Reduced staff for RCDTF still elicit plenty of drug busts
Despite a reduced staff, the Rice County Drug Task Force has been busy recently with several arrests including a Faribault couple this week. busted for allegedly selling marijauna. Incidence of meth and heroin use have grown. Rice County Sheriff Troy Dunn says they’re cheaper than cocaine. Dunn says there are no meth labs in Rice County. He attributes that to changes in the law controlling the sale of products used to cook methamphetamine. The more aggressive authorities are on busting these operations, the drug task force says it drives the price up which leads to other types of drugs being developed and the “cutting” of drugs. What Dunn wants to stress is that you have no guarantee of what powder dealers are using to cut these drugs with. It could be baking soda, it could be Ajax. What experience you have with the drug one time doesn’t mean you’ll have that same experience. That’s what leads of overdoses. Dunn says drugs have led to stealing, as we’ve recently experienced here in Norththfield. His final word, if you’re bringing drugs into Rice County they will find you . He also stressed that they are willing to help those who want to free themselves of the habit.
State mandates make extra work with no extra money
The Northfield School Board met this week. Superintendent Dr. Chris Richardson said they spent time discussing new mandates put out by the State that will impact Northfield schools. Two of those issues involve evaluations of Principals and teachers.
In the past, evaluations have taken place every 3 to 5 years. But the new law requires yearly evaluations. Richardson said this will create a lot more work and involve self evaluations, goal setting, a mid year report as well as the full evaluation. Northfield has signed up as one of 17 districts to pilot the new Principal evaluation program.
No state funding will come to the district to offset accrued costs. In Northfield there are 5 Principals and 3 assistants however there are 300 teachers. Evaluations for Principals will be in place for 2013 followed by teachers in 2014. Every district in the State will have to go through this process.
CAC has free cell phones for qualified residents
The Community Action Center is partnering with Life Wireless to distribute free cell phones to Northfield-area residents in need today. The program is offered through Lifeline and provides one free cell phone to all Minnesota families who live at or below 135 percent of the national poverty guidelines. The phones include 250 free minutes of calling time each month and there are no contract obligations, activation charges or monthly fees. The first cell phone distribution event, held in July, was extremely successful. CAC staff will distribute the phones between 2:30 and 6:30 p.m. For more information, call the Community Action Center at 507-664-3550 or visit the organization at the Northfield Community Resource Center.
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