Big Barn on the Move
St. Patrick’s Medallion Still in Hiding
BPHS Boys’ Basketball to Play for State Tourney Berth
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ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FIFTH YEAR
BELLE PLAINE, MINNESOTA, MARCH 2, 2016
75¢ SINGLE COPY
NUMBER 9
Scott West Takes Third at State Jackson Stauffacher Claims Second in Individual Tourney by Dan Ruud For a second year in a row, the Scott West wrestling team won two of three matches in Thursday’s Minnesota State Class 2A Team Tournament at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. In both cases, the Panthers won in the quarterfinals, lost in the semifinals and won the match for third place. The Panthers, the No. 4 seed this year, defeated No. 5 seed Wabasso-Red Rock Central 3525 in the quarterfinals before having to square off against No. 1 seed and unbeaten KassonMantorville in the semifinals about 30 minutes later, losing 36-18. Scott West came back to double up No. 2 seed Simley 40-20 for third place. KassonMantorville went on to win the Class 2A championship with a 37-21 victory over Foley (see tournament recap inside). Scott West seniors Ryan Siegle and Ben Kelvington both won all three of their matches in the team tournament, the latter of whom was selected to the alltournament team (see accompanying list). Heavyweights Josiah Schatz was 2-0 and Ben Alexander 1-0. Finishing 2-1 in the team tournament for the Panthers were Tyler Shackle, Justin Stauffacher, Jackson Stauffacher and Tyler Buesgens. Scott West has now placed third at the state tournament four times. The others were in 2015, 2008 and 2004. Its highest finishes were second in 2005, 2011, 2012 and 2014. The Panthers were fourth in
Scott West sophomore Jackson Stauffacher got his hand raised at Xcel Energy Center after winning Saturday’s state Class 2A individual semifinal match. He placed second in the tournament. 2000, fifth in 1996, 2003 and 2009; and sixth in 2006 and 2010. Scott West did not place its first two years in the tournament (1994 and 1995).
Individual Tourney Highlights
All three Panthers who wrestled Friday won both their matches to reach Saturday morning’s semifinals. Included and their weight divisions were sophomore Jackson Stauffacher (126), senior Ben Kelvington (145) and sophomore Tyler Buesgens (182). Only Stauffacher won his semifinal match, edging Zach Glazier of Albert Lea 3-2.
Little Brown Jug to Close After 41 Years in Belle Plaine Otto Pries will soon be putting the cap on the Little Brown Jug liquor store in Belle Plaine, which he opened 41 years ago (1975) at 520 Commerce Drive East. Pries said he will keep the store open until the inventory runs out, for which he is currently running a “goodbye and everything must go” sale.
Pries said he plans to retire, and after making some improvements to the building, will put it up for sale. “My wife (Judy) retired, I’m retiring, so it’s time to go to warm weather,” said Otto, adding that they will be moving to Pensacola, Fla., Judy’s hometown. Otto met Judy there when he was a flight instructor in the Navy.
Two Big Annual Events Set for This Friday and Saturday in B.P. The Belle Plaine Fire Department’s Fish Fry on Friday and Our Lady of the Prairie Catholic School’s Gala Auction and Casino Night will help kickoff the first weekend of March in Belle Plaine. Friday’s Fish Fry will take place from 4:30-8:30 p.m. at Chatfield Elementary School.
The cost is $10 for adults, $5 for children and free for ages 5 and younger. Saturday’s Gala Auction and Casino Night will take place at the OLP Parish Life Center. Doors open at 6 p.m. The grand prize is $5,000 cash. There will also be a number of other cash prizes (see ad on page 3 for more details).
Area Townships Hosting Annual Meetings
Although many of them have switched their elections from the spring to the fall, Belle Plaine area townships still host their annual meetings the second Tuesday each March. The annual meetings in townships with fall elections are generally scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. March 8. For townships that still host spring elections, like San Francisco Township in Carver County, the annual meetings will follow the completion of elections of one supervisor and the township
clerk. San Francisco Township expects to begin its annual meting at 8:15 p.m. The annual meetings are traditionally held for residents to participate in the setting of township tax levies for roads, fire and ambulance, and general government services. It is also an opportunity for residents to bring up issues for the township supervisors to consider. Some townships have already scheduled makeup dates for their annual meetings in the event of inclement weather.
Stauffacher had defeated Aaron Hingst of Simley 8-6 and A.J. Bethea of Hibbing 14-8 on Friday. In Saturday night’s championship, Stauffacher lost to unbeaten Tucker Sjomeling of Delano 10-3. Kelvington picked up where he left off in the team tournament by winning his first round and quarterfinal matches on Friday, bettering (in order) Luis Cirilo of St. Paul Johnson 9-4 and Peyton Mortenson of Dawson Boyd/Lac Qui Parle/Montevideo 6-2. Kelvington ran into then unbeaten Logan Axford of TracyMilroy-Balaton in Saturday’s semifinals, losing 8-2. Kelvington bounced back to beat Nate Adkins of Pequot Lakes/ Pine River 2-0 before losing the match for third place by a 6-4 count to Patrick Kennedy of Kasson-Mantorville. Buesgens had the same road to fourth place as Kelvington. After defeating Cory Schmidt of Annandale-Maple Lake 8-4 and Noah Keith of Bloomington Kennedy by pin on Friday, Buesgens ran into a buzzsaw Saturday morning, falling to eventual state champ Aaron Berge of Kasson-Mantorville 5-3. Buesgens then beat Brandonn Gore of South St. Paul 7-5 before losing the third place match to Cameron Schmitz of New Prague 6-2.
A Record-Breaker Shelby Liles (left) and Taylor Tikalsky took advantage of Saturday’s (Feb. 27) record warm temperature. They were skateboarding along South Meridian Street. Temperatures in Belle Plaine and the Twin Cities reached 58 degrees Saturday, breaking the old record of 54 degrees set in 1896. Mild weather is possible for Sunday and Monday (March 6-7) with temperatures forecast to reach the low-50s, according to the National Weather Service.
Wood Duck House Project Puts 300 New Houses into Area
Abi Flynn knows more about putting things together than she does about wood ducks. Dave Einertson knows plenty about both. Together, they were among a group of hundreds of people who built 300 wood duck houses for placement into the area for nesting. Flynn, a seventh-grader at Belle Plaine Junior High School, worked with Einertson on building a wood duck house Sunday morning. Einertson, who lives in Belle Plaine, worked with over a dozen young people assembling wood duck houses at the Scott-Le Sueur Chapter of the Minnesota Waterfowl Association’s annual wood duck house building day Sunday (Feb. 28) at the Knights of Columbus Hall in New Prague. He was one of about 40 volun-
teers. For a free-will donation, youngsters like Flynn were able to assemble a wood duck house, fill it with cedar shavings and take it home for mounting in an area where wood ducks will use it for nesting. The chapter also had predator guards for sale. The guards are sheets of metal wrapped around the post on which the wood duck house is mounted. It is designed to keep a hungry raccoon or other predator out of the house. “The river bottoms are filled with them (wood ducks and houses). If you put up a wood duck house along the river bottoms, it will be used,” Einertson said. Thursday night (Feb. 25), Einertson and several of the volunteers got together at a cabinet shop to prepare for the annual
build day. Using the shop’s tools and some of their own, they cut up enough cedar in predetermined size for 425 wood duck houses. The precision of the tools allowed them to complete their work in 2½ hours, said John Wolf, a longtime member of the Scott-Le Sueur MWA chapter. The two events bring chapter members together to share camaraderie and their passion for the outdoors.
Important Donations
The additional 125 houses assembled before Sunday were donated to area schools, Ducks Unlimited and other groups, Wolf said. Area businesses donated about $10,000 to the annual event, he said. In the 17
House Project
(continued on page 16)
State Class 2A Team Tournament Results
Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul Thursday, Feb. 25 Quarterfinals Scott West 35, Wabasso 25 Kasson-Mantorville 64, Mora 3 Simley 53, Totino-Grace 15 Foley 33, Perham 18 Consolation Semifinals Wabasso 44, Mora 18 Perham 46, Totino-Grace 21 Championship Semifinals Kasson-M 36, Scott West 18 Foley 31, Simley 28 Fifth Place Perham 38, Wabasso 24 Third Place Scott West 40, Simley 20
Scott West
(continued on page 7) Dave Einertson of Belle Plaine helped Kya Berrier of Rosemount build a wood duck house Sunday (Feb. 28) at the KC Hall in New Prague. Einertson is a member of the Scott-Le Sueur Chapter of the Minnesota Waterfowl Association. Volunteers and youth built 300 wood duck houses at the chapter’s 17th annual build day.