Rescue Volunteers Honored

Members of the Blackduck Fire Department accepting awards from Beltrami County Sheriff Phil Hodapp for their quick response to the boating accident on Blackduck Lake are, from left to right: Blackduck Fire Chief Rick Bogart, Brian Larsen, Jon Ross, Daryl Lundberg, Joby Looker, Andy Thienes, Don Jones, Festus Rockensock, Joe Cheney, Terry Frenzel and Sheriff Hodapp.

Area rescue volunteers came together Aug. 10 to accept certificates of commendations for their efforts in assisting with the boating accident that occurred on Blackduck Lake July 14.

Those honored with certificates were members of the Blackduck Fire Department, the Lakes Area dive team, the sheriff’s posse, ham radio club as well as Monte Sharbono from White Birch Resort. Sharbono was the first one on the scene following the accident.

Beltrami County Sheriff Phil Hodapp was on hand to present everyone involved with the search and rescue with awards.

“These kinds of tragic events are really tough on everybody in the community,” Hodapp said. “Luckily we had several gracious and helpful volunteers.”

The first award was given to Sharbono for his thoughtful actions and for saving the lives of two of the boating accident victims.
“Monte was one of the first people to respond to the accident,” Hodapp said. “He was able to rescue two of the boaters and get them to shore safely.”

The sheriff noted that Sharbono assisted in the search for the other two boaters the night of the accident as well as the next day. He was also commended for opening the doors of his resort to provide a place for the dive team to stay.

“He is an exceptional citizen and host for a situation like this,” said Hodapp.

Brandon Schmickle and Greg Moen were present to represent the Lakes Area dive team.

“We had quite a crew here from the team,” Hodapp said. “Their efforts were very impressive to the victim’s families as well as to everyone else involved in the search.”

Hodapp acknowledged that the dive team was able to recover the two bodies very quickly despite high winds and murky water.

“We had tremendous support from the resort owners and from people who were lined up to carry our gear for us,” Moen said.

“Everything was ready for us to go when we hit the water and we can’t thank everyone enough for that. We greatly appreciate it.”
“For us at the sheriff’s office, one of the premier groups of volunteers is the Blackduck Fire Department,” Hodapp said. “We know we can always count on this group to come out and help us out whenever we need them.”

Hodapp was extremely grateful and proud of the Blackduck Fire Department for their efforts and couldn’t thank them enough for everything they did during the boating accident and for what they do overall.

“Our fire department has had a history in Blackduck since 1901 and we’ve always been able to count on them,” said Blackduck Mayor Scott Palmer.

Members of the sheriff’s posse and Paul Bunyan Amateur Radio Club were also given certificates for their contributions during the search and recovery.

Mayor Palmer ended the ceremony with powerful words of gratitude, “As the mayor of Blackduck, I would like to thank all the emergency services that came together for doing such a fine job for us on that tragic day.”

Kelliher Council Hears Complaints Regarding Law Enforcement Issues

Blackduck American

The Kelliher City Council met in the council chambers at city hall for its regular meeting Sept. 8.

Mayor Darin Latterell called the meeting to order with council members Laura Nelson, Victoria Rabe and Don Erickson present. Council Member Ramona Gehlert arrived later in the meeting.

Also present were staff members City Clerk Dianna Thurlow and Assistant City Clerk Peggy Vollhaber. Others present included Beltrami County Sheriff Phil Hodapp, Deputy Scott Wherley, Tina and Wade Rennemo, Lori and Ross Rennemo, Glen and Carey Grundmeier, Rick and Mary Thayer, Dorothy Schuh and her minor children and Wally Rennemo.

Complaints were addressed to the council, Sheriff Hodapp and Deputy Wherley regarding increasing levels of brazen reckless driving and loud exhausts on ATVs, motorcycles and motor vehicles.

It was the overall consensus of the guests in attendance and the council that there is a need for greater law enforcement presence in the Kelliher area to curb such activities, especially in consideration of a recent incident that escalated to violence against a citizen.

It was also emphasized that this was important in consideration of the past monies taken from the PILT fund to specifically provide for a deputy for the north half of the county.

Deputy Wherley responded by informing the audience that he and another deputy spend significant time in the area, although not all of it is directly in Kelliher, as they have to patrol the other communities in northern Beltrami County as well, so even though they may not always be visible, they are active in the area.

Sheriff Hodapp encouraged the public to contact the Sheriff’s Department directly with complaints and that individuals calling must be willing to sign a complaint ticket.

Several members of the audience asked what to do about threats or retaliation, citing the most recent incident and Sheriff Hodapp responded that the Sheriff’s Department should be contacted immediately and notified of the details of any threats or retaliation in response to making or signing a complaint.

Further questions were posed as to the use of warnings rather than citations, with Deputy Wherley’s response being that everyone needs to be treated the same and that warnings have been given in the past but that citations will be issued going forward if that was what the public desired.

The council felt that these incidents were obviously the result of a few individuals and that it would be unfortunate for the more minor transgressors to be cited, but that increased citations were needed to correct the undesirable behaviors.

Deputy Wherley explained his frustrations from the past, where he arrives in the area after a complaint and the activity has ceased and parties are unwilling to sign a complaint ticket.

Hodapp and Wherley reemphasized the need for citizens to contact the Sheriff’s Department directly and that citizens must be willing to sign complaint tickets, as law enforcement cannot file charges if they do not witness the activity first hand unless they have a signed complaint. This is especially significant in consideration of the fact that warnings have not appeared to suffice in the past.

Hodapp added that the area generally exhibits low call volumes and that a greater presence is only warranted by evidence of a greater need (higher complaint call volumes).

The open forum was closed with the council thanking Sheriff Hodapp, Deputy Wherley and the guests for attending. Hodapp, in turn, thanked the council and the community members present for bringing these matters to his attention and for giving him and Deputy Wherley the opportunity to discuss these matters with the public.

Beltrami Co. Sheriff Phil Hodapp Stresses Cooperation, Communication

Jack Swenson

“Our job,” Phil Hodapp says simply, is to “save lives, prevent crimes and be there when help is needed.”

Last year Beltrami County’s top law enforcement officer says his department logged 18,782 calls for service. They responded to nearly 400 accidents, 482 medical emergencies, pulled 332 drivers off the road, many of them to face charges of driving while intoxicated.

From his office in the Law Enforcement Center in Bemidji Hodapp offered a chart showing the drop in the number of burglaries, assaults and thefts from 2007 to 2008. Two years ago, when he took office as sheriff, Hodapp instituted more of what he terms a pro-active approach, encouraging officers to engage in more contact with individuals.

Photo By Jack Swenson From his office in the Law Enforcement Center, Beltrami County Sheriff Phil Hodapp has a view of the other county buildings — the administrative offices, the judicial building housing courtrooms and the jail, as well as the old courthouse which now houses different county agencies.

“We don’t claim that this is the only reason we’ve seen a reduction,” he said during a wide-ranging interview, “but it has to have helped.”

The county maintains a force that when fully staffed includes 37 deputies-all licensed peace officers-and an equal number of correctional officers including bailiffs and jail guards, and support staff that includes those on duty as dispatchers for the 911 emergency system.

Across the street from the Law Enforcement Center, which shares space with the Bemidji City Police Department, is the Beltrami County jail. Crowded since it was built to house 66 inmates, that number was quickly boosted to 83 with double-bunking. Today it can accommodate 172 men and women with 60 beds in the minimum security section. “It’s not a four-star hotel, and it’s not a place I’d want to stay,” observed a visitor.

Prisoners move from the jail to the adjacent courts building via an underground tunnel. Guards patrol the court rooms, and watch prisoners on video screens covering jail areas. “It’s all analog, but we’re able to keep it working,” a supervisor said, adding that the equipment had most likely been used even before it was installed in the jail more than 20 years ago.

In addition to overseeing security in three law enforcement areas and the courthouse complex, the sheriff is also responsible for coordinating the work of a half-dozen volunteer groups. These include the Community Guard members who patrol the infrastructure, the mounted posse aiding in search and rescue, First Responder organizations, the Civil Air Patrol ( a separate group that works under the ‘umbrella’ of the sheriff’s office on search and rescue operations) and the citizen’s patrol working within Bemidji.

Hodapp gives special recognition to the Paul Bunyan Amateur Radio Club, which provides invaluable help in search and rescue work, setting up and maintaining a mobile communications facility to aid in coordinating various law enforcement agencies that are involved in the operation.

From Brook Lake Township in the southeast corner to Big Grass Township in the northwest, a distance of 98.6 miles, Beltrami County’s 3,000 square miles are home to 43,320 people, including those living on the Red Lake Reservation. Since only tribal police and federal agents have authority at Red Lake, county enforcement generally ends at the reservation borders. As a result, those residents, while on the reservation, remain the only Beltrami County persons outside the jurisdiction of county officers.

(Ironically, while the reservation is off-limits to the sheriff and deputies, those living there are still allowed to vote for the sheriff and as well as other county and state officials.)

Hodapp was elected to a four-year term as sheriff in 2006 after many years working with other police agencies. After attending Mankato State College, he worked as a dispatcher and jailer with the sheriff’s office in St. Peter, then moved to Texas in 1976 with the Amarillo police department. Two years later he joined the Texas Department of Public Safety, staying there until 1985 when he moved back to Minnesota with the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

“I was based here in Bemidji, but mostly I was living in hotels or motels or even campgrounds, and we were chasing after guys in Chicago and El Paso and after a while it got a little tiresome.”

Hodapp’s assignment covered the northern half of Minnesota, and that got him deeply involved in the case of Katie Poirier, a young woman murdered in Moose Lake in 1999. DNA evidence from a single tooth helped in the eventual apprehension and conviction of Donald Blom, now serving a life sentence.

Less successful was the hunt for the man who raped and murdered Anita Carlson in 1987. The waitress worked at a restaurant west of Bemidji, and her murder remains unsolved. A framed poster offering a $50,000 reward remains on a stand in the corner of Hodapp’s spartan office, as a reminder that even cold cases are not forgotten.

He talks of these cases sitting around a small table surrounded by four straight chairs. On his desk nearby a computer links him to department activity. His uniform is barely distinguishable from those of other officers. He carries his own mug of coffee from the ‘break room’ further down the hall.

On one wall, a number of plaques testify to his law enforcement career, and near them a photograph illustrates Hodapp’s interest in police work. It dates to his father’s work as a Minnesota state highway patrol trooper, and is carried to the third generation with Hodapp’s son, Jake. Jake is a deputy sheriff, but actually has seniority on his father: Jake was a deputy for two years before Phil left the BCA and was elected sheriff.

Hodapp’s wife, Marilynne, is a teacher at St. Phillips in Bemidji. They were married in 1979 and have four children — Kristy, Jake, Kate and Tim. Kristy (Ryan) McCrady has three children and Jake and his wife, two. The Hodapp’s daughter, Kate, is attending school in Duluth and will go into nursing. Tim is at BSU and will go into the Marine Corps when he graduates.