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.

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.

D-G-F’s Tayler Yliniemi fends off Park Rapids’ Tucker Coborn on Friday. David Samson / The Forum

The DGF Rebels rushing attack was too much for Park Rapids tonight as the Rebels marched on to a 41-7 victory Friday night. The Rebels Tayler Yliniemi and Zack Askelson ran for 147 yards and 128 yards respectively in the win.

The Rebels came out rolling as they went 78 yards in 16 plays on the first drive of the game. Chewing up 7:43 of the quarter, the Rebels Yliniemi accounted for 68 yards of the drive that lead to the first touchdown.

The DGF Defense was outstanding keeping Park Rapids to only 21 yards of offense in the first quarter and only one passing touchdown. The defense only gave up 128 yards total on the night. Yliniemi led the squad with eight tackles on the night.

Askelson scored two touchdown runs from 10 and 33 yards out. The Rebels move to 3-2 while Park Rapids falls to 3-2.

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.

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.

The Dilworth Fire Department will be holding a fund raiser September 11th that will be for women only. The fire department will hold the event for the second year with doors opening at 6:00 PM.

Tickets can be purchased from Dilworth Fire Department members.

The Dilworth Fire Department is also soliciting donations of cash, gift certificates, gift cards and or prizes for all of their fund raising events. If your business is interested in donating cash and or prizes to the Fire Department we would greatly appreciate your input. All donations to the Fire Department would be recognized as donated from your establishment at the event as well as a link to your business on their website. For more information, please contact the Dilworth Fire at (218) 287-2248.

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 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.

During his tenure in Fisher, MN, Bruer was known for giving troubled students a second chance. Bruer always has an ear to lend to the students as well he knows given the chance, the students will speak their piece and they know what is going on.

He’s a mild-mannered, soft-spoken type – who has little taste for sugarcoating the realities of Minnesota public schooling.

A stickler for balanced budgets, he’s already thinking of ways to make the D-G-F administrative team leaner.

Bruer likes to be on the cutting edge of technology. A grant that the Fischer district received in the late 1990s, allowed the district to outfit the seventh through ninth grade students with laptops. Bruer attributes this move to a increase in writing proficiency.

The DGF school board was impressed enough with work in Fischer that they offered him the job of retiring superintendent Bernie Lipp.

Board members like that Bruer is open to ideas and is not intimidated to make a difficult decision when pressed.

Now that Bruer is back at D-G-F, he finds himself in a healthy district with a solid reputation.

A self-described visionary, he hopes to work on improving test scores and find some creative uses for technology the students enjoy, such as iPods. School begins in the DGF district September 2^nd.

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.

According to the student, Waller then turned to him and asked “Do you think that’s (expletive deleted) funny?”

The student responded, “Well, yeah kind of”. After this was said Waller slapped the student on the right side of the face with an open hand.

The student told investigators the slap hurt and “was hard enough to cause him to turn his head.”

The student’s parents confronted Waller, who initially said nothing happened.

The parents asked again, and according to the parents, Waller said “I guess I kind of took my anger out on your child.”

When interviewed by police, Waller said a student did make a derogatory comment about women and that he did react to that comment, but not to the students laughing at him or his lip being hit.

Waller also said he does not have a habit of slapping kids and thinks maybe “subconsciously he was defending himself,” according to the police report.

Waller, 52, is also a Clay County Commissioner since 1997. He is currently seeking reelection.

His first appearance on the misdemeanor is set for July 28.

Waller, has retained attorney, Paul Thorwaldsen of Detroit Lakes, Minn.

According to the InForum website, Thorwaldsen said Waller has been teaching for 17 years and has not had any deficiency problems in the past.

“The entire situation is unfortunate.” said Thorwaldsen.