By Teri Knight, News Director UPDATE ON FATAL OVERDOSE 2ND SUSPECT IN JAIL – READ BELOW
George Floyd’s murder has been a catalyst to chaos and change. “When you see the amount of law enforcement support for those who are demonstrating and for those seeking justice in this incident, law enforcement globally supports that this was wrong and shouldn’t have happened and should never happen”, Northfield Police Chief Monte Nelson. As the world reels from the killing of Floyd by former police officer Derek Chauvin and 3 other officers, rioting and looting and chaos erupted just north of our small town. Sheriff Dunn mentioned yesterday, officers from around the area are being called in to support those agencies that need it. Chief Nelson commented, “we had officers assigned to areas in Dakota County and beyond, because that’s our commitment to provide officers for mobile field force and help keep businesses and community members safe wherever those threats come up”. He said they had received information from the FBI and the Fusion Center (Homeland Security) of certain groups
coming to Northfield as well. On Saturday afternoon, he spent more than a couple of hours talking with people, “and business owners were nervous because there were rumors. It’s that social media that is hard to control, you don’t know what can be verified, what can’t be verified and it’s that unknown of who may come into town or who may show up when we have a peaceful protest, like we did”. He said, they have to prepare for that. He added that he’s proud of Northfield for the way in which they have protested and the support the community has offered them. Nelson added that, rightfully so, some are questioning them, “people asking about our body camera situation or how do we train our officers and that’s why we put out the statement we did last Friday about our commitment to the community, our commitment to training our officers the very best we can and what our expectations of officers are”. However, they are also a target of the rage as law enforcement is painted with a broad brush. While officers are being called in to help, they are also reviled by some. No one group should be painted with the same brush as the bad seed. Nelson said, “we’ve worked really hard to improve our relationships locally with partner groups across the community where we have been training our officers on things such as implicit bias before it was mandated by the State and crisis interventions before it was mandated by the State and we have plans to continue and expand that training”. This is taking its toll on officers as they work toward solutions and coming back together. His full interview is HERE. As emotions run high, it’s a delicate balance toward understanding. The majority of a group (any group) does not deserve to be judged by the small minority.
One arrest, another suspect sought in fatal overdose
UPDATE: Tuomala was turned in early yesterday evening (June 4) when the person he was with saw a facebook post that he was wanted for 3rd degree murder and called police.
Since January 2019, agents from the Cannon River Drug and Violent Offender Task Force have conducted an ongoing investigation into the fatal heroin overdose of an individual which occurred in Faribault. Through the investigation, agents were able to determine who provided and distributed the
heroin involved in this fatal overdose. On Wednesday the Rice County Attorney’s Office issued arrest warrants for 39 year old Jerann Gainous and 25 year old Scott Tuomala for their involvement in this case. They are charged with 3rd degree murder and 3rd degree sale of a narcotic. Gainous was arrested and taken into custody on Wednesday. On the same day, while attempting to apprehendTuomala, he fled law enforcement and his current whereabouts are unknown. If you have any information please call 507-334-4305.
City alters zoning to expand outdoor seating
With restaurants and bars allowed to open for outdoor seating, the Northfield Council eagerly approved an emergency ordinance to support those efforts with zoning alterations. Mayor Pownell explained, “So this really put the foundation in place so that we can quickly work with any business that wants to utilize the public right away or their existing outdoor space in their parking lots”. This will be important for the establishment along Division St. This will be important for the establishments along Division St. Administrator Martig added that for those businesses NOT in the downtown area, he said,”“private parking lots private property businesses as long as they’re meeting the state requirements can go ahead and take advantage of those outdoor opportunities”. There will be a few adjustments regarding alcohol. Interested restaurant and dining establishments must complete an application which will be reviewed and approved by the City before the expansion takes place. City Press Release: Emergency ordinance for outdoor seating Follow the link to an application that meets your business need: ci.northfield.mn.us/licenses
246/Jefferson Pkwy closing DELAYED
The City of Northfield is now reporting that , due to slower than expected small utility relocations, the intersection of Trunk Highway 246 and Jefferson Parkway originally scheduled to close June 8 has been delayed to Monday, June 15. City staff and the prime contractor, Heselton Construction, agree delaying the closure is in the best interest of all parties involved. Jefferson Parkway TH 246 Delayed Closure Trunk Highway 246 and Jefferson Parkway Intersection Project website at ci.northfield.mn.us/Hwy246
Schulte withdraws
In more Northfield candidate news, Richard Schulte withdrew from the race for Ward 3 Councilor, leaving George Zuccolotto and Don Stager.
