For the third time in a month, the Cannon River Drug and Violent Offender Task Force has announced the results of another highly successful
operation.
Over the past several months agents of the task force have been conducting a narcotics investigation regarding large amounts of methamphetamine being sold in the area by Victor Wang, age 46, of Nerstrand. Last week, working with members of the Rice County Sheriff’s Department and the federal Drug Enforcement Agency, they executed a search warrant on Mr. Wang’s residence, and found what they suspect to be a dimethyltryptamine lab that Wang was operating in his basement.
“Coming across a DMT lab is extremely rare,” said Task Force Commander Scott O’Brien. “These labs create major risks to public safety. I’m proud of the collaborative effort by all the agencies involved that worked together to remove the lab from the community.”
Additionally, Wang was searched and found to be in possession of 28 grams of methamphetamine. Authorities also found 2 shotguns and a rifle in a bedroom in the home. Wang has prior convictions and is prohibited from possessing firearms.
Wang was arrested and charged by the Rice County Attorney’s Office for multiple controlled substance related felonies and prohibited persons in possession of firearms.
Hillmann says school shootings are ‘maddening’
A day after 6 people were murdered at an elementary school in Nashville, including three nine-year-old students, Northfield Superintendent 
“This is maddening. Parents should be able to send their children to school and expect them to come home safely. That’s a reasonable expectation in the wealthiest and most advanced country in the history of the world. It is maddening that we continue to see this ridiculous kind of thing happening, when I do think we have, as a society, the tools to try to figure this out.”
Dr. Hillmann said as both a parent and an administrator, he thinks about situations like the one in Nashville or in Uvalde, Texas every single day. The Northfield School District, he said, has all the prescribed protocols in place for the proper response should the unthinkable happen here.
All schools, he said, have a single, controlled point of entry. There is a security camera system throughout every district building, and a lockdown mechanism that has been tested and works. He also said because of one false alarm, he knows that the Northfield Polce Department will respond to an active shooter call within seconds.
In fact, late last year, Northfield Middle School was host to security and first response personnel from across Southern Minnesota for a training exercise for the purpose of working together and forming a uniform plan within the region on how to respond to an active shooter. The Minnesota Department of Homeland Security has even made a recent visit to one Northfield school in order to evaluate the school and the district safety plan, which, Hillmann said, was a very educational experience.
The district is also preparing to use the Crisis Go App, which will allow for widespread and immediate communication with first responders, families, faculty and students to offer a bit more organization in what could be a chaotic situation.
Hillmann said prevention is even more important than a response plan, and the best way to prevent these situations is through communication with those whose safety is the top priority.
“What it comes down to for the best prevention is making sure that children know that the adults in the community care for them and love them. We know that when kids trust an adult in their life outside of their family, they will tell people these kinds of things. Relationships are the antidote to the vast majority of these horrific situations.”
Dr. Hillmann acknowledged that seeing headlines about school shootings on a regular basis can be frightening and disheartening for parents. He reiterated that the safety of the kids in the Northfield Schools is the district’s top priority, and everyone who works for Northfield Public Schools is doing everything they can to prevent a tragedy, and they will keep doing so.
Northfield Arts Guild wants you to become a ‘Guildy’
The Northfield Arts Guild has announced the details for its spring fundraiser event, as well as a new membership drive initiative. 
The Guild will host Arts and All That Jazz on April 29th at Armory Square. The event will feature performances by some of Northfield’s foremost jazz musicians, including Laura Caviani and Dave Hagedorn, Barb Piper and Curt Johnson, and Sweet Jazz.
Guild Board member Jane Turpin Moore said there will also be a silent auction offering artwork created by more than 50 local artists, and nearly a dozen experiences upon which to bid.
Thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic, this will be the first time in three years that the Guild has been able to hold an in-person event. Moore said there is a sense of excitement and relief about an in-person event among the Arts Guild members, and the Guild intends to use the event as a springboard to grow and enhance that membership.
Rae Horton, the Guild’s Membership Board Chair said a survey of the current members showed that the focus of previous membership drives had been slightly off. In previous years, they have focused on the transactional benefits of being a Guild member, with discounts on tickets and in the gift shop. Horton said they found that the priority for the membership is for the Guild to be a focal point of Northfield’s very healthy art scene. She said, to that end, they are promoting membership as a way to better participate in the arts community. When you join the arts Guild, she said, you become a Guildy.
“So now when you become a member with us, you become a part of the Guildy family. It’s a really awesome opportunity to just be a part of a different segment of Northfield. And really when you think of it, the arts across Northfield, we are kind of an ecosystem at this point. And we really want our membership to reflect that and be a a part of that.”
Moore echoed Horton’s sentiment, pointing out that art is everywhere in Northfield, which is something the Guild has fostered.
“Art is really all around us in Northfield. Just sitting in the KYMN studio, you can see it. You see the stairs painted over at the library with the creative book covers, and you can see the poetry on the sidewalks, and you can see the sculptures and the Guild has had a hand in almost all of that in one way or the other.”
Arts and All That Jazz is set for April 29th from 6-10pm at Armory Square. To purchase tickets, or for membership information, visit northfieldartsguild.org
Rich Larson is the KYMN News Director. Contact him at rich@kymnradio.net
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