Stories about municipal water treatment plants being hacked by foreign agents has been making headlines recently in Minnesota and other states. Meeker County Sheriff Brian Cruze says there have been no such reports in Meeker County, but there has been a surge in other scam reports lately.
Sheriff Cruze says there is an active case right now in which a person lost about $60,000 and was on the verge of losing much more than that and an arrest was made in another state with the suspect’s phone records linking him to a victim in Meeker County. He says some common scams include a caller saying that you won a large cash sweepstakes, but that you need to pay them first, or someone saying that your credit card or bank account has been compromised or that you owe money to the IRS and will be arrested.
Sheriff Cruze says you should hang up and if you have concerns, call your bank or credit card company to see if your account has any issues, and let the Sheriff’s Office know if you think you’ve been scammed. He says the criminals in these cases try to put fear in people.
Sheriff Cruze says when you call the dispatchers at the Sheriff’s Office about scams or about any other issues, they will ask for your name, address, phone number and date-of-birth, along with information about your concern which enables them to have a deputy contact you and try to resolve the issue. He says it may seem cumbersome if you are calling about a drunk driver or speeder or some other emergency, but while you are sharing your information, they are in the process of alerting a deputy who is patrolling the area relevant to your concern.
Sheriff Cruze says they would rather have you call in about something that may be unfounded than to have it not reported and lead to someone being hurt. He says they keep track of calls in the event that there may be a mental health issue or someone calling in consistently about things that turn out not to be true.
Windmill Days will be taking place in Grove City this weekend. Several events are scheduled for Friday, but most of the activities will be taking place on Saturday culminating with a parade and street dance Saturday evening.
Grove City Mayor Gabra Lokken says the EDA Committee has been planning events which include city-wide garage sales Friday and Saturday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., a free community lunch at Grove Bank Friday from 11-to-1, an ice cream social at First Baptist Church from 5-to-7 and Lions Club Bingo at Trinity Lutheran Church at 7 o’clock Friday evening. She says Saturday’s events in Grove City will include a swap meet at the old bus garage at the corner of North 4th Street and North Avenue from 8-to-3, medallion hunt beginning at 9 a.m. (with clues posted at city hall), Donut to Beer Fun K at 10 a.m. starting at MN Beer, vendor market in the park from 9-to-4, pony rides from 10-to-2, car show at MN Beer from 11-to-2, and bouncy houses from 11-to-7 in Windmill Park.
Lokken says the museum will be open on South 3rd Street from 1-to-4 p.m. Saturday with refreshments served, and the Grove City Area CARE program will have its raffle drawing at 5 p.m. She says there will be musical acts in Windmill Park on Saturday, beginning with Joe Diethelm performing some European-type music from 11-to-1.
Lokken says Mark Stone will be performing from 2-to-4 p.m. and a band called Big Machine – with 1980s rock ‘n’ roll music – will be playing during the Street Dance from 8-to-11 Saturday night and the Grove City Lions Club will operate a beer garden from 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. She says the parade in Grove City will begin at 6:30 p.m. Saturday evening, with line-up in the Grove Heights area at 5:30 and you can just show up – there is no entry fee. The parade route has been expanded this year – traveling north on 2nd Street from Lindstrom Avenue as usual, but then heading west on South Avenue, and then south on 4th Street to Axel Avenue.
There will also be food vendors in Windmill Park on Saturday in Grove City, and fire truck rides, hot dogs and a bike-give-away at the Fire Hall after the parade and much more. Look for a schedule on the Grove City Windmill Days Facebook page.
Members of the Litchfield Area Mentorship Program had a great turn-out for the 2nd annual Great LAMP Adventure Scavenger Hunt at the Meeker County Fair earlier this month and they also took a shift at the Legion Auxiliary bingo booth. They will also have a booth at the Songs of Summer Festival this Friday at Litchfield’s Memorial Park.
Judy Hulterstrum says they will be set up among the food and beverage vendors during the event on August 14th from 4-to-11 p.m. at Memorial Park in Litchfield. She says they will be selling dirty sodas.
Hulterstrum says members of LAMP will have a back-to-school BBQ on August 27 and there will be 4 new mentors and mentees who will meet each other for the first time that evening. She says they also have 3-to-4 more mentors who are going through the application process.
Hulterstrum says LAMP will again have the holiday planter sale and orders are usually placed in October and then there will be Turkey Bingo in November. She says you can get more information about LAMP by calling 320-699-1616, stop in to their office at Litchfield United Methodist Church or email them at info@lampkinship.org.
On Tuesday morning at 12:25, the Stearns County Emergency Communications Center received a call regarding a person being assaulted at a housing unit for a treatment facility in the 300 block of Washburne Avenue in Paynesville. Stearns County Deputies responded and learned a 25-year-old man had been assaulted by a 27-year-old man. Both men were living at this residence and were known to each other. The victim was assaulted with a homemade bladed weapon. The victim was taken to CentraCare – Paynesville Hospital, treated for non-life-threatening injuries, and later released. The suspect fled the scene prior to deputies’ arrival and was later taken into custody by Stearns County Deputies and the Paynesville Police Department on Tuesday in Paynesville. The suspect is being held in the Stearns County Jail pending formal criminal charges, and the investigation remains ongoing.