The Sartell boys hockey team held teddy bear toss Dec. 15 during its game with Chaska and collected more than 100 bears for the Toys for Tots Christmas drive. The senior boys in the picture include: (from left to right) Jake Rosenberger, Garrett Freeman, Jon Kirchner, Blake Webster, Dylan Michaud, Luke Spanier and Trevor Dummer.
Country Manor staff surprise 105 nursing home residents with unexpected gifts for Christmas
It can be hard to get in the Christmas spirit when you’re away from your loved ones during the holidays.
But the staff at Country Manor Nursing Home made sure its residents felt extra special during this holiday season.
At the final Christmas party of 2017, staff surprised 105 nursing-home residents with unexpected gifts for Christmas. This has become an annual tradition at Country Manor Nursing Home. The goal of the event is to ensure no resident is without a present for Christmas. Nursing home staff take great pride in finding the perfect present for their chosen resident. Watching the excitement on the faces of the staff as they hand out gifts is equally as special as watching the reactions they receive. This is truly an ode to the kind of people they are, and the genuine care they have for the people they serve.
Thank you to all the incredible staff members who participated in this year’s event.
You are the greatest gift of all!
Throughout the month of December, Country Manor Campus hosts a variety of Christmas celebrations to ignite the holiday spirit throughout campus. Events include the following: sleigh rides, carolers, parades, concerts, live entertainment, visits from Santa and Mrs. Claus, crafts, cookie baking, resident/tenant gatherings, and family-focused parties filled with festive food and holiday traditions.
Stearns County awarded state grant to form sex-trafficking task force
The Stearns County Attorney’s Office in partnership with the Stearns County Sheriff’s Office, the St. Cloud and Waite Park police departments and the Central Minnesota Sexual Assault Center was recently awarded a $313,000 grant from the Minnesota Office of Justice Programs to form the Central Minnesota Sex Trafficking Investigative Task Force.
The task force will coordinate with state and federal agencies to investigate and prosecute sex traffickers and provide services and support for adults and children being exploited in Stearns County and across central Minnesota. On Dec. 19, the Stearns County Board of Commissioners approved re-allocation of allotted dollars to support a crime analyst to complete the team assigned full-time to combat this public safety problem.
Waite Park Police Chief Dave Bentrud told the Stearns County Board when investigators started digging into the problem of trafficking, they found it extended beyond the metro area into smaller communities. “It ties to gangs, violent offenders and drugs,” he said. “We felt trying to figure out a way to allocate more investigative resources to the problem made sense.”
Stearns County Attorney Janelle Kendall added trafficker prosecutions have been successful in part because of the County Attorney’s Office expertise in prosecuting domestic violence, echoing that trafficking prosecutions involve not only domestic and sexual violence, but often drug use and sales and other related property crimes to ensure profitability for the career criminals involved.
Partner agencies include not only Waite Park and St. Cloud Police as well as the Stearns County Sheriff and County Attorney, but also the Central Minnesota Sexual Assault Center, the Safe Harbor Regional Navigator, Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid, Terebinth Refuge, Catholic Charities, Lutheran Social Services, Stearns County Human Services homeless outreach, child protection and gateway support divisions, the Salvation Army, Anna Marie’s Alliance, the Children’s Response Initiative, CentraCare’s Child Advocacy Center, and representatives from the Stearns County Board of Commissioners and numerous Congressional and state legislative offices. State Rep. Tama Theis, State Sen. Jerry Relph, and State Rep. Tim Miller all played important roles in acquiring this state funding. Rep. Tom Emmer and Sens. Klobuchar and Franken have been kept advised of the developing needs as well. The task force would not be possible without the financial support of the partner agencies who jointly recognize sex trafficking is a clear and present danger that significantly affects the public safety of Central Minnesota.
Since 2010, investigations across Stearns County have demonstrated the trafficking of women and children in Central Minnesota is a significant public-safety issue. The St. Cloud area, sitting at the intersection of I-94 and Highway 23, is a natural crossroads for both sex traffickers and sex buyers, creating the highest demand outside the Twin Cities metro area. Individual and later coordinated efforts by law enforcement in Waite Park and St. Cloud involved numerous buyer stings and prosecution of several traffickers, demonstrating the significant supply and demand for purchased sex that could not be adequately addressed with a part-time or ad hoc approach. In 2016, the partner agencies collaborated to better coordinate both investigations and victim services and to address the need for full-time dedicated resources to attack the problem. From this collaboration, the need for resources was clearly identified, leading to the grant application and county board request.
The Task Force will utilize two full time investigators, one each in the Waite Park and St. Cloud police departments, plus a portion of a full-time detective in the Stearns County Sheriff’s Office to concentrate exclusively on reducing both the supply and demand for purchased sex. Investigators will coordinate with other state and federal agencies to share information and to conduct joint investigations. Such cooperation is necessary as traffickers remain mobile to avoid detection and seek greater profit. Investigators will be aided by the crime analyst in the Stearns County Attorney’s Office to provide technical assistance to law enforcement including forensic analysis and collection of electronic evidence including social media.
Questions may be directed to: Janelle Kendall, Stearns County Attorney at 320-656-3880; Dave Bentrud, Waite Park Chief of Police at 320-251-3281; Don Gudmundson, Stearns County Sheriff, at 320-259-3700; and Blair Anderson, St. Cloud Chief of Police, at 320-345-3201.
