Apple Orchard Taking County to Court
More River Fishin’ Contest Photos Page 14
Belle Plaine Women Teaming Up to Fight Cancer
Page 13
Page 13
ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FIFTH YEAR
BELLE PLAINE, MINNESOTA, AUGUST 17, 2016
75¢ SINGLE COPY
NUMBER 34
Derek Fath and his son, Tucker.
Belle Plaine Man Killed in Hit-and-Run on Highway 169 A Belle Plaine man walking along Highway 169 was hit and killed before sunrise Sunday morning. Investigators are looking for the driver and vehicle involved in the crash. Derek J. Fath, 29, was killed near the intersection of Highway 169 and Belle Plaine Trail. The crash was reported at 5:15 a.m. The vehicle that hit Fath was in 169’s northbound lanes, according to the Minnesota State Patrol. The state patrol believes the crash occurred between 4:30 and 5 a.m. and that the highway was dry. Ashley Hiemstra, Fath’s girlfriend, said he was on his way home from a friend’s house. Hiemstra said Fath has a son who will soon celebrate his second birthday.
Friends and family took to social media to mourn Fath’s tragic death and urge whoever hit him to call police and admit they hit Fath. A friend of Fath’s, Tracy Flynn Bergland wants people to be on the lookout for a vehicle with unexplained damage. She hopes the driver will admit to the crime. “I pray you see the kind, loving person he was. I pray you see the amazing father he was to his sweet boy,” she posted on her Facebook page. “I pray you see the grief that his family and friends are now dealing with because of the choice you
Man Killed
(continued on page 8)
Chris Meyer Top VoteGetter in Primary
Belle Plaine mayoral candidate Chris Meyer received 309 votes to 126 for incumbent Mayor Mike Pinglaore in last Tuesday’s primary election at City Hall. Mark Gerdes, who received 19 votes, was eliminated. Meyer and Pingalore will square off in the general election on Nov. 8. Twelve percent of registered voters cast ballots in Belle Plaine, which was well above the state average. Turnouts for primary elections are typically low. A total of 447 people cast ballots in Belle Plaine on primary day and there were 21 absentee ballots. At the start of the primary, there were 3,630 registered voters in Belle Plaine and 21 more registered on that day. “The primary had only 12 percent of the registered voters turnout,” Pingalore said. “I believe the majority of the
citizens in Belle Plaine see the difference I have made over the last four years as mayor and will continue to support my efforts in growing Belle Plaine for the future.” The fact Meyer received 68.06 percent of Tuesday’s vote to 27.75 percent for Pingalore does show a clear advantage for the challenger heading into the final 12 weeks of the campaign season. “I was very pleased with the primary numbers,” Meyer said. “I continue to hear that people like the idea that I will bring back ‘pro-active’ government versus the ‘re-active’ model that is currently in place. Things look good heading to the general election in November.
Vote
(continued on page 12)
With shovels in hand at Thursday’s ground-breaking ceremony were, from left, Sara Aulizia, director of construction and real estate management, Ridgeview Medical Center; Basem Hammami, RSP Architects; Matt Burow, Catalyst Construction; Mariann Wiebusch, vice president of operations, The Lutheran Home Association; Julie Herman, Ridgeview Medical Center Board of Directors; Lowell Hoffman, The Lutheran Home Association Board of Directors; Michael Klatt, president and CEO, The Lutheran Home Association; Robert Stevens, president and CEO, Ridgeview Medical Center; Mike Pingalore, mayor of Belle Plaine; Wayne Hubin, Ridgeview Medical Center Board of Directors; and John Prondzinski, vice president, Ridgeview Medical Center.
Ground Broke for Ridgeview/Lutheran Home Campus by Dan Ruud Fifteen days after a “ribboncutting” ceremony marking the opening of a second overpass in Belle Plaine, a “ground-breaking” ceremony was held just a little more than a football field length away to mark the start of construction of a nearly $20 million medical clinic, wellness center and senior housing campus at the northwest corner of the intersection of Highway 169 and County Road 3/Meridian Street. Officials from Ridgeview Medical Center, The Lutheran Home Association and the City of Belle Plaine, some with gold shovels in hand, and others gathered at the site Thursday morning to ceremonially flip some dirt to commemorate the start of real earth-moving this week. Excavation and tree removal for what will be one of the biggest building projects in Belle Plaine history got underway Monday. Plans call for a mixeduse development that will include a three-story, 54-unit senior independent living center, a 12,900-square-foot medical clinic with future vertical expansion, and a 10,000-squarefoot health and wellness center. Ridgeview Medical Center (medical clinic and health and wellness center) and The Lutheran Home Association (senior housing facility) are teaming on the project. The senior care center is proposed to be constructed over a 36-space underground parking facility (there will also be 167
City Council Orders Final Plans for 2017 Street Improvement Work Veterans Park Helicopter to Get a Makeover by Dan Ruud The Belle Plaine City Council Monday night unanimously directed the city engineer to prepare the final plans and specifications on the city’s proposed 2017 street and utility improvement project. The project is estimated to cost a little over $1.2 million, about 72 percent of which would be paid for by the city and 28 percent by benefitting property owners. The project area would include West Main Street be-
tween Buffalo and Crest streets, and Elk Street between West Main and State streets. Prior to the public hearing that preceded the council’s vote, City Engineer Joe Duncan gave the audience of about two dozen people from the project area an overview of the proposed improvements and why they need to be done. He presented photos of poor street conditions and structural deficiencies in the infrastructure. Although no one from the audience expressed opposition to the need for the project, a few did speak regarding their assessments and the terms, which will be further addressed at the final assessment hearing that will be held when the project
is nearing completion and final assessments are known. A woman who lives on West Main Street told the council her preliminary assessment is nearly $9,000, which is on top of some $4,000 she was assessed for an improvement project a few years ago. She said her family is considering selling the house in the near future and that the assessments will make it difficult to sell. Duncan said there is an assessment appeal
City Council
(continued on page 12)
surface spaces). The campus will be accessed from Commerce Drive West. According to Ridgeview Vice President John Prondzinski, the estimated cost of the clinic and health and wellness center portion of the project is between $7 million and $8 million, while the estimated cost of the senior
living facility is $11 million. The contractor for the project is Catalyst Construction of Milwaukee, Wis. The campus is expected to be completed by next July. The first to speak at Thursday’s ceremony was Ridgeview President and CEO Robert Stevens.
“We’re very, very pleased to be a part of Belle Plaine going forward,” said Stevens, who praised the City of Belle Plaine‘s “foresight” in initiating the project and The Lutheran
Ground Broke
(continued on page 14)
A Turbulent River Fishin’ Contest by Dan Ruud The river was on the rise from start to finish at this past Friday’s and Saturday’s 41st annual Belle Plaine River Fishin’ Contest, and with it came a potent current carrying uprooted threes, branches and other debris downstream. To top it off, it rained the first several hours of the contest, quit for a while and resumed raining in the late-night hours. The rise in the river was due to soaking rains in much of the Minnesota River Valley earlier in the week. One fisherman said he was tracking the rise of the river with a stick, and that it was coming up about 1 1/2 inches an hour late Friday and early Saturday. But all the above, which was the talk of the day at Court Square Park (contest headquarters) on sunny Saturday, did not prevent the capture of three flathead catfish in excess of 41 pounds, five in excess of 31 pounds and eight in excess of 22 pounds. All three 41-pluspounders were weighed only minutes into Saturday’s 8 a.m. weigh-in start, which continued until 4 p.m. There were 207 registered participants in the contest. The $2,000 grand prize went to Joe Krueger of Pipestone, who hooked and reeled in a 42.45-pound flathead sometime between 2-3 a.m. Saturday from a boat “not far” from the Belle Plaine river bridge. That was as specific as Kruger would get when asked about his fishing location. He said he used a chub for bait. Less than a pound behind Krueger’s fish was a flathead caught by last year’s winner, Chris Baynes, of Mankato. His fish tipped the scale at 41.55 pounds. His winning flathead last year was 41.50 pounds, good for $2,000. This year’s catch netted Baynes $800. The third-place flathead, good for $400, was caught by
Steve Martin of Farmington. It weighed in at 41.20 pounds. What was advertised as an Alumacraft canoe for the captor of the 10th largest catfish was changed to an Alumacraft Jon boat. Winning it was Linus Anderson of North Mankato with a 27.35-pound flathead. Receiving a D&H custom river rod for reeling in the fourth largest catfish was Ethan Passon of Mankato with a 39.40pound flathead. Catching the largest catfish that is not a flathead was Alex
Schlueter of Montrose with a 15.25-pound channel cat. It was the 21st largest fish caught in the contest. Catching the fifth through ninth largest catfish, all good for $60, were Jake Robinson of Shakopee (37.35 pounds), Brian Streit of Mankato (36.80 pounds), Kyle Baynes of Elko New Market (35.00 pounds), Bill Swalve of North Mankato (31.65 pounds) and Terry
River Fishin’
(continued on page 14)
Joe Kruger of Pipestone, who had this photo taken on the banks of the river near the Belle Plaine bridge, won this year’s River Fishin’ Contest with this 42.45-pound flathead.