FHS
Lost and found
Ring and owner reunite
A3
Gov. Mark Dayton snapped a photo of rising waters in Loman when he toured Borderland flooding.
A cleaning service crew works at a home east of Ray, where a home invasion left a man, identified as Benjamin Beaudoin, dead.
Retired Falls police officer Willie Kostiuk, left, shakes hands with Koochiching County sheriff-elect Perryn Hedlund at Hedlund’s election night campaign party.
Perryn Hedlund
The transition from a cop on the street to administrator of the Koochiching County Sheriff’s Office will bring challenges Perryn Hedlund says he’s ready to take on.
Hedlund, 37, was sworn in to the position Wednesday after defeating former Sheriff Brian Jespersen in the November election.
He discussed in mid-December with The Journal how he will approach his new job and said residents may recognize the reoccurring promise made during the campaign.
“I will work hard each and every day and do the best of my ability to serve the residents of Koochiching County,” he said. “That’s all I can do. I can’t promise I will reduce crime rates, I can’t promise I will solve all the problems, but I will do the best I can.”
And Hedlund said he knows he won’t be successful at all he does in the position. “I will fail, there’s no doubt about that. I am not perfect, just ask my wife,” he said with a quick smile and a hearty laugh. “And I have failed a lot throughout my life, but that’s the unique thing — each day is a new day and you get an opportunity to learn from your failures and move on.”
Hedlund said he’s got a lot to learn, and acknowledges he will face a steep learning curve in the first few months as sheriff, but said it will be an exciting time. In an effort to do the best he can as sheriff, he said he will attend a new sheriffs conference early in the year and has applied to participate in the Blandin Community Leadership Program.
He had begun meeting with key staff and other officials on his days off in the weeks just prior to stepping into the position.
A smooth transition is important for the department and the community, he said. Undersheriff Jon Froemke will remain in his position, as will Jail Administrator Tim Milette, he said.
The age of those men, 38, as well as his own age, and the age of county Attorney Jeff Naglosky, 36, indicate the potential for continuity in the county’s lead law enforcers, he said.
“I think that’s unique to our county,” he said. “We have an opportunity for the next 20-plus years of moving in the direction we want to go.”
Among the priorities Hedlund has set for himself is to improve communication on various fronts, he said. First and foremost, he said he’ll likely meet with staff individually and as a group to develop an exchange of information within the Sheriff’s Office.
Carrying out the duties of a county law enforcement officer requires contact with staff of many agencies and departments, in and outside of county government. Hedlund said improving communication between the Sheriff’s Office and the people it works with will benefit everyone.
“We do have to change some of the way we do business,” he said.
Enforcing the law in a small and fairly remote county makes having a good relationship with other law enforcement agencies important, he said. He’ll work hard to maintain and improve the friendships and relationships he’s already built among fellow officers, he said.
“It’s so nice when you can get along,” he said, adding that he’ll count on the experiences of other leaders in law enforcement as he learns the ropes. “I don’t know everything. Everyday I learn something new.”
Hedlund said he’ll be open to considering new ideas and ways of doing things. “Sometimes we get locked in on our ideas and the way we think things should go,” he said. “Sometimes it’s nice to open up and listen to others.”
Law enforcement has changed in recent years in that officers have contact with many more people for many more reasons. That makes good working relationships important, he said.
“Family services, humane society, the school — we’re a lot more involved now — it’s really nice to have those open lines of communication, and keep those lines open,” he said. “We’re a small community with limited resources so you really need to count on everyone to work as a team. We’re on an island up here.”
Transparency in the hiring process for positions in the office is important to Hedlund, he said. The International Falls Police Department hires through a civil service commission, made up of community members and others, which interviews candidates for positions, and provides a ranking to the police chief. The chief recommends hiring someone from the top candidates.
Key in hiring, he said, is establishing and sticking to a set process. He said he’d like to involve an impartial panel in interviews and a ranking system and said he will work to advertise open positions in an effort to draw the best candidates. Without a transparent process, the Sheriff’s Office is open to assumptions and criticism in hiring, he said.
Even in Minnesota’s second largest county, Hedlund said a sheriff must be visible and accessible to residents. He said he’ll establish connections and build networks in each of the communities in the county.
“The sheriff has to be willing to go to these small towns and talk with people,” he said. “It’s what people want... Community leaders can tell you these are the issues affecting our community and how can we work together to solve this.”
Sometimes, a fix is easier than it appears, he said. “The whole idea is to look at things from a different perspective,” he said. “Just because we’ve been doing something the same way for the last 20 years doesn’t mean it’s the best way. There may be a better way to do it, and then you may... realize the old way was the better way and you go back... There’s no harm in trying something.”
Hedlund said being approachable can often head off trouble, as well as open opportunities. “It’s amazing what a simple smile and ‘hello’ can do — it can deescalate a situation,” he said. “That’s one of my goals as sheriff: To put a face on the department and lead by example. It doesn’t hurt to be friendly to people.”
That understanding of the value of personal relations may partially stem from his physique, he said.
“I am not the biggest guy in the room, so I am not going to walk in and intimidate. I have to rely on my ability to interact and form some connection with a person to see where I am coming from,” he said.
And it may also come from his experience as a police officer who has found establishing personal relationships has value in all aspects of life and who will continue to build on those relationships and create new ones as sheriff.
Volunteers work through the pouring rain to help fill sandbags at City Beach.
A tree found a resting spot on Sharon Little’s deck after an overnight storm uprooted or snapped in half more than 50 trees on her Highway 11 property.
The entry to the Rainy Lake Lodge comes down.
Winter load increases for trucks will go into effect in the rest of the state on Friday.
Keep on truckin’
RRCC offers CDL course this spring
B4
Borderland’s coldest, most well-known winter festival turns 35 years old in 2015.
Icebox Days is Jan. 15-18 in International Falls, with the 35th annual Freeze Yer Gizzard Blizzard Run 5K and 10K races taking place Saturday, Jan. 17.
Even though temperatures for the race regularly dip into negative numbers, International Falls Area Chamber of Commerce President Faye Whitbeck said that doesn’t bother the runners.
“Once again, the motto ‘Only the Bold Run the Cold,’ will give FYGBR participants another chance to walk the talk,” Whitbeck said in a release.
The chamber coordinates the annual festival, of which the FYGBR is the feature event. The run has averaged 275 to 300 runners from the U.S. and Canada over the last three years, according to a release.
The event has never been canceled in its previous 34 years, but was shortened in 1982 when temperatures of 28 below zero were accompanied by a 72 below zero windchill factor.
“That was the year images of Gizzard runners’ ice-chiseled mustaches and frosted eyebrows first began circling the globe,” Whitbeck said in a release.
At least half of the previous races have launched in below-zero weather, Whitbeck said. In 2010, however, runners enjoyed a race in pleasant 31 above temperatures.
Icebox Days XXXV will also feature the return of classic, unique events, like the Viking Bar’s smoosh races, an event invented for the festival years ago. According to a release, smooshing involves synchronizing a competitive gait while all the left feet of four team members are attached to one board, and all the right feet are attached to another board.
Other events returning to the Viking Bar include toilet seat tossing, can-crushing, and redneck trivia. Frozen turkey bowling and moonlight snowshoeing return to Voyageurs National Park.
Whitbeck said the moonlight snowshoeing at VNP started a few years ago, and is quickly turning into a tradition, with the park supplying the snowshoes for interested adventurers.
A boot hockey tournament will take place at the outdoor rinks in the Falls, with the beach party and traditional chili cook-off returning as well. Music and dancing is also planned at various locations throughout the festival.
Fireworks under the winter sky are scheduled for the fifth consecutive year in Smokey Bear Park at dusk on Saturday evening.
