Star Tribune
Motorcycle training classes seek to increase safety, reduce fatalities
Chris Hawkey loves hopping on his motorcycle and going for a ride.
“I enjoy the freedom of being on a motorcycle,” said Hawkey, the co-host of KFAN Radio’s “Power Trip Morning Show” and a local country music performer. “I love the speed and all the crazy things about it.”
Hawkey also knows he takes a risk every time he hits the road.
“It’s the most dangerous thing I do every day,” he said. “I have to depend on everybody else paying attention to me, and I know that is not happening. I have to pay attention for both of us.”
Though he’s been riding motorcycles for more than 40 years, Hawkey knows he needs to keep his riding skills sharp. On a recent Sunday, he took a refresher class offered by the Minnesota Motorcycle Safety Center that, since the 1980s, has been offering courses for riders of all abilities, from novices to experts. The hands-on courses cover everything from braking, stopping, counter-steering, making tight or U-turns and how to control the bike in traffic. Some classes include online modules.
Riding coach Lara Holland said classes allow riders “to brush up on motorcycle skills.”
The push to get riders to enroll comes as motorcycle deaths in Minnesota hit 29 for the year as of last Wednesday and are on pace to surpass the 82 who died in 2022, the most in 38 years. The safety center’s mission is to prevent motorcycle deaths and injuries by providing rider education, training and licensing
Hawkey recently bought a new Harley Davidson Pan America, which rides quite a bit differently from his old Road King. It also has been nearly 30 years since he took a riding class, and he knew it was time.
“The worst thing you can do when you are a motorcycle rider is become overconfident,” Hawkey said before his class in the Hennepin Technical College parking lot. “I think it is a good idea, even for people who have been riding for a long time. You are learning things that will make you safer on the road. I will come out of here feeling that I am a better motorcycle rider.”
Malfunction sidelines pride-themed bus
For the first time ever, Metro Transit wrapped one of its buses with pride-themed artwork and put it in service on several routes during June. The bus also was widely featured on social media.
The agency planned to showcase the bus during the Twin Cities Pride parade June 30. But an unexpected malfunction discovered the night before the parade idled the bus. Technicians worked through the night in hopes of having it ready but were unsuccessful, said Metro Transit spokesman Drew Kerr
“Unfortunately, repairs could not be completed in time and an alternative bus was used,” he said. “This was a disappointment for us, and we have offered our regrets to Pride leadership.”
Metro Transit assumed the cost of wrapping the bus as part of a promotional exchange with Twin Cities Pride, Kerr said. He did not provide a cost.
In Minnesota, judicial contests are not usually the most exciting thing on the November ballot.
Only nine races for judgeships out of 103 across the state have more than one candidate registered to run, and in many of those contests, the incumbent is in a strong position to win. Candidates are usually nonpartisan, and so far Minnesota has avoided the kind of expensive judicial elections that have cropped up in neighboring states like Wisconsin.
When voters turn over their ballot this fall, they’ll be asked to pick a candidate in two contested races to serve on the Minnesota Supreme Court, as well as a judge to serve on the state’s Court of Appeals and district court judges serving in counties across central and northern Minnesota.
Here’s what you need to know about the candidates:
Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Natalie Hudson is up for election after she was appointed as the court’s first Black chief justice last fall. She served as an associate justice on the Supreme Court since 2015 and previously served 13 years on the state’s Court of Appeals. Before becoming a judge, she practiced criminal law in the Attorney General’s Office, worked as the St. Paul city attorney, worked in private practice and got her start at Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services working on housing issues. Hudson earned her law degree from the University of Minnesota. Hudson is running for re-election because she “has the experience, temperament, and intellect to work collaboratively with her colleagues on the Minnesota Supreme Court,” according to her campaign.
Her opponent, Stephen Emery, got his law degree from the University of North Dakota and has legal experience in agriculture and medicine. He “has been invested in doing legal analysis and writing” for the last 25 years, according to his campaign. Emery has sought other state offices in Minnesota, including a run for the U.S. Senate in a Democratic primary. His current campaign website touts him as “conservative representation” for the state. Emery won a race for Yellow Medicine county attorney in 2022, but he resigned before he assumed office.
Supreme Court Associate Justice Karl Procaccini was also appointed to the high court last fall. He got his law degree at Harvard University and worked for six years at Minneapolis firm Greene Espel,representing individuals, nonprofits and businesses. Procaccini joined DFL Gov. Tim Walz’s office as general counsel and served during the COVID-19 pandemic and taught at the University of St. Thomas and Mitchell Hamline law schools. Procaccini said he’s running to see the court through a transition period with three new members and preserve its “tradition of excellence and fairness.”
His opponent is Matthew Hanson, a Prior Lake attorney who has worked in trusts, estates and commercial litigation, including formerly with Securian in St. Paul. Hanson, who said he’s a fifth-generation Minnesotan, earned his law degree from Mitchell Hamline School of Law in 2018. Hanson was the lone challenger to any judge in 2022 and said he’s running again because the courts are “elected by the people to ensure justice is administered fairly and impartially.”
Bissett, who played youth and high school hockey at the MAC, oversaw the addition of Torrey Arena in 1997 and was part of the city planning team that first began looking at further MAC expansion 13 years ago.
“I’ve seen all of the things we’ve done and I’ve got a lot of plans, some still stuck to my office wall, of things we didn’t do,” said Bissett, who plans to retire at the end of next year. “I’d like for this one to be done when I leave. At least that would keep the MAC maintainable for the size of our community.”
Two local men died last week as a result of crashes while riding their motorcycles, the State Patrol said.
Ross Anthony Stensrud, 61, of Rochester was killed Thursday evening when his motorcycle went off the highway south of St. Charles, Minn. According to the State Patrol, Stensrud was northbound on Hwy. 74 near Park Road when the accident happened shortly after 6 p.m.
The road was dry but alcohol was said to have been involved. Stensrud was not wearing a helmet.
Kaeden Devon Price, 19, of Minneapolis, died Tuesday of multiple blunt force injuries after crashing into a pickup truck on Interstate 35W on the afternoon of Sept. 24. The State Patrol said Price, who was wearing a helmet, was speeding on his motorcycle when he sideswiped one vehicle and rear-ended the pickup.
The accident happened near E. 36th Street in Minneapolis. No one else was hurt in the crash.
