Belle plaine herald march 29, 2017

Page 1

Scott-Carver Forum Addresses Drugs in Area Communities Page 18

Softball, Track and Baseball Previews

Special Health & Wellness Supplement Inside

Pages 15-17

ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SIXTH YEAR

BELLE PLAINE, MINNESOTA, march 29, 2017

75¢ SINGLE COPY

NUMBER 13

Another Organization Wants to Place Monument in Veterans Park

A silent auction was one of the fund-raising opportunities for people attending Sunday’s Barten Breakfast in New Prague to help Belle Plaine’s Payton Smith and her family. Over 1,000 people attended the annual breakfast.

Smith Family ‘Overwhelmed’ By Support at Barten Breakfast

They had heard the stories about the turnouts at the previous Barten Memorial Breakfasts, but it wasn’t until Sarah and Matt Smith of Belle Plaine saw the crowd of people who came to support them that they really grasped how much people cared and wanted to help. Over 1,000 people attended the 10th Annual Barten Memorial Breakfast organized and put on by a team of over 70 volunteers led by Fran Barten and her family Sunday (March 26). A stream of people began arriving at the New Prague Knights of Columbus Hall just after 8 a.m. and continued in a steady fashion until well after 11 a.m. “This is overwhelming. It’s unbelievable,” Matt Smith said, his head shaking in disbelief. “There are so many people I haven’t seen in years, so many people I don’t even know.” For a decade, the breakfast has been held in the name of community service. It raises money to help families facing challenges. Sarah and Matt Smith’s baby daughter, Payton, was born with Dandy Walker Malformation, a condition where she was born with part of her

brain missing. Payton was born Dec. 10, 2015 weighing 4 pounds and 17¼ inches long. Payton’s balance is challenged. Sitting on the KC Hall’s bar, a walker Matt made of PVC piping for his daughter was on display. It is a testament to the Smith family’s belief Payton will enjoy the fullest life possible. Along with the breakfast, a

free-will donation, the event includes a silent auction. Organizers measure success in the number of people who attend, service to a family in need and the larger community. The Smith family is the third Belle Plaine family to benefit from the Barten family’s annual breakfast, along with the

Barten Breakfast (continued on page 18)

City’s Cleanup Day April 29 Belle Plaine’s annual Recycle and Cleanup Day will take place Saturday, April 29 from 8 a.m. to noon at the Belle Plaine Police Department parking lot, 420 East Main Street. The event, sponsored by the city of Belle Plaine and Belle Plaine Lions Club, gives residents of the city of Belle Plaine and the townships of Belle Plaine, Blakeley and St. Lawrence an opportunity to rid their homes of unwanted clutter during these spring cleaning days. Recyclable items that will be accepted free of charge include glass, newspapers, scrap metal, aluminum, cardboard and plastic. There is also a long list of

fee items. More information will be published in upcoming editions of the Herald.

City-Wide Garage Sale April 21-22

Belle Plaine’s annual Spring City-Wide Garage Sale will take place next Friday and Saturday (April 21-22). You can obtain a map listing registered garage sales and their locations after April 17 at www.belleplainemn.com. The deadline to sign up for the map is Friday, April 14. For more information, call 952-212-2834.

For Chatfield Second-Grader, Fund-raiser is Personal She never gave the annual Jump Rope for Heart fundraiser much thought, until it became a personal matter. Even though Olivia Jeurissen is only 8, the Chatfield Elementary School second-grader made it her personal quest to raise as much money as possible for research into coronary disease. Jeurissen raised $295 toward the $6,814.75 second-graders from Chatfield and third-graders from Oak Crest elementary schools amassed last Wednesday (March 22). Students from the two elementary schools spent time jumping rope in the Oak Crest gymnasium to fulfill the pledges for the donations. Raising money was serious stuff to Jeurissen. The daughter of Linda and Jamey, heart disease has hit her family hard. Five years ago, Jamey suffered a heart attack. He was 36 then. He had immediate heart surgery. Doctors used a stint to open a blocked coronary artery. Heart disease took Olivia’s grandmother, Mary Mathwig,

Olivia Jeurissen March 26, 2016. Mathwig suffered a stroke in 2012. Olivia remembers all the good times she had with her grandmother. She was only 68. Olivia wants to do all she can to help prevent any other children from losing beloved family members. So when the annual American Heart Association Jump Rope for Heart event neared earlier

this spring, Olivia decided to take action to raise money for research to help fund research into fighting heart disease and to promote healthy living. Using her mom’s Facebook page, she asked friends and family members to donate. Even though the spring of the school year is a tough time to raise money, Olivia’s campaign worked better than expected. She topped her goal of $250. Olivia was the runner-up fundraiser in the campaign. Cece Kimpton was the top-fundraiser. Next year, Olivia hopes to raise well over $300. “I feel like you should try to raise money because it can help save peoples’ lives,” Olivia said. When it came to jumping rope, Olivia took advantage of the fancy footwork she’s developed practicing in the driveway of the family’s Belle Plaine house and at Just for Kix Dance School at Chatfield Elementary. She participates in jazz and kick dance.

by Dan Ruud Belle Plaine City Administrator Michael Votka said the city recently received an application from a Massachusetts-based organization called Reason Alliance, Ltd. to place a monument at Veterans Park in Belle Plaine. Reason Alliance, Ltd. was formed in 2014 by directors Malcolm Jarry and Douglas Mesner, founders of The Satanic Temple (TST). The nonprofit “was set up to encourage reason and empathy, reject tyrannical authority, promote justice and advocate pragmatic commonsense. We support activities that promote these core values.” According to Wikipedia, “the Satanic Temple does not believe in a supernatural Satan, as they believe that this encourages superstition that will keep them from being malleable to the best current scientific understandings of the material world. The Temple uses the literary Satan as a metaphor to construct a cultural narrative that promotes pragmatic skepticism, rational reciprocity, personal autonomy and curiosity. Satan is thus used as a symbol representing ‘the eternal rebel’ against arbitrary authority and

This is a drawing of the monument that Reason Alliance, Ltd. wants to display in Veteran Memorial Park in B.P. “We have a lot of veterans social norms.” Mesner, who completed the within our ranks,” Mesner addapplication to the city of Belle ed. Plaine, confirmed last week by In February, the Belle Plaine telephone that his organization Veterans Club submitted the is “not a group of devil wor- first application to place a monshipers,” but rather “a national ument in the limited public foorganization of tens of thou- rum area of the park. That monsands of people seeking equal- ument will include the return ity for all religious or nonreli- of the cross that was removed gious beliefs.” Monument (continued on page 5)

County Attorney, Sheriff Hosting Forum on Social Media Safety At a time when police and sheriff’s deputies are dealing with reports of children and young adults sexting and practicing other perilous and potentially illegal activities via social media, the Scott County sheriff’s office and the county attorney are taking the initiative to help educate adults and children alike on ways to protect themselves. This evening (March 29, 6:30 to 8 p.m.) at New Prague High School, Scott County is hosting an educational forum aimed at providing information and ways

to protect children on the dangers of unfettered social media use. Sheriff Luke Hennen, Scott County Attorney Ron Hocevar, Jessica Harstad of the FBI Citizens Academy Association and Kathy Hotakainen of the FBI will all participate in a discussion on how parents can be involved in their children’s use of social media. “Most kids do not understand the potential legal and life-long consequences of their social media and smart phone use. It is up to us as parents to learn, monitor, and assist our kids,”

Hocevar said. Hennen will present “Apps You Want To Know: A Parent’s Guide to What You May or May Not Want to Know About Your Child’s Social Media Life.” Parents will also learn tips on ways to discuss safely using social media with their children. Additional information is available via NetSmarts and its Web site – netsmartz.org/parents New Prague High School is at 221 12th Street NE in New Prague.

B.P. School Board Sends Softball Complex Out for Bids Building Project Expected to Top $100,000 After adding up all of the expected costs of the proposed improvements to the Belle Plaine softball complex at Oak Crest Elementary School, school district staff realized the project had to go out for public bids. The plans for the two-story concession stand/bathroom/ storage building with a secondlevel observation area is expected to exceed the $100,000 threshold requiring public bidding. Last Monday (March 20), the school board unanimously agreed to send the plans out for public bidding. The plans for new concrete block dugouts and a batting cage on the varsity field are not included in the project. The district is hoping contributions will help fund much of those improvements. The district and the project have already benefitted from contributions of time and resources from community members, said Superintendent Ryan Laager. The project includes the twostory building and extension of sewer and water service from Schoolhouse Boulevard into

the midst of the existing softball complex. Piping work in the project sent it over the $100,000 threshold requiring bids. The work on the complex should begin after the completion of the high school softball season, Laager told the board earlier this month. The bidding process on the planned improvements will close April 21, 2 p.m. The project will be funded from the long-term facility maintenance fund budget, money the district can only use for facilities, health and safety and deferred maintenance type expenditures. “The estimated cost of the project is $150,000 but we hope to receive some donations from various activity groups and individuals to help offset some of these costs,” said Chuck Keller, the school district’s business manager. The school board discussed the proposal during a workshop March 13. With an eye to economic development, the district hopes improvements to the fields and the concession/ bathroom/storage building will, along with improvements to the ball fields, attract more youth softball and baseball tournaments to Belle Plaine. The board noted nearby privately developed cricket fields, which

can be used for soccer matches, will also draw people to Belle Plaine. The baseball, softball and cricket tournaments will hopefully draw more people to use restaurants and lodging establishments as part of an effort to make the community a more desirable venue and community. Laager said the district and school board considered improvements to the facility to create a softball facility that’s equal, or nearly equal, to the quality of the facility the BPHS varsity baseball team plays on at city-owned Tiger Park. Laager told the board a district resident raised concern regarding the inequality of facilities used by girls’ softball and boys’ baseball teams. In other action at the March 20 meeting, the Belle Plaine School Board: • Paid bills totaling $977,077.19. • Heard a report from Don Fraser, Oak Crest STEM teach-

School Board

(continued on page 2)


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.