By Teri Knight, News Director
Local law enforcement is feeling the repercussions of the actions of four former police officers in the killing of George Floyd. Rice County Sheriff Troy Dunn has a regular monthly appointment on KYMN to discuss local matters. While condemning the actions of those former officers, now charged, and the peaceful protests that have been held locally, he also remarked on the riots leading to violent destruction elsewhere. While in favor of protesting wrongs and a need for change, he added, “but let’s keep it peaceful. It was just really sad to see firefighters not being able to go and protect people’s homes and businesses and you know, things just burned away like that”. Commenting on the former officers, he said, “Shame on those officers. When I saw that on the news media I was angry. I was like, why would you put yourself in that position, but never expected it to be the rioting and the looting and everything else“. The violent protests, the prevention of firefighters to save buildings and homes, he said muddies the message to remember George Floyd. He said, “let cooler heads prevail. Let’s let’s do our peaceful protest. But let’s not forget Mr. Floyd. And let’s hope that we can change those things. That people are not treating people with
respect and that’s what it comes back to Jeff, people have to respect one another”. You can hear the frustration in his voice. In the meantime, law enforcement needs to monitor possible threats, he said, “It does mean staging, it does mean planning it does mean you know, like Northfield put on the curfew. The question was do we want to put a curfew on county wide similar to Dakota County. I chose not to do that”. He said Dakota County is a lot more suburban, they’ve had no protests outside of Faribault and Northfield. He’s also hearing a lot of negative things about ALL law enforcement, Dunn said, “And that’s the message I’m trying to protect and say, not all law enforcement’s bad. We’re here to do a job. We’re here to protect and serve and be partners with our communities”. More often than not, Sheriff Dunn calls them Peace Officers. There’s more to his interview HERE.
HealthFinders offers Covid-19 testing to those who are symptomatic
HealthFinders, a local health collaborative, fills the gaps in our health system for those without insurance, are on public assistance or having difficulty getting connected to care. Executive Director, Charlie Mandile explains, “got a range of clinical services including medical, mental health and dental programs as well as wellness, chronic disease management and some kind of community engagement programs”. They have been working with Mayo Health to bring Covid-19 testing to those that are symptomatic. They will screen you over the phone and then you make an appointment where they test you from your vehicle at their Faribault location. They’ve been turning around results within 24 hours. Mandile said, “So we’re staying very close, although remotely, to all the patients that get tested”. They encourage anyone with symptoms to call them at 507-323-8100. You can also go to healthfindersmn.org for more information. Covid aside, HealthFinders regularly serves those with a myriad of health issues and chronic disease. They quickly switched to a virtual platform for most visits. Mandile added, “there’s still about 15 or 20% of our visits that are happening in person. Things like our opiate addiction clinic, you know that a lot of these things are very much need to be in person visit”. They’re prepared to continue to deliver service this way for the next several months. Mandile’s full interview is HERE.
Carleton street assessment stands
Carleton College’s objection to their 2020 street assessment was denied. City Engineer Dave Bennett stood by the professional assessment of $397,000. President Fred Rogers spoke again last night asking for a $45,000 reduction arguing that a 27 acre parcel of land assessed as developable is not. After a lengthy discussion and a failed motion to pass the reduction, Council chose to stick with the original assessment. On this project the City used an independent appraiser to assess the properties. Street assessments and how they are appraised has been a perennial topic for years. Discussing it at the time of the assessment hearings is really too late.
Shred It Right
Northfield residents can get rid of old documents during the free Shred It Right event this Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon at the Maintenance Facility, 1710 Riverview Drive. Bring old bank documents, contracts, or any other paper that need shredding in paper bags or boxes that can be removed from the car by event staff. This is a no contact drop-off.
Overnight work on 7th
Concrete crews will be on-site from midnight tonight to 6am tomorrow to complete concrete sawing and sealing on Seventh Street concrete parking bays between Water Street and Washington Street.
