CANNON FALLS

Man accused of stealing French bulldogs in Goodhue County shot, killed in Minneapolis

Sydney Mook — Fri, 22 Dec 2023 00:14:31 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS — A man accused of stealing five French bulldogs from a Goodhue County home and holding them for ransom was shot and killed in Minneapolis earlier this week.

Mikiyel D. Patton, 37, was charged with felony theft with the intent to restore only for a reward earlier this month. He was accused of taking the dogs from a home in Cannon Falls.

Patton was shot multiple times on Tuesday evening, Dec. 19, on the 900 block of Newton Avenue North in Minneapolis, according to a press release from the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office.

No arrests have been made in the shooting, as of Thursday, Dec. 21.

Investigators believed the suspects were hiding in a nearby abandoned house, according to the Minneapolis Police Department. MPD SWAT searched the abandoned residence and found it to be empty.

MPD spokesperson Aaron Rose said on Thursday that police did not believe the shooting is connected with the puppies. MPD was not aware of the whereabouts of the dogs.

The criminal complaint claims Patton put the puppies in a backpack on the morning of Dec. 2 and left the owner's residence. Patton had agreed to take care of the dogs while he stayed at the owner's house. The dogs are valued at $15,000 each.

The owner contacted the department the next day to report that Patton had posted a picture of the puppies on Facebook, the complaint says. Patton also told the owner's brother that he would only return the dogs if the owner paid him $20,000 that he was owed, the owner told police.

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Cannon Falls man facing charges for threatening to kill man who shot his horse with an arrow

Mark Wasson — Thu, 29 Dec 2022 20:20:20 GMT

RED WING, Minn. — A Cannon Falls, Minnesota, man is accused of threatening to kill another man and breaking several thousands dollars worth of his equipment after the other man shot a horse on his property, according to charges filed in Goodhue County District Court.

Jeffrey Dale Boman, 59, appeared before District Judge Patrick Biren on Wednesday, Dec. 28, and was released on his own recognizance.

Boman is charged with threats of violence and first-degree damage to property, both felonies.

The incident in question is alleged to have happened the evening of Oct. 30, 2022, on Boman's property in Goodhue County.

Boman's next court appearance is scheduled for Jan. 4, 2023.

According to the criminal complaint:

A 24-year-old man was bow hunting with Boman's son when he shot an arrow at a doe, which deflected and hit a horse owned by Boman. The horse died as a result of the arrow.

When Boman's son went inside to get Boman, Boman told the man, “If you don’t get off my property, I’m going to (expletive) kill you.”

Boman then instructed the man to leave his bow since it was evidence along with the rest of their equipment.

The pair left their equipment and Boman cut the bowstring on both bows, a witness told law enforcement.

The total damage to the equipment is estimated to be around $4,850.

When questioned by police, Boman continually said, "Our prime quarter horse is dead," and that he simply told the pair to leave the property following the incident.

The man who shot the horse told law enforcement that it appeared his bow had been run over by a vehicle.

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Cannon Falls gathering says a country doctor should train, practice and be paid differently

Paul John Scott — Thu, 29 Sep 2022 17:08:15 GMT

CANNON FALLS, Minn. — When it comes to practicing medicine in small communities, is health care set up all wrong? That was just one of the big questions to come up this week during a Cannon Falls town hall on health care in rural Minnesota.

The Tuesday, Sept. 27, gathering, which was moderated by Kerri Miller of Minnesota Public Radio and organized by a trio of regional foundations with sponsorship from Compeer Financial and Mayo Clinic Health System, had a simple goal:

Gather a wide array of policy experts, farm leaders, community leaders and family doctors from competing health systems, and start a conversation on the state of community hospitals.

Though a mic was open to all, the weekday evening turnout favored the views of stakeholders more than patients. As a result, the hour returned again and again to structural problems holding back health services in small towns.

"I've been really struck by how fragile our health care system really is," said Dr. Ulrika Wigert, a Sauk Center family practice physician for CentraCare. "There isn't enough staffing at those bigger facilities to be able to take in our sick patients. It's very tiring to have to call hospitals all over the state to get our patients the level of specialty care they need."

The staff shortages afflicting metro providers are only compounded in rural facilities, participants said. Part of that is due to small-town providers who choose a job in the city over one in the community.

"It's great to live in a small town," Wigert said. "I grew up in a small town, and I chose to work in a small town. But right now, people can commute to a bigger facility to get paid more, all while keeping a different lifestyle in the small communities."

Others said the attrition underway within rural health systems could only be reversed by training physicians in small towns.

"Do you think we are going to get rural physicians by educating them in Minneapolis?" asked Dr. Cindy Firkins Smith, the Willmar-based senior vice president of rural health for CentraCare.

"No offense, but do you think we can educate them in Minneapolis, then expect them to move into our rural areas? We need to educate them in rural areas, they'll discover why we love it, and we hope they'll stay."

"Our research is finding financial incentives are effective in attracting workers in small communities, but they are not the only thing, or even the main thing," concurred Carrie Henning-Smith, deputy director, University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center. "Having grown up in a rural area is by far the biggest predictor of rural practice."

Henning-Smith said rural providers could also be enticed by being told they can practice "the way they want to practice," which she described as "seeing a lot of different kinds of patients, and having continuity with those patients and their family members."

For Wigert, this very closeness was what makes her job rewarding.

"We know our patients really well in a rural practice," she said. "When I see them in the grocery store or when their kids are in school with my kids, I can say to them, let's try this first, and come back to me if that doesn't cut it and we'll do an MRI. It's about knowing you will have that follow-up relationship."

When an online participant asked if allied health professionals could take on bigger roles, Dr. Terry Cahill, a family doctor for Allina Health in Faribault, said he supported the idea.

"I've sat in a room with nurse practitioners and physician assistants who do things that a lot of medical students would be very uncomfortable doing, but they have the experience and support to do it ... Patients want to be able to come in and talk to somebody who cares about what happens to them, that's the bottom line."

For Katy B. Kozhimannil, professor in the Division of Health Policy and Management in the �� of Public Health at the University of Minnesota, the situation won't change for rural medicine until payers rethink how to pay for health care in remote places.

"We get paid based on the number of people who walk through the door," she said. "But in rural places, fewer people come through the door ... So there's a need for a lot more thoughtful ways of supporting the higher fixed costs that rural facilities face."

She said special critical care hospital payment status was not enough, and that value-based payment approaches in which doctors are paid for keeping patients healthy were equally as fraught in small practices.

"When you have small numbers or you care for a population that's sicker, may have higher risk factors, or may not get care as often, you're more likely to show quote-unquote 'low-quality care' on metrics that are predominantly created in urban communities and academic health centers."

"Many of our credentialing entities are using quality standards that are not rural relevant," Kozhimannil said. "You don't necessarily have the volume to have something available that might be considered some sort of basic level of care. That's not how we roll in rural areas all the time. The money doesn't come in for that."

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In Minnesota, USDA head Vilsack says existing aid isn't enough to help farmers through drought

Dana Ferguson — Thu, 12 Aug 2021 19:10:52 GMT

CANNON FALLS, Minn. — United States Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Thursday, Aug. 12, said the federal government's programs to support farmers experiencing drought were insufficient to meet the moment and committed to working with lawmakers to approve additional aid.

The comments came after the secretary heard from Minnesota agriculture leaders about the drought's impact on the state. Vilsack got a first-hand look at the drought's impact on a southeastern Minnesota cash crop and cattle farm where grazing pastures had gone dry in the heat.

Agriculture industry leaders told Vilsack and elected officials that the situation in much of the state was dire as sale barns began closing their doors to livestock since they didn't have demand for additional animals. Farmers in drought-struck regions ran out of hay and grazing land to feed them.

"Producers are calling me and they're to the end," Minnesota Cattlemen's Association President Grant Breitkreutz said. "They have done everything in their power to save their resources, they've culled as far as they can ... the problem we have now is the sale barns are turning us away."

Minnesota Farm Bureau President Kevin Paap stressed to Vilsack that the situation in Minnesota was urgent and every day without a life raft meant farmers had to keep seeking out expensive feed or deciding whether they could make it through given the hardship.

"The bottom line message is time matters in a drought. Whether it's time I have to wait before I sell my animals, I still have to feed my animals, I still have to haul the water," Paap said. "I appreciate your time but recognizing that not doing anything or waiting on things has a cost as well. Even CRP, every day you wait, it's worth less tomorrow."

Vilsack said the 2018 Farm Bill didn't equip the USDA for the current severe conditions affecting farmers around the country. And he committed to setting in place more climate change-related supports into the next Farm Bill. The secretary said visiting Minnesota and speaking with leaders helped him understand their perspectives. And he said he would take that feedback with him to Washington.

"The reality is our support structure isn't really designed for the challenges of today," Vilsack said. "Our system isn't really designed to provide the level of help and assistance for long-term challenges that farmers and ranchers and producers face."

Vilsack, along with Democrats U.S. Sens. Tina Smith and Amy Klobuchar and Rep. Angie Craig, said they'd continue to urge farmers to take advantage of federal agriculture assistance, but they hoped to approve legislation freeing up the USDA's authority to open up Conservation Reserve Program lands in severe weather situations and putting in place additional supports.

And they stumped for the $1 trillion infrastructure proposal and a $3.5 trillion budget resolution up for consideration in Congress. Each contained policy changes and funding that could aid farmers, they said. Separate aid for dairy farmers and meat processors would also be made available soon through the USDA, he said.

"There's a lot of help on the way, there's a lot of opportunity to sort of hang on and there's a recognition and an understanding there's a recognition that in the long-term we need more flexibility for farmers," Vilsack said.

Craig, Klobuchar and Smith said they'd also convey the urgency of the need for support as they return to Washington and stump for aid and policy changes. And while they arrived at the farm during a brief rain shower, they said the sprinkle wouldn't disguise the ongoing problem.

"We have the Farm Bill with the work to be done as we see this climate crisis upon us but we also have the now and the now is what you hear from those cattle," Klobuchar said, as cattle mooed in the pasture. "We need to respond to that now because people need food and we want to make sure that Minnesota agriculture is strong."

Follow Dana Ferguson on Twitter @bydanaferguson, call 651-290-0707 or email dferguson@forumcomm.com

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Three killed in Sunday automobile accidents in Minnesota, including a 16-year-old girl

Kristi Belcamino / St. Paul Pioneer Press — Mon, 05 Apr 2021 00:15:00 GMT

A 16-year-old girl and two other motorists died in separate car crashes Sunday morning, April 4, in Cannon Falls and Burnsville, according to state and local authorities.

The first crash, about 2:45 a.m., occurred on U.S. 52 in Cannon Falls.

According to the Minnesota State Patrol, Daniel Desmond Yeung, 22, of Rochester, was driving a 2013 Kia Soul northbound on U.S. 52 when he drifted into the median. The vehicle then rolled across the southbound lanes, killing a 16-year-old female passenger, who was not wearing a seat belt, the State Patrol said.

Yeung was taken to St. Marys Hospital in Rochester with life-threatening injuries.

The State Patrol later identified the 16-year-old girl as Haya Ambreen Mahmood of Rochester.

About 11:30 a.m. Sunday, the Burnsville Police Department tweeted that two people were killed in another crash.

The crash occurred at Dakota County Road 42 and Newton Avenue and shut down the county road for a time.

Along with the two fatalities in that crash, another two injured individuals were taken to Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis.

On Sunday evening, police said the fatally injured victims were a 22-year-old man and a 22-year-old woman. The hospitalized victims were a 17-year-old boy and a 17-year-old girl. No identities or further details about the crash were released.

Both crashes remain under investigation by the State Patrol and partner agencies.

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Son charged with murder in Minnesota man's death

Anne Jacobson — Fri, 28 Aug 2020 19:37:30 GMT

WARSAW TOWNSHIP, Minn. — A heated argument over a skid loader that got stuck in mud turned deadly Thursday, Aug. 27, when a rural Cannon Falls, Minn., man returned to the scene with a gun and killed his father, according to a criminal complaint filed Friday, Aug. 28, in Goodhue County District Court.

Cole Sidney DeGroot, 21, appeared in court on four felonies including one count of second-degree murder with intent/not premeditated. He is accused of shooting to death Terry John DeGroot, 55, also of rural Cannon Falls.

According to the criminal complaint, DeGroot alerted Goodhue County Sheriff’s Dispatch himself at 5:01 p.m. Thursday, telling them to send an ambulance in five minutes because he was going to do “something stupid” and shoot his father, because he was “not going to put up with him” anymore, and hung up.

Dispatch later reached him and the defendant said he had already shot his dad.

The father and son had been clearing a debris-filled creek on someone else’s property when Cole DeGroot said he got the skid loader stuck. After his father berated him, DeGroot left on his bicycle, went to his father’s property approximately 3 miles away, got a .45 handgun basement and returned to the worksite.

DeGroot told investigators he raised the handgun and pointed at his father who was seated in the skid loader that was no longer running. He said he only meant to scare his dad, but the handgun has a hair trigger and discharged. He stated that after the gun went off his father stated, “I’m dead.”

The shot entered the senior DeGroot’s abdomen and apparently stuck an artery, records show.

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Southeast Minnesota man dies in head-on crash

Forum News Service — Fri, 12 Jul 2019 22:30:51 GMT

FARIBAULT — A 27-year old man was killed in a head-on crash early Wednesday, July 10, in Rice County when a van crossed the centerline and struck his vehicle.

According to the Minnesota State Patrol, a Buick LeSabre driven by William Elmer Potter, 27, of Waterville, was eastbound on Minnesota Highway 60 just before 5 a.m. Wednesday, when a westbound Dodge Grand Caravan driven by Andrew Joseph Stein, 40, of Cannon Falls, crossed over the line and collided with the sedan.

Potter was pronounced dead at the scene. Stein was transported to Mayo Clinic Hospital–Saint Marys for life-threatening injuries, and was listed in fair condition Friday morning.

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Police: Minn. couple held at gunpoint, tied, robbed at home

Forum News Service — Tue, 22 May 2018 18:50:09 GMT

CANNON FALLS, Minn. -- A couple were held at gunpoint in their home in Cannon Falls Township Tuesday morning, May 22, and robbed of cash and belongings, authorities said.

The suspects, described as two black males in their 20s, reportedly rang the doorbell at the William and Wanda Carlstrom residence about 8 a.m. When the man answered, the suspects forced themselves inside. One held a pistol on the couple while the other rummaged through the home.

The situation continued for over 30 minutes before the suspects tied up the homeowners and left the residence with many items, including guns and cash, according to investigators.

The suspects were driving a light blue or light green sedan, plate number and vehicle make unknown.

The Goodhue County Sheriff’s Office has determined that the vehicle left the residence heading westbound on Highway 19 following the incident.

Cannon Falls is about 35 miles south of St. Paul.

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Troopers help save Minnesota mother’s life with blood delivery rush

Michael Brun — Fri, 02 Jun 2017 01:55:45 GMT

RED WING, Minn.-A difficult baby delivery turned into a race against time to save the life of a Minnesota mother.

Lisa Jaeger, of Cannon Falls, Minn., experienced a massive hemorrhage while undergoing a cesarean section last month at Mayo Clinic Health System in Red Wing, and the crucial blood she needed was 45 miles away in St. Paul.

That is when Minnesota State Patrol troopers Jesse Einhorn, Jacob Letourneau and Dau Yang sprang into action.

The troopers formed a relay from St. Paul to Red Wing, rushing in their squad cars to hand off the box of blood. From the time the American Red Cross received the request to when the blood was delivered in Red Wing was just over an hour.

Thanks to their efforts, Jaeger and baby Ryan are now doing fine.

"I'm so grateful to be here, to be able to tell my story," Jaeger said at a news conference Thursday, June 1, in St. Paul. The three troopers from that day stood behind her as she spoke.

Jaeger said she went to the hospital May 17 and was in labor for 36 hours before doctors decided a C-section was the best choice. She remembers the birth and her husband, Brent, going over to see their firstborn, but then it became clear something was wrong.

"I remember the doctor saying, 'Turn your head, wake up, look at your son,'" she said. "I thought that I was, and I wasn't; I was not responding at all at that point."

Jaeger said she then recalls the chaos that erupted in the operating room.

"It was kind of bizarre, I could hear everything that was going on around me," she said.

All told she lost about three litres of blood.

When she overheard doctors ordering a blood run, Jaeger said she knew exactly what they were talking about since both she and her husband are on the Minnesota State Patrol staff. Jaeger said she even participated in a blood run ride-along for her job as a manager of the patrol's vehicle fleet.

"In my head I went, 'I bet that's the troopers that are running the blood down here,'" she said.

After the terrifying ordeal was over, Jaeger said she learned from a doctor that the usual time it takes to get blood from St. Paul probably would have been too long for her to have survived.

"We were that close," Jaeger said, adding, "I'm here because of a phenomenal team of doctors and nurses at the hospital, because of these three troopers and because of people that donate blood."

The State Patrol regularly conducts blood runs from Twin Cities blood banks as well as transports organs to hospitals on request.

"It's fairly common and something that troopers do, something that we're quite good at and proud to do" said Col. Matt Langer, chief of the Minnesota State Patrol.

There were 89 trooper relay runs in 2016 and 34 so far this year, according to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety.

The May 18 blood run was trooper Letourneau's third. He said finding out it was one of their own made this feel all the more personal.

"I thought about my wife and if she had a child and needed the blood," he said.

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Pedestrian killed crossing highway in Cannon Falls

Forum News Service — Tue, 10 Feb 2015 14:32:50 GMT

CANNON FALLS, Minn. -- A pedestrian was killed Sunday while attempting to cross a divided roadway in southern Minnesota.

Patrick E. Daly, 42, of Stewartville, was crossing the southbound lanes of U.S. Highway 52 at Goodhue County Road 24 about 6 p.m. when he was hit by a Dodge Neon and Ford Fusion, the Minnesota State Patrol said.

The drivers of the cars sustained no apparent injuries.

The incident occurred near the site of a new interchange and two recently closed traffic light-controlled intersections.

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