Junior/Senior High First Quarter Honor Roll
BPHS Hoops Teams Off to Rough Starts
Belle Plaine Holiday Event Photos Page 14
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ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FOURTH YEAR
BELLE PLAINE, MINNESOTA, DECEMBER 9, 2015
75¢ SINGLE COPY
NUMBER 50
Lutheran Home, Ridgeview Announce Plans for Health and Wellness Campus Plan Includes 55-Unit Housing Complex
Belle Plaine’s (from left) Tina Soller, Lisa Fahey, Chris Skluzacek and Jodi Kechely teamed up to help their longtime friend, Robin Claassen, as she mourns the tragic death of her husband, Roger. Fahey and the group wrote a letter to radio station KDWB, which selected Claassen as the first recipient of this year’s “Christmas Wish” program.
B.P. Women Turn to Airwaves to Help a Friend During Holidays KDWB Grants ‘Christmas Wish’
On the way home from a luncheon after Roger Claassen’s funeral in October, a group of Belle Plaine women talked about how they could help their friend in the coming months as she mourned the loss of her husband. Last Tuesday (Dec. 1), with the help of radio station KDWB, the group made good on an ongoing pledge to support their friend since junior high, Robin (Yahnke) Claassen. Lisa (Carlson) Fahey, Tina (Johnson) Soller, Jodi (Fahey) Kechely and Chris (Anderson) Skluzacek grew up in Belle Plaine with Yahnke. Yahnke’s parents moved Princeton, Minn. when she was in eighth grade. The approximately 80 miles between Belle Plaine and Princeton couldn’t weaken the bond between the quintet. Despite the move, the group – members of BPHS’s Class of 1990 -- reunited during long weekends, holiday breaks from school and summer vacations over the years. Claassen frequently came back to Belle Plaine, both to see her friends and visit family that still lives in the area. She married her high school sweetheart in September of
The Lutheran Home Association (TLHA) and Ridgeview Medical Center have announced they are planning a new health and wellness destination in Belle Plaine. The campus will feature a clinic connected to a senior living facility on a 12acre site near the northwest corner of Highway 169 and County Road 3. Focusing on community needs and wants, the project will promote rehabilitation and well-
ness in addition to offering specialty providers and premier senior living. “By providing a health and wellness campus for the community members, including seniors, we are investing in the long-term future of individuals,” said Michael Klatt, TLHA’s president and CEO. “It is a privilege to have the opportunity to continue to serve Belle Plaine and the surrounding areas.” Family practice and internal medicine will form the basis of care at the clinic, with ad-
ditional providers offering pediatrics, orthopedics, dermatology and obstetrics. TLHA has committed to constructing 55 units of housing encompassing a mixture of independent and assisted living. The nonprofit currently has 178 senior living units on its 22-acre Belle Plaine campus. Last month, the Belle Plaine City Council approved an amendment to the purchase agreement it made earlier this
Lutheran Home (continued on page 4)
Favorable Weather Results in Steady Progress on Bridge Embankments, Pier Belle Plaine City Engineer Joe Duncan reports this week that the general contractor (S.M. Hentges and Sons of Jordan) has taken advantage of favorable weather this fall. “Late-season rains did little to slow progress, rather they helped achieve density in the compacted granular material. Steady progress has slowly revealed the recognizable bridge embankments on either side of Highway 169.
“Other work completed to date includes city utility work on the south side of Highway 169 and partial construction of the pier located in the Highway 169 median,” Duncan continued. “The northbound Highway 169 left turn lane at County Road 3 was also modified to accommodate the median pier, yet still allow traffic to make this movement until the overpass is open to traffic.” Duncan said that the fall work
will soon “come to an abrupt halt” as the embankment is completed and the borrow site is secured for the winter. No work is scheduled for the winter months (January through March) and is expected to resume in April. Duncan added that when the bridge opens, which is expected to be next August, both median left turn lanes will be removed. The final completion date for the project is Oct. 14.
Claassen and her daughters (from left) Megan, Grace and Allison have gifts beneath the tree at the family home in Princeton this Christmas thanks to KDWB’s “Christmas Wish” and friends back in Belle Plaine. (Photo courtesy KDWB) 2001. She and Roger had three daughters – Megan, 19; Grace, 10; and Allison, 8. Monday evening, Oct. 19, Roger Claassen was riding his motorcycle on county road in Baldwin Township, not far from their house. Around 7:30
p.m., a deer struck him. A group of witnesses went to help him any way they could, but as the witnesses approached Claassen, the driver of an oncoming
Help a Friend
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A good-sized fire kept visitors warm while listening to Christmas carols and awaiting the lighting of Belle Plaine’s community Christmas tree.
Three Speak at Tax Hearing, Tell City Council Taxes Are Too High by Dan Ruud Only three people from the audience spoke during Monday night’s city truth in taxation public hearing at Belle Plaine City Hall but each one of them had plenty to say. Starting out was Mark Warner, who said his taxes are so high that when he spoke to an assessor about it he was told he “should talk to the city council because it’s the most taxed city in Scott County.” Paul Chard, one of just three council members present because Mayor Mike Pingalore was out of town and recently appointed council member Henry Pressley has not yet been sworn in, told Warner that the city has in recent years spent money to help bring more people and industry to Belle Plaine. One example Chard brought up was the overpass project scheduled to be completed next
year, which the council hopes will in the long term help ease the local tax burden. However, Chard did not disagree with Warner that current taxes are too high, nor did fellow Council Member Gary Trost. “There are two people on this council who voted against this (2016) budget – me and Paul (Chard),” said Trost, who along with Chard accounted for the no votes during the council’s 3-2 vote in November to approve a 3.4 percent property tax levy increase for 2016. The other two speakers from
the audience, Trace Selly and Bob Behnke, echoed much of what Warner had to say. Selly said that “common discussion in Belle Plaine is that taxes here are way too high and there are a lot of disappointed people.” He added that his family recently built a new home in Belle Plaine and they have become very concerned about the tax situation and hope that they won’t end up “having to move away” like a number of other
Tax Hearing
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Still Time to Sign Up for Home Decorating Contest You can sign up now to enter the Belle Plaine Rotary Club’s annual Holiday Home Lighting Contest. Judging will take place Dec. 18-19 and winners will be announced in the Herald on Dec. 23, including photographs of
the top decorated homes. Prizes will also be awarded, for which the Rotary is seeking contributions from local business and organizations. To have your home placed on the list for judging, contact Diane Skelley at 952-873-2467.
Visiting With Santa Megan Zwick, 6, and her younger brother, Elijah, 2, visited with Santa and Mrs. Claus last Thursday evening (Dec. 3) at the Belle Plaine Historical Society Museum adjacent to the Hooper-Bowler-Hillstrom Historical House. The Zwicks and a few hundred other Belle Plaine and area residents visited the house for the lighting of Belle Plaine’s community Christmas tree. The evening included carolers, crafts, cookies, wagon rides and door prizes.