November 12, 2023 | South Central News & Media
Holiday Craft Fair Page 6
Wanted Fugitives Page 5
Classifieds Page 4
Saint Peter City Council Election Results By Robert Lawson Publisher info@nicolletcountyledger.com 612-460-5851
opponent Ed Johnson, who garnered 872 votes. Nowell received 187 absentee votes, 474 votes at the armory and 447 votes at the community center. Johnson received 116 absentee votes, 489 votes at the armory and 267 votes at the community center. There were 6 write-in candidate votes total. For Council Ward 1, Keri Johnson was elected with 944 votes total. There were 30 total write-ins. All Keri Johnson’s 827 in-person votes were collected at the armory and there were 117 absentee votes. For Council Ward 2, voters were to select two of the candidates. Brad
Devos and Joshua Weisenfeld yielded the most total votes, 529 and 496 respectively. Chuck Zieman and Charlie Rustman got 286 and 248 total votes respectively. There were 2 total write-ins. Voters for these candidates placed their votes in ballot boxes at the community center. Devos, Weisenfeld, Zieman and Rustman got 440, 395, 230 and 195 of those votes respectively and 89, 101, 56 and 53 absentee ballot votes respectively. The next Saint Peter City Council meeting is on Monday, November 13.
for the 1347th Division Sustainment Support Battalion (DSSB) with the Minnesota Army National Guard in Bloomington. Her responsibilities include planning, coordinating, and supervising BN logistics efforts, including preparing paragraph 4 (Sustainment) and Annex F to all operations orders. Provides logistics information to the BN Commander by coordinating with BN S3 on operation requirements. Coordinates efforts to ensure understanding and support of the Commander’s logistics priorities. Captain Hanson’s career began in 2009 when she enlisted as a food service specialist (92G) in G. Co 134th BSB. She became commissioned through South Dakota State University Army ROTC in 2013. She held platoon leadership in distribution, maintenance, and fuel and water. Captain Hanson was deployed as the Alpha Company Commander with the 834th ASB in 2020 to Kuwait and Iraq. She served as the Assistant S4
with the 34 ECAB upon return from deployment before making her way into her current role as the BN S4 for the 1347th DSSB. The St. Peter Holiday Craft and Vendor Show took place at the St. Peter Fairgrounds on Saturday, November 11 at Johnson Hall from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.. See more photos on page 6.
NORTH MANKATO – The Independent School District 77 school district, also known as Mankato Area Public Schools (MAPS), recently took
a referendum to voters in the district, which includes North Mankato and Hoover Elementary School. The referendum included two questions: Question 1 - $105 million Safety & Security: Ensure secure, accessible and welcoming entrances at all District schools. Enhance technology infrastructure
to improve security and strengthen cybersecurity protection. Early Learning Access: Complete classroom and support space renovations at MAPS Center for Learning for comprehensive birth to preschool programming. Expand early learning spaces to include all day childcare at Eagle Lake Elementary.
By Robert Lawson Publisher info@nicolletcountyledger.com
Peter School Board Member cial board meeting on Thursday, is on Monday, November 20 at race comes from the Minnesota The results for Independent at Large election in November November 16 at 5 p.m. The next 6:30 p.m. The following elec- Secretary of State (SOS) reportContinued on page 5 School District 508 in the St. 2023 are in. There will be a spe- regular school board meeting tion result data for the ISD 508
By Christina Saint Louis KFF Health News
But because of preexisting gaps in the state’s behavioral health care system — like those that limit options for care in other states — that promise of immediate treatment isn’t reaching some rural Minnesotans. Providers say the shortcoming is a matter of life or death. The need for behavioral health treatment in rural communities nationwide has been exacerbated by the ongoing flood of fentanyl into rural areas. Providers say the surge in need combined with rural workforce shortages have impeded the rollout of Minnesota’s new system because it hinges on the availability of licensed alcohol and drug counselors, who are in short supply in rural Minnesota. Direct Access was Minnesota’s
Election results have been officially reported for city council and mayor for the city of Saint Peter. The results were made official November 7. Voting took place at the National Guard Armory in Saint Peter and at the Saint Peter Community Center. The incumbent Shannon Nowell was re-elected as Mayor of Saint Peter with 1,108 total votes versus her
Army Captain, an Saint Peter High School 2009 Graduate, Spoke at Veterans Day Event By Kurt Hildebrandt
Captain Sydney (Johnson) Hanson, a 2009 graduate of Saint Peter High School, was the guest speaker at this year’s SPHS Veterans Day program on Friday, November 10. The program began at 10 a.m. in the SPHS gym. The event is put on each year by the SPHS social studies department. Music for the program was presented by the Saint Peter Concert Choir, under the direction of Bri Bergstrom, and by the Saint Peter High School Concert Band, under the direction of Dave Haugh. Members of the William R. Witty American Legion Post 37 Color Guard also participated. A special veterans’ recognition was presented by SPHS Principal Annette Engeldinger, honoring those SPHS alums who have served in the armed forces. About Captain Sydney Johnson Captain. Hanson serves as the S4, Battalion (BN) Logistics Officer
Craft Fair Held in Saint Peter on Saturday
Captain Sydney (Johnson) Hanson
Mankato School Board Referendum Results: No New MAPS Outdoor Facilities By Robert Lawson Publisher info@nicolletcountyledger.com 612-460-5851
Learning & Wellness Spaces: Update and expand academic, fine arts and athletic spaces at Mankato West High School. Re-purpose elementary spaces into special education classrooms and student support spaces. Convert the decommissioned 1950’s Mankato West High School pool area into multi-purpose, flexible
learning spaces for students. Build a competition and community use pool at Dakota Meadows Middle School. If the community supports Question 1, the project could be further expanded through support of Question 2. Question 2 - $15 million Outdoor Activity Spaces:
Update and expand co-curricular stadiums at Mankato East and West High School for school, youth and community use. According to data from the Minnesota Secretary of State (SOS), Question 1 yielded 5,520 yes votes and 5,005 no votes. Question 2 got 5,576 no votes and 4,870 yes votes.
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Saint Peter School District Election Results Are Officially Counted Minnesota Overhauled Substance Use Treatment. Rural Residents Still Face Barriers.
For nearly a decade, behavioral health providers in Minnesota pushed to increase access and reduce wait times for substance use disorder treatment for low-income residents. To do so, state officials reworked a system in place for more than 30 years — one that required lowincome people seeking treatment to sometimes wait more than a month to receive state-funded care. Policymakers’ solution, called Direct Access, was implemented last summer, promising to provide quick evaluations and care for people who ask for treatment.
way of getting on board with what other states have done for some time: allowing treatment-seekers to choose their providers. Previously, Minnesotans seeking publicly financed treatment had to wait for officials in their county to approve their request and refer them to a provider. But the change has also highlighted the preexisting challenges of treating substance use disorder in rural areas nationwide. Across many states, rural areas are riddled with behavioral health provider shortages. Those deficits persist even though, compared with more densely populated places, rural areas have more people living in poverty and more people likely to be uninsured or underinsured — both
risk factors for substance use disorders. “We recognize that it’s probably not feasible for specialists to be everywhere,” said Tim McBride, a professor at Washington University in St. Louis and a member of the Rural Policy Research Institute Health Panel. “But if you don’t have that local provider, that is not good for the patient.” Providers in Minnesota say the lack of local practitioners in rural regions means the systemic changes instituted months ago aren’t benefiting many patients. At Riverwood, a treatment center overlooking the Mississippi River, nearly 50 inpatient beds are empty because the facility isn’t fully staffed.
To fill those beds, the facility would need to hire at least 10 counselors, said Tim Walsh, chief of behavioral health at NorthStar Regional, which operates Riverwood. Of the 90 patients in Riverwood’s inpatient and residential outpatient care, Walsh said, about 90% are funded through Direct Access or Medicaid, and at least half of the program’s patients are from rural areas. The staffing shortage has forced the facility to redirect people seeking treatment, but Walsh said the center has no way of knowing whether the people were admitted to another provider. “If they’re not with us, we know that they’re at risk of death,” Walsh said. “That is what keeps us up at
night.” Sadie Broekemeier, a licensed alcohol and drug counselor in rural Kanabec County, about an hour’s drive north of Minneapolis, hates turning away prospective Direct Access patients. Her women’s treatment center, Recovering Hope, is one of only five providers in the state that offer family residential treatment. The facility has an on-site day care for children younger than 5. Broekemeier, who is also Recovering Hope’s president, said the facility tries to avoid turning people away. “And we create beds for them.” The facility is licensed for 108 beds but doesn’t typically use that
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