BURNETT COUNTY
WEDNESDAY, JULY 15, 2015 VOL. 53 NO. 45 www.burnettcountysentinel.com $1.00
POTTERY TOUR: 13th annual event gets new twist in 2015. P2
Hitchcock-Gale accused of theft and fraud SIREN—A Webster couple will be back in Burnett County Circuit Court for a preliminary hearing regarding several charges, including theft and fraud, in October after an initial appearance last Wednesday. Debra Hitchcock-Gale, 54, has been charged with two counts of theft of over $10,000 from a business setting, as a party to a crime, two counts of fraudulent use of a credit card of between $5,000 and $10,000 and two counts of fraud against a financial institution in excess of $10,000. According to the criminal complaint on file with the court, between April 2011 and December 2014 Hitchcock-Gale allegedly spent an unauthorized amount of her husband’s aunt’s money in Burnett County. “The total amount of money spent within Burnett County appears to be $24,883.06 on items that are outside of the financial agreements Carolyn (Gale) had,” Deputy Jameson Wiltrout wrote in the complaint. “Due to the spending agreements and the use of this account for personal gain, it appears Debra and Kenneth (husband) were committing fraud, theft and unauthorized use of a
TODD BECKMANN | SENTINEL
Ken Gale (left) and Deb Hitchcock-Gale.
card against Carolyn.” Judge Ken Kutz ordered a $10,000 signature bond to guarantee her appearance in court plus an additional order barring any abusive contact with the alleged victim. Kenneth Gale, 49, who was charged with two counts of theft of over $10,000 from a business setting, as a party to a crime, faces the same bond and conditions as his wife. The couple’s next court date is Oct. 5 at 9 a.m. By Todd Beckmann, Sentinel.
Siren superintendent retires
TODD BECKMANN | SENTINEL
Happy together Sterling McKinley (left) as Prince Philip and Alexis Slater as Briar Rose (soon to be Princess Aurora) were part of Sleeping Beauty Kids, staged on Thursday as part of the Grantsburg Summer School program. More photos on Page 14.
BY TODD BECKMANN SENTINEL
SIREN—The 2015-16 school year will be absent one familiar face when school gets back in session in seven weeks as Siren superintendent Scott Johnson has exercised an early retirement offer and concludes his service to the district at the end of the month. “I’m not retiring from education, I’m just moving on from Siren,” Johnson clarified. “I start as superintendent in New Auburn the first week in August.” He figured the timing was right to make a move. “I’m taking advantage of a really good offer the school board made,” he added. “I’m leaving the district on the best of terms.” Johnson, who just began his 13th year with the district July 1, has 12 years of which he can be proud. “I feel good about leaving the district better than when I got here,” he remarked. Fellow superintendent Jim Erickson of Webster will miss his counterpart. “Scott and I started the same year, so
Be prepared ... BY MIKE GAINOR PINE CITY PIONEER
PINE CITY, Minn.—Minnesota Highway 70 drivers accustomed to the detour on County Road 3 found a new set of slowdowns on the eastern side of the highway starting July 6.
Traffic from Maple Avenue to about 2.1 miles to the east has been reduced to a single lane Monday through Saturday during construction of this section, and traffic is being controlled with portable signals SEE CONSTRUCTION, PAGE 6
Scott Johnson
I’ll miss the familiarity we had with each other,” he noted. “In the beginning, he and I and Jerry Tischer (Frederic) would often have lunch once a month or so just to visit about what we were working on, and bouncing ideas off of one another — TODD BECKMANN | SENTINEL
SEE JOHNSON, PAGE 7
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The Minnesota Hwy. 70 project is a wait-and-see affair.
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