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Here’s a look at the top headlines from around west central Minnesota for Sunday, Sept. 4, 2022.
WILLMAR — The Kandiyohi County Attorney’s Office is asking a court to commit the man found incompetent to stand trial in a 1974 cold case homicide in Willmar.
Algene Leeland Vossen, 81, is hospitalized in Des Moines, Iowa, and has no permanent address, according to the petition to commit him as mentally ill and dangerous.
"No suitable alternative to involuntary hospitalization exists," the petition reads, because of Vossen’s mental illness, the danger he poses to the safety of others, and the likelihood that he will inflict harm on another.
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A commitment hearing has been scheduled at 9 a.m. Sept. 15 in front of District Judge Stephen Wentzell.
Willmar superintendent talks to staff about maintaining work-life balance in annual welcome
WILLMAR — Superintendent Jeff Holm on Thursday talked to Willmar Public Schools employees about maintaining balance in their lives and told them about his plans to retire in two years.
Most of the district’s employees packed the auditorium at the Willmar Education and Arts Center for the district’s annual staff welcome gathering. Willmar Public Schools employs more than 900 people, about 340 of them teachers, according to the district website.
Holm and Assistant Superintendent Bill Adams spoke to the staff members and thanked them all for being there.
Adams introduced himself to the group with a slideshow about his childhood in Janesville and his path to Willmar. Adams is a former superintendent at New London-Spicer Schools, and he was hired to serve two years in the new position.
If the board and Adams are pleased with the arrangement, he may be the next superintendent when Holm retires.
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A new era begins at MACCRAY as students next week will explore new Clara City campus
CLARA CITY — A new era begins Wednesday for the MACCRAY School District as students and staff start the school year in a new central facility in Clara City.
Safety, flexibility and innovation are the objectives behind the design of the new central campus, according to Superintendent Sherri Broderius. She and her staff are expecting to welcome 750 students to campus this fall.
The $40.7 million project involved roughly 120,000 square feet of new construction and renovations to another 35,000 square feet. The new construction includes a prekindergarten-elementary school with a capacity for 550 students. It’s configured for four sections of pre-K education and three for elementary grades 1-5.
Voters in the MACCRAY district approved bonding for the project in November 2019. It was the fourth referendum for a central campus, an issue which had divided the district.
