Star Tribune
Voters in Detroit Lakes OK sales tax for $17.3M beachfront pavilion
A historic beachfront pavilion in Detroit Lakes will be razed and replaced after voters approved a sales tax to fund a $17.3 million project.
About 2,800 voters or 56% said “yes” to the ballot question on whether the city should impose a 0.5% sale tax for 12 years, or until the city raises enough taxes to pay off bonds financing construction of a new pavilion, park and beachfront improvements. It came down to a margin of 618 votes, according to unofficial results from the Minnesota Secretary of State’s Office.
“It was a narrow vote, but there’s a lot of nostalgia with the old pavilion,” said Detroit Lakes Mayor Matt Brenk.
“I remember when I was a kid we used to have the big dances there and everybody would turn out. I mean, it’s a place where a lot of people maybe attended a wedding or met their spouse. So there’s a lot of nostalgia and I think that was where some of the ‘no’ votes came into play.”
Some residents who opposed the project said it’s a waste of tax dollars. But many remarked that they were happy to see improvements made to the pavilion near Detroit Lakes City Park, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.
The existing pavilion, not on the historic register, was built in 1915 and replaced a shelter built in 1897, which is the year the park was created. The pavilion is “a focal point of activity over the decades as it has played host to many dances, concerts, weddings, reunions, and other large gatherings,” the city said.
The municipal park beach in front of the pavilion, shown in June 1967.
Despite significant renovations in 2006 to replace the dance floor and build an addition for bathrooms and a kitchen, the foundation, walls and roof are still original from 1915. Age and deterioration have taken a toll.
A structural assessment in 2012 found several architectural deficiencies, namely floor damage, beam misalignment and roof leaks due to poor soil conditions that result in significant seasonal movement. The walls, windows and other building components have experienced significant rot from water leaks. In 2019, a wood beam above the south porch succumbed to years of water damage, the city said.
Star Tribune
Tiny amount of propane gas enough to ignite blast in near Bagley that critically burned man, his 5 boys
A “residual” amount of propane gas in a tank was all that was needed for a flicker from a cigarette lighter to ignite an explosion and fire that critically burned a man and his children in a northwestern Minnesota storage unit, state officials said Friday.
Emergency responders arrived to find the man and children ages 6 to 14 with burns, the Sheriff’s Office said. The boys’ sister said the brothers were with their father at the time of the incident.
The State Fire Marshal said in an update Friday that the six victims remain in critical but stable condition in HCMC in Minneapolis.
Kyra Frank identified the five children to the Star Tribune by their first names as her brothers, according to an online fundraising page that she started to help the family with expenses related to the explosion. They are Keegan, 6; Kaeto, 8; Braedynn, 10; Tannen, 12; and Zander, 14. She said their father, 55-year-old Randy Ritchie, was the man with them at the time.
State fire investigators determined that a 100-pound propane cylinder, “believed to be empty, contained enough residual gas to fill the storage container to dangerous levels,” a statement from the State Fire Marshal read.
Ritchie and his children entered the storage unit to retrieve toys, the statement continued. Unaware of the danger, the children entered first and did not recognize the distinct odor of mercaptan, the additive that gives propane its telltale “gas” smell. Moments later, a cigarette lighter’s sparked set off the explosion.
“This family faces a long road to recovery, but they are bravely sharing their story so that nobody else experiences such a devastating accident,” the statement quoted State Fire Marshal Dan Krier as saying. “We hope this family’s tragedy serves as a reminder to take precautions when storing and handling propane.”
ST. CLOUD – An updated vote count in the House 14B race has widened the gap between DFL Rep. Dan Wolgamott and Republican challenger Sue Ek.
The updated totals come after Sherburne County election staff identified absentee ballots received by the U.S. Postal Service that weren’t included in the unofficial totals uploaded to the Minnesota Secretary of State website on election night, according to a statement issued Thursday night by Sherburne County Administrator Bruce Messelt.
Messelt said the delayed upload was limited to one ballot scanner and “involved an incomplete transfer of data from that scanner to the state election reporting system.”
“This is why election results are unofficial until all tabulations and totals are checked and double checked, and the Canvassing Board meets and certifies the election results,” Messelt said in the release. “This is also why procedures and multiple checks and balances are in place to identify and correct such challenges, should they arise, in the processing and counting of all cast ballots.”
On Wednesday morning, the Secretary of State’s office showed Wolgamott had a 28-vote lead over Ek. The updated results show a difference of 191 votes; Wolgamott now has 50.36% of the vote, with Ek having 49.4%.
For legislative races, taxpayer-funded recounts occur when the results are within 0.5% of the total votes cast.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Star Tribune
Teen is in custody after trying to enter Wisconsin elementary school while armed, police say
The student was taken into custody in Kenosha some six months after police shot and killed an armed student outside a Wisconsin middle school following a report of someone with a weapon. The May shooting in Mount Horeb, outside Madison, sent children fleeing and led to an hourslong lockdown of local schools. Prosecutors announced in August that the officers who fatally shot the student would not face criminal charges.
Kenosha made national headlines in August 2020 after a white police officer shot a Black man during a domestic disturbance, leaving him paralyzed. The shooting spurred several nights of protests. A white Illinois teenager named Kyle Rittenhouse shot three people during the unrest, killing two of them.
The shootings became a flashpoint in the national debate over guns, vigilantism and racial injustice. A jury eventually acquitted Rittenhouse of any wrongdoing after he argued he fired in self-defense.
