Miss USA Pageant Hits Close to Home for Some in B.P.
Scott County Fair Photos and Results
Legion Baseball Team’s Season Ends
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ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FOURTH YEAR
75¢ SINGLE COPY
BELLE PLAINE, MINNESOTA, JULY 29, 2015
NUMBER 31
B.P. Police Hosting Annual National Night Out Festivities The Belle Plaine Police Department is hosting its annual National Night Out festivities Tuesday (Aug. 4) at Heritage Square Park. The event is intended as a chance for residents to meet officers and build a positive rapport, enjoy an up-close look at police, firefighter equipment and a Ridgeview ambulance and potentially a North Memorial Air Ambulance. National Night Out is held as a
chance for residents to show efforts to oppose crime and work with officers to keep a watchful eye on their neighbors and neighborhoods. The event is also billed as an opportunity for residents to build a stronger community bond. This year’s NNO event at the park on East Orchard Street will include refreshments, water games, give-a-ways, bounce houses, and face painting. Bike helmets will be given away to
the first 120 children to have their bicycles undergo a safety check.
Green Isle Get-Together
Green Isle’s Lions host a community event Aug. 4 (4-7 p.m.) at Irish Yard ballpark. The event includes the Lions serving root beer floats. Residents will have the opportunity to meet and visit with sheriff’s deputies and firefighters serving Green Isle.
Belle Plaine School Board Filing Period Open Until Aug. 11 Antique collector Arlene Albrecht will be selling pretty much everything she has in stock, including all the carousel horses her late husband Dave carved many years ago. They and thousands of other items will be for sale at an auction Aug. 8-9 at Albrecht’s Antiques in Blakeley Village.
Blakeley Antique Collector Selling A Lifetime of Treasures by Dan Ruud A lot of history will be for sale Aug. 8-9 (Saturday and Sunday) when Arlene Albrecht of Albrecht’s Antiques in Blakeley Village will hold a going out of business auction to be conducted by Ediger Auctioneers of Belle Plaine. Thousands of items will be on the selling block, ranging from some of the Albrecht family’s circus memorabilia to the original old Blakeley Depot sign, as well as antique pottery, glass-
ware, toys, advertising signs and posters, military items, books, photographs, postcards and just about anything else antique-related you can think of. “The list goes on and on,” said Arlene. “People would ask us what we (she and her late husband Dave) liked to collect and I’d tell them ‘we liked it all.’ We collected a little bit of everything, can’t you see,” exclaimed Arlene, pointing at the various rooms and contents of her tightly-packed shop in
Blakeley last Friday. There’s also a number of Belle Plaine items in the collection, including a Triangle Motors sign, a business only the most veteran of local old-timers can recall. “I’ve got a lot of Belle Plaine souvenirs,” Arlene said. Her entire stock, with the exception of family circus photos and one wooden horse head
Interested in running for a seat on the Belle Plaine School Board? If so, now is the time to throw your hat in the ring. The filing period for election to four-year terms on the school board opened Tuesday (July 28) and runs through Tuesday (Aug. 11, 5 p.m.). Candidates can file at the Belle Plaine District Center building, 130 Willow Street S. The filing fee is $2. Candidates for the board must be eligible voters, age 21 upon assuming office, and residents of the Belle Plaine School District for 30 days before the general election.
Directors Matt Lenz, Mike Ludvik and Tracy O’Brien currently hold the seats up for election. Monday (July 27), Ludvik said he had not made a final decision. O’Brien was appointed to the board for the final year of Matt Bigaouette’s term after he resigned last year. She plans to seek election. “I feel it is a way that I can give back to the community. I just got my feet wet filling this position for the one year term, I would like to continue on and help make our schools great for my children and the children in
our community,” O’Brien said. Lenz said he would not be seeking re-election. He has served on he school board for eight years. “I do not put the same excitement and energy into the position that it deserves,” Lenz said. “Once that happens it is time to move on,” he said. “I also think that in order to keep the board at its best, different voices and experiences should be represented. For this to happen, members have to move on and give others the opportunity to be on the board.”
Antique Collector (continued on page 6)
B.P. School Board Turns to Co-op for Help With Search Next District Superintendent Will Likely Be An ‘Emerging Leader’
Facing a decision that will potentially impact the state of the Belle Plaine School District for years, the school board turned to an experienced consultant for assistance hiring its next superintendent. With Superintendent Kelly Smith planning to retire later this month, Monday evening
(July 27) the board approved an agreement with Ed Waltman and the South Central Services Cooperative for assistance handling the application, interviews and possible contract negotiation process. The decision to work with Waltman, a former superintendent, came after the school board met in emergency session July 17 and posted the position. The Belle Plaine School District has been a member of the cooperative since it was formed in 1976. It will only charge the district for printing costs and paper associated with the search, an amount Waltman expects will be around $250.
Crops Standing Tall Ewald Gruetzmacher of Belle Plaine has been farming a lot of decades and he said on Tuesday that this may very well be the best and biggest he’s seen local crops look for this time of year. “The crops are looking excellent. Some corn is 10 feet tall. It’s unreal. They just keep growing. Usually after Bar-B-Q Days, we don’t get much rain. That’s not the case this year. As long as we don’t get any of that hard stuff (hail), we’ll be okay,” Gruetzmacher said. Last Friday morning, 2.17 inches of rain fell on the Gruetzmacher farm, site of one of Scott County’s official gauges. Nearly three-quarters of an inch fell this past Tuesday morning,
bringing the total amount of rain for July in Belle Plaine to 5.85 inches (1.83 fell on July 5 with smaller amounts several other days). According to the United States Department of Agriculture’s weekly report released Monday, 82 percent of Minnesota’s corn acreage was silking or beyond, one week ahead of last year and four days ahead of the five-year average. Corn condition rated 87 percent good to excellent. With 90 percent of the soybean crop blooming or beyond, 44 percent of the plants were setting pods or beyond, one week ahead of average. Soybean condition rated 80 percent good to excellent.
A search through a private firm, he said, could cost as much as $15,000. Waltman has helped districts conduct successful superintendent searches for the Sibley East, Le Sueur-Henderson, New Prague, Tri-City United and Jordan school districts. Smith recommended contacting the cooperative after the board decided to post the position for 10 days. “These people (help) hire superintendents all the time,” said Director Mike Ludvik, the school board chairman. The posting generated 21 applications. With only 90 minutes to review them, Waltman told the board he sees six potential candidates. Four of those candidates, Waltman said, could be recommended as finalists for interviews with the school board. Waltman is concerned about the timing of the search. He advised the school board the next superintendent of the Belle Plaine School District could potentially be “an emerging leader” – a person with administrative experience who is not yet served as a superintendent. He said existing superintendents are currently under contract and will likely be unable to leave their current posts. Waltman stressed the importance of the board being unified
School Board (continued on page 8)
The Miracle of Birth Julie Strohsack of Waconia was in total awe while watching a Miracle of Birth video presentation Friday afternoon in the Cattle Barn at the Scott County Fair. Her friend, Erin Hitts of Toledo, Ohio, was a little less awed by watching an animal give birth, as were some of Strohsack’s and Hitts’ children. Nonetheless, they were all attentive.
Weather Takes a Toll on Scott County Fair Attendance With all the work that went into preparing the Scott County Fairgrounds for the fair’s annual five-day run, General Manager Norm Pint knew weather was the biggest wildcard. Heat and humidity took a bite out of what was expected to be an improved attendance. The fair’s annual run wrapped up Sunday afternoon (July 26). “The heat and humidity were tough. Call it dew point,” he said Monday morning. “We were a little off from last year.” Last year, between 28,000 and 30,000 people came through the gates. Fair board members hoped for a nice improvement in 2015. But with sultry, at times tropical, weather, attendance didn’t make the goal. Saturday night’s demolition
derby grandstand show drew the biggest crowd of the fair. “We were at capacity in the grandstand,” he said. Sunday’s draft horse show also helped draw a nice crowd to the fairgrounds in St. Lawrence Township. Despite the smaller-than-desired attendance – an estimated number since the fair board doesn’t formally track the number of people that arrive at the gates – vendors were generally pleased with the fair’s showing. Pint said most the vendors he spoke with indicated acceptable or better sales. The new carnival – Gold Star Amusements – was well received, with improved ridership, he said. He estimated income from rides was up about
33 percent from a year ago. “They showed up with one more ride than we expected. People seemed pretty pleased,” he said. The Miracle of Birth display in the dairy barn was also “a hit,” Pint said. Larger overhead monitors gave people a better view of the birth process and newborns. Calves and sheep were born during the five days. “The goats didn’t cooperate and the pigs weren’t bread at the right time,” he said. Pint said the bluegrass festival Sunday was well received. He’ll recommend it be returned next year. Overall, he sees no
Scott Co. Fair (continued on page 4)