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• Hudson fire victim remains hospitalized
• Three girls cited for vandalism

By Randy Hanson

Nineteen-year-old Brandon Helm is making progress toward recovery a month after suffering severe burns in a fire at his home in Hudson, according to the CaringBridge Web site.

Helm's mother, who doesn't live in Hudson, is keeping a journal on Brandon's progress on the Web site, www.caringbridge.org.

Recent entries indicate that he is now able to walk, but not without great effort and pain.

He was scheduled to undergo surgery on Tuesday at Regions Hospital in St. Paul, where he remains a patient in the Burn Unit.

Helm suffered the burns in an early-morning garage fire on April 9 at the twinhome in the Lighthouse subdivision where he was living with his father, Michael Helm.

Michael Helm told police following the fire that his son went into the garage and set himself on fire after the two of them had had a confrontation.

The elder Helm reportedly used a blanket to extinguish the flames on his son, and was himself burned in the process.

Michael Helm was released from Regions Hospital within a few days of the fire that destroyed the garage and two cars.

In the introduction to Brandon Helm's CaringBridge site, his mother said 70 percent of his body from his neck down had third-degree burns.

The burns were so deep that the skin was dead and needed to be completely removed, she reported.

Infection is now the main threat to Brandon's life, his mother indicates.

Detective Shawn Pettee said the Hudson Police Department is investigating the fire as an attempted suicide, but added, "It is still open."

Pettee said he is waiting for Brandon to recover more before questioning him.

By Meg Heaton, RiverTown staff

Three juvenile girls have been cited for their role in the recent vandalism at North Hudson Elementary and to several cars in the surrounding neighborhood.

Police received information from a parent of one of the girls about the participants. Following interviews, each of the girls was cited for disorderly conduct. They will also make restitution for the time and supplies needed by the school custodian to remove the vandalism from the school doors and walls.

The vandals used colored chalk to write profanity, obscenities and racist and homophobic speech at 15 different locations around the school, mostly on doors and windows. The damage was discovered by a North Hudson Police officer doing a building check around 3 a.m. on April 28.

After being notified by the police, the school custodian was able to clean the grounds before students arrived Monday morning.

In a letter to parents, North Hudson Elementary Principal Dolf Schmidt said the girls involved are not students at the school.