Area Family to be in Tournament of Roses Parade
Belle Plaine/Jordan High School Hoops Teams to Play Doubleheader for Benefit Page 7
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ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-THIRD YEAR
BELLE PLAINE, MINNESOTA, DECEMBER 31, 2014
75¢ SINGLE COPY
NUMBER 1
If Conferences Are Important, Should More Parents Attend? Has Technology Made Traditional Parent-Teacher Conferences Obsolete?
Belle Plaine Junior-Senior High School administrators, staff and the school board want better attendance at parentteacher conferences. But the district’s investment in technology might be working against that goal. Parent-teacher conferences are important, they say. But Superintendent Kelly Smith says he can imagine a day five years from now when the district cuts Nearly 7 inches of rain, running down a saturated hillside north of County Road 6 (Scenic the time dedicated to them in Byway) in Faxon Township in mid-June, undercut the roadbed and eventually washed away, half. taking a huge chunk of the county road with it. 2014 is believed to have had the wettest first six months of a year in the Twin Cities region since 1871.
Results from the latest round of elementary school parentteacher conferences had well over 90 percent of the families represented by at least one parent. But for junior-senior high school families, participation in the meetings with teachers drops to about 40 percent, Smith said. At both levels, the conferences give parents the chance to meet the teacher, hear and see how their child is doing in a teacher’s class, if there are any academic or behavioral issues of concern, and discuss what to do about them. “I do believe having parents as involved as possible at all ages is paramount to their children’s success. It is easier to be more involved when they are young-
er as well, but no less important when they are in high school,” said Mike Ludvik, the school board’s acting chairperson. “Conferences are worth attending because there is nothing that can replace the face to face communication between two individuals,” said Allison Jacobson, an English teacher at the senior high school. In Joel Otto’s computer lab classes – computer game design, web design, publications and tech skills – he sees two levels of parent participation. Otto estimates the parent(s) of one in 10 junior high-schoolers
School Conferences (continued on page 10)
The Year in Review Assortment of Stories from Mudslides to iPads Make Up 2014 Top 10 List
Extreme weather, a familiar mid-summer classic and the growing need to keep up with technology, even in kindergarten, combined to head the list of Top 10 news stories in Belle Plaine in 2014. Area roads and hillsides were decimated following one of the wettest springs on record here. The hardest hit area was Blakeley, where a number of residents had to temporarily find housing elsewhere due to damaged homes and lack of safe access to and from the village and surrounding countryside, which became the Herald’s No. 1 news story of 2014. No. 2 on the list was perhaps the most profitable Bar-B-Q Days Belle Plaine has ever had as sales increased significantly across the board, partially because of “great weather.” BarB-Q Days 2014 was also the first one to feature a female as the overall winner of the Bull Run. While weather and Bar-B-Q Days are no strangers when it comes to Top 10 stories in Belle Plaine, coming in at No. 3 in 2014 was a new arrival to the list - iPad minis. The Belle Plaine School District spent over $1 million to ensure that every student in kindergarten through 12th grade has one to help with their education. Plenty of other happenings in Belle Plaine warranted Top 10 notice in 2014, including the introduction of traffic lights to the town, the end to what was an eventful search for a new city administrator, the hosting of the state amateur baseball tournament, the city’s continued quest to get a second bridge built over Highway 169, the November General Election, the opening of Our Lady of the Prairie Catholic Church’s new Parish Life Center and a lot of big achievements on the local high school sports front. Included on pages 2 and 11 is a recap of the first six months of 2014. The Year in Review will continue next Wednesday.
Top 10 Stories of 2014
(1) Rains and Mudslides – Flooded basements and crop fields, landslides, downed trees and washed out roads were the aftermath when the second major rain event to strike the Belle Plaine area in three weeks occurred June 18-19. The first was May 31 into the early hours of June 1. According to the county rain gauge at the Ewald and Adella Gruetzmacher farm in Belle Plaine, 4.10 inches of rain fell late June 18, which was followed by 3.50 inches the following morning, bringing the total for June up to that point to 11.80 inches. That was on top of 7.86 inches that fell in May, including 4.14 inches on May 31. This is believed to be the wettest first six months of a year in the Twin Cities region since 1871. Numerous Belle Plaine homes experienced flooded basements, especially south of Highway 169. The Belle Plaine City Council held an emergency special session June 19 to declare a State of Emergency, the purpose of which was to get the attention of higher levels of government in hopes of obtaining aid. Scott County declared a State of Emergency on June 23. Dozens of Blakeley residents, the hardest hit community, had to be evacuated from their homes after mudslides forced almost all the roads in and out of the community to be closed for days, weeks and months. Some homes were also damaged. Many Blakeley residents attended a Scott County-sponsored flood-related informational meeting June 23 at the Belle Plaine Fire Hall.
A Day Late
Belle Plaine and the rest of the Twin Cities region missed out on a white Christmas by just a little over a day as a few inches of snow fell Friday night, turning what were some green (not brown) lawns white following a very mild and damp December. Saturday (Dec. 27), Larry Segna cleared snow from a neighbor’s driveway on the 100 block of North Walnut Street. It’s a certainty that Belle Plaine and the rest of the area will be treated to a white New Year’s as temperatures are forecast to remain well below the freezing mark today (Wednesday) and Thursday.
(2) Huge Bar-B-Q Days Sales and a 'First' –
Some free air conditioning from Mother Nature on Friday and Saturday (July 18 and 19) before Sunday’s typical July temps helped lead to increased Bar-B-Q Days sales across the board during at the 56th annual event. Saturday morning’s cloudy, cool weather made for ideal running conditions and teenager and Pizza Plus employee Tess Misgen made the most of it as she became the first female to ever take “overall” first place in the Bar-B-Q Days Bull Run. Hannah Preusser was crowned the new Miss Belle Plaine and was joined in the 2014-15 royal court by First Princess Kaylee Shields, Second Princess Rylee Pumper and Miss Congeniality Kylee Pass. The grand marshals of the parade were Bob and Maureen Kahle. The Beef Stand had total sales of $51,598.49, which was some $8,000 more than last year ($43,549.21). Sandwiches cost $3.50 apiece, the same as in recent years. The Beer Garden experienced far more sales as well – $69,411.05 compared to $57,436.55 and nearly $20,000 more than three years ago. Carnival ride sales also boomed, up almost $10,000 over last year – $64,993.50 compared to $55,604.00. The cost of ride tickets was slightly more than in 2013. (3) iPads Spell $$$ – In a special meeting on May 12, the Belle Plaine School Board approved a proposal to provide all 1,600-plus students with the use of an iPad mini, a smaller version of an iPad, and 60 Chromebooks on carts. Directors unanimously approved providing the devices to junior and senior highschoolers. They approved by a 4-2 vote expanding the program to kindergarten and elementary students. Directors Joe Vandermark and Mike Ludvik opposed the expansion to the elementary school students. The devices would cost about $1.04 million, which included $310,000 in upgrades to the district’s Internet system. (4) City Introduced to Traffic Lights – There was no traffic light control signal system in Belle Plaine until workers from Granite Ledge Electrical Contractors installed a four-way system at the intersection of East Main Street/Highway 25 and Old Highway 169 Boulevard in May. The traffic light control signal system was part of the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s (Mn/DOT) overall plan for the interchange, which was constructed and opened several years ago. The agreement stated that when Mn/DOT determines a traffic light control signal system is deemed warranted, it will be installed.
Top 10
(continued on page 6)
Johan’s Sports Bar and Grill bartenders Kay Otto and Tom Flowers, along with Belle Plaine Chamber of Commerce Gambling Manager Tom Meger (right), received some training Tuesday morning on the use of iPads for electronic charitable gambling.
Just in Time for the New Year
Electronic Gaming Debuts in Belle Plaine
Johan’s Sports Bar and Grill downtown became the first Belle Plaine establishment to provide electronic charitable gaming on Tuesday with the introduction of two iPads and a soon-to-be installed 21-inch gaming screen at the bar. “It (electronic gaming) is really catching on,” said Jeff Stark of Triple Crown Gaming, the distributor of the devices. He
was at Johan’s Tuesday morning helping show employees, including bartenders Kay Otto and Tom Flowers, how the devices work. Just like pulltabs, customers will pay the bartender to use the iPad, which is equipped with dozens of different games, for whatever amount he or she wants to play with – whether it be 50 cents or $50 at a time. Johan’s will continue to offer the traditional pulltabs as well. Just like pulltabs, a large percentage of the proceeds from
electronic gaming at Johan’s will go to the Belle Plaine Chamber of Commerce, and “not the new Vikings stadium,” which Stark said is a common misconception among Minnesotans when it comes to electronic gaming. Tom Meger, the chamber’s gambling manager, said electronic gaming at Johan’s will initially be on a trial basis, and depending on demand, the bar could eventually order more iP-
Electronic Gaming (continued on page 12)