2016 Year in Review
PAGE TWO
Last Wednesday’s Herald reviewed the first four months of 2016. This week the top stories from May through August are covered.
BELLE PLAINE HERALD, BELLE PLAINE, MINNESOTA
May Through August
May
*Close to 100 couples attend-
ed the Belle Plaine High School prom at the Arlington Community Center. It was the final prom for BPHS junior class advisor Lyle Noah, who oversaw the prom for over a quarter of a century. The longtime Belle Plaine teacher was retiring at the end of the school year.
*Two weeks after the first of two men pleaded guilty to murdering Earl Olander in his San Francisco Township home in April of 2015, the second man accepted blame for killing the 90-year-old retired farmer. On May 6, Edson Benitez accepted a plea agreement. It’s the same plea deal his accomplice, Reinol Vergara, accepted on April 28. The two men pleaded guilty in Carver County District court to second-degree murder, aiding and abetting. In exchange for the guilty pleas, the prosecution dropped three of four murder charges, including indictments on first-degree murder charges. Benitez and Vergara were sentenced to 37 1/2 years imprisonment for killing the rural Belle Plaine man. *The Belle Plaine City Council unanimously approved a quartet of resolutions/ordinances as well as a business subsidy agreement that would help pave the way for the construction by Ridgeview Medical Center of a medical clinic and senior housing complex near the intersection of Highway 169 and County Road 3/ Meridian Street. The Lutheran Home was also involved in the project. Plans call for a 12,900square-foot medical clinic, a 10,000-square-foot fitness/ wellness center and a three-story, 55-unit senior independent living center. A second phase was also on the drawing board that would include a future vertical expansion of the clinic. As part of the business subsidy
Members of the Belle Plaine High School baseball team were runner-up trophy at Target Field on June 20. agreement, Belle Plaine Com- tivity when it came to filing munity Development Director for city offices at Belle Plaine Cynthia Smith Strack said that City Hall the morning of May in exchange for the land write 17, which was the start of the down, Ridgeview Medical two-week filing period for this Center is to create a minimum year’s elections. Chris Meyer of 20 full-time equivalent jobs made it known right away that with a starting wage of no less he would challenge incumbent than $12.69, which is 175 per- Mayor Mike Pingalore, who cent of the federal minimum- also filed the first day. wage law. *After running Steffen’s *Despite efforts to spend cau- Hardware in downtown Belle tiously, the Belle Plaine School Plaine since the 1970s (his faDistrict would finish the 2015- ther, William, started the busi16 school year in a financial ness in 1955), Jim Steffen andeficit. The main cause of the nounced a retirement sale that deficit was contracts the board would start on May 26. negotiated with its two unions *It was announced that the that were higher than expected. former BP gas station property *There was a flurry of ac- along Highway 169 in Belle
awarded their state Class 2A Plaine, which was sold at a Scott County foreclosure auction on April 12, may soon be put back to use. Chris Wyman was the new owner of the property and is proposing to turn the 1.7-acre site into a used car dealership and repair, as well as establish a U-Haul rental service. According to Ellen Paulsen, Scott County taxation supervisor, the 1.7-acre site had a successful bidder – Merle Volk of Carver, at the April 12 auction. His bid was for $142,200. Wyman said he had since obtained the site from Volk. *Eight relay events (four boys and four girls) were run at the Minnesota River Confer-
wednesday, january 4, 2017
ence Track and Field Championships in Jordan on May 19 and Belle Plaine won them all, helping pave the way for a pair of 2016 team titles for the Tigers. It marked the 12th year in a row that the Belle Plaine girls have won the MRC team title and the fourth time in five years for the boys. Belle Plaine junior Selin Dikmen captured two individual events in MRC record-breaking time – the 100meter hurdles in 15.09 and the 300 hurdles in 45.84. Joining Dikmen in receiving all-MRC honors for Belle Plaine were Bridget Egan, Anna Donkhong, Ally Fink, Taylor Kruger, Allisa Schultz, Liz Schimidt, Jaylen Struck-Schmitz, Jenna Gatz, Emily Krautkremer, Haley Leger and Emily Berger. Obtaining all-conference honors for the Belle Plaine boys’ team were Brenden Eyrich, Christian Roell, Ben Dvorak, Max Ponath, Mason Ponath, Marcus Walsh, Taylor Witt, Ruben Baltierrez, Derek May, Dylan Bigaouette and Brendan Mackedanz. *After completing the oath of office on May 27, Luke Hennen of Jordan became Scott County’s 19th sheriff. He replaced Kevin Studnicka, who retired mid-term. Hennen would have nearly two years to try the job on for size before deciding if he wants to seek elected office in 2018. *A wet, dry, wet and dry again weekend stayed dry for the Monday, May 30 Memorial Day Program at Veterans Park in Belle Plaine, where a good turnout of people basked in sunshine and temperatures in the mid-70s. Retired U.S. Army Reserves Lt. Col. Margaret McCue Morrison was the guest speaker. She is the daughter of Ed Morrison and Cora Ellen McCue Morrison and is a 1975 graduate of Belle Plaine High School. *The season came to an end on Memorial Day for the Belle Plaine High School softball team after it lost to Fairmont 6-3 in North Mankato, ending the Tigers’ four-game playoff run with a record of 2-2. Belle Plaine finished the season with a record of 4-8 in the Minnesota River Conference, 9-11 overall. Gaining all-conference status for the Tigers were seniors Kaylee Hentges and Maddi Lark. Junior Elizabeth Johnson was honorable mention. *Gerry Meyer of Belle Plaine was the 2016 recipient of the Belle Plaine School District’s Friend of Education Award for his longtime commitment to the district.
*Belle
June
Plaine High School senior Abigail Meger not only sold the most tickets (84) in the 2016 Belle Plaine Dollars for Scholars Car Raffle, but she also sold the winning ticket to Tim Burns of Prior Lake, who is a friend of the family. Meger received $400 for selling the most tickets and another $400 for the winning ticket. Burns’ prize was a 2010 Imperial Blue Metallic Chevy Cobalt, which was donated by Matt Saxe Chevrolet Buick of Belle Plaine. Some $19,000 worth of $25 tickets were sold in 2016, proceeds from which go to scholarships for BPHS graduating students.
*Teaching always come naturally to them. It was, after all, their life’s work. But Lyle Noah, Carol Schultz and Sue Stier retired at the end of the 2015-16 The Belle Plaine Fire Department’s Truck Committee welcomed the department’s new pumper engine to town in June. Pic- school year. Cumulatively, they represented about 100 years of tured, from left, are firefighters Tim Hentges, Ryan Herrmann, Travis Otto, Chief Matt Stier and Troy Otto. teaching experience in the Belle Plaine School District. *The section champion Belle Plaine High School girls’ track and field team had finalists in seven events at the state Class 1A track and field meet in St. Paul, with the 4x200 relay team of Taylor Kruger, Anna Donkhong, Alissa Schultz and Jenna Gatz placing the highest (second). Selin Dikmen was second in the 100-meter hurdles and ninth in the 300 hurdles. Bridget Egan placed eighth in the pole vault, as did the 4x400 and 4x800 relays. The Tigers were at the head of the pack heading into the final leg of the 4x100 relay finals before a bad exchange dropped them from first to ninth. The lone representative from Belle Plaine in the boys’ state meet was the 4x100 team, which did not place. *Ireland Lambrecht, the lone state-qualifier from Belle Plaine, finished in a three-way tie for 47th place among 87 golfers at the state Class 2A girls’ golf tournament at Ridges at Sand Creek in Jordan. The Crowned Belle Plaine’s 2016 royal court members on July 17 were, from left, First Princess Makayla Anderson, Miss Belle Belle Plaine boys’ team, which placed second in the Minnesota Plaine Rachael Eliason, Second Princess Alyssa Neisen and Miss Congeniality Hailey Witt.
River Conference in 2016, was led in conference play by senior Carter Piche, who received honorable mention. The Belle Plaine girls’ team finished third in the conference standings, with Lambrecht gaining allMRC honors and senior Maddie Hartmann honorable mention. *The 111th graduating class of Belle Plaine High School saw 123 seniors bid farewell to high school on a sunny afternoon in the school’s south gym on June 12. McKenzie Koepp was the class speaker. Brad Pederson, a science teacher, spoke on behalf of the faculty. Twenty-nine seniors graduated with academic honors. They were Grace Olson, Danika Schroeder, Taylor Witt, Kaylee Hentges, Trinity Webb, Samuel Gavin, Emily Gatz, Shabanna Mahadeo, Rachel Schroers, Kacie Staples, Marcus Giesen, Steven Schmitt, Stephen LaJeunesse, Kali Gorman, Bryce Nelson, Alissa Schultz, Luke Narveson, Joshua Juaire, Christian Roell, Nicole Bauleke, Kylia Malles, Dylan Bigaouette, Derek May, Brandon Hieronimus, Samuel Gregory, Ally Fink, Megan Glisczinski, Madison Haller and Maggie Applegarth. *Belle Plaine native Paul Pudlitzke was found dead in his house in Minnetonka on June 18. Minnetonka Police Chief Scott Boerboom said there was no sign of foul play at the house and investigators were not looking for any suspect. Pudlitzke, 48, a Belle Plaine High School graduate, ran Prince’s Glam Slam night clubs in downtown Minneapolis, Los Angeles and Miami in the early-1990s. More recently, he worked in real estate. Prince was found dead in his home in Chanhassen two months earlier. He was 57. *Belle Plaine held its annual German Days celebration June 17-18. The usual assortment of tractor pulling events, sauerkraut eating contests and professional wrestling were held on the streets of downtown. Darlene Hogeboom was the grand marshal of the parade, after which Caitlyn Schoon was crowned Miss German Days. Also receiving crowns were Hannah Burmeister (first princess), Teresa Wentworth (princess) and Allison Hennes (princess). *The longest season and postseason run in Belle Plaine High School baseball history came to an end on the longest day of the year (summer solstice on June 20) when the Tigers lost to Minnehaha Academy 5-1 in the state Class 2A championship game at a warm and sunsplashed Target Field. The Tigers, who were playing in their first state baseball tournament in program history, won their first two games in St. Cloud to earn their date at Target Field, defeating Fairmont 1-0 in the quarterfinals and Maple Lake 6-4 in the semifinals. Besides a section tile, the Tigers also won the Minnesota River Conference title for a third year in a row with a record of 13-1 and finished the season with an overall record of 25-2. Receiving all-conference honors were seniors Aiden Ladd, Luke Narveson, Jon Vinkemeier, Mitchel Stier, and junior Brody Curtiss. Senior Wes Sarsland was honorable mention. *Following a public hearing June 20, the Belle Plaine City Council unanimously approved an ordinance that will provide for solar energy systems as accessory and principal uses in certain zoning classifications within the city. The new ordinance assigns specific performance standards to potential solar energy providers. Previous city land-use controls did not address solar (or wind) energy systems.
July
*Scott Kubes’ corn crop and
many others in the area got off to a late start this spring due to cool, damp weather in lateApril and May. But warmer temperatures and plentiful rains in early June helped area corn and soybean crops begin to thrive and by July 4 Kubes’ corn was well over 6 feet tall. *Jake Hartman and his father, “JoJo” Hartman, solved the 2016 Bar-B-Q Days Medallion Hunt mystery on July 6 following the publishing of the second clue. They found it underneath an orange traffic cone on top of a culvert along Enterprise Drive near Coborn’s. Jake, 20, was the one who actually uncovered the coin but had help from his dad during the search process. *Sharon Schmitz, who has
Year in Review (continued on page 10)