March 2023

A group of professionals from several different safety- related disciplines meets as the need arises in Yellow Medicine County to review the fatal and serious injury roadway crashes that have occurred in our county. This committee discusses possible contributing factors to crash outcomes in order to make recommendations in each of four areas: roadway engineering, emergency response, enforcement and education. At our recent meeting the committee asked that the people who drive on our area roads be reminded about several safety issues: - Adjust speed according to current road/weather/traffic. The posted speed limits are maximum speeds at ideal road, weather and traffic conditions. Fog, rain, blowing snow and other weather can affect visibility and roadway surfaces with little to no warning.

Soto Lopez, Cessia Nohemy, Willmar; Offense date 01/21/23 Driving After Suspension (Misdemeanor); Plea 2/21/23 Guilty; Disposition 2/21/23 Convicted; Court Decision 2/21/23 Payable without appearance; $200 Fine. Guantello, Armando, Jr, Willmar; Offense date 7/19/22 DL - Driving Without a Valid License or Vehicle Class/Type (Misdemeanor); Plea 2/23/23 Guilty; Disposition 2/23/23 Convicted; Court Decision 2/23/23 Payable without appearance; $100 Fine.

Prairie Five Meals has gone through some changes over the last handful of years. They were able to purchase their first hot cold truck in 2018 after the Prairie Five Meals board approved the purchase, with the truck being put to use starting in 2019. This hot cold truck helped Prairie Five Meals distribute more food to rural and remote areas. Erick Hedon, who runs the meal program for Prairie Five, said, “We were now able to deliver hot, cold, frozen and shelf stable meals to older adults who live in the small towns and still on the farm sites.” Hedon also reflected on how their hot cold truck was able to really help during the pandemic and in 2020 Prairie Five Meals purchased a second hot cold truck that Hedon said was funded by a grant. This has helped the program deliver more meals.

Friday, March 3rd: Meet & Greet Social Hour with COMPAS Teaching artist May Lee-Yang from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at Bluenose Gopher Public House. Learn more about May’s upcoming intergenerational residency happening in Granite Falls, Crash Course in Creating Theater.

At Tuesday morning’s meeting of the Yellow Medicine County Board of Commissioners, Child Support case workers Amanda Stengel and Sam Isfeld were in attendance to give a presentation about the county’s child support office. Stengel noted that child support is court ordered payments for financial support of a child.