Sarah Smith
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Sarah Smith is the outdoors editor. She covers courts, business and breaking news in addition to outdoors events.
Contact Email
SSmith@parkrapidsenterprise.com
History
- Member for
- 1 year 11 months
Author Content
What has become a polarizing disagreement among 87 Kabekona Lake residents pits progress versus preservation. The upcoming County 37 resurfacing project, slated to begin in 2011, has caused a bitter split among those opposed to widening and those who feel it would be safer to pave and refinish the road surface. County 37 is a Natural Preservation Road that runs along the south shore of Kabekona Lake.
The recount of a third Menahga referendum took three hours Monday with no changes. Opponents of a measure to allow Menahga School District 821 to issue general obligation school building bonds of $4.35 million have prevailed in squelching the project by a razor thin margin of victory. Menahga voters went to the polls Aug. 10. The final vote count was 695 no votes and 692 yes votes. The recounted results are not final until canvassing tonight. For more on the story see Wednesday's Enterprise.
Deep in the woods north of Akeley, 120 dirt bike riders tested their endurance Sunday on a grueling path no wider than a foot in places. The 50-mile ride is one of two annually sponsored by ARMCA, the acronym for the nonprofit Amateur Riders Motorcycle Association. It is chartered as District 23 (Minnesota) of the American Motorcyclist Association. ARMCA promotes dirt bike riding and the development of public trails. Of the two annual Minnesota rides, one run is east of Highway 64, the other west.
Hubbard County commissioners approved a radio participation plan and the Sheriff's Department seeking grant funds as the county joins a statewide radio conversion that is massive in scope and expensive to taxpayers. The conversion to digital frequencies is mandated to occur by Jan. 1, 2013.
If the "Big 3" are any indication, Hubbard County department heads will once again offer meager budgets for 2011. County commissioners met with the heads of the Highway Department, Social Services and Law Enforcement Wednesday to begin the budgeting process.
A tearful Chad Tabaka testified that he'd consumed numerous beers and mixed drinks May 1 when he lost control of his speeding ATV, crashed into a tree and killed his passenger. Under a plea deal entered into Thursday, Tabaka, 31, of Walker, could spend a year in jail for the death of Jessica Lynn Christopherson, 31, of Benedict, on a roadway in the Paul Bunyan State Forest. But strong family opposition came to light in Cass County District Court during the plea hearing that could threaten to derail the plea deal. Under the plea agreement reached between Hubbard County Attorney Don Dearst
There may be a civics lesson in a case that appeared before the Board of Adjustment Monday: If you demand an answer, be prepared when it's not what you came to hear. In a contentious 50-minute hearing, Eleventh Crow Wing homeowner Jodi Gilyard, a Twin Cities woman who owns a lot on Pine Ridge Shores, was not happy when the board tried to table her after-the-fact request to leave a home in a bluff impact zone.
A Sept. 13 plea hearing is set for a Hubbard County man who fled the county for two months following a shooting incident May 21 near Akeley. Joshua Wayne Herdina, 35, formerly of Akeley, was arrested by Cass County authorities about a month ago, Hubbard County Sheriff Frank Homer said. Herdina may enter into a plea bargain in the case, according to the court docket. He is charged with Second Degree Assault and illegal possession of a firearm by a felon, according to the criminal complaint.
Nicole Guida overlooks her wondrous garden and lets out a moan. "Other people have red tomatoes," she said. "I don't have red tomatoes." She's alternately thrilled and insecure about her "square foot garden," grown from a book of the same title by Mel Bartholomew. "Truly this is my gardening bible here," she said, displaying her well-thumbed copy of the book. She's tried traditional gardening at her rural Hubbard County home.
The omnibus hearing for a Park Rapids man charged with Second Degree Murder, Manslaughter and Assault, has been continued until Sept 13. Attorneys on both sides of the Luis Candelaria case have requested grand jury transcripts of the witnesses that testified July 14 before a Hubbard County panel that indicted Candelaria on the three charges. Hubbard County Attorney Don Dearstyne and public defender Jennifer Nelson agreed the police officers, medical personnel and eyewitnesses are crucial to the case, so they decided to split the cost of the transcript that will take three weeks to prepare.