Lutheran Home Campus Couple Still Valentine’s
Scott West No. 4 Seed for Section Tourney
Miss Belle Plaine Meets Royalty at Winter Carnival Page 2
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ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FIFTH YEAR
BELLE PLAINE, MINNESOTA, FEBRUARY 10, 2016
75¢ SINGLE COPY
NUMBER 6
Kevin Studnicka to Retire as Scott County Sheriff in May County Board Will Likely Consider Appointing Hennen as New Sheriff
County Sheriff Chief Deputy Luke Hennen as the county’s new sheriff for the remainder of the four-year term Studnicka won in 2014. The board may consider a resolution appointing Hennen as the new sheriff
Scott County Sheriff Kevin Studnicka is planning to retire
SnowFest Week Belle Plaine High School is observing its annual SnowFest this week. The 2016 SnowFest royalty are guys, from left, Derek Guscette, Jed Fahey, Mitchel Stier, Stephen LaJeunesse and Patrick Selly. The gals are Bridget Egan, McKenzie Koepp, Kali Gorman, Anna Donkhong and Nicole Bauleke. Various SnowFest activities are taking place throughout the week, culminating with Friday’s dance (grades 9-12) from 9 p.m. to midnight at Oak Crest Elementary School.
BPHS Wins Section One-Act Play Title, Moves on to St. Paul
Luke Hennen
Tuesday (Feb. 16) or during an upcoming meeting. At a recent county board meeting, commissioners all reported individual meetings with Studnicka to inform them of his deKevin Studnicka cision to retire in May and win from law enforcement in May. approval for Hennen’s appointTuesday (Feb. 16), the county ment as the chief elected law enboard is expected to consider forcement officer in the county. a resolution appointing Scott Four of the five commissioners
have also reported separate individual private meetings with Hennen. The meetings were reportedly to present his plans for the sheriff’s office should he be appointed as Studnicka’s successor. Commissioner Joe Wagner of Sand Creek Township said he declined to meet with Hennen. The sheriff’s office provides primary law enforcement in the county’s townships. Cities have their own police departments. The Scott County Sheriff’s Office operates the county jail, provides security for district courts and operates a civil process service. Studnicka has 30 years in law enforcement, 25 with the Scott County Sheriff’s Office. A graduate of the FBI Academy and National Sheriff’s Institute in Colorado, his career includes work as a Belle Plaine patrol officer in the late-1980s before he joined the Scott County Sheriff’s Office. The county’s 18th sheriff, Studnicka was first elected
Studnicka
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Will Go on Stage 11 a.m. Thursday The Belle Plaine High School one-act play, “Anatomy of Gray,” will be vying for its 12th starred performance rating at the state level in program history when it competes at this Thursday’s Minnesota State High School Class 1A One-Act Play Festival at O’Shaughnessy Auditorium on the campus of St. Catherine University in St. Paul. “Anatomy of Gray” beat out seven other plays at Saturday’s Section 2A One-Act Play Festival in Jordan. Only the firstplace play advances to state. Finishing second was Mountain Lake with its play “The Middle of Yesterday.” Other schools competing at Jordan Saturday were defending section champion Maple River, Le SueurHenderson, Medford, Springfield, St. Clair and St. Peter. “We were rated ‘exemplary’ by two of the judges in all five categories they rank us in, including physical characterizations, vocal characterizations, technical elements, educational value and overall effectiveness of ensemble. The third judge gave us all ‘excellent’ ratings,” said Tony Hartmann, who along with Carol Hannon-Orr is BPHS’s codirector. Belle Plaine will perform at approximately 11 a.m. this Thursday. Plays continue throughout the day and the cost is $10 for both adults and students for a single session (four plays). A daily pass can be purchased for $15. The first play is at 9:15 a.m. and the last starts at 4 p.m. All the section champions in 1A and their performance times Thursday are Trinity School at River Ridge (9:15 a.m.), Browerville-Eagle Valley (10 a.m.), Belle Plaine (11 a.m.), East Central (11:45 a.m.), Hawley (1:30 p.m.), Russell-TylerRuthton (2:15 p.m.), Fillmore Central (3:15 p.m.) and Bagley (4 p.m.). Belle Plaine’s “Anatomy of Gray” tells the story of June Muldoon, a 15-year-old girl growing up in a small Indiana town in the 1880s. When June’s father dies, she prays for a healer to come to the small town so that no one will ever
Seated at the table above (furthest left) during last week’s Gala-Palooza event at Matt Saxe Chevrolet-Buick is Sony Messenbring of Belle Plaine Festivals and Events. To her right (counterclockwise) are, Jean Murphy, Joe Murphy, Matt Fogarty, Ryan Laager and Marty Fahey.
Chamber, EDA Hold ‘Gala’ Event
Kali Gorman was among the BPHS cast and crew members who got a hug from codirector Carol Hannon-Orr shortly after receiving confirmation that Belle Plaine’s play, “Anatomy of Gray,” won the section title Saturday at Jordan. Gorman, Approximately 60 people ata senior, will be participating in her fourth state one-act play tended Belle Plaine’s first-ever business Gala-Palooza last competition this Thursday in St. Paul. Wednesday at Matt Saxe Chevsuffer again. The next thing she Drowsy Professor.” The school rolet-Buick. The Belle Plaine knows, there’s a tornado and earned previous starred ratings Chamber of Commerce and a man in a balloon blows into at state in 1993, 1997, 1999, Economic Development Au2000, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, thority co-sponsored the event town claiming to be a doctor. to thank local business owners At first, the new doctor cures 2012 and 2013. anything and everything, but The judges consult after each and investors in Belle Plaine. soon the town’s preacher takes production and then openly cri- Mayor Mike Pingalore thanked ill with a mysterious plague, tique each in front of the cast, those attending, noting that “rewhich begins to spread. The crew and audience. “Starred tail and service businesses and play deals with death, loss, love performance” ratings are de- local industries are crucial parts and healing in a unique coming- termined by private balloting of our local economy. Your of the judges. One school from strength and success contribute of-age story. This year’s Belle Plaine cast each of eight sections in each exponentially to our quality of class gets to perform at the state life.” and crew are: Pingalore also recognized Jonah Meyer (Gray), Hannah level. Burmeister (June), Megan Lit- Some 300 Minnesota high 2015 business start-ups, busitlepage (Rebekah), Noah Re- schools participated in one-act nesses that expanded in 2015, utzel (Phineas), Rachel Fahey play this season, including over and business ownership chang(Tiny), Stephen LaJeunesse 200 in Class 1A, the final eight es and mergers. (Crutch), Kali Gorman (Belva), of which will be competing This upscale casual networkGriffin Ruud (Homer) and Tay- Thursday. ing event was a change from the Judges’ Comments lor Thompson (Maggie). traditional EDA and Chamber The townspeople are played Below are some of the judges’ of Commerce Awards Banquet by Aryanna Albee, Neil Big- remarks after viewing Belle from past years. The change aouette, Taylor Cote, John Plaine’s performance at section was brought about as one of the initiatives gleaned from the Franck, Jennifer He, Hunter on Saturday: Meyer, Bryce Nelson, Emma Judge 1: Stunning opening! Business Retention and ExpanSalden and Patrick Selly. Lovely ensemble work – not a sion Grant program in 2014. The event featured a unique The crew consists of Drew weak link. Keup and Kolby Spomer. Beautiful set and costumes. venue at the dealership and amThe BPHS one-act play group One-Act earned its 11th starred rating in program history at state with (continued on page 12) its 2014 production of “The
biance provided by Matthew Griswold, a Minnesota-based musician, singer and songwriter. Appetizers, beverages and networking opportunities were provided. Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Kelly Melo reemphasized that the event provided an opportunity for expressing appreciation for local businesses. “We are grateful that local businesses decided to choose our community for their endeavors. We look forward to helping support all businesses’ future goals.”
Pingalore spoke about the “positive changes” taking place within the city and gave a shout out to the business owners who worked with the city and EDA on projects over the past year. Chamber board members and city council members Paul Chard and Henry Pressley also attended the event. Organizers hope Gala-Palooza will become an annual tradition, an opportunity for the chamber and EDA to thank businesses for their contribution to the city and an opportunity for business representatives to mingle and network in a unique atmosphere.
State Bank of Belle Plaine Gets High Rating from National Publication The State Bank of Belle Plaine has received an A+ national financial health rating from DepositAccounts.com, one of the nation’s leading bank healthmonitoring publications. “The bank stood out in all of the primary evaluation categories, including Texas Ratio, Deposit Growth and Capitalization,” stated Patrick Russo of DepositAccounts.com. “The A+ rating also places State Bank in the highest tier (top 10
percent) of the approximately 13,000 federally-insured banks and credit unions nationwide in terms of financial health.” Each fiscal quarter, Deposit Accounts.com evaluates the financial health of every federally-insured bank in the United States – more than 6,200 total. Each institution is graded on a number of factors, including capitalization, deposit growth and loan to reserve ratios, in order to determine a comprehensive health rating.