NEW ULM - The case of a cancer-stricken 13-year-old boy and the conflict between his parents and the courts over his treatment was the top local news story in the New Ulm area in 2009.
The story of Daniel Hauser of Sleepy Eye, his court-ordered cancer treatment and his week-long flight with his mother to avoid chemotherapy drew nationwide attention and sparked debate over such issues as traditional medicine vs. alternative treatments for cancer, and when the state should overstep the rights of parents to raise their children.
Daniel Hauser, son of Sleepy Eye dairy farmers Anthony and Colleen Hauser, was diagnosed early last year with with Hodgkin's Lymphoma, a form of cancer that is easily treatable with chemotherapy and radiation. According to doctors, such treatment would give Daniel a 95 percent chance of a cure. Without it, he faced only a 5 percent chance of surviving five years.
Daniel had the first round of chemotherapy in February, but treatment made him so sick that his parents did not bring him back for the second scheduled treatment.
Colleen and Daniel Hauser were adopted by the Nemenhah, a Native American group that advocates natural healing, shortly after the battle against traditional medical treatment began.
Doctors, fearful that Daniel's disease would worsen without treatment, reported the case to Brown County officials, who sought an order for child protection for Daniel from his parents, in effect putting the court in charge of ordering Daniel's treatment.
After hearings in May, Judge John Rodenberg ruled that Daniel must receive chemotherapy if his cancer was still treatable, ordered that he have another chest x-ray and medical evaluation, and ordered the family to appear for a review of the results on May 19.
Daniel and his mother never showed up for the hearing. Anthony Hauser told the judge he didn't know where his wife and son were. Rodenberg found Colleen Hauser in contempt of court and issued a warrant for her arrest.
A nationwide search focused on southern California, where Colleen and Daniel Hauser had been spotted. It was believed they had left the state with an California attorney, Susan Daya Hamwi, to seek alternative treatment at a clinic in Mexico. Rodenberg issued a felony warrant for Colleen Hauser for deprivation of parental rights.
A week after they left, Colleen and Daniel returned, arriving in the early hours at New Ulm Municipal airport on a private jet provided by Asgaard Media, a Los Angeles media company whose owners had befriended them.
The Hausers agreed to comply with the court-ordered treatment, and by November, doctors declared him cancer free after completing chemotherapy and radiation treatment. The Hausers were still reported to be opposed to the treatment, and credited the alternative treatments they provided with making the medical treatment more effective.
After Daniel's clean bill of health, Rodenberg removed the protection order.
The other top ten stories of 2009:
2. Eagle Squadron Grounded
At an Oct. 23 New Ulm High School volleyball match, match officials warned the Eagle Squadron, a New Ulm student cheering section, about their rowdy chants and behavior. When a coin was later tossed on the floor the officials ordered the students to leave the building. When the students gathered outside the gym yelling their protests, school officials called New Ulm police to disperse them.
The incident was investigated by district administrators, who identified 40 students involved and suspended them from attending or participating in athletic events or other extracurricular events for two weeks. Student athletes also faced a two-game suspension for violating the Minnesota State High School Leagues Code of Conduct.
The punishment drew protests from students and from some of their parents who felt the district had acted too quickly, meting out the punishment without giving students a chance to mend their behavior.
A few meetings between the parents and district officials, including school board members, resulted in no change in punishment, but an apology from students and a push to draw up comprehensive guidelines for student behavior at athletic events.
3. Collum pleads
guilty
New Ulm resident Calvin "Chip" Collum, an English teacher at Sleepy Eye High School, was accused in March of having sexual relationships with one of his female students, who was 16. According to the complaint, her friends noticed she and Collum were frequently texting and communicating over the Internet. She reportedly asked friends to cover for her so she could spend the weekend at Collum's house. They reportedly had plans to marry and move to Connecticut when she turned 19.
Collum was suspended and later fired by the Sleepy Eye District. In September he entered a guilty plea, and in November he was given a stayed sentence, with conditions that he spend 180 days in jail, pay a fine of $1,500 and have 15 years of supervised probation.
The family of the girl, meanwhile, has filed a civil lawsuit against Collum and the Sleepy Eye School District.
4. Wind
Project blocked
New Ulm Public Utilities had adopted a multi-pronged plan to lower the cost of electrical power in New Ulm. One of the steps was to build a wind generation project. It had identified a site in Nicollet County near Lafayette as a site with good wind potential and close location to a power substation. It negotiated deals with three area landowners to build five wind turbines on their land.
But opposition to the plan came from neighboring landowners as soon as the leases were signed. They claimed their neighbors had been intimidated into the lease agreements by threats of eminent domain. The neighbors opposed the project for a number of reasons, including loss of prime farmland, possible noise and flickering shadows affecting their lifestyles, and loss of property values.
Despite the opposition, the city went ahead with an application for a permit from the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission. The PUC said the city lacked the necessary wind easements, or agreements from adjacent landowners that they would build anything to block the wind. With neighbors refusing to grant the easements, the city faced the prospect of using eminent domain to force the easements.
Instead, the city asked the state PUC for a waiver, allowing it to go ahead with the easements it already had. In a Dec. 21 meeting, the state PUC refused the waiver, putting the city back in the position of negotiating for the wind rights, using eminent domain to get them, or finding another site.
5. The Heart
of New Ulm
The Heart of New Ulm project, a project of Allina Hospitals & Clinics and New Ulm Medical Center to stamp out heart attack deaths in New Ulm over the next 10 years, went from the planning stage to the active stage in 2009.
Local staff were hired, including Betsy Pieser as Community Director, and Dr. Charles Stephens as Medical Director, and the project began holding health screenings. By November about 5,000 people had been screened. The biggest boost to the program came in November at the Heart of New Ulm Heart Summit, when Bob Harper, one of the trainers on the TV reality show, "The Biggest Loser," came to New Ulm to speak at the summit and cheer on the project.
The Heart of New Ulm also had more than 600 runners and walkers in its "Jingle Bell Jam" four-mile run/walk just before Christmas.
6. "New In Town"
Tinseltown came to New Ulm in 2009 - well, almost. The feature film "New In Town," starring Rene Zellweger and Harry Connick Jr. hit the screens in March. The film, set in New Ulm, Minnesota, was a fish-out-of-water romantic comedy about an icy business woman in Miami sent to New Ulm in the middle of winter to close down the local pudding plant.
The movie, however, was shot in Winnipeg, and the locals in the film talked more like refugees from "Fargo" than New Ulmites. That didn't stop local promoters from hosting an advance premiere party at the Mall of America with Connick and Siobhan Fallon from the cast. A local premier potluck party was also held at Lola's Larkspur Market.
7. Change
of Command
When New Ulm Police Chief Erv Weinkauf retired at the end of 2008, Police Commander Myron Wieland was selected to replace him as chief. Wieland named investigator Dave Borchert as Police Commander, his second in command. The transition has been a smooth one.
8. H1N1 hits
Last spring reports of a new and particularly virulent strain of "swine flu" emanating from Mexico hit the United States, and the threat of a pandemic had people worried. The impact was felt here most immediately by local pork producers. National concerns over "swine flu" led countries like China and Russia to close their markets to American pork products, even though there is no possibility of getting the flu from eating pork.
The Center for Disease Control renamed the strain the "Novel H1N1 Virus," but the pork industry has yet to recover.
Healthwise, local Public Health and medical officials have worked hard to prepare for the disease and to educate people. H1N1 flu vaccine clinics around the county have been well attended, and while there have been many cases, no local deaths from the flu have been reported.
9. Economy bad
Like the rest of the nation, Brown County has been hit by the economic problems that have been the hallmark of 2009. Local jobless rates have soared, businesses have laid off workers or cut hours and frozen wages. The demand for services from the Brown County Family Services, the local Food Shelf and other charities has climbed as well.
10. New Ulm Medical Center Surgical Center
The $3.5 million surgical center expansion and remodeling at New Ulm Medical Center was completed in April. A ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house helped introduce the public to the new facilities.
