Belle plaine herald february 15, 2017

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Boys’ Hoops Team Readying for Home Stretch

Road to State Wrestling Tourney to Go Through Jordan Saturday

Chili Cook-off in Belle Plaine This Saturday Page 12

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ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SIXTH YEAR

BELLE PLAINE, MINNESOTA, february 15, 2017

75¢ SINGLE COPY

NUMBER 7

City Puts Finishing Touches on Veterans Park Display Resolution, Final Vote Next

Dome Work Workers and crane operators lowered a 180,000-plus pound dome onto a new commercial building at Jim’s Apple Barn on Highway 169 just northeast of Belle Plaine in St. Lawrence Township Friday morning (Feb. 10). The addition to the business that markets itself as “Minnesota’s Largest Candy Store” is 62-feet tall and 60-feet across. The building permit for the new building lists its value as $500,000. Robert Wagner, owner of Jim’s Apple Barn, said the equipment in it will be worth just over $500,000. Wagner declined a request for specifics on the new attraction. It is scheduled to open May 25.

Brittney Carlson (left) and her sister, Tanya (right), met with U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota Saturday, Jan. 21, at the Women’s March. Klobuchar greeted the Minnesotans who traveled overnight to the National Mall in Washington, D.C. for the rally and march by the White House. About 500,000 people, mostly women, rallied in opposition to newly-inaugurated President Donald Trump’s policies on women, the environment and immigration.

Belle Plaine Area Women Wanted Their Voices Heard Carlson Sisters Traveled to ‘Women’s March’ in Nation’s Capital

Their trip to Washington, D.C. was initially planned to celebrate Democrat Hillary Clinton becoming the United States’ next president, the first woman to hold the nation’s highest elected office. But the way the presidential election unfolded, Belle Plaine High School graduates Brittney and Tanya Carlson couldn’t sit idly by and accept the results without taking action. The daughters of Terry and Randy Carlson, Tanya and her younger sister, Brittney, were among a group of Minnesotans who traveled to Washington, D.C. in about a dozen coach buses Jan. 20 to be a part of over 500,000 people – mostly women – who rallied in protest of newly inaugurated President Donald Trump’s positions on women and his policies on im-

migration, economics and the environment. When the Republican Trump won the presidency, without winning the popular vote, Tanya Carlson said she and her sister decided at the last minute to pay the $250 per-person fee to make the trip to the rally and march in Washington, D.C. “They are both strong, independent, well-informed young women,” said Randy Carlson, a longtime BPHS math teacher and coach. “They will work for what they believe is right and are willing to be active in their beliefs.” Tanya and Brittney’s parents were among the estimated 90,000-plus people at a similar rally in St. Paul at the state capitol, one of several sister marches around the world. The stated intent of marchers was to promote civil rights, gender equality, diversity and inclusion. “It’s just something I had to do for myself,” Tanya Carlson, a school counselor in the BOLD (Bird Island, Olivia, Lake Lillian District) School District, said of the trip to Washington,

by Dan Ruud As early as next Tuesday (Feb. 21), the Belle Plaine City Council is expected to put its final stamp of approval on a resolution establishing a limited public forum at Veterans Memorial Park in Belle Plaine. On Feb. 6, before one of the largest audiences ever to attend a city council meeting in Belle Plaine, the council voted 3-2 to pursue a limited public forum at Veterans Memorial Park. Mayor Chris Meyer directed the city attorney to draft the final language for the forum, which has since been completed. That language is summarized below. The cross honoring veterans at the park was removed last month by the city and Belle Plaine Veterans Club after members of the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), based in Wisconsin, demanded that the action be taken because the law clearly states that religious symbols are not permitted on government-owned property. Belle Plaine City Attorney Bob Vose recommended that the cross be removed to avoid potentially costly legal action by the FFRF. Following immense outrage by the public, particularly on social media, the council was convinced to rethink its stand on the cross issue and to soon return it to the memorial at Veterans Park. Andy Parrish of Belle Plaine, a spokesperson for the return of the cross, addressed the council at length at the Feb. 6 meeting. He then introduced Doug Wardlow, an attorney for Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which has agreed to represent Belle Plaine (without charge) should any legal action be taken against the city for allowing the cross to be returned to Veterans Park. Wardlow stood by Parrish’s statements and described the group’s limited public forum proposal as a sound legal tool to defeat the FFRF. However, when asked, Wardlow could not fully assure that lawsuits or

Veterans Display (continued on page 4)

Vets Eager to Return Cross A Defend Veterans Park Facebook page was established recently to help rally support for the return of the cross to Veterans Park. Its supporters look forward to the day when the cross honoring Belle Plaine’s war dead will be legally reinstalled. The following was posted on the group’s page following the council’s 3-2 vote last week to establish a limited public forum at the park, which will allow for the cross to be reinstalled: The Grave marker of the Fallen Soldier will not be reattached until the city gets their new policy in place (which will happen at the next council meeting on Feb. 21st). BUT IT IS GOING BACK ON! Looking at the last weekend in February. We will post here as soon as we have a day and time so those that want to be there can! We thank you all for the overwhelming support! NOW LET’S SUPPORT OUR CITY! At the top of the Defend Veterans Park Facebook page, it states: “A group of out-of-state atheists demanded a statue of a vet be removed from a city park. Our veterans defended us. Now we need to defend them.” Although it was not the kneeling veteran or the rifle that the FFRF sought removal of (just the cross), Andy Parrish of the Defend Veterans Park Facebook page said “it’s open to interpretation.” “Mine is if you remove a portion of it, then the entire monu-

ment is not there, and therefore, it is not displayed as intended.” The Freedom From Religion Foundation, which successfully sought the removal of the cross, issued a press release dated Feb. 7, the day after the Belle Plaine City Council’s vote to allow the eventual return of the cross through a limited public forum policy. In summary, the press release states that “the Freedom From Religion Foundation is troubled about a Minnesota city backtracking on its removal of a cross from a public veterans park.” “FFRF is very concerned by this turn of events. It finds the new policy to be subterfuge to keep the cross at a government veterans memorial. The purpose behind the newly proposed limited public forum is religiously motivated – to keep a Christian cross on government property – and thus calls into question the constitutionality of the policy.” The press release also states that if the proposal goes forward, FFRF will also consider proposing a memorial of its own to atheists in foxholes. The full text of its proposed display in Belle Plaine would read: “In honor of atheists in foxholes and the countless freethinkers who have served this country with honor and distinction. With hope that in the future hu-

Vets Eager

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B.P. Area Women (continued on page 12)

Longtime B.P. Businessman Al Hennen Dies Alvin Hennen, who operated Hennen Super Service in Belle Plaine for nearly four decades, died Monday at The Belle Plaine Lutheran Home. He was 81. Hennen, well known to many in Belle Plaine for his popular gas station and auto service center along South Meridian Street, was one of the original members of the Belle Plaine Ambulance Service, for which he served 16 years. He was also a member of the Belle Plaine Knights of Columbus. Tamara Schmidt and her husband Mike (who was out on a delivery) picked a busy week to Hennen’s obituary appears on open The Fabulous Flower Market at 102 Main Street W. The couple moved the business to page 3. downtown Belle Plaine Thursday (Feb. 9) from Jordan. Tamara spent the days before Valentine’s Day and Valentine’s Day itself putting together arrangements. She expected to go through 500 red roses for Valentine’s Day orders. A full-service flower market, they provide flowers for all occasions, she said. The shop also features vintage hand-made crafts from local artisans.

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