The Faribault Police Department has released the name of the man who was found murdered on Monday. According to the Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office, the victim was 76-year-old Gary Robert Lehmeyer. Reports indicate Lehmeyer was the owner of the home where his body was discovered.
According to a statement issued by the City of Faribault, at approximately 2:15 on Monday afternoon, Faribault Police officers were dispatched to check the welfare of an individual at a residence in the 20 block of Mitchell Drive. Upon their arrival, officers found a deceased man in the home, now identified as Lehmeyer. Evidence recovered at the scene and preliminary autopsy information from the Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office have confirmed that he died of homicidal violence.
The Faribault Police Department continues to receive the help of the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) to further assist in processing the residence for evidence and determining the exact nature of what took place inside. The precise date and time of the victim’s death remains part of the active investigation.
Faribault police have not publicly identified any suspect or suspects, nor do they have anyone in custody at this time.
Ice Arena has not been sold
Northfield Administrator Ben Martig and Mayor Rhonda Pownell have responded to a rumor running through certain circles, that the Northfield Ice Arena has been secretly sold.
The response is simple. The rumor is not true.
Apparently sparked by something published in an area newspaper not based in Northfield, the rumor has made its way through word of mouth that sometime in the last two weeks, the city somehow was able to circumvent Minnesota statute and complete the sale of the arena to Aurora Pharmaceutical without any public notification.
Northfield City Administrator Ben Martig dispelled that notion directly, by saying that the city still owns the arena and the land upon which it stands.
By state statute, city ordinance and rule of the City Charter, the Northfield City Council would have to approve any sale of public property. Mayor Rhonda Pownell pointed out the council would be able to meet in closed session to determine a purchase price and negotiating strategy for the sale, but after that, at least one, and possibly two public hearings would be required, the Council would have a public conversation about the sale and a public vote to approve the sale.
While the City Council has had quite a bit of conversation about what to do with the arena, and Aurora Pharmaceutical has been rumored to have interest in the land for quite some time, Martig said there has been no public process.
“The city still owns it. As a public entity, you can’t do anything quickly or in the dark. When the options are discussed, it will be a very open discussion. There’ll be time for the Council to debate. There won’t be any immediate action.”
The city will have to make a decision on the aging facility this year, however. The building is a converted pole barn that is considered to be substandard on several levels. It does not meet standards set by the Minnesota State High School League because there are no shower facilities in the locker rooms. It is not up to the code stipulated by the Americans with Disabilities Act, which was passed in 1990, because there are no accessible entrances, nor are their handrails on the stairways. A line item in the city’s tentative budget for 2025 does call for the construction of a new arena, however that is a highly controversial topic that will require quite a bit of attention.
Martig said the Council is scheduled to address the arena situation at their meeting on March 12th.
This is the most unusual winter in living memory
Last Friday, on Groundhog’s Day, Punxsutawney Phil declared he had not seen his shadow, and that there would be an early spring.
This announcement was greeted with a collective, “Well, yeah” by those of us living in the Upper Midwest.
Heading into the latter half, and almost the final third of winter, this has become one of the most unusual winters on record. In fact, according to Ken Blumenfeld, a Senior Climatologist with the Minnesota Office of Climatology, no living Minnesotan has ever experienced a winter like this one.
According to Blumenfeld, the only times we have seen what would be considered even somewhat-typical winter weather this season was in the middle third of January, and a few days in November. Across Southern Minnesota, he said, every location has had at least seven 50° days, and some have had as many as twelve. That, said Blumenfeld, is not normal.
“Those are unusual numbers. Usually if you hit 50° during the winter anywhere in Minnesota, you’re going to do it kind of late in February and you’re going to do it maybe once. It’s not typical to have 10 or more days of 50° or higher.”
Blumenfeld said he sees two reasons for the mild weather. One is the powerful El Niño system that has affected and disrupted weather patterns around the world. The other, he said, has been the gradual warming pattern we have seen during the winter. Over the past five-to-six decades, Blumenfeld said, winter has warmed up by 1° every ten years.
Forecasts are calling for temperatures to drop next week, but will still be above normal, and he said there are signs of another warming trend to follow the week after. Beyond that, he said, the rest of the season is anyone’s guess.
“We don’t have good models that see out more than a couple or a few weeks, but the ones that attempt to do that have shown almost a coin toss between going back into the winter heat waves as we move into early spring or actually having some cold air hang on.”
Weather patterns later this year are tough to predict as well, he said. Many El Niño winters have been followed by what he characterized as an “active” spring and summer, but not all of them. Blumenfeld said there tends to be no connection between summer and winter weather patterns, so there is no guessing if the strange weather will continue into the spring.
Rich Larson is the KYMN News Director. Contact him at rich@kymnradio.net
