Dilworth couple reports burglary
October 15, 2008
Burglary
A burglary was reported at the home of Richard and Betty Lundon on Monday, October 13. The Dilworth couple were sleeping when Richard Lundon was awaken by a noise in his kitchen and then saw the dining room lights flicker on and off.
Mr. Lundon proceeded into the kitchen to catch the exterior door in the kitchen slowly closing. Mr. Lundon thought that he had scared off the potential robber and went back to bed. The next morning Mrs Lundon found that the couples kitchen television and purse were missing.
The Lundon reported the incident to the Dilworth Police who examined the home for fingerprints. The robber accessed the home through the back door, breaking off the handle. The burglar also broke the lock on the door to gain entry.
The Lundons’ have lived in Dilworth for almost 40 years and even though they consider the neighborhood safe, they lock their doors.
The couple is thankful that everything taken was replaceable, but Mrs Lundon was not able to sleep well soon after the robbery.
Dilworth Police are still looking for the person(s) responsible.
Rebels’ over WCA
October 13, 2008
The DGF Rebels’ defensive unit held West Central Area to 10 yards of total offense Minnesota Class 2A football action Friday night. The Rebels were able to score twice in the game that saw eight combined turnovers. Field conditions were less then favorable for either team as both struggled to get any offense going.
Cody Branter started the Rebels’ offense in the second half with an 80 yard kickoff return to put the Rebels’ up by a touchdown.
Zack Askelson added a three yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter to put the Rebels’ up 14-0. Askelson ran for 117 yards on 24 carries for the Rebels’.
RUSHING: WCA, Belgum 1-16, Sternhagen 9-5, Gerber 6-0, Blascyk 12-(-17). DGF, Askelson 24-117, Yliniemi 25-66, Crabtree 5-10, Bergee 4-(-9).
PASSING: WCA, Blascyk 1-7-1 6. DGF, Bergee 0-2-2 0.
RECEIVING: WCA, Belgum 1-6.
Waller pleads guilty
September 11, 2008
Jerry Waller
Jerry Waller plead guilty to a charge of fifth-degree assault. The industrial technology instructor was charged last may for slapping a student.
According to a plea petition filed in Clay County District Court, Waller will have the charge dismissed after one year and there will be no conviction if Waller avoids any other similar offenses.
Waller also agreed to pay $400 for court costs as part of the order..
Waller has been a Clay County Commissioner since 1997 and also teaches industrial technology at DGF High School. According to court documents, Waller slapped a 16 year old student on the face aft the boy laughed at him in class. The boy informed investigators that the slap hurt and was hard enough to cause him to turn his head. Waller told police that he was reacting to a derogatory comment the student made about women and not to the students laughing at him.
Waller will remain on the DGF staff. Superintendent Randy Bruer said a deficiency letter will be placed in Waller’s file at the school and the incident was reported to the Minnesota Department of Education. The state agency has not taken any disciplinary action at this point. Waller declined to comment on the incident, as the state education officials are still looking into the incident.
Dilworth men arrested for random assault
September 8, 2008
Authorities responded to several random assaults over the weekend including one that had authorities arresting two Dilworth men. Police responding to a report of a random assault around 9:30 pm Saturday night found a 24 year old man unconscious at Hollywood Video in south Moorhead. Police were able to get a vehicle description from witnesses and later located the vehicle in the 1200 block of 20th Street South in Moorhead.
Police arrested 27 year old Jamie Alfonso Gerdes and 26 year old Timoth John Grafft in relation to the assult. Gerdes was also charged on suspicion of criminal damage to property for kicking a police car window.
Reports indicate that one of the two men arrested provoked the victim. The victim did not know either of the two suspects prior to the incident. The victim was treated and released from the hospital in Fargo.
Both Gerdes and Grafft have prior criminal convictions in the state of Minnesota for assault and burglary respectively, and both have drug-related convictions.
Dilworth police secure warrant for sex offender
August 18, 2008
Sex offender faces new firearm charges
A Moorhead sex offender notification meeting set for next week was canceled after Dilworth police secured a warrant for the arrest of Willard Edwin Cousins. Cousins’ was charged Wednesday for being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Cousins was scheduled to be released August 28th from the Minnesota Department of Corrections, but with the new charges he will be transferred into the custody of the Clay County Sherrif’s Department.
Court records show that after Cousins was sentenced for failing to register as a sex offender in Dilworth in February, authorities were informed that Cousins residence in Dilworth contained a number of firearms stored in basement.
No court date has been set for the weapons charge.
The community notification meeting for Aug. 20 at the Moorhead High School in regard to Cousins release has been canceled.
Bruer takes over as superintendent
August 13, 2008
The Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton school district has gotten a new superintendent with a familiar face. Randy Bruer was recently named the superintendent, replacing Bernie Lipp and he may be familiar to some. Bruer began his education career training as a teacher in Glyndon, MN back in 1979.
Bruer is the former district superintendent of Fisher, MN where he was known for his balanced budgets and aggressive actions in handling the Fisher school districts enrollment crisis. Bruer started his superintendent role nearly 15 years ago in a Fischer school district that was facing a all-time low student count. The district was facing school closings do to the low enrollment, but Bruer began a campaign to woo students and parents from the larger neighboring Crookston and East Grand Forks district’s. The tactic worked and the enrollment in the district is now about 300 students with almost a third of those students coming from neighboring district’s.
DGF industrial arts teacher charged with assaulting student
July 17, 2008
Dilworth Glyndon Felton High School teacher Jerry Waller has been accused of fifth-degree assault for slapping a male student across the face during class in May of this year. Waller is the Industrial Arts teacher at Dilworth Glyndon Felton High School.
According to Clay County District Court documents:
The 16-year-old student, told authorities Waller was joking around with a student when he was accidently hit in the lip with a pen or a pencil. As per the student, Waller became upset and several students began to laugh.
DGF School District Improves
July 1, 2008
Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton improved its reading and math scores by three and four percentage points respectively. Superintendent Bernie Lipp was optimistic the district would meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) after its special education student scores tripped it up several years in a row.
Lipp told Forum Reporter Mila Koumpilova “It was nice to see our test scores pop up, it looks like our plans for school improvement are working.”
Flag issue revisted
June 18, 2008
The DGF school board will meet again on Thursday and one item on the agenda sure to get much attention is the proposed ammendment to the student handbook in regard to the Pledge of Allegiance.
The ammendment was put on the agenda last month and the Superintendent Bernie Lipp and the schools legal counsel both advised passing the ammendment. The ammendment failed to be approved as the vote was split 3-3.
The board was missing Tracy Tollefson from its ranks last month, but all seven are expected to be present when the item comes up on the agenda on Thursday.
The school faces possible legal action from the Minnesota ACLU if the ammendment fails again. The main concern from Lipp is the cost of litigation as well as the fact that three separate legal eperts have all agreed that the current policy violates state law.
Board split, Pledge policy not changed
May 28, 2008
The DGF School Board failed to change the shool policy mandating students stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. The six members of the seven member board split evenly on the recommendation to ammend the schools handbook and allow students to choose to sit or stand during the Pledge.
The missing member Tracy Tollefson will most likely be the deciding vote when the policy change comes back onto the agenda in June. Read more