He said he’d come back. 27 year old Casey Bauer of Randolph was in the Rice County jail having just been convicted on March 16th, of 2nd degree assault with a dangerous weapon. He had beat a man with a baseball bat. Bauer was awaiting sentencing which is set for May 23rd. On March 29th he wrote a letter to Judge Cajacob asking to be released to visit his mother whose cancer spread to her brain. On April 2nd, Bauer was granted a 72 hour furlough. On April 6th, he did not return and a warrant was issued. Bauer was arrested in
Dakota county last Friday the 13th. He’s been charged with Escape from custody, a felony carrying up to 5 years in prison. Bauer has a lengthy criminal history. Bail has been set at $60,000. His initial court appearance is April 27th.
Record snowfall and the digging out continues
It was an historic weather event. From Friday through Sunday, Mother Nature decided winter wasn’t over and dropped over a foot of snow on our area with whiteout conditions. There were cancellations of events on Saturday and Sunday church services as the digging out from the heavy wet stuff was as much an event as the snowfall. Roads and sidewalks may still be slick in some spots. City plows cleaned up downtown, pictures on our Facebook page. Private plow drivers are still busy trying to get to parking lots and driveways as many folks opted out of shoveling and snow blowers were clogging. One driver said his truck wasn’t happy with the heft of the snow either. Rice County Sheriff Troy Dunn said most folks heeded warnings and stayed home but his office did assist 10 motorists, attended to two crashes (no injuries) and helped out the State Patrol, there were no life-threatening injuries, however I-35 was closed for a time on Saturday as a multi-vehicle accident was cleared out. Northfield Deputy Chief Mark Dukatz reported from Saturday through early Sunday, his department assisted 9 motorists with stuck vehicles and responded to 2 crashes Saturday, none with any serious injuries. Some local school districts had a 2 hour delay but Northfield started on time.
Ice Arena financing options
The only subject on the Northfield Council agenda work session last week was an Ice Arena. The Council Chambers was standing room only with members from a number of organizations were in attendance. After 19 months of study, the Arena Advisory Board has come to the conclusion that Northfield could support a 2 sheet arena on donated land. Among their recommendations are 2 financing options that would require a public vote. Administrator Martig explains one option would be a 20 year 1/2 cent sales tax in Northfield and Dundas. Seventy percent would go to the Arena and 30{b5761be34e80a16b6d0e4dabc1869c131a263f96a745c82bebdd3b8a4330bfa9} would go to other park projects not determined yet. The other would be a City of Northfield property tax. The report itselft is on the Council’s consent agenda tomorrow night for acceptance, which is really a formality. A decision by Council as to whether they put it to the voters this November won’t happen until the May 1st and May 15th Council meetings. On their regular agenda is awarding bids for the downtown road projects and a vote on approval of a 2{b5761be34e80a16b6d0e4dabc1869c131a263f96a745c82bebdd3b8a4330bfa9} salary increase to Council and the Mayor.
