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ence. Food Pantry accepts the award for
The event featured mes- Nonprofit of the Year at the River
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mayor of River Falls and board Annual Awards & Recognition Ban-
We Offer Curbside Service! members, introduced incoming quet Thursday.
Special shopping time members and mentioned all
for vulnerable customers: outgoing board members, as
7 a.m. - 8 a .m. during the week well as presenting various
awards.
FEATURING The event started off with
HANISCH BAKERY Executive Director Russ Kor-
pela introducing the event and
Prescott’s the theme for the night “The
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YOUR ONE-
STOP SHOP!Overall police service calls down in
SUBSCRIBE Prescott, but major crimes increase
We Reserve the Right To Limit Quantities

TODAY! Chief reports that charges coming in case of arson to hide burglary
for service down because of jumped from 252 to 370 and juvenile "That was cleared by arrest," he
See page 7 COVID-19-related issues, but major complaints increased from 88 to 144. said. "I don't believe the DA has
by John McLoone

Criminal charges are expected
from a fire at a home in Prescott that
was intentionally set to cover up a
burglary.
The fire was reported at 122
Borner St. No one was home at the
residence, and the incident was being
investigated as a burglary from the
initial call to assist the Prescott Fire
Department.
In his report to the Prescott City
Council last Monday night, Prescott
Police Chief Eric Michaels said it's
been a trying year, with overall calls
crimes increasing.
Michaels told the council that
there were 4,962 total calls for serv-
ice in 2020, down from 5,604 in
2019.
"COVID had a lot to do with
that," said Michaels. "I did put a
moratorium on traffic stops and un-
necessary contact with the public, so
that kind of has a bearing on why
those numbers went down."
He noted that while traffic stops
were down to 1,488 (from 2,380 in
2019), suspicious vehicle complaints
Big increases are seen in the area
of disorderly conduct.
"Last year 129, back in 2019, 67,"
Michaels said of those complaints.
"That's going up considerably."
"Burglary and thefts went down
for us. I'd like to attribute that to the
number of officers on patrol right
now. We're trying to keep that
down," said Michaels.
He reported that criminal charges
from the Pierce County District At-
torney's Office are forthcoming for
the Borner Street residence fire.
charged that yet. There was some
miscommunication between some
offices that I'm not really sure what
happened yet but that was cleared,"
he said.
He told the council that the suspi-
cious device found in August near
the Prescott Post Office that
prompted evacuation of the area also
led to an arrest. Reports have indi-
cated that Brandon James Bleyle, 27,
of 803 Kinnickinnic St., was charged
with Possession of Explosives in that
See POLICE  CALLS, Page 8

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