Star Tribune
Law enforcement will ramp up patrols, close roads for July 4th in Minneapolis
Law enforcement in Minneapolis say they are ramping up patrols to promote a “safe and fun environment” for the return of the city’s Fourth of July fireworks display, following gun violence and other disturbances that marred the celebration the past two years.
Speaking at Boom Island, where the “Red, White & Boom” fireworks show will take place on Thursday night, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said his officers and other law enforcement partners will arrest anyone who threatens the safety of the thousands of people expected to turn out for the event.
“If necessary, we will seize all illegal fireworks that are used to endanger the safety of others or other people’s property,” O’Hara said. “Our community has been helpful in the past reporting such suspicious and egregious behaviors. We’re asking our residents to do the same this year.”
Police have struggled to contain chaotic and violent group behavior on the holiday in recent years. In 2022, seven people were shot on Boom Island, a park on the Mississippi River, and fireworks were shot at residential buildings and at moving cars. The Park Board closed the Stone Arch Bridge last year to prevent a redux, but law enforcement still spent the night chasing violent incidents around the city, including multiple shootings and groups of people brazenly shooting fireworks at motorists.
O’Hara said the “vast majority” of bad actors were young people coming to Minneapolis from outside the city, promising that behavior will not be tolerated this year. “If mom and dad don’t know where their kid is, they will find out when we tow their Mercedes Benz,” he said.
In addition to the extra officers, Hennepin County Sheriff Witt said increased deputies will be patrolling on the road and in the river. Witt said more drownings have occurred this year so far than all of 2023, and deputies will be “aggressively” looking for drunk boaters and drivers.
Park Police Chief Jason Ohotto said officers from his department will be patrolling along the river Thursday night. Several roads will be closed, including a section of West River Parkway near the river, and Main Street on the east side of the river. Parking at Boom Island will be closed, other than for people with disability permits, starting at 10 a.m., he said.
Two people from Minnetonka were killed late Friday afternoon when their GMC Suburban ran a stop sign and was struck by a GMC Yukon headed north on Hwy. 169 west of Palisade, Minn.
According to the State Patrol, Marlo Dean Baldwin, 92, and Elizabeth Jane Baldwin, 61, were dead at the scene. The driver of the Suburban, a 61-year-old Minnetonka man, was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries.
The Suburban, pulling a trailer, was headed east on Grove Street/County Rd. 3 at about 5:15 p.m. when it failed to stop at Hwy. 169 and was struck by the northbound Yukon. The Yukon then struck two westbound vehicles stopped at the intersection.
Four people from Zimmerman, Minn., in the Yukon, including the driver, were taken to HCMC with life-threatening injuries, while two passengers were treated for non-life-threatening injuries. Three girls in the Yukon ranged in age from 11 to 15.
The drivers of the two vehicles struck by the Yukon were not injured, the State Patrol said. Road conditions were dry at the time of the accident, and alcohol was not believed to have been a factor. All involved in the accident were wearing a seat belt except for Elizabeth Baldwin.
Hill City police and the Aitkin County Sheriff’s Office assisted at the scene.
Amid the cacophony and chaos of the pregame preparation before a recent Minnetonka High School football game, an exceptional group of six girls is gathered together among the school’s deep and talented cheerleading and dance teams.
The cheerleaders, a national championship-winning program of 40 girls, dot the track around the football field. As the clock ticks down to kickoff and their night of choreographed routines begins, the six girls, proudly wearing Minnetonka blue T-shirts emblazoned with “Skippers Nation” and shaking shiny pom-poms, swirl around the track, bristling with excited energy.
Their circumstances are no different from any of the other cheerleaders with one notable exception: The girls on this team have special needs.
They’re members of the Minnetonka Sparklers, a squad of cheerleaders made up solely of girls with special needs.
A football game at Minnetonka High School is an elaborate production. The Skippers’ recent homecoming victory over Shakopee brought an announced crowd of 8,145. And that is just paying attendees; it doesn’t include school staffers, coaches, dance team, marching band, concession workers, media members and others going about their business attached to the game.
The Sparklers program, now in its 12th season, was the brainchild of Marcy Adams, a former Minnetonka cheerleader who initiated the program in her senior year of high school. Adams has been coach of the team since its inception, staying on through her tenure as a cheerleader at the University of Minnesota.
She started the program after experiencing the Unified Sports program at Minnetonka. The unified sports movement at high schools brings together student-athletes with cognitive or physical disabilities and athletes with no disabilities to foster relationships, understanding and compassion through athletics. Many Minnesota schools offer unified sports.
“I grew up in a household that valued students with special needs and valued inclusion,” Adams said. “I saw a need to give to those students. At Minnetonka, we have a strong Unified program, and this was a great opportunity to build relationships and offer mentorship opportunities.”
Elite runners are in a league of their own.
To get a sense of how far ahead elite runners are compared to the rest of us, the Minnesota Star Tribune took a look at how their times compare to the average marathon participant.
The 2022 Twin Cities Marathon men’s winner was Japanese competitor Yuya Yoshida, who ran the marathon in a time of 2 hours, 11 minutes and 28 seconds, for an average speed of 11.96 mph. He averaged 5 minutes and 2 seconds per mile.
That’s more than twice the speed of the average competitor across both the men’s and women’s categories, of 5.89 mph, according to race results site Mtec. The average participant finished in 4 hours, 26 minutes and 56 seconds. That comes out to an average time of 10 minutes and 11 seconds per mile.
And taking it to the most extreme, the fastest-ever marathon runner, Kelvin Kiptum of Kenya, finished the 2023 Chicago Marathon in 2 hours and 35 seconds, for an average pace of about 13 mph. Kiptum averaged 4 minutes and 36 seconds per mile.
Here is a graphic showing these differences in average marathon speed.
