted unemployment was down to 7.3% in January.
