Sheriff ID’s deceased
Rice County Sheriff Troy Dunn has released the name of the man found dead at the Flying J Truck stop on Monday. Preliminary results from the investigation have determined that 51 year old Jay Hanson of Lonsdale died from self-inflicted wounds. Final results are pending the complete report from the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office and the Rice County Coroner. Hanson was reported missing to local law enforcement on April 12th. He was later found in his vehicle by a deputy on April 18th.
Investigators continue search for driver who fled the scene of a serious crash
Dakota County investigators continue to search for the driver of the vehicle that seriously injured a bicyclist in early March. Forty-five-year-old Bryan Joas of Eagan, was struck riding his bicycle March 8th in Eureka Township. The driver left the scene. Joas suffered a broken back, broken ribs and a broken pelvis. He was airlifted to North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale where he remains. KSTP reports that Joas is making progress. He has undergone nine surgeries and hopes to move out of the intensive care unit this week. Investigators are looking for a two-door silver or light-colored pickup truck with a loud muffler. A $1,000 reward was offered early on, it is now up to 10,000 for information leading to an arrest. Anyone with any information is asked to call the Dakota County Sheriff’s Office at 651-438-4700. The Joas family has set up a GoFundMe page to help pay for medical expenses.
Of bats and wetlands
There remain multiple issues with the approval of the E. Cannon River Trail. Tied into it is a regional park between Dundas and Northfield, a wetland and the apparent rogue actions of some city staff. In preparation for the trail, a Streets and Parks employee cut down trees in the wetland area. Mayor Graham explained that the trees had to be cut down by April 1st because of the endangered Long Eared bats using them for nesting. Councilor Ludescher said he was “so mad he could spit tacks”, that he hadn’t given permission to cut down those trees, “because if we approve this in April and those trees are still there and the bats are in there we couldn’t build the trail. So where are all the environmentalists now?”. Graham said he didn’t have a problem with it but Council didn’t know anything about it. There’s still the issue of 14 questions from Councilors Ludescher and DeLong. There’s also the matter of what Dundas’s share is in all of this. Sixteen percent of the trail is on property owned by Dundas but none of that is wetlands which makes the project more expensive. City Administrator John McCarthy says the per capita cost is much higher for Dundas than it is for Northfield because the wetlands raise the price. Next Tuesday, mayor Graham has called a special meeting with the idea of Dundas being at the table and all the questions and concerns answered. The Council has until May 17th to award the current bid on the project.
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