Season Comes to Close for BPHS Dancers at Section
Boys’ Basketball Team Stays Hot
B.P. Women Involved in Refugee Rescue
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ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FIFTH YEAR
BELLE PLAINE, MINNESOTA, FEBRUARY 3, 2016
75¢ SINGLE COPY
NUMBER 5
Council Okays Final Plans for 2016 Street Work, Bids Ordered The Belle Plaine City Council addressed a very brief agenda Monday night, during which it approved the final plans and specifications for the 2016 street improvement project and authorized the advertisement of bids for the work. Bids will be received March 3 and reviewed and possibly awarded by the council on March 7. This year’s project consists of street and infrastructure improvements on Forest Street East, as well as one block of Oak Street North and two blocks of Court Street East. Also included will be the construction of a sidewalk on the south side of Forest Street to the street’s eastern terminus. The project will also include significant upgrades to the The owners of U4IC Brewing Co. enjoyed a successful opening of their taproom last weekend. stormwater system at the floodJeff Luskey, Dave Luskey and Kurt Fossen have been working on the brewery and taproom prone intersection of Oak and Forest streets. for a few years.
Following a public hearing in August, the council okayed the ordering of the final plans for the project, the estimated cost of which was $1,450,000. Approximately 75 percent of that will be paid by the city and 25 percent through assessments to benefitting property owners. The city sent out notices to 57 affected property owners. A final assessment public hearing will take place later this year after most of the project has been completed. In other business Monday night, the council unanimously approved a Joint Powers Agreement with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) for the Belle Plaine Police Department (BPPD). The purpose of the agreement is to create a method by which the BPPD has continued access to the Minnesota Criminal Justice
Data Communications Network and those systems and tools that the BPPD is authorized by law to access. *Presented Scott Schneider with a plaque of appreciation for his five years of service on the city council, economic development authority, planning and zoning commission and design committee. Schneider recently resigned from the council because he moved to Shakopee. *Unanimously appointed Tyler O’Brien as an ice rink attendant for the remainder of the skating season. The salary for the position is $9 per hour. Due to the Presidents Day holiday on Feb. 15, the next regular meeting of the Belle Plaine City Council is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 16 in the City Hall building at 218 North Meridian Street downtown.
Local Brewery Owners Euphoric Over Taproom’s First Weekend After several months of preparation, they expected a nice crowd for their first weekend. But the owners of U4IC Brewing Company’s taproom were beyond thrilled with the reception at this weekend’s opening. Jeff Luskey, Kurt Fossen and Dave Luskey welcomed hundreds of people through the taproom Friday and Saturday (Jan. 29-30). The trio had plenty of U4IC’s flagship beverages -Blakeley Pils, Low Road Altbier, Car Show American Ale, Grass Skirt Hawaiian Style Ale, Old Corn Crib American
IPA, and Beezztinger Hard Cider – for visitors to enjoy. They also poured plenty of Patrick’s Honey Pot Root Beer for visitors at the opening. “It’ll be exciting. It could be a little overwhelming,” Jeff Luskey said Thursday, the day before the taproom opened. “It’ll be good to let people know we’re in business.” They attracted such a crowd at Friday night’s opener that parking around the brewery building was at a premium. Cars and trucks were parked more than a block away from the brewery.
The trio expects that once the typical crowd is smaller, parking won’t be a problem. They had eight barrels in kegs ready for the weekend. The bottling process will begin this week, Jeff Luskey said. The opening was less formal than the grand opening the trio is planning for this spring. It allowed them to try out their brewing processes and see where adjustments in the opera-
Local Brewery (continued on page 8)
Marty Walsh (back right) and his mother, Rhonda (back left), are among the members of the Wizardz Polar Plunge team. They will be jumping into frigid water at ice-covered Hallet’s Pond Saturday in St. Peter. Polar Plunges raise money for Special Olympics. Rhonda, Marty and Deb Wert (back row, center) work with Special Olympians and other residents of Hope Residence on The Lutheran Home campus.
B.P. Tandem Knows Importance of Plunge to Special Olympians
Humor, sadness and joy are all elements in BPHS’s 2016 one-act play “Anatomy of Gray.” This photo was taken during a recent public performance at the Performing Arts Center (PAC). Another public performance, which is free, is set for 7 p.m. this Thursday at (PAC).
BPHS’s ‘Anatomy of Gray’ Wins Subsection One-Act Play Title Section Championship Meet Saturday With judges’ comments such as “the play is next to professional. I wouldn’t change a thing,” the Belle Plaine High School one-act play group captured another subsection championship with its performance of “Anatomy of Gray” in Saturday’s competition at Le SueurHenderson High School. Taking second and also advancing to this Saturday’s Sec-
tion 2A competition will be Le Sueur-Henderson with its play “A Piece of My Heart.” Also competing at subsection but not advancing were Jordan, Sibley East, Tri-City United and Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop. Joining Belle Plaine and Le Sueur-Henderson at this Saturday’s section festival at Jordan High School will be Maple River, Medford, Mountain Lake, Springfield, St. Clair and St. Peter. Belle Plaine will be the last play performed this Saturday at approximately 4:45 p.m. Plays continue throughout the day and the cost is $6 for adults
and $4 for students, regardless of how many of the eight plays you want to watch. Only the top act from the section will advance to the Minnesota State High School Class 1A One-Act Play Festival at O’Shaughnessy Auditorium on the campus of St. Catherine University in St. Paul, which is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 11. “Anatomy of Gray” tells the story of June Muldoon, a 15-
One-Act
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Two years ago, Marty Walsh promised he’d take the big dive into an ice-covered pond. Some might say he chickened-out while others might say he came to his senses. Last year, Walsh made good on his pledge to jump into ice-covered Hallet’s Pond. Saturday (Feb. 6) in St. Peter, he aims to do it again. After all, he can’t let his mom down. She’ll jump, too. Walsh and his mother, Rhonda, both work with Special Olympians who live at Hope Residence on The Lutheran Home campus here in Belle Plaine. The local Special Olympians are members of the Wizardz, a team of athletes from Belle Plaine, Jordan, New Prague, Montgomery, Shakopee, Henderson and Arlington. There will be over 40 members of the Wizardz jumping in the annual Polar Plunge Saturday at Hallet’s Pond in St. Peter. The pond is located at North Third Street and Old Minnesota Avenue. The jumping is slated to begin at 1 p.m. The Wizardz aim to raise over $8,500 for Special Olympics. So far, pledges to the team amount to $3,555. Funds raised for Special Olympics help pay
Polar Plunge
n Saturday (Feb. 6), 1 p.m.
Hallet’s Pond, St. Peter North Third Street and Old Minnesota Avenue. n Jumping begins: 1 p.m. n Online donations: plungemn.org/pledge/ to stage competitions and keep expenses to the athletes minimal. There are over 20 Polar Plunge events around the state through March 19. Rhonda Walsh is a program manager at Hope Residence. Marty, a 2011 graduate of Belle Plaine High School, is a trained medical assistant. They know the importance of Special Olympics to the athletes because they have seen firsthand the thrill Hope Residence Special Olympians, adults with physical and developmental disabilities, get from the competitions. Not all of the Wizardz live at Hope Residence. “Special Olympics allows me to do things I like. I really enjoy being busy and Special Olympics allows me to do things,” said Gloria Paul, a resident of Hope Residence. They see the value in Special
Olympics for the residents. Its motto -- Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt – is more than just a cliché for the team.
‘It’s Incredible’
“It’s important for everybody to succeed in life, and for everyone to do the best they can,” Rhonda Walsh said. “To see the athletes succeed, it’s incredible.” In 2014, Marty Walsh raised the minimum $75 for the privilege of jumping into the frigid water. But at the last minute, he backed out. There were several friends he knew from Belle Plaine at the event. “I had no drive to jump,” he said. When the 2015 event rolled around last February, he hoped his friends and co-workers forgot his decision. They didn’t and there was nowhere for Walsh to go but into the pond. He knew
Plunge
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