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Search for teen continues
Photo by Rae Kruger
Emergency personnel from neighboring towns, along with friends of 19-year-old Brandon Swanson, walk through a pasture near Taunton in search of Swanson, who has been missing since Wednesday morning. Swanson has not been heard from since he called his parents early Wednesday morning to tell them his car went into a ditch, the Lyon County Sheriff’s Department said.
May 16, 2008
LYON COUNTY — The search for Brandon Swanson, 19, of Marshall continued into its second day in Lyon County on Thursday. Swanson was reported missing Wednesday morning by his parents when they couldn’t find or reach him. They contacted authorities after a cellular telephone call earlier that morning when Swanson told his parents his car went into a ditch, the Lyon County Sheriff’s Department said.It was believed he was going to Marshall from Canby, where he attends Minnesota West college, Lyon County Sheriff Joel Dahl said.
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Witnesses say Franco not alone in van
May 16, 2008
MARSHALL — Olga Franco was not alone in the van that authorities said hit the Lakeview School bus in the Feb. 19 fatal crash near Cottonwood, a federal agent said Thursday in court in Marshall.
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Judge rules Feb. 21 interview violated Franco’s rights; change of venue decision pending
May 16, 2008
MARSHALL — Investigators violated Olga Franco’s rights when they interviewed her on Feb. 21 about the Feb. 19 fatal Lakeview School bus crash, Judge David Peterson ruled in Lyon County District Court on Thursday.
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Farm bill on its way to Bush
May 16, 2008
After months of delays, the new farm bill passed the Senate on Thursday, one day after the House approved the bill — sending it to the White House.
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Top Headline Poll
Should a change of venue request be honored in Olga Franco's criminal vehicular homicide case?
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Deutz, Ted
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Karin Elton
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Store, Tornado and Monopoly
Wed, May 14, 2008 @ 11:57AM
My nephew, Mark, visited Minnesota from San Francisco last week. I hadn’t seen him in a couple years. We are only five years apart so he was more like a little brother to me when we were growing up in the Twin Cities. When we were young, we would play store, bus and tornado. Store and bus we could play in his room, but tornado was played at my parents’ backyard. There was a steep hill in the backyard and tornado consisted of flailing around frantically and falling-rolling down the hill. And then doing that over and over again. As we grew older, we also played Monopoly. He was the big entrepreneur and always got Broadway and Park Place and usually won. One time when we were kids Mark said something about that I wasn’t playing with him enough that day. I said to him, “I played store, tornado and Monopoly with you!” So we still say that to each other to this day. He’s 45-years-old (although admits to only 38) and I just turned 51 (although really 37).
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Per Peterson
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Back in time
Thu, May 15, 2008 @ 1:25PM
When you work a lot and have a family, it's easy to get caught up in a rat-race mentality when you don't get a chance to exhale until you get home after your day is done. I got a break from the race Thursday morning (ironically while working) when I visited the End-O-Line Railroad Park & Museum in Currie to take a photo for the paper of the museum's latest edition — a caboose from 1870. “We’re happy to have it here,” museum director Louise Gervais said. “It’s got the original bay window, so that’s really neat. It’s a real thing from the past, and we’re fortunate to get another wooden caboose here.” The caboose came from the Sioux Empire Fair and was part of the line that ran between the Twin Cities and Peoria, Ill., starting in 1870. The caboose itself was something to see, but it was nice just to be able to "get away" from my daily routine of driving to work. That kind of break is something that local museums like End-O-Line provide, and we have a bunch of them out here.
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Andy Rennecke
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Joe Mauer = no power
Fri, May 16, 2008 @ 2:30AM
I keep hearing Dick Bremer and Bert Blyleven on Twins telecasts saying that catcher Joe Mauer will eventually hit for power. I normally like Dick and Bert, but they couldn’t be more off-base. Every media member in the Twin Cities has been saying this about the St. Paul wunderkid since he broke in with the Twins in 2004. Let’s face it, Mauer is never going to hit more than 15 home runs in a season. Even that’s pushing it. Mauer also isn’t going to be a big extra-base threat. He’s a singles hitter, especially with his swing. Mauer is just level on his cuts and that’s conducive for singles. He doesn’t dip his shoulder or try and pull the ball ever. He’s just going to try and take the pitch up the middle or to left-center for a base hit. I know this will upset Twins die-hards by me saying this. But, I’m also a die-hard and I can honestly say I this supposed power surge coming from Mauer will never occur. Keep dreaming, Bert.
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Cindy Votruba
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The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face on Idol
Wed, May 14, 2008 @ 6:04PM
Now that it's down to the final three in "American Idol," I guess I'd better do some form of recap of Tuesday's performances. Three contenders, three songs each. One was their choice, one was the judge's choice and the other was the producer's choice. All in all, a varied and sometimes odd batch of songs. I was settling down with my dinner of chicken stir-fry when the first David, Archuleta, took the stage with "And So It Goes" by Billy Joel. At first I thought, "is he doing the song a cappella?" Then those violins streamed in. A good job, and I'm sure Archuleta's fan base of teen-age girls will keep him in. Syesha is chosen an Alicia Keys song to do by Randy Jackson. She also does a good job despite sounding pretty much like the original. Simon even points that out. Then came Simon's choice for David Cook. "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" by Roberta Flack. OK....Left a little dumbfounded there. But Cook took the challenge head on.
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Robert Wolfington III
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Cracker Jack
Mon, May 5, 2008 @ 11:51AM
While putting together some stories on Sunday I was found myself in the mood for a snack. While perusing the break room vending machine I found myself face to face with a childhood memory — Cracker Jack. And there was a prize inside! I pushed a few quarters into the machine, hit the numbers and found it hard to hide my mild excitement over what I had in hand. Growing up I remember opening Cracker Jack boxes and finding anything from a small toy truck to a magnifying glass inside. Sure they were cheap toys that lasted on a few minutes, but it was still something special. I chomped down on the caramelized popcorn and peanuts, enjoying what was so obviously an unhealthy snack choice. I put the prize aside. As the day wound down and I was ready to head home, I opened the small red and white pouch the prize was wrapped in, only to be disappointed. A small picture of a frog on one side and a shark on the other with a small slit down the center.
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Dana Yost
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May 15
Thu, May 15, 2008 @ 11:47AM
I am back. After about six weeks of medical leave to battle some depression and exhaustion issues, I returned to work today as the editor of the Independent. Glad to be here, too — it's already a busy news day, and I am getting in the flow of things quickly. In my column for Friday's paper, you can read a little more about my return if you so choose. But I want to thank friends, family and co-workers for their support during this stretch, and also want to emphasize the importance of mental health care — something I think is too often slighted when compared to physical care, yet is just as important. People with mental illness fight a lot of things, stigma often as much as the illness itself. That shouldn't be so. If you broke a leg, you wouldn't spend half your time explaining the need for a cast. But you often do with a mental illness: Things are often misunderstood — people just don't know enough, or don't want to know about it.
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Lakeview/TMB Baseball
MCC Excellence
MHS Golf vs Pipestone
MHS Softball vs JCC