News Briefs: Fargo police arrest two men for robbery

Editor's note: The following is a collection of news briefs from Forum Communication Company newspapers in North Dakota, Minnesota and South Dakota.

NORTH DAKOTA

Fargo police arrest two men for robbery

FARGO, N.D. – Police arrested two robbery suspects late Sunday night

outside an apartment complex in north Fargo.

A 21-year-old male victim noticed he was being followed when he drove

home at about 11:40 p.m. Two suspects got out of their vehicle and

confronted the man, said Lt. Joel Vettel of the Fargo Police

Department.

One of the men threw what appeared to be pea rock at the victim and

demanded money. The victim also was punched in the face, Vettel said.

“It doesn’t appear money was given to them,” Vettel said. The suspects

then drove off.

The victim was able to give a detailed description of the vehicle and

the men, and police arrested two Moorhead men for strong-armed

robbery: Jonathan Richard Corbin, 22, who also was arrested for

drunken driving, and William James Kuta, 21.

Both men were intoxicated, Vettel said.

Ardoch man arrested on various charges

GRAND FORKS, N.D. – An Ardoch man was arrested Sunday on various

charges after a report of a suspicious person in Grand Forks County.

The Grand Forks County Sheriff’s Department responded to a rural

Fordville address early Sunday on a report of an unwanted and

suspicious person in the area, the sheriff’s department said in a

press release Monday. Deputies talked to Scott Lamont, 49, of Ardoch,

who said someone had been chasing him, and he ran out of gas.

Deputies determined Lamont was under the influence of a controlled

substance and arrested him. Deputies seized a large amount of cash,

methamphetamines, marijuana, numerous drug paraphernalia items and a

concealed weapon, the release said.

Lamont was arrested for possession of methamphetamine with intent to

deliver, several possession charges, carrying a concealed weapon,

ingesting a controlled substance and no liability insurance.

Three injured in accident near Cando

GRAND FORKS, N.D. – Three people were injured Sunday in a two-vehicle

accident east of Cando.

The North Dakota Highway Patrol said the accident occurred at 6:08

p.m. along N.D. Highway 17, two miles east of Cando.

According to the report, a 1984 International farm truck operated by

Sigurd Bjornstad, 81, Cando, was northbound on a Towner County gravel

road when it failed to stop at the intersection of Highway 17.

Bjornstad’s vehicle was struck broadside by a westbound vehicle

operated by Leroy Anderson, 73, of Mandan, police said. Anderson’s

vehicle, a 2011 Buick, rotated clockwise and came to rest facing north

on the county road. Bjornstad’s truck ended up in a field.

Bjornstad, Anderson and Janice Anderson, 69, of Mandan, a passenger in

Anderson’s vehicle, were transported to Towner County Medical Center

in Cando. The Andersons later were transferred to Bismarck with

non-life-threatening injuries, according to the report.

A condition report on Bjornstad was not immediately available.

Bjornstad was cited with failure to yield at a stop intersection,

according to police.

Berg, Heitkamp both raise $1.6 million in last three months

BISMARCK – Rep. Rick Berg and former attorney general Heidi Heitkamp

both took in about $1.6 million over the past three months, the two

U.S. Senate campaigns said Monday.

Berg, a Republican, continues to lead all North Dakota candidates for

federal office with about $5.6 million raised in the campaign.

Heitkamp, a Democrat, has raised about $3.7 million.

Monday was the deadline for federal candidates to file their latest

quarterly finance reports with the Federal Election Commission,

covering fundraising from July, August and September.

U.S. House candidate Kevin Cramer raised $476,000 in that period,

pushing his total haul above $1 million.

Cramer’s opponent, Pam Gulleson, has not yet released her totals for

the quarter. At the end of the last filing period, she reported

$630,000 in fundraising.

Mayville sets recall election for council

GRAND FORKS, N.D. –Mayville will conduct a recall election in January

of two current City Council members.

The election will be Jan. 16 for the council seats currently held by

Mike Carr and Larry O’Brien.

City Auditor Gail Olstad certified that separate petitions to recall

Carr and O’Brien contained the necessary 104 valid signatures.

Carr and O’Brien are two of four council members who voted in June to

eliminate the position of city public works director, which resulted

in longtime director Byron Kleven losing his job. The vote was 4-2.

Kleven rejected an offer to stay on the job in a limited capacity

until Sept. 30, according to the auditor.

MINNESOTA

Lawsuit seeks to halt Minn. wolf hunt

DULUTH, Minn. – On the same day Wisconsin’s wolf season opened, two

wolf advocacy groups on Monday asked the Minnesota Supreme Court to

stop this autumn’s first ever state wolf hunting and trapping seasons.

The Center for Biological Diversity and Howling for Wolves asked the

state’s high court for an injunction halting the season set to begin

in less than three weeks. The Minnesota Court of Appeals last week

refused to issue an injunction, and any actual trial is likely months

away, after the planned season.

“I am hopeful that the Supreme Court will recognize what the Court of

Appeals did not — that the shooting and trapping of 400 wolves is an

irreversible harm caused by the Minnesota Department of Natural

Resources,” said Collette Adkins Giese, a Minneapolis-based attorney

with the Center for Biological Diversity.

The groups, which want a fast answer from the Supreme Court, have

claimed the DNR did not follow state regulations in establishing the

seasons. The DNR has argued that it followed all necessary steps.

Willmar police investigate gas station robbery

WILLMAR, Minn. – The Willmar Police Department is investigating an

early morning robbery of a local gas station.

According to a news release from Sgt. Michael Anderson, two suspects

armed with knives entered the Holiday station along the 800 block of

Litchfield Avenue Southwest around 1 a.m. today, demanded cash from

the cash register and fled with an undisclosed amount of money.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the

department at (320) 235-2244 or Crime Stoppers at (320) 235-3640.

Probe of Duluth officer done but still secret

DULUTH, Minn. – Police Chief Gordon Ramsay said his department has

done everything in its power to keep Richard Jouppi from ever again

working as a police officer here.

Jouppi, 34, was videotaped swinging and hitting a presumably

intoxicated man in a wheelchair at the Duluth Detoxification Center on

Sept. 21. He was charged with fifth-degree assault and disorderly

conduct in connection with the incident.

Ramsay said at a news conference Monday that the internal

investigation of Jouppi’s actions is complete, but state law and the

police union contract prohibit him from talking about any specific

conclusions and discipline until final disposition of discipline.

Ramsay said he watched the video of the incident at least 40 times and

had read and re-read all of the interviews and reports associated with

the case.

“I, along with the department leaders as well as many of our officers,

have expressed how deeply troubled they are by his actions,” Ramsay

said.

Jouppi is on administrative leave pending the outcome of the internal

investigation.

Sam’s Club is looking to open Moorhead store

MOORHEAD, Minn. – After weeks of speculation, the city manager here

confirmed Monday that Sam’s Club is the big-box store considering

building just west of Menards on 27th Avenue South.

The city has been working with representatives of Sam’s Club since

early August, but the Twin Cities development firm, Kimley-Horn and

Associates, had asked the city to keep the name of the big-box store

confidential, according to emails between city staff members obtained

by The Forum via the Minnesota Data Practices Act.

In an email sent from Community Services Manager Scott Hutchins to

City Manager Michael Redlinger on Aug. 30, Hutchins said Sam’s Club is

considering building on a 20 acre piece of land west of Menards.

“Sams Club it is!” Hutchins wrote in the email. “Not public but word

will get out.”

Redlinger confirmed this on Monday afternoon.

“They’re still doing their due diligence,” Redlinger said of the

store’s representatives. “But obviously the development of a second

big-box is an exciting opportunity for that part of Moorhead.”

Duluth 17-year-old charged in stabbing

DULUTH, Minn. – A Duluth juvenile is accused of committing three

felonies in connection with an incident in which a 17-year-old girl

was stabbed in the heart and hit in the head with a baseball bat early

Saturday.

Norman Wayne Cutbank III, 17, was charged in a juvenile delinquency

petition filed Monday in State District Court with first-degree

assault, second-degree assault and third-degree assault.

According to the petition, Cutbank, while aiding and abetting and

being aided and abetted by another, inflicted great bodily harm on the

girl by hitting her in the left eye with a baseball bat and stabbing

her with a knife in the heart.

Police said the girl was hospitalized in serious condition.

Cutbank is also charged with assaulting an 18-year-old man with a baseball bat.

House fire destroys home near Duluth

DULUTH, Minn. – More than a half-dozen fire departments responded to a

fire that destroyed a house in Normanna Township on Monday morning.

The owner of the 1 1/2-story house at 2633 Lismore Road was not home

at the time of the fire, and there were no immediate reports of

injuries. It appeared that the home was a total loss.

The fire was reported shortly before 9 a.m. Flames erupted through the

roof and second-floor windows of the home shortly after 9:30 a.m., and

by 10 a.m. much of the roof had been burned or collapsed.

The house is on the north side of Lismore Road, just east of Lakewood

Road and several miles northeast of Duluth. Heavy smoke from the fire

was visible from several miles away.

SOUTH DAKOTA

Huron teens die in crash near Alpena

ALPENA, S.D. — Two Huron teenagers died Sunday in a one-vehicle

rollover accident on 92nd Avenue approximately one-quarter mile south

of 220th Street near Alpena, according to the state Department of

Public Safety.

Emmanuel Martinez, 16, was driving a 2003 Cadillac CTS on 392nd Avenue

when he lost control of the vehicle while negotiating a curve around

3:55 p.m. The vehicle entered the east ditch, then slid across the

highway, rolled several times and came to rest in the west ditch.

Martinez died at the scene.

Passenger Marisol Corona, 16, also of Huron, was transported to the

Huron Regional Medical Center by ambulance and later transferred to

Sanford Health, in Sioux Falls, where she died of her injuries.

Neither teen was wearing a seat belt and both were ejected from the vehicle.

George McGovern enters hospice care

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Sen. George McGovern has entered hospice care.

The longtime former Mitchell resident is now at Dougherty Hospice

House in Sioux Falls, an Avera staffer confirmed Monday. She was not

sure when he was admitted or what his condition is.

He served in the U.S. House from 1957 to 1961 and was a U.S. senator

from 1963 to 1981. In 1972, McGovern was the Democratic nominee for

president. He was born in Avon, grew up in Mitchell and earned a

degree from Mitchell’s Dakota Wesleyan University.

The hospice is named for William “Bill” Dougherty, a Democrat who

served two terms as South Dakota’s lieutenant governor. Dougherty, who

died in 2010, was a friend and political ally of McGovern.

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