Last week, March 7th, 44 year old Joshua Larkin Reiter, of Faribault, pled guilty in US District court to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. In exchange for the plea, Rieter is looking at nine to 13½ years in prison and 3 years supervised release. Sentencing is July 10th. Reiter and 38 year old Cole Earl Thompson of LeSueur were arrested at a gas station in Northfield last September. Agents of the Cannon River Drug and Violent Offender Task Force had been observing the pair, being aware of their hierarchy in the drug trade. Thompson is a top distributor and Reiter is a runner for him. Agents found just over a POUND of meth,
specifically 455 grams; 112 grams of marijuana; nearly 2 grams of black tar heroin and 235 various controlled substance pills. The amount of meth required to prove 1st degree drug sale is 17 grams. Thompson and Reiter had 26 times that amount. They were each charged with 1st degree drug sale and 7 other various drug charges, all felonies. On February 6th, Thompson pled guilty. According to his plea agreement, he could receive anywhere from 8 to 15 ½ years in prison and 5 years probation. His sentencing is set for June 7th. Both men are deemed career offenders.
“Good intentions” increased Housing costs
District 20 Senator Rich Draheim is on the Housing Committee. He said, “we’re trying to look at affordability. You can fill in the blank, there’s homelessness and then there’s affordability for every other segment of society or sub-segment of society you can think of”. Workforce housing is inadequate, there just isn’t affordable housing. He said, “through good intentions we’ve changed zoning laws, density laws, square footage size, building codes”. Two people testified last week before the legislature that all the code increases over the last 10 years have increased the cost of a home by $30,000. He added, “so that’s not inflation, that’s not in extra labor costs, that’s not extra material costs, that’s just code changes”. He said some of those changes were likely necessary but the debate is how immigrant families, lower income families working and striving can afford to buy, “so would you rather have a newer house that is a little more energy efficient with double pane windows, more insulation or a hundred year old house with single pane windows and no insulation? So it either has to be a balancing act there”. The committee is spending a lot of time debating a solution. Draheim’s full interview is on kymn.net. He will be on the Jeff Johnson Morning show each week through the legislative session.
Mayor for a Day Essays due today
The State of the City address will be held on Monday, March 19th and the public is invited. It will be held at the Weitz Center in the Kracum theater. There will be an hour presentation and winners of the Mayor for a Day Essay contest for 4th and 5th graders will be announced. The One Page essay on what they would do as Mayor are due this afternoon. Complete information is on kymn.net. Search Essay.
Smile Drive is ON – drop off at KYMN studios
Designed to raise awareness of the importance of oral health and collect oral care products for underserved children, the America’s ToothFairy Smile Drive is being held from today through the 30th led by the Rice County Early Childhood Dental Network. Community members are invited to drop off donations of kid toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss, and mouth rinse at several locations in the county. In Northfield, locations are at the KYMN studios and the Youth Wing of the NCRC. Smile Drive Press Release–Nfld.docx
