The Dakota County Sheriff’s office has released more information about the fatal accident in Greenvale township on Tuesday. 
A statement issued by the Sheriff’s office said Carol James, 82, of Northfield was killed when the car she was driving collided with a semi-truck.
The statement said Sheriff’s deputies responded to reports of a motor vehicle crash at approximately 2:30 on Tuesday afternoon on Foliage Avenue in Greenvale Township near 307th Street. Upon arrival, according to reports from police scanners, they found James, the driver of a 2020 Buick Envision SUV, completely trapped inside the car.
James was the driver and lone occupant of the SUV. Reconstruction of the accident found that she had been traveling south on County Road 23 (Foliage Avenue) near 307th Street when she crossed over into the opposite lane and collided with a Fed Ex semi. James died at the scene.
Graphic footage of the aftermath of the crash taken by the Twin Cities FOX affiliate helicopter showed the FedEx truck partially in a ditch and James’s badly damaged vehicle. The scattered wreckage in the images depicted what had been an obviously violent collision.
The Sheriff’s office was assisted by the Minnesota State Patrol and the Northfield Area Fire and Rescue Service in its investigation and reconstruction of the crash. Foliage Avenue was closed for the process but has since opened.
In the statement, Dakota County Sheriff Tim Leslie expressed his condolences, and those of his office, to James’ family.
Defeat of Jesse james Days is valuable to Northfield
The 2022 Defeat of Jesse James Days is underway. After two years of muted and limited celebrating due to the Covid-19 pandemic, 
and with mostly good weather predicted for the weekend, Galen Malecha, the General Chair of the Celebration predicted this year could be as popular and successful a celebration as Northfield has ever seen.
Last night was, of course, Townie Night, featuring special events for the kids, a classic car cruise, and music in the Entertainment Center provided by local favorites Mark Ross and the 319.
There are dozens of other expected highlights on the schedule for the next three days.
The famous bank Raid re-enactments are scheduled for 6:00 and 7:00 tonight, 11am, 1, 3, and 5pm tomorrow, and at 11am and 12:30pm on Sunday.
The PRCA Rodeo will have three events today and tomorrow. They will begin at 8:00 tonight and tomorrow night and at 2:00 tomorrow afternoon.
Live music at the Entertainment Center will feature Dirty Little Secret tonight at 8:30, No Time for Fame at 6:30 on Saturday night, followed by Chad Johnson and the Minnesota Transplants at 9pm.
The Grand Parade will march down Division Street on Sunday afternoon beginning at 2:00. The coronation of the next DJJD Ambassadors will be at 5pm on Sunday at the Northfield Middle School.
Of course, there are dozens of other events as well including the car show presented by the Sundowners Car Club, the Riverfront Fine Arts Festival presented by the Northfield Arts Guild, the Antique Truck & Tractor Pull, the Raider Soapbox Derby, the Arts, Crafts & Gift show in Central Park, a new Volleyball tournament on Saturday morning, and much, much more.
Malecha said all the events add up to an important weekend for the City of Northfield.
“You know, there’s estimates of, over five days on average, 200,000 plus people that come and participate in some form in the Defeat of Jesse James Days. That’s a lot of people visiting Northfield. There’s a lot of dollars brought into this community in a five day period of time.”
For a full schedule of all the events, visit djjd.org
City Council discusess private property flood mitigation policy
During their meeting on Tuesday night, the Northfield City Council continued a conversation that has been ongoing intermittently
for nearly a year.
As the city’s engineering department has been studying the effects of climate change on flood plains within the city, they have also been looking at solutions for the prospects of damage to residential properties due to severe flooding. Among the solutions presented by City Engineer Dave Bennett is for the city to identify specific private homes and either pay for renovations to the properties that would mitigate the effects of a flood or purchase the homes outright and remove them from the area.
The idea is to avoid a costly public works project that would involve expansion of storm sewer capacity.
The council has met this plan with some skepticism but has been willing to listen to Bennett. In the spring, they asked him and his department to formulate a clearly defined policy for the council to consider on when and how the city would intervene on private property.
City administrator Ben Martig said there is precedent in Minnesota for cities to get involved with homes in flood plains. He said that involvement has taken the form of purchasing homes on a riverbank and relocating them, and occasionally performing the types of renovations that are being suggested.
City Councilor Brad Ness has been the most outspoken critic of the idea. As an insurance agent, he sees the city opening itself up to strong liability issues by doing work on private property. Among his concerns are the way the homes are selected, and his belief that if the city works on one home it has a responsibility to work on all homes in danger of flood damage.
Martig said the policy, as laid out, tries to eliminate that problem.
“You know, I think with the policy that was developed, it gives a good general framework about when the city might get involved in those properties or not. But then on an individual case by case basis, it still needs get vetted out and the policymakers will need to decide what to do. So, I think on those handful of properties that we’ve got, staff will be taking a closer look at those options, probably having some more engagement with the homeowner.”
The council plans to further consider the policy at the September 20th regular meeting.
Rich Larson is the KYMN News Director. Contact him at rich@kymnradio.net
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