A Place to Belong looking for new Detroit Lakes home

Detroit Lakes, Minn. (KDLM) – A Place To Belong in Detroit Lakes has been an organization helping adults with mental health diagnoses socialize and feel welcome since 1997.

Kayla Fagre, interim executive director for the nonprofit, said they try to structure activities and outings for their members to do, but sometimes they just want to hang out and play video games. =

“We service folks who have a mental health diagnosis,” said Fagre. “They have to be 18 years of age and we do a lot of things here in our community. We do a lot of outings. Lots of crafts in our social club, movies, golfing, pontoon rides, we go on nature walks, bowling, you name it, we do it.”

She also said they can have nearly 30 people crowded into their space in the Greystone Building in Detroit Lakes for some of their potluck events, which can get kind of crowded. Adding, the group is currently looking for another location to call home and they had one in mind – the old Detroit Lakes Police Station on Holmes Street.

“I really like that it’s central in Detroit Lakes,” she said. “There’s a lot of businesses and parking. The issue we have right now is we don’t have no parking. Especially our elder members, they walk from the mall parking lot to the Greystone and then, when we have out events, it’s really hard to house 30 people in a smaller area. So, we are looking for space. We really do like the old police station, but we’re open to other ideas, if there are ideas out there.”

And while moving to a new location may still be months away, Fagre said, they are always looking for volunteers to come and hang out with their members at A Place To Belong.

“If people are looking to volunteer for outings or even in the club playing cards with members, making cards, crafts, whatever, we’re always looking for great volunteers,” said Fagre.

A Place To Belong will be holding a Halloween potluck on Oct. 31 from noon to 4 p.m. for their members, but they are also looking for volunteers to help judge the decorating and costume contests for the event.

Anyone interested in being a judge or volunteering with the organization should check out the group’s website at: ap2b.org.

Two people injuries in Sherburne County Highway 10 crash

Two people were injured during a crash on Highway 10 in Sherburne County Monday afternoon.

On Oct. 16 at 3:55 p.m., a 2020 Chevrolet Trax, driven by 23-year-old Shelby Kathryn George of Becker, was travelling east on Highway 10 when it collided with another eastbound vehicle, a 2002 Cadillac Escalade, driven by 65-year-old Ralph Sylvan Theisen of Sauk Rapids, near the 52nd Street intersection in Haven Township.

Airbags deployed in Chevrolet Trax during the collision.

George and her passenger, 26-year-old Maquez James Evenson of Becker, both suffered non-life-threatening injuries during the crash and George was transported to St. Cloud Hospital for treatment.

Theisen did not report any injuries at the scene of the crash.

All three vehicle occupants were wearing their seatbelts at the time of the crash and law enforcement has not been able to make a determination if alcohol contributed to the collision.

WE Fest to issue small refunds for food and beverage purchases after error in tax collections was found

WE Fest customers who attended the country music festival in August may be seeing a small refund appear in their bank accounts in coming days after the festival’s management admitted to a small tax collecting error on food and beverage purchases.

In an email to customers, management stated 0.5% or less on the tax collected from food or beverage sales were made in error.

They said their point of sale provider has made the correction and will be sending customers a refund for that amount to their linked accounts.

WE Fest management encourages customers to keep an eye out for the refunds and apologize for the error.

SD residents kidnap man, threaten him

A pair of Watertown, South Dakota residents face charges following an attempted kidnapping Monday.

Codington County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Brent Solum says officers were dispatched a little after 3 p.m. to a rural area of the county on a report of a man being forced into a vehicle against his will. The suspect’s vehicle was located and stopped.

Through their investigation, Solum says officers determined 41 year-old Amanda Raml forced the victim into the vehicle in Watertown, then drove him into the country, stopped the vehicle, and told him to “get out.” While Raml and the victim were standing outside the vehicle, Raml allegedly produced several weapons and made threatening statements to the victim.

A passenger in the vehicle, 18 year-old Colton Vig, produced a shotgun and fired one round into the air to “intimidate” the victim.

Raml is charged with 2nd degree kidnapping and aggravated assault. Vig is charged with aggravated assault and reckless discharge of a firearm.

Both were booked into jail on $10,000 cash only bond.

Story by Paul Jurgens / KFGO

Veterans targeted by scammers during 3M ear protection settlement

Veterans are being warned about a new scam targeting those potentially covered by the multi-billion dollar 3M settlement over defective hearing protection.

Scammers have seized on the opportunity to attempt to gather social security numbers and personal data while posing as settlement administration firm Archer Systems, LLC, which is handling the case. 

The telephone number for claimants to call was posted online, and the judge in the case says scammers have spoofing software and are using it to disguise their actual caller ID information to appear legitimate.

Archer Systems is not making any unsolicited contacts with claimants. 

They only contact those who have submitted an inquiry and do not ask for personal information such as phone numbers and Social Security Numbers. The company has its own verification questions and processes.

Authorities say to never give out personal information over the phone or via email to anyone. The judge says should a claimant receive an unsolicited communication from a person or entity representing themselves as someone from Archer, hang up or delete the email. Anyone who receives a message should not call the person back.

The FBI has been contacted about the scam.

Service members sued 3M, the parent company that manufactured, marketed and sold defective Combat Arms earplugs to the military. According to the lawsuit, hundreds of thousands of veterans suffered hearing damage or loss due to the faulty products.

3M has agreed to pay those affected $6 billion.

Story by Jennifer Lewerenz / KNSI

MN Management and Budget predicts larger state surplus than forecasted

The Minnesota Office of Management and Budget says Minnesota will have a larger than forecasted surplus this year.

State officials released a fiscal update on Monday for the end of the 2022-23 biennium budget. 

The surplus is now estimated to be $820 million more than anticipated. 

MMB says the good news is due to a combination of higher revenue (+$739 million) and lower expenses (-$81 million).

It will be rolled over to the projected surplus for the next biennium, now predicted to be over $2.4 billion. 

The surplus was at $17.5 billion before the last legislative session.

Bail set for man charged with six counts of attempted murder for police shooting incident

A Benton County judge has set conditional bail for the suspect accused of shooting five members of law enforcement at $3 million.

64-year-old Karl Thomas Holmberg is charged with six counts of attempted first degree murder and six counts of first degree assault in connection to the October 12th incident at his home in Glendorado Township.

According to the criminal complaint, several Sherburne County Drug Task Force members showed up at his home just after 7:00 a.m. to serve a knock-and-announce search warrant. 

Benton County Sheriff Troy Heck says officers gave Holmberg plenty of time to come to the door, but he did not.

Court documents say Holmberg’s wife told police she woke up to her husband saying “they” were here. 

She said she checked a monitor inside the bedroom showing the outside of the house where she saw the police. 

Holmberg told her it was “his day to die” and had multiple guns laid out on the bed before she heard the door being kicked in. She said her husband kept muttering something to the effect of “don’t do it” before shooting “blindly” through their bedroom door with a military style rifle. 

Heck said six officers went inside to get him and were met with gunfire. Two officers were hit in their vests, three suffered gunshot wounds and one officer in the home was not hurt. 

Holmberg surrendered several hours later.

In a sworn statement, Holmberg told officers he knew they were there, but felt they didn’t have the right to be there and told them to leave. 

When the officers approached the bedroom door, he shot a .223 rifle. Officers fired back, and Holmberg was injured and shot in the foot.

Among the conditions of his bail include not consuming alcohol or drugs, submitting to random drug testing, not leaving the state of Minnesota and not possessing any weapons. 

Unconditional bail was set at $6 million.

Holmberg is due back in court on October 24th.

Story by Jennifer Lewerenz / KNSI

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