wednesday, august 26, 2015
BELLE PLAINE HERALD, BELLE PLAINE, MINNESOTA
Thirty Years Ago This Week
Sylvester Mahoney, died in Minneapolis at the age of 81. Timothy T. Sullivan, a lifelong resident of the St. Thomas community, died at a hospital in St. Paul. He was 84 years old. Donna Mae Donnelly, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Martin Donnelly of Webster, became the bride of William J. Shaughnessy, son of Mrs. Richard Shaughnessy of St. Thomas. Mrs. Amanda Swanson, native of West Union, died at Swedish Hospital at the age of 79. Gene O’Brien, former Belle Plaine baseball great, who switched his athletic talents to golf that summer, won his opening round in the State Amateur Golf Tournament at the Minnesota Valley course.
90 Years Ago (1925)
New High School Faculty New to the Belle Plaine High School faculty for the 1985-86 school year were back row, from left, Helen Carr (educable mentally handicapped and work experience teacher), Nancy Kopperud (vocal music teacher) and Mark Moselle (counselor). In the front row are Sarajane Myers (mathematics teacher), Lisa Schmidt (librarian) and Cheri Hanna (PLUS program).
New Elementary School Faculty New to the Belle Plaine Elementary School faculty for the 1985-86 school year were, from left, Kristen Shannon (learning disabilities teacher), Janel Eischens (second grade teacher), Carol Wischnack (fifth and sixth grade teacher) and Gloria Hene (third grade teacher). Belle Plaine schools opened that Monday (Aug. 26) with two fewer students enrolled in the public and parochial schools compared to the start of classes in 1984. A total of 1,026 students were enrolled in the city’s schools for the 1985-86 school term as classes got underway. At Belle Plaine High School, 256 students were registered in grades 10-12. There were 211 at the junior high and 399 at the elementary school. Both Our Lady of the Prairie Catholic and Trinity Lutheran schools reported 80 students the first day. Belle Plaine fire officials and members of the city council were scratching their heads trying to figure out their next move after bids were opened for the new fire hall, with all nine of them well over the available construction monies. When legal, architectural and other fees were deducted from the $300,000 fire hall bond issue approved by voters, city officials figured they had around $225,000 to spend on construction of the new fire hall. Even the lowest bid received came in at $301,300. No action was taken to accept or reject any of the bids offered. One alternative option was to reduce the size of the building from four to three bays. The Belle Plaine district’s new county highway maintenance and storage garage was near-
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ing completion just beyond the city limits northwest of Belle Plaine on the Blakeley road. The $70,000 all-steel structure was scheduled to be finished by Sept. 15. A two-car crash involving a Le Sueur police car took the life of 77-year-old John Sullivan, formerly of the St. Thomas area. He was crossing the southbound lane of Highway 169 with Highway 93 when his 1985 Ford Tempo was struck broadside by a 1984 Ford LTD squad car being operated by 27year-old officer Mike Waldoch. There was plenty of interest in the newly-created job of Carver County administrator. The top county government job had attracted 38 applications with 10 days remaining before the application deadline. Over the past 14 years, Edwin Possin of Belle Plaine, a 70-year-old retired machinist, had driven or flown to numerous foreign countries and many spots in the United States to lend a skilled hand in the construction of churches and schools. Ronald A. Bloomquist, 41, of Jordan, passed away Aug. 22 at St. Francis Regional Medical Center in Shakopee. Mr. Bloomquist was the owner of the Jordan Insurance Agency, and chairman of the Minnesota State Baseball Tournament in 1981 when Jordan and Belle Plaine co-hosted the event. The BPHS tennis team opened the 1985 season with convincing wins over Cannon Falls and Prior Lake by scores of 4-1 and 5-0, respectively. Singles winners for the Tigers were Courtney Hoelz, Sara Miller and Jill Fogarty. Also winning both their matches was the doubles team of Sally Halbmaier and Shelly Meger. Six returning letter winners from the previous season’s district championship team led a cast of 34 girls trying out for the BPHS volleyball team. Returning letter winners were seniors Tami Kankelfitz, Ann Klehr, Mitzi Westlund and All/Conference/All-State hitter Laurie
Wolpern. The other returning letter winners were junior AllConference setter and captain Julie Halquist and sophomore Deb Zabel. The BPHS football team was set to open the season that week on the road at Janesville. Neil’s Pub (men) and the Lutheran Home (women) were the playoff champions of the Belle Plaine Softball League that summer.
60 Years Ago (1955)
B.E. Rohe, vice president and general manager of Minnesota Community Telephone, announced the purchase from Harry Schultz in Belle Plaine of the north 60 feet of lot 3, block 104, on Main Street. The location was the east side of the Lux Cafe. The company planned to construct a brick and tile building to house automatic (dial) equipment. Father O’Connor, pastor of Sacred Heart parish, arrived here after spending a summer vacation in his native Ireland. Anastasia Quinn, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Quinn of Jessenland, graduated from St. Gabriel School of Nursing. Jean Townsend, accompanied by two teachers of the Seattle, Wash., schools, arrived at the Townsend home on their return after a summer spent touring Europe. Trinity Lutheran School opened with an expected enrollment of between 110 and 120 students. A new teacher was added, Barbara Wickus from Houston, Texas. Melville Schultz as principal and Hope Williams completed the faculty. Frank Latzke, lifelong resident of this community, died at his home in Belle Plaine. He was 88 years old. Mr. and Mrs. John J. Meyer observed their 40th wedding anniversary with an open house at their home near Green Isle. John Lenihan, father of Mrs.
The month just ended was said to be the driest August ever known in the area. City weather bureau verified the local opinion by showing its 50 years of records had no August as dry. J.A. Mohrbacher and his assistant, George Effertz, had gone to St. Paul to put up the Scott County booth at the State Fair. Mrs. J.B. White had given up her residence in Belle Plaine and moved to St. Paul to make her home with her son, Frank. Alwin Hespenheide was back for a visit. He was operating a bus line in the southwestern part of the state with headquarters at Preston. At the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Meierbachtol, Miss Nora Viola Meierbachtol became the bride of Jesse Saufferer of Morristown. The ceremony was performed by the uncle of the bride, Rev. E.G. Meierbachtol. Too much backseat driving was the cause of an Iowa car getting wrecked on the Devine hill in a 20-foot leap off the grade. One woman shouted to the driver to turn left, the other said right, and the driver became confused. Dr. Paul F. Meyer, who had been associated here with Dr. F.J. Von Bohland for several years, moved to Faribault with his family to take over the practice of a retiring physician. The state high department let contracts in the sum of $350,000 for the paving of the 27 miles of highway from Shakopee through Jordan and Belle Plaine to the Le Sueur County line. The M.J. Nolan Co. of Minneapolis had the contract for the Belle Plaine section. Just west of Green Isle, on the road to Arlington, a Minneapolis girl was killed when her car overturned at a sharp corner. She was librarian at the University. Andrew Trimbo died at his farm home in Jessenland after an illness of several years. Ed Eckardt scheduled a Labor Day celebration in Belle Plaine. Green Isle was coming to play the Eckardt club. He engaged a band from Glencoe to play on the streets and ball park, engaged a Minneapolis group of singers, and got a New Ulm orchestra to furnish music for a dance in the evening. Peter Kleven had gone to Carver to attend a band concert. Deciding to come early, he returned to his car to find it loaded with electric drills and other materials used in blowing safes. His car had been picked to use in burglars’ travels. No claimant showed up for the “lost” articles. August Bosel, prominent Henderson pioneer, died at the age of 84. At East Union Church took place the marriage of Miss Evelyn, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Edberg, to Bernard Olson, son of Mr. and Mrs. August Olson. Dorothy Edberg and Hildegard Olson, Emory Olson and George Edberg were the attendants.
120 Years Ago (1895)
Wheat had dropped to 48 cents for number one quality. There was a water famine on many farms. All the shallow wells had dried up. The heavy bridge planks needed for re-planking the river bridge were bought at $14 per M delivered. There was a bitter rivalry between the Twin Cities. The 1985 census showed Minneapolis increasing its population lead over St. Paul – Minneapolis 192,833 and St. Paul 140,292.
PAGE five
Letters to the Editor Dear Editor, EPA plan will cost families Recently President Obama's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued the final rule for what's known as the "Clean Power Plan." This plan is more than one thousand pages of rules and regulations that are supposedly aimed at reducing the UN fraud of global warming and carbon pollution. The net effect for families however will be huge spikes in their energy bills and the loss of thousands of jobs. Dozens of lawsuits by states and industries have been filed against this misguided energy plan. Even President Obama's own bureaucrats have admitted this plan, which could be one of the most expensive regulations ever put forward, could possibly prevent only one tenth of one degree change in global temperatures in the coming years. While it will fail in doing anything to meaningfully combat global warming, it will succeed in destroying coal jobs in North Dakota and in other states that rely on clean coal power to cheaply keep the lights on in people's homes. Minnesota's must reduce emissions from power plants by over 40% by 2030. North Dakota is required to reduce emissions 45%. This will require massive, expensive changes away from the power sources we rely on now to less efficient and reliable sources like solar and wind which simply can't produce the energy we need right now for 5 million+ Minnesota residents. This plan is nothing more than a major power play by President Obama's EPA and an attempt to punish and put out of business the remaining coal plants who have managed to survive the President's war on clean coal during his presidency. We know for a fact that clean coal is one of the least expensive and most reliable sources of energy, and attempts to move away from clean coal could risk the reliability of our entire energy grid. Technology and American ingenuity has always solved our pollution problems. Coal has had major pollution problems in the past however modern clean coal technology has virtually eliminated any pollution concerns. Fossil fuels with modern technology are environmentally friendly and provide reliable base load electricity very inexpensively. Low cost electricity is vital to our businesses, farms and families. Unfortunately the DFL green agenda is going to drive up electricity cost exponentially and do nothing for the environment. The House passed bipartisan legislation this past year that would have required the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to secure legislative approval before sending their final plan for Minnesota to the EPA. Unfortunately many environmentalist Democrats and Governor Dayton opposed these efforts, blocking any chance for the legislature and their constituents to weigh in and force changes to the plan. Effectively, Governor Dayton and his PUC bureaucrats have the power to dramatically alter Minnesota's energy policy, and refused to give the people's elected representatives the opportunity to review the plan first. The legislature will hold hearings on the Clean Power Plan later this year and next year as well and ensure that the public
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will have a chance to make their feelings known. I will be sure to send along updates when those meetings are scheduled. Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen District 18B
Dear Editor, County Benefits from University Partnership The Resilient Communities Project (RCP) is an awardwinning program at the University of Minnesota that matches community-identified projects with faculty and students to research, analyze, and develop options to address local issues. In March, the University selected Carver County through a competitive process, thereby designating Carver County as RCP’s partner community for the 2015-2016 school year. Carver County’s partnership with the University will put students to work on about 25 to 30 different projects for the County, several Cities, School District 112, the Historical Society, and SouthWest Transit. The projects will tackle such challenges as housing opportunity, transportation, human services, community development, environmental management, community relations and engagement, and effective administration. The County benefits from this partnership in many ways, including efficient access to a full range of U of MN departments and resources, increased local capacity through access to students and faculty, an infusion of energy and creativity to move projects forward, opportunities to test new ideas and make data driven decisions, and opportunities to network with young professionals entering the workforce. The University and students benefit too with opportunities to network by working handin-hand with staff, access to high-quality and well organized projects, experience applying knowledge and skills to realworld projects, ability to make a difference in a community, and visibility and recognition for their work. At a recent County work session, we had a few members of the public express concern regarding this partnership. We appreciate their concern and listen to their objections. However, the County can assure you that there is no evidence that RCP or the University of Minnesota is part of any alleged worldwide conspiracy theory related to the United Nations Agenda 21 or ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability. These are community selected projects and the communities are able to decide what to do with the information that students provide. Carver County is excited to partner with the University and its talented faculty and students to bring energy, fresh ideas, and resources to these community-identified priorities. In researching their success in other communities, including the Cities of Rosemount, North St. Paul, and Minnetonka, I am sure that Carver County and our partners will receive a great value. Sincerely, Randy Maluchnik Carver County Board Chair
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