I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.
July 18, 1996
By Devlyn Brooks
Staff Writer
Thanks to state anti-crime legislation passed by the 1996 Legislature, the Bemidji Police Department and the Beltrami County Sheriff's Department will be receiving grants to help defray the costs of law enforcement.
According to state Rep. Bob Johnson, DFL-Bemidji, the city was awarded $25,000 and Beltrami County received $75,000 from the new Omnibus Crime Act.
Bemidji Police Chief Bob Tell said his department will use the grant money to pay overtime expenditures incurred from community policing.
Tell said community policing is not a new program the department started but more of a philosophy it adopted. The idea focuses on more physical and positive contact with citizens. For instance, he said police in smaller towns get the opportunity to get out of their car once in a while and see people. In Bemidji, the police are busy enough that they do not have that advantage.
"It's a crime prevention method," Tell said, "rather than rushing to put out little brush fires."
The department has worked on expanding the idea into other areas of government such as the Fire Department, also, he said. Increased fire inspections have been done as an example of community policing. Quicker and more efficient condemnation of uninhabitable structures is an example of city government community policing, he said.
"It is a broad-based effort and philosophy to improve the community by getting citizens involved," Tell said. "The grant will allow us to utilize overtime expenditures to help officers get out and meet their community policing duties."
Tuesday, the Beltrami County Board officially accepted the grant based on Sheriff DeeWayne Rognstad's recommendation.
According to information given to the board by Rognstad, the $75,000 awarded to the county will be used to hire a juvenile/liaison officer.
The grant will cover about 75 percent of the cost over the next three years. The rest will be the responsibility of the county, which will be about $28,600 for the three years. Rognstad, however, told the board he was investigating the possibility of part of the costs being paid by Beltrami County school districts.
"This initiative will enable us to have the 'sheriff's officer' on site to better address high-risk youth, juvenile crime, the prevention of substance abuse and gang activity within our community," Rognstad's memo stated.
If at all possible, Rognstad would like the officer to be able to start in the schools at the beginning of the 1996-97 school year.
Some fo the daily duties will be planning activities for students, working on crime prevention programs and taking an active role with Beltrami County's Juvenile Diversion Committee. Other responsibilities will include investigating crimes within the school, investigating reports of physical and sexual abuse and compiling and maintaining juvenile records.
"This position will be created as a proactive approach to crime prevention in the schools and communities," stated the memo. "It is believed that the addition of a school/liaison officer will better address the needs of the youth in our community."
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