LANSING – A 3-year-old child wandered away from his home Tuesday and went for a walk with a mini-goat.

Wednesday, October 04, 2000

LANSING – A 3-year-old child wandered away from his home Tuesday and went for a walk with a mini-goat.

The boy got lost in a wooded area near his mother’s home, during rain showers, and a search was successful in locating him after a two-hour disappearance.

According to a Mower County Sheriff’s Department report, William Kokoschke, an adult, and the boy’s mother (unidentified by authorities) were napping Tuesday morning.

A telephone call woke up the pair in the living room of the Lansing Township home at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday and the mother recalled seeing the child, Michael, playing in the house.

The adults fell asleep again and when they woke up, the child was missing.

The pair looked outside the home for the child and noticed a mini-goat was also gone. While they waited for the sheriff’s deputies to arrive, friends and relatives conducted a search of the rural residence, but could not locate the boy.

The Austin Police Department’s people-finding canine unit, Maddie, was delivered to the rural residence and a search was launched.

However, before searchers could begin, a neighbor (unidentified) arrived on a 4-wheel ATV carrying the missing mini-goat. According to the neighbor, the goat was found about one-quarter mile from the boy’s residence.

The searches directed their attention to the wooded area, walking through the thick brush and calling the boy’s name.

While temperatures clung to the 50 degree mark and rain continued to fall, Sheriff’s Deputy Martha Anderson heard a child crying and found the boy across a stream.

He was wearing a shirt, shorts and cowboy boots and shivering from the cold and rain, according to the report.

Kokoschke arrived with a blanket, wrapped the child inside and took him back to his mother’s residence with a teddy bear gift from the Sheriff’s Department.

No charges were filed, according to the incident.

Vehicles collide

An intersection collision resulted in minor injuries to three people Tuesday.

According to an Austin Police Department report, the mishap occurred 4:33 p.m. Tuesday at the intersection of 10th Drive and Fifth Avenue SE.

Zachary Downey, 20, Rochester, and Steve Schrandt, 18, Austin, were identified as the drivers of the two vehicles, which collided.

Downey and a passenger, Brooke Anderson, 18, Rochester, complained of minor injuries and were taken to Austin Medical Center by a private vehicle, according to the report.