Arson damage to farms was extensive

Dan Nienaber
The Free Press

MINNESOTA LAKE May 08, 2008 09:51 pm

— Those responsible for smashing the windows out of Patricia Nienow’s farm tractor caused more damage than they probably realized, and the victims aren’t limited to those left cleaning up the broken glass, she said.
The damage, discovered Wednesday afternoon in a farm field between Mapleton and Minnesota Lake, was the latest incident reported in a string of serious damage done by what investigators suspect is the same group of vandals. A total of three abandoned houses have been burned, several sheep were killed or injured, and at least seven mailboxes were smashed — all within a 10-mile radius of Minnesota Lake.
The arsons, in both Blue Earth and Faribault counties, were reported early Wednesday morning. The sheep killings at the John Shanahan livestock farm were reported by a farmhand around 10 a.m., while Blue Earth County deputies were investigating the fires. The smashed mailboxes were discovered at residences between the two Blue Earth County fires.
A friend called Nienow Wednesday afternoon to tell her the windows in her tractor had been broken, she said. The tractor had been parked in a field near the intersection of Highway 22 and Blue Earth County Road 156.

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