Former Faribault HS student threatens to “shoot up the school”
As students arrived at Faribault High School yesterday morning they were greeted by a large contingent of law enforcement personnel. Rice County Sheriff Troy Dunn explained that Faribault police received a call threat wherein someone said they were going to “shoot up the school”. Dunn said they put officers at all the doors, they were monitoring all of the area with officers outside and inside. He said the investigation showed that it was a threat that
actually came up from the south metro. Someone, in another country (that went to FHS) saw the threat and said that student goes to Faribault High School, turns out that he’s a former student. The authorities in the metro are talking with the student, they also report no shooting. Dunn says they have to take these threats seriously, “we’ve done a lot of great training throughout the County with Northfield police, Rice County and all our small entities as well as State Patrol into how we;re going to respond to these things and be prepared”. Dunn says the hope is that by them turning out like that, it will be a deterrent for someone who may be thinking of it. Dunn encourages the public to call them with tips and information. They would rather show up and not be needed than be needed and not be aware of the threat.
Off road trail? Roundabout? Options for Co. Rd 1 reconstruction
Rice County Engineer Dennis Luebbe discussed the reconstruction of County Rd 1 between hwy 3 and 246 before Dundas Council this week. Dundas, Bridgewater Township and Northfield are interested in making it more pedestrian and non-motorized vehicle friendly. Administrator John McCarthy said the County offered some options. The most expensive one include a trail along the stretch from Hwy 3 to 246 with an off grade underpass at Brockman Ct. just east of Jefferson. The County is asking the entities how much money they’re willing to put into it as the County doesn’t normally pay for off road construction. But, McCarthy says, they’re taking a look at it. There will continue to be more discussion on this but the County has the final say. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2018. They also discussed a roundabout at the top of the hill, that would be expensive and change the whole route.
Flowery motif receives not so rosy critiques
Northfielders filled up a facebook post with questions about the flower motif on Washington at 5th street. A video was posted of city employees using spray paint to add a floral touch to the area between the curb and the temporary delineators. Many of the comments were not so rosy, so I talked with Administrator Ben Martig. He said the Arts & Culture Commission has talked about painting the crosswalks in the downtown arts area for some time. (It’s done in other cities). It’s a way to support the arts. He said the City’s plan was to paint white stripes or some solid color but since the ACC brought it up, they thought it would be a fine test area. Martig said, “we had our staff help do the painting just because of traffic concerns. There was some stenciling down and some painting so I guess it draws a little extra attention to the area we were going to paint anyway”. The temporary paint will wear and need to be retouched, should they keep it up. The City intends on leaving the delineators in place for the winter. Martig said the snow plows will have to keep their distance just like they do with curbs. These are temporary as the City continues to evaluate pedestrian safety at the intersection. Washington Street is scheduled for resurfacing in 2018.
Kudos to El Super Barrio Latino!
KYMN’s “El Super Barrio Latino” has been selected by the Minnesota community Education Association for a Project Award. The show that celebrates, informs and entertains our Latino community has also been profiled in the Star Tribune. Marlene Rojas, Lucy Gonzales Miron and Mar Valdecantos — along with several other occasional hosts started the program just a year ago. The award will be presented at a Northfield School Board meeting in November. “El Super Barrio Latino” airs Sunday evenings at 7 o’clock.
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