A Northfield man was sentenced yesterday to 17 months for Criminal Vehicular operation resulting in bodily harm. Last November, 22 year old Nick Craig Lino crashed into 3 parked cars in Viking Terrace, where he lives. Two passengers suffered non life threatening injuries. One reported that Lino was drunk and driving 140 mph south of Dresden when he blew through the stop sign at Fremouw and crashed into the cars. He will serve ⅔ of his sentence in custody and the rest on supervised release.
Nfld man admits to molesting a child
27 year old Varney Quaye of Northfield turned himself into police after being confronted with evidence of molesting a child. He
told police this week, that he got drunk and sent a naked picture of himself to his wife’s daughter on Snapchat, it was intercepted by her father. The girl texted her mother on April 2nd to say they needed to talk. After a discussion with her parents, they told Quaye he had 24 hours to turn himself in or her dad would. Quaye told police he had been touching the girl inappropriately for the last year. The victim provided a 3 page document to law enforcement detailing inappropriate incidents. A copy of the photo was saved and given to police. Quaye’s initial court appearance is April 18th. He’s charged with 4th degree criminal sexual conduct and distributing sexual material to a minor electronically. Both felonies.
I-35 corridor emergency route signage
Started in 2012, Law enforcement and MN Dot teamed up to create alternate emergency routes along the I-35 corridor in case they need to shut the interstate down for more than 30 minutes. Rice County Sheriff Troy Dunn said the routes would send traffic mostly on to county roads. He added that once the Joint Powers Agreement is signed with the State the signs, which will say Emergency Route for I-35, will be placed. Dunn will take the joint powers agreement back to the Board of Commissioners in 3 weeks. He’s hoping the signage will be in place by June. Funding for the signs is coming from MnDot.
Council holds closed meeting on land purchase
This week, the Northfield Council held a closed meeting to discuss purchase options for two sites identified for a possible new municipal liquor store. Mayor Pownell said staff is actively reviewing possibilities but there’s no timeline. The sites include the Q-Block and a portion of the EconoFoods lot. Pownell added that there would be, “more public conversations around this issue as it continues to move forward or IF it continues to move forward”. In October last year, TSP Architects presented their conceptual designs to Council. They estimated costs range from $2.5 mil to $4.6 mil with several scenarios offered, including a 2nd floor for housing and/or office space. That doesn’t include land acquisition or environmental impact studies. Liquor Store manager Stephen Delong told Council, at the time, that the recommended site would be on the Q-Block, estimating a better ROI, however, the site is more complicated due to acquisition and environmental issues. Where it will go and what the actual costs are as well as projected revenue are yet to be determined.
