FREE PRESS AMERY
1892 - 2017
125 YEARS STRONG
TUESDAY, MAY 16, 2017
VOL. 121 NO. 47 www.theameryfrepress.com $1.00
SPORTS: Goulet breaks own school record in 400 at Rice Lake PAGE 13A
Suspect identified in Amery police squad vandalism BY JESSICA DE LA CRUZ EDITOR@THEAMERYFREEPRESS.COM
just as he remembers them, in tiny, toy-like detail. “That’s hauling grain, from the thrashing machine to the grainery,” he explains. “That’s mowing hay.” “That’s me on the horse, and my grandpa cultivating the garden. And that was the way the farm looked down in Forest.”
In the course of investigating a rash of burglaries near North Park, an Amery man has confessed to not only the burglaries, but also drug-related offenses, and the vandalism of an Amery Police squad at Chief Marson’s home on April 30. Hayden L. Russell, 18, a senior at Amery High School, was identified for questioning and arrested on May 8 after a search of his Riverside Blvd. home recovered tools that had been reported stolen from a neighboring garage, along with Nike tennis shoes with white and yellow paint on them. Russell Marson’s personal vehicle and a new Dodge Ram police squad were heavily scratched and doused with white and yellow paint during the vandalism, with total damages estimated at more than $6,000. According to reports from the Amery Police Department, small amounts of white and yellow paint were also discovered at the scene of several of the burglaries, as were blood and footprints. Officers visiting Russell’s home found a heavy odor of marijuana. According to reports, Russell admitted to smoking marijuana, and reportedly also had cuts on his hand. Russell was arrested for drug offenses May 8, and charged May 9 with burglary and misdemeanor drug offenses. According to the Amery
SEE FARM PAGE 1C
SEE CRIME PAGE 2A
JESSICA DE LA CRUZ | AMERY FREE PRESS
David Olson sits next to two of his favorite childhood ‘farm scenes.’ The top depicts a 1930s horse-drawn haying operation, while the bottom illustrates cutting oats during the same time period. Olson built the scenes by hand based on his memories growing up on his grandfather’s farm near Forest.
Memories in miniature BY JESSICA DE LA CRUZ EDITOR@THEAMERYFREEPRESS.COM
Local farm life from the 1930s and 40s was an era that only a handful among us can still recall. But at 82, David Olson remembers it well. His lifelong passions for tinkering, and fi xing, and working on
the farm are as strong as ever, even if he isn’t as strong himself. Now a widower, apartment 103 at Water’s Edge seems like the unlikeliest of places for such a passion. But Olson makes the best of things within his reduced quarters. From a bedside workbench he taps, and hammers, and glues, and paints, recreating scenes
New program tackles mental health stigma, starting at the top BY JESSICA DE LA CRUZ EDITOR@THEAMERYFREEPRESS.COM
Fact: There were 14 suicides in Polk County in 2015, more than double the state average. Fact: Fifteen percent of Polk County youth have considered suicide in the past year. Fact: Mental illness is as common as dark brown eyes and silver cars, and even more common than left handed-
ness. Fact: Help is available for anyone who’s willing to seek it out. Mental health has risen to the top of the priority list at Polk County Public Health. And now, organizations like the Amery Community Foundation (ACF) are also joining the fight to help people recognize that mental health is a problem, and we need to fix it together. SEE STIGMA PAGE 2A
ACF, along with the St. Croix Valley SOURCE: MAKEITOK.ORG
I don’t need my bladder to act its age. Find care at amerymedicalcenter.org.
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