On Sunday afternoon at 4:07, a Meeker County Deputy stopped a vehicle in the 100 block of 3rd Street South in Dassel. The driver, 52-year-old Steven Oachs of Watertown, gave the deputy a false name, and fled on foot into a corn field. Oachs was arrested in Carver County on Tuesday on outstanding, drug-related Hennepin and Wright County warrants.
Oachs’ Meeker County Case has been referred to the Meeker County Attorney’s Office for charges related to the October 4th incident in Dassel. After his escape in the corn field on Sunday, he was picked up by friend in a vehicle.
Deputies stopped the vehicle, and Oachs fled on foot again into the corn field. Deputies set up a perimeter, used drones, and called the MN State Patrol helicopter to assist. Oachs was not located at that time. Also assisting at the scene on Sunday were the Wright County Sheriff’s Office and Litchfield Police.
One of this year’s Litchfield High School Hall of Fame inductees is the late Jennifer Bjorhus from the class of 1982 who had an impressive career as a journalist before her life was cut short two years ago at the age of 59. The induction ceremony will be held tomorrow evening in the Litchfield High School Commons at 7 p.m.
Jennifer’s oldest sister, Kari Bjorhus, says Jenny spent her childhood riding her bike, fishing and enjoying several other activities, and she was involved in swimming, theater and music at Litchfield High School. She says she played the oboe in the band and won the John Philip Sousa Award.
Kari says Jennifer majored in English and Literature at Carlson College, worked in public relations for a short time after college, then went on to graduate school at Berkeley, majoring in journalism and Asian studies, then worked for newspapers on the West Coast – in San Francisco, Portland and Seattle, before moving back to Minnesota in 2002. She says Jenny got married and had a son while living in St. Paul and working for the Pioneer Press.
Kari says Jenny was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for a story she worked on that dealt with the mishandling of rape case investigations, and then received a Pulitzer Prize while working with a team at the Star Tribune for articles that came out in the aftermath of the George Floyd death. She says she’s so proud of the work that Jenny did that brought about change and helped to make the world a better place.
Kari says Jenny was a tough, tenacious reporter, but a nice person. She says she will be at the ceremony tomorrow evening, along with Jenny’s husband, Ranjit Kesha and son, Kai, and their mother Marjorie Bjorhus and sister, Lori Johnson.
Meeker County Administrator Andrew Letson is leaving his position as of October 16th after nearly 6 years. He will assume the position of Stearns County Administrator on October 26th.
Letson grew up outside of Milwaukee, attended high school in Eau Claire, went to college in Steven’s Point, Wisconsin and got his graduate degree in public administration in Northern Illinois. He worked in the Chicago area for 10 years and then became Meeker County’s administrator which helped him and his wife get closer to family members who had moved to Minnesota.
Letson says one of the most visible highlights of his time in Meeker County was the completion of the remodeling of the Court House into the Justice Center and the transformation of the Meeker County Family Services Center into the Government Center. He says he likes to leave a place better than he found it and a lot of credit he’s received in the past few years can be attributed to the great people he has been able to work with at Meeker County.
Letson says Meeker County is in good financial condition, despite some cost shifts that have been pushed onto counties from the federal and state governments which are beyond the control of county officials. He says he’s looking forward to the challenges he will face in Stearns County which has a population of 165,000 people.
Letson says the Meeker County Commissioners will be interviewing 4 finalists for the administrator position on October 16th and whoever they hire will have their own way of doing things. He says Meeker County will continue in a positive direction long after he’s gone.
A forum will be held for the public to hear from and ask questions of the ACGC School Board candidates this evening at 7 p.m. in the Atwater Community Center. There are 8 candidates running for the 3 seats.
The ACGC School Board candidates include Elizabeth Ammermann, Kayla Henderson, Kristin Anderson, Dylan Hoerchler, Trever Heining, Scott Stafford, Charles Richardson and Russ Thyen.
