Mental health call becomes ablaze
Rice County Deputies were called on report of a mental health incident Friday night at 1155 Hazelwood Way in Northfield. On arrival the garage was fully engulfed in flames and they were told that a person may be inside. Northfield Fire/Rescue handled the fire along with Lonsdale Fire/Rescue. There was no one inside. The garage was a complete loss. Sheriff Dunn said there were construction tools, an ATV and a pickup was damaged. The fire is under investigation. Dunn said it will likely be forwarded to the Rice County Attorney’s office but he believes they’ll decline to prosecute as this is a mental health issue.
Rice County sets preliminary levy lower than last year
Rice County Commissioners set their preliminary budget for 2017. Commissioner Galen Malecha said they set it at 3.9{b5761be34e80a16b6d0e4dabc1869c131a263f96a745c82bebdd3b8a4330bfa9}. Last year’s was 5.95{b5761be34e80a16b6d0e4dabc1869c131a263f96a745c82bebdd3b8a4330bfa9}. Malecha explained that they had been at a 37.5 hour work week but they increased it to 40 hours a week which meant about a million dollar payroll increase. It could go down but Malecha says it’s likely to stay there.
After 2 years, Nfld Schools Master Facilities Plan set to be presented
The Northfield School district started working on their facilities plan in 2014 with an analysis of all the buildings. Superintendent Dr. Matt Hillmann said the held a number of community meetings and received input online through the Thought Exchange. He intends to bring the Master Facilities Plan before the School board on Nov. 14th. There will be 2 parts to the plan, Hillmann says, “the first will be the life cycle management piece which is looking at our existing buildings and saying at what point do we consider either replacing building or building something new”. The second part is having their 10 yr deferred maintenance plan to see what they’ll have coming and be planful about using the capital dollars they have from the state. The Board will be asked to adopt the plan on November 28th. Hillmann added that it doesn’t mean they’ll be doing all the items in the plan but will be heading in that direction.
Disc golf takes over flooded field
From a flooded soccer field emerges a disc golf course. Empire Townships soccer field has flooded so many times recently that the area became unusable. Twelve acres of land the township wanted to see used somehow. According to the Independent Town Pages, they approached disc golf designer Chuck Kennedy, who called it a good design challenge. The new 9 hole course north of County Rd. 66 off Biscayne Avenue opened September 1st. It’s free to the public and cost the township just over $4,000 to complete. Kennedy used elements along the Vermillion River, the river itself and a stand of poplar trees to make obstacles. Disc golf is played much like regular golf except the idea is to throw a disc into a basket in as few tries as possible. There’s no specific season for disc golf, but heavy winds and lightning might keep players away.
For those out trick or treaters tonight, Sheriff Dunn highly recommends the kids wear reflective tape on their clothing and carry a flashlight and to stay on the sidewalks as much as possible. Dunn reminds drivers to be extra cautious in neighborhoods and also to check their kids candy.
Click below to listen to the 10-31-16 NEWS podcast:
Listen for news updates on-air at 6, 7, 8, Noon, 3 and 5
