The Owatonna People's Press reports on A fair tradition:
It’s as much a tradition at county fairs as cheese curds and rides on the midway, especially in an election year — politicians pressing the flesh and courting voters.
A wonderful picture of DFL state 26A House candidate and local teacher Kory Kath accompanies the article. Kath talks about the importance of meeting voters, and the paper notes Republican endorsed candidate Owatonna Mayor Ton Kuntz. We do wonder if the GOP booth is ever--shall we say--awkward?:
Kory Kath, DFL-Owatonna, said he enjoys having dialogue with people even if he disagrees with them on certain issues. Their voices are important to hear, especially if he ends up representing them at the Capitol.
“To be able to have that many conversations with that many people and listening to the issues ... is so rewarding,” he said.
His opponent, Tom Kuntz, R-Owatonna, has been hanging out with state Rep. Connie Ruth, who is retiring at the end of the year, and state Sen. Dick Day. With lawn signs already out for both campaigns, Kuntz said it’s important to make his presence known.
“It’s nice neither one of us has a primary election, so we can focus on the general election,” Kuntz said.
Senator Day has a primary, though. Minnesota Republican party chair Ron Carey made a lot of noise about the banishment of Day for bypassing the endorsement process, but that exile must stop at the Steele County border. Guess local Republican endorsements just aren't that sacred these days. Day is working his home turf:
Meanwhile in the First Congressional District race, Day and Brian Davis have already made appearances at the fair. Day is challenging Davis in a Republican primary on Sept. 9 and said plans to make a stop at the fair every night. Davis stopped at the fair Tuesday and is making a number of fair appearances throughout the district for the rest of the week.
The winner will face U.S. Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn., who plans to make an appearance at the fair on Saturday, officials from the Steele County DFL said.
In 2006, Walz and Gutknecht met for a debate on farm policy at the Steele County Fair; it was the first head-to-head forum that featured just the First District contenders.
Elsewhere in the paper, Walz supporter Sondra Von Arb writes the editor to say Walz’s ‘Fairness Act’ helps middle class. Despite his declarations of prior political apathy, this anti-Walz LTE writer in Winona may be in the hip pocket of the local Republicans, though we're not certainly it's the same guy.
The New Ulm Journal reports that Class warfare is taking place covertly in Brown County. It's all rock 'n roll to us.
The one-year anniversary of the deadly flooding in Southeastern Minnesota is coming up. The Rushford Tri-County Record has published a schedule of memorial events. Rushford never, ever gave up.
Randy Swaney has been found guilty of the brutal murder of Blue Mounds State Park worker Carrie Nelson in 2001; he was charged with the crime in 2007 while serving a prison term for theft in South Dakota. Nelson, who was only 20 at the time of her death, worked in on Swaney as he was robbing a state park office. Swaney faces a maximum sentence of life in prison; we hope he gets it.
The murderer of Blue Earth's "Jane Doe" will stay in a Texas prison until at least 2011, the Fairmont Sentinel reports. Former Minnesota state trooper Robert Leroy Nelson:
was convicted of first-degree manslaughter of Jane Doe and criminal sexual conduct with a child in Minnesota in 1989. He had already been convicted of aggravated sexual assault of a child in 1988 in Texas. He received a life sentence in Texas, and Minnesota sentenced him to 15 years, which would run concurrent with Texas.
This was another brutal murder of a stranger. Nelson raped, murdered, and disposed of the woman's body; her identity is still unknown. Blue Earth resident Deborah Anderson has spent the last five years working to discover the victim's identity. We posted about the case back in January and are grateful that Texas didn't turn Jane Doe's killer loose.
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