Options to rezone a portion of 13th Street from residential to commercial arrived at the Brainerd City Council table after three motions failed to get a majority vote at the city’s planning commission.

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A walking tour is planned for the Safe Routes to School to allow neighborhood residents to provide input and ask questions.

Brainerd City Council members told staff Monday they wanted to schedule a tour of the route and look at options to put in sidewalks in the Garfield Elementary School area. About 25 to 30 homes are along the project.

Commissioner Mary Koep said the walking and listening session would be open to ideas from residents. Options include a meandering route to retain trees.

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Blaine man injured in motorcycle crash

A 31-year-old Blaine man was injured Sunday when his motorcycle crashed on Wise Road and Sugarberry Creek in Brainerd, reported the Brainerd Police Department.

Benjamin Schmidt was taken to Essentia Health-St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Brainerd where he was treated and released.

The crash was reported at 1:41 p.m.

Firefighters respond

The Brainerd Fire Department responded to a call at 12:45 p.m. Sunday at Sears, 15910 Edgewood Dr., Baxter, to a small fire. It was reported that one of the ovens in the back storage area accidently got turned on and burned a piece of cardboard that laid on top of the oven.

Due to incorrect information submitted to the Dispatch, a name was misspelled in a head-on crash Friday on Highway 18 in a brief that ran in Monday’s edition. The name of the driver was Maysun Shingobe, not Mason.

The Dispatch regrets the error.

Two of the victims injured Friday in a head-on crash on Minnesota Highway 18 were released from the hospital and one remains in critical condition.

Maysun G. Shingobe, 29, Onamia, and Virginia L. Damewood, 74, North Mankato, were taken to Essentia Health-St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Brainerd, where they were treated and released.

Nancy J. Hillman, 67, Mason City, Iowa, and Deanna K. Dawson, 73, North Mankato, were taken to St. Cloud Hospital. Hillman was in critical condition and the hospital had no information available on Dawson.

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Today, however, the neighbors of the Community Behavioral Health Hospital in Baxter call it their own, says facility administrator Richard Slieter.

“They were frightened by the stigma and resisted having it built here,” he said. “Now our neighbors see a huge value in it. They know people who were patients here and see now they’re doing well.”

The Baxter facility one of seven state-run community behavioral health hospitals in Minnesota.

More than 1,000 patients have walked through the doors at the hospital since the doors opened in January 2007.

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Despite what many might consider pending doom, Wierenga, is at peace with her fate. “I’ve had enough time to think about it,” Wierenga said. “It doesn’t bother me — I’ll be in a place where I’ll be fine. I’ll be with friends. And family. And God.”

Six years ago, Wierenga was diagnosed with breast cancer. In 2007, she underwent a successful mastectomy and lived symptom free for four years.

Then the pain came back.

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Whiteman, the daughter of Carla and Bill Whiteman, Merrifield, was a college student at St. Scholastica two and a half years ago when she started to feel like something wasn’t quite right. “It was my sophomore year of college and I just wasn’t feeling good. I felt tired a lot and I knew it was more than just from school. Then I started to get bloody noses that would last for an hour. Finally I went to health services. Then, she , things got scary. “They told me to go to St. Mary’s Hospital. They thought it might be Leukemia at first, but of course they didn’t tell me that at the time.

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Skateboard Jam planned for Friday

CROSBY — The Lakes Area Skate Park Association will present Go Skate Day skateboard jam on Friday at the Crosby Skate Park. Skate session starts at 2 p.m. The skate day will have the best trick jam, food and beverages, a live DJ and a raffle. Help the community build a skate plaza it deserves.

Transportation Advisory Committee to meet

The Transportation Advisory Committee of the City of Brainerd will meet at 3:30 p.m. Thursday at Brainerd City Hall.

Erickson sentenced to 75 months in prison for abusing boys

By JENNIFER STOCKINGER

Crow Wing District Judge David Ten Eyck told Thomas Richard Erickson — who was sentenced Monday for sexually abusing young boys over the past several decades at his Nisswa home — that his acts were “unspeakable.”

Erickson, dressed in orange jail attire and shackles and wearing a hearing device, showed no emotion Monday when he pled guilty to three counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct.

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■ River search prompted after pair late returning from boating trip

A river search was prompted Friday night after a grandfather and his grandson were late returning home from a boating trip.

The pair showed up at home safe about an hour and a half late, having overshot where they were supposed to dock because of the darkness.

Emergency officials were called at 10:36 p.m. Friday on report of a possible river rescue, according to the Brainerd Fire Department.

A 62-year-old man and his 7-year-old grandson didn’t return home by the designated 9 p.m. time.

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River search prompted after pair late returning from boating trip

A river search was prompted Friday night after a grandfather and his grandson were late returning home from a boating trip.

The pair showed up at home safe about an hour and a half late, having overshot where they were supposed to dock because of the darkness.

Emergency officials were called at 10:36 p.m. Friday on report of a possible river rescue, according to the Brainerd Fire Department.

A 62-year-old man and his 7-year-old grandson didn’t return home by the designated 9 p.m. time.

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4 injured in head-on crash

Four people were injured Friday in a head-on crash on Hwy. 18.

Maysun G. Shingobe, 29, of Onamia, was driving east on Hwy. 18, five miles west of Brainerd at 11:54 a.m., when he crossed the centerline and struck a vehicle driven by Deanna K. Dawson, 73, of North Mankato, Minn., according to the Minnesota State Patrol.

Two passengers in Dawson’s vehcile were injured: Virginia L. Damewood, 74, of North Mankato sustained non-life threatening injuries, and Nancy J. Hillman, 67 of Mason City, Iowa, sustainted serious injury.

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Forestview hosts electronics recycling day

Forestview Middle School is hosting an electronics recycling day from 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. on Wednesday, July 17 at the school, 12149 Knollwood Drive, Baxter.

Accepted items include: TVs, monitors, laptops, tablets, cell phones, plasmas, LCDs, printers, fax machines, key boards, mice, stereo equipment, network equipment, servers, telecom equipment, DVD player, and copy machines.

A former Miss Brainerd Lakes was crowned Miss Minnesota.

Rebecca Yeh, Miss Northwest and former Miss Brainerd Lakes, was handed the title this weekend.

The first-runner up, Savannah Cole, also has local ties. Cole is Miss City of Lakes and a former Miss Baxter Outstanding Teen.

Cole and Yeh were two of five local women competing for the Miss Minnesota title over the weekend. The other three are: Maren Goff, Miss Baxter; Heather Erickson, Miss Brainerd Lakes and former Miss Coon Rapids; Lauren Johnson, Miss Heart of the Lakes and former Miss Brainerd Lakes.

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Brainerd business owner Ronald W. Beattie Jr. has been sentenced on multiple counts for the felony offense of tax evasion.

When all is said and done, Beattie is facing more than a year in jail and approximately six more months of supervised release. He is scheduled to report to the Crow Wing County Jail Wednesday. The court also determined Beattie will pay a fine of $135 for the first count and $50 for each subsequent counts for a total of $985.

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Steve Senica knows that initial shock new fathers go through.

He went from zero kids to four in less than a year.

“It gives your life purpose,” he said of being a father.

And it all started with a prayer.

Steve and his wife, Traci, were desperately trying to conceive a child.

On their fifth round of in vitro fertilization, the couple started looking into adoption and surrogates. Just a few weeks into the treatment, the new Brainerd lakes area residents had the opportunity to adopt a baby named Victoria.

She was their miracle.

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