I took the left photo at the James Gang HideAway this morning of three guys who’ve been among the many citizens involved in the drug abuse-related discussions here on Locally…
Author: <span>Griff Wigley</span>
Northfield Police Chief Gary Smith has posted a detailed response on his blog to all the recent discussion about the community drug problem, as well as information about his medical leave.
The photo is cropped from a 2004 National Night Out photo I took of him.
[Full disclosure: He contracted with me to help him get his blog started back in the summer of 2004.]
I’ve included the text of his post here to make it easier to facilitate discussion about it since he does not have comments enabled on his blog. If anyone does want to contact him directly, use his Contact form.
Echoing Ross’ and Tracy’s call for ‘more light, less heat,’ I’d really like to have any discussion on this thread be A) extremely civil; and B) inquiry-based in tone — which means, instead of exchanging charges and countercharges, we all try to make our comments with a genuine desire to understand and explain.
A candlelight vigil for Mental Health Awareness was held last night on Bridge Square. See Judith Stoutland’s post on Northfield.org and Northfield CAC Executive Director Jim Blaha’s letter to the…
I took this photo of the Northfield Area Veterans Memorial last night. Click to enlarge.
Viking Terrace is a neighborhood on the Northeast side of the city of Northfield. It is a diverse community in general but it is the heaviest Latino/a inhabited neighborhood. In 2006, Greenvale Park Elementary School, located just over the creek behind Viking Terrace had a total of 14% Latino/a families. From 87 registered Latino/a students 67 had Viking Terrace addresses. This numbers are in high contrast to 5% and 3% for Bridgewater and Sibley elementary schools on the other side of town. The Greenvale Park School numbers are also in contrast with the official 5% reported Latino/a population in Northfield, and with the 4+% for Rice County, but right in line with the 14.4% Hispanic/Latino population of the nation according to 2000 census data.
The fire last Monday that destroyed the home 
of Selene and Miguel Rojas was caused by electrical wiring issues according to the fire department’s declarations to the Northfield News yesterday. Whatever the cause, the fact is that the home was destroyed and the family needs support.
On Monday night, I went out to the site and found many neighbors standing outside, then Ray Andrade, the president of St. Dominic Catholic Church’s Hispanic council came out 
and we organized a short community meeting to look into what needed to be done.
First we checked the status of the family, we learned that they were staying with Selene’s mother at The Woods II apartment building, that they were o.k. physically, and their short-term housing was arranged. Debbie Haan, the owner of Viking Terrace had also provided factual information about the family’s whereabouts and was working already on temporary housing options together with taking calls of people wanting to donate common home items. Father Dennis Dempsey of St. Dominic’s Catholic Church had also instructed the release of emergency funds from the church for immediate support for the family.
Local attorneys Mary Hahn and Dave Hvistendahl were on KYMN this morning with Jeff Johnson. They discussed Mayor Lee Lansing’s lawsuit against the city, city administrator, and three councilors. Click…
Yep, the forest/prairie/wetlands area west of the St. Olaf campus is referred to as the St. Olaf Natural Lands. I took a couple dozen photos there this afternoon. Big surprise?…