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Tutu-wearing school officer uses humor to connect with students
WILLMAR, Minn. — The uniformed police officer at the high school entrance stands 6-foot-4 and weighs 265 pounds.
His hair is cut close to his scalp.
His badge glistens in the morning sun.
James Venenga strikes an imposing figure.
Imposing to everyone but his students.
“We call him Officer Kupcake,” ninth-grader Emma Fuentes says.
Students deliver the soft and sweet moniker without a hint of derision.
“You’ve got to embrace it,” the 48-year-old officer said. “I’m not going to lie, most of them don’t know my real name.”
What they do know is his penchant for oversized glasses, feather boas, and ballet tutus worn just below his gun and taser.
“Am I different?” Venenga — adorned in a rainbow mohawk — asks student Yasmi Dillard-Ramirez.
She nods and smiles knowingly.
“It’s comfortable,” Dillard-Ramirez says of her relationship with her school’s resource officer. “He’s just so crazy and out there. He’s an easy person to open up to.”
Willmar’s Alternative Learning Center, where Venenga works, is the educational home, primarily, for students who’ve struggled in a traditional high school setting.
The school’s principal, Andy Gregory, says Venenga’s non-traditional approach to policing is a perfect fit. “His ability to grow relationships with kids that struggle, it’s phenomenal, it’s amazing.”
Venenga says his first duty is keeping students and school staff safe, but the fart gun on his office shelf suggests he’s armed for any eventuality.
“There’s times to be serious,” Venenga says. “The other 95 percent, I can be me.”
Being him means Venenga has cited students for traffic and other offenses who’ve then stopped at this office a week later looking for advice as they navigate the legal system.
“You don’t have to be one of the people that’s in your face. That’s not how I roll. I’m the opposite of that,” Venenga says.
On a recent Monday morning, Venenga spread ice melt on a slippery sidewalk before helping a student cross a wide puddle in her path on the way to school.
One day, Venenga might make and serve students a pancake breakfast as a reward for showing up to school on time.
On another, he’ll allow students to style his hair in exchange for good school performance.
“He’s built different,” student Jacob Reyes says after catching a glimpse of Venenga in his tutu and a blonde wig.
“Cops have, like, a reputation,” Reyes says. “But then there’s Kupcake.”
Paraprofessional Sharon Rambow simply mentioned to Venenga her desire to cover a doorless closet in her classroom. “And he said, ‘I’ll sew you a curtain.’”
Rambow snapped a photo of the officer sitting at a table with fabric, a needle and thread in her room.
“There’s kids that come in here with broken backpacks and he will sew them up. He’ll sew buttons on for kids,” Rambo says.
But can a soft-centered officer known as Kupcake still be an effective disciplinarian?
“I’ve seen very few kids test the boundaries,” Principal Gregory says, “and the ones that do test the boundaries, he’s able to let them know where the line is without letting them know where the line is authoritatively, which is a skill in itself.”
At lunchtime, Venenga can be found playing ping pong with students in the cafeteria. At one point, he slips into the hall with a student whose behavior has crossed a line.
“Hey!” Venenga says to the student firmly enough to get his attention. “You can’t be talking that way.”
Gregory says Venenga’s silly side doesn’t impede his ability to rein in bad behavior. In fact, he says, it enhances it.
“He’s a master at de-escalating situations. I don’t even know if I could use intimidation in the same sentence with him,” Gregory says.
Venenga spends each Friday at Willmar’s Kennedy Elementary School, the source of a series of drawings he’s hung on his office wall.
In bright colors, a third grader has drawn pictures of the policeman she’s labeled “Officer Cupcake” dressed in various costumes, including his signature tutu.
“When you look at that, does that say, ‘I’m scared of the police?’” Venenge asks.
“No,” he says, answering his own question. “So, am I doing my job? Yes. That’s the whole goal.”
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MN city responds after a grinch cut down its Chrismas tree
On the eve of a big holiday event in downtown Northfield, someone cut down a tree in the center of town. It wasn’t down for long.
NORTHFIELD, Minn. — On the morning of the annual Winter Walk event in downtown Northfield, the brightly colored Christmas tree at the center of it all was in shambles.
“I got a text from one of the city streets guys saying the Grinch has been downtown and took out a tree,” said Jane Bartho, president of the Northfield Chamber of Commerce and Tourism. “I’m like, are you sure the wind didn’t take it out?”
After seeing a photo of the tree, Bartho had a definitive answer to her question.
Jane Bartho: “Yeah, clearly it was not the wind. It looked like a chainsaw took it off. You could see a path where somebody dragged the tree across the street.”
Kent Erdahl: “So you see the path and then you think, ‘Okay, it is the Grinch.’
Bartho: “It was the Grinch because who else? Who else would do it? I just can’t imagine. I cannot imagine who… who would have done that.”
But dwelling in ‘who?’ville wasn’t an option for Bartho, not with a event just hours away, which would draw thousands of people into downtown.
“Honestly, most of my focus yesterday was about the event,” she said.
Though the city crew was able to trim the base of the tree and get it upright again, the decorations were in disrepair.
“I mean, even the lights were cut,” Bartho said.
“Yeah, they cut the lights,” said Zandra Bornhauser, who was part of the team with Home Town Credit Union who sponsored the tree and had decorated it. “So we had to redecorate it fully, pretty much.”
“We were just shocked,” said Kurt Halverson, who helped with the tree repair. “It was just hard to understand who would take the effort on such a cold night to come down here in such a public space and cut down something that’s just meant to be a symbol of good and cheer.”
Thanks to their quick work, the team of helpers made sure that Grinch didn’t rob anyone of that cheer. The tree was back shining bright by the time the festival began Thursday night.
“It was magical,” Bartho said.
“It was so inspiring to see how everybody rallied around to wish us good luck in re-setting up the tree,” Halverson said. “It really did bring the community closer together on such a cold evening.”
As for the cold-hearted grinch, Bartho says they’re still checking security cameras and asking around.
“To see if anybody was looking out,” she said. “If anybody saw anything.”
And if they are eventually identified?
Bartho: “Maybe the punishment would have to be to decorate the tree every year in this frigid weather.”
Erdahl: “If you’re going to keep with the theme, you’ve got to invite them down and sing with them, right? You’ve got to warm that cold heart.”
Bartho: “At the end, yeah, his heart was warmed by the people in his life, so maybe the punishment would be to come down and have hot chocolate, feel the Christmas spirit and never do that again.”
Kare11
MN nonprofits say December is a crucial time for donation
Almost 80 percent reported that they have less than a year before they face financial distress.
MINNESOTA, USA — Despite Give to the Max Day breaking donation records, nonprofits tell us they still need help to keep up the demand for their services.
According to a recent survey by the Council of Nonprofits, 73 percent of Minnesota organizations reported they have grown programs and services to meet the demands of Minnesotans.
Almost 80 percent reported that they have less than a year before they face financial distress.
Open Arms is a nonprofit that delivers food to critically ill people. It said December is a crucial month for donations, because they will make decisions on their programs and services for the next year.
“Wages and the cost of ingredients have gone up 30% since the end of COVID or the end of the COVID years, and so that is really, really hard on all nonprofits,” said CEO Leah Hébert Welles. “And then the second thing, government funds have dried up.”
“It’s almost kind of like the way that the tide works and a big body of water where there is still significant need, but that wave of resources from 2020 has backed up, and the need for nonprofits is still right there,” said Jake Blumberg, the executive director of GiveMN, the organization in charge of Give to the Max Day.
Blumberg says 30% of donations for nonprofits happen in the last six weeks of the year.
“We have to make really hard decisions about what we can do next year, how many more people we can help, how many more staff we can hire,” said Welles,
To consider donation or volunteering to Open Arms of Minensota, click here.
To explore more nonprofits, visit GiveMN.org.
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Brooklyn Park Police ask for help finding missing 57-year-old
According to the report, the BPPD said Andre Lane has been missing since 11 a.m. this morning.
BROOKLYN PARK, Minn. — The Brooklyn Park Police Department is asking for the public to help find a missing man who has Alzheimer’s.
According to the alert, the BPPD said 57-year-old Andre Lane has been missing since 2 p.m. this afternoon.
He stands at 5’9″ and weighs roughly 250 pounds. Lane suffers from Alzheimer’s and dementia and may not be able to take care of himself, said the BPPD.
Lane was last seen wearing grayish-blue Levi’s jacket, black hat, black sweatpants, a gray long sleeve t-shirt and black Jordan shoes, according to the report.
Officials believe Lane left his residence, near the 6600 block of Tessman Terrace, on foot. The BPPD is asking people who live near Tessman Farm Road/85th Avenue North to check yards and properties.
Anyone who sees Lane is asked to contact the Brooklyn Park Police Department at 763-493-8222.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
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