Real Bites
PRSRT STD ECR WSS US. POSTAGE PAID Permit No. 70 MADELIA, MN 56062
By Jason Sethre
POSTAL PATRON
“Where Fillmore County News Comes First” Weekly Edition
Canton denies request to vacate alley
Monday, January 19, 2015
County board updated Empathy and why we have it on Semcac programs
page 3
Page 26
Volume 30 Issue 18
pages 9
page 15
Rushford approves sale of HBC building page 21
Canton l Chatfield l Fountain l Harmony l Lanesboro l Mabel l Ostrander l Peterson l Preston l Rushford l Rushford Village l Spring Valley l Whalan l Wykoff
Long time Public Defender cutting back By K aren R eisner karen@fillmorecountyjournal.com
Attorney Fred Suhler, Jr. has had a long fulfilling career in law. He admits that he has entered into his seventh decade, but has no plans to hang it up entirely. As of January 13 he will be off the payroll as the public defender for the Fillmore County District Court in the Third Judicial District. He then can be rehired in a lesser capacity. Suhler explained that with phased retirement his hours will be cut by one-third, working no more than half time. This arrangement will not commit him to be in Fillmore County all the time. He commented that “the drive is getting old” two or three days each week. He says he always has been backup for Olmsted County and will continue to be. Suhler also works as city attorney for Chatfield, Eyota, and Oronoco. However, he doesn’t do any criminal prosecutions for any of these cities. The phased retirement allows semi-retirement for the employee, but lets the employer, the state public defender’s office, retain people with experience. Suhler graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1969, after which
By Jason Sethre jason@fillmorecountyjournal.com
Defense Attorney Fred Suhler Jr. has worked as the primary public defender for the Fillmore County District Court for nearly a quarter of a century. Photo by Karen Reisner he worked for the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office for eleven years. During these early years he worked for the prosecution. He left the Twin Cities and moved to Rochester to serve as Rochester’s City Attorney for the next ten years, starting in 1980. Moving to Rochester was a move to a relatively small town. The population was then about 62,000. However, it has since grown to 106,000. After a total of 21 years on
the prosecution side of the courtroom, Suhler moved to the other side in 1991. “It seemed like a natural move at the time.” He was one of four that did public defender work in Fillmore County. Gradually, the shared position morphed into Suhler being the principal public defense attorney for Fillmore County District Court as the others left to do something else. He remarked that the three-quarter time position sometimes felt more
like a full time job. Even so, he “enjoyed the work immensely.” Much easier scheduling is one of the advantages of working in a smaller community where there is only one public defender and one judge. Suhler explained that many years ago judges appointed a public defender in every case where a defendant couldn’t afford his or her own lawyer. In the late 1980s the state created a more formal process creating See DEFENDER Page 10
Peterson dives in with new council, projects, plans By K irsten Zoellner kirsten@fillmorecountyjournal.com
The new Peterson Council, including Mayor Tim Hallum, dove into a heavy agenda at their first meeting of the year, January 14. Following the offi-
Volunteer fire, ambulance to receive stipend
cial swearing in of Hallum and councilors Gail Boyum and Dave Colbenson who were reelected, the council took to filling the vacancy left by the resignation of former Councilor Barry Erickson. Clerk Megan Grebe had earlier noted Erickson will be mov-
ing. Councilor Dick Lee wasted no time in making a motion to appoint Loren Rue to the position and it was quickly seconded by Boyum. Councilor Dave Colbenson made a suggestion that the city look at appointing former Mayor Jennifer Wood to
the position, citing her previous experience with municipal work. The vote to appoint Rue was unanimous. County Engineer Ron Gregg and engineer Brady McKimm of SEH were on hand to discuss highlights and preliminary
In 2015, 2016 and 2017, volunteer firefighters and ambulance in Fillmore County and surrounding counties will receive an annual stipend of $500 per individual serving on their respective department. This bill, titled the Volunteer Retention Stipend Aid Pilot, was passed into law on May 16, 2014, with support and leadership of three co-authors: Representative Ann Lenczewski (DFL) District: 50B, Representative Greg Davids (R) District: 28B, and Representative Jeanne Poppe (DFL) District: 27B. “I have always been supportive of our rural emergency services. I was glad to be a co-author of the legislation that expanded its scope in the tax conference committee last May,” commented State Representatives Greg Davids. The goal of this program is to retain and recruit more volunteers for both fire and ambulance services. Some departments throughout Fillmore County are struggling to attract enough volunteers to provide adequate service to the public. According to the Fillmore See STIPEND Page 16
design of the upcoming County Highway 25 project. Time is ticking for the city to make pertinent decisions related to the design of the project. Bid letting is expected to being in March or April. There are two undetermined decisions for the city before the See PETERSON Page 12
Prices effective Jan. 19th - Jan. 25th, 2015