Man drowns in Cass County

I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.

June 26, 1999

By Devlyn Brooks

Rex Robert Johnson, of Renner, S.D., was found dead in Lake Winnibigoshish Friday, according to Cass County Chief Deputy Randy Fisher.

Johnson's body was found about 11:30 a.m. Friday in the northeast portion of the lake by law enforcement personnel.

Fisher stated in an news release that Renner, 75, was familiar with Lake Winnibigoshish and fished it often.

"There's nothing suspicious," he said in a telephone interview. "It appears to be just an unobserved overboard."

Fisher said an autopsy is scheduled.

Johnson had been observed fishing on the lake early Thursday, according to Fisher. But later that afternoon the angler's boat was found, unoccupied and afloat, by another boater about 2:15 p.m.

Sheriff's deputies from Cass and Itasca counties, the Itasca County dive team and state aircraft Thursday night searched the area where the boat was last observed occupied, according to Fisher.

But rough water and poor visibility hindered search efforts, which were halted about 10 p.m. Thursday and resumed again early Friday.

"Because of the inclement weather," Fisher said, "we probably would have never found him if we would have stayed out there Thursday night."