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• North Hudson Board approves grocery store permit
• Hudson -- VanNess, Luehrs face probation consequences

The Village Board finally moved off dead center and granted a conditional use permit for a proposed grocery store in North Hudson.

Developer Dean Hanson can now move on to the next of many steps in the process of building a commercial structure in the municipality following the 5-2 vote last Tuesday.

The permit came with 24 codicils and conditions designed to mitigate the concern of residents in the immediate area on the north side of the community near the intersection of Hwy. 35 and Station Lane N.

Trustees Joe Cothern and Marc Zappa voted against the measure. Cothern started to express his concern and pulled away from approving the project at the June 3 board meeting.

"Things have changed from the original plan," said Cothern. His primary concern was the inability to secure access to Hwy. 35. The result is a single in-and-out driveway to the parking lot from Station Lane N.

Cothern said he would not have voted in favor of a zoning change (March 7, 2007) that paved the way for a larger building to house a grocery story if he knew access to the state highway would be denied.

Zappa, a lifelong North Hudson resident, objected to the lack of access to Hwy. 35 but also was concerned with the bigger picture. "There has not been full-fledged attention to making a decent business district," he said.

Zappa pointed out that the lack of Hwy. 35 access could only hurt the new business.

President Larry Larsen, who voted in favor, said, "If you want a grocery store in North Hudson, this is the only spot."

Trustees Sandra Whalen, Jim Thomas, Colleen O'Brien-Berglund and George Klein joined him in the affirmative.

For more information see the July 10 edition of the Star-Observer.

By Meg Heaton

mheaton@rivertowns.net

Michael Van Ness and Benjamin Luehrs spent a week in jail following their arrests in Hudson on June 24.

Both Luehrs and Van Ness were on probation at the time of the arrests stemming from their convictions for criminal damage to property for vandalism at Hudson High School and New Richmond High School along with 12 others last June. Conditions of that probation include absolute sobriety and no further criminal violations. Both men were released on July 1.

Van Ness, 21, 1733 Laurel Ave., was arrested for violating the absolute sobriety condition of his probation. According to police records, his blood alcohol level was 0.16 at the time of the arrest.

According to Mike O'Keefe of the Department of Corrections in Hudson, Van Ness is being released with a home monitoring device and some additional restrictions "in hopes of getting better compliance with the conditions of his probation."

Just the week before, Van Ness suffered a broken wrist and other injuries when he fell 30 feet over the Willow River Falls on June 15. A park official stated that alcohol was a factor in the accident.

Luehrs, 19, Eau Claire, formerly of Hudson, was arrested with Van Ness and was also charged with driving while intoxicated and transporting intoxicants as a minor. Following his arrest, he was transported from the St. Croix County Jail to the Eau Claire County Jail.

According to probation officials there, Luehrs will be subject to some additional restrictions as a result of this arrest and other violations he has been charged with since the vandalism case. He is also being required to go back in front of St. Croix County Judge Scott Needham, the judge who sentenced him, for a review of his probation. That hearing is scheduled for July 14.

According to court records, Luehrs was charged in April with misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia in Eau Claire for allegedly having a glass pipe with burned marijuana in his vehicle when police spotted his car parked diagonally in the middle of an Eau Claire street. That case is still pending. He pleaded guilty to underage drinking in February and was fined. A disorderly conduct charge was dismissed.

In a story in the Eau Claire Leader Telegram following his release last week, Luehrs read a reporter a prepared statement about his actions. "I take full responsibility for my behavior over the last year. I have been a letdown to many people in both the community of Eau Claire, as well as St. Croix County. I am very sorry for my behavior. It is time for me to start behaving like the citizen I was raised to be. I have caused a lot of damage and I intend to start repairing it."