Shamrock Coin Hunt Enters Second Week
Belle Plaine Liquor Stores Uncertain About Sunday Sales
BPHS Boys Win Overtime Thriller Page 11
Page 2
Page 4
ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SIXTH YEAR
BELLE PLAINE, MINNESOTA, march 8, 2017
75¢ SINGLE COPY
NUMBER 10
City Council Okays Annexation of 10 Acres for Future Cricket Field Construction of Solar Garden Complex May Begin Soon
Scott West junior Jackson Stauffacher (getting hand raised) placed second for a second year in a row at the state Class 2A individual tournament. The above photo was taken during Thursday’s team semifinal match against Simley. Stauffacher, and his brother, Justin, a sophomore, were both named to the state Class 2A all-tournament team. Pictured at right in the photo is their dad, Jerold Stauffacher, who is co-head coach of Scott West. Jackson and Justin are both students at Belle Plaine High School. Jerold is a teacher.
by Dan Ruud The Belle Plaine City Council Monday night unanimously approved the annexation of 10 acres from Belle Plaine Township that should help pave the way for a cricket field complex east of Oak Crest Elementary School. Cricket is a bat and ball game played on a circular field between two teams of eleven players who score runs (points) by running between posts called wickets. Each of the wickets is at one end of a rectangle of flattened grass called the pitch. According to Belle Plaine Community Development Director Cynthia Smith Strack, Sabyasachi Sengupta of Chas-
ka, who recently purchased the property from Ewald and Adella Gruetzmacher, plans to build two regulation-size cricket fields and one youth field, the plans for which he will be bringing forward to the planning commission and city council soon. Also included in the plans are parking and viewing areas. Future plans call for a clubhouse and a dome over the youth field. Smith Strack said construction of the complex, which would be called Tatiana Fields, is proposed to begin this year. Sengupta plans to bring in cricket players/teams from the metro area, Canada and elsewhere to play in games and tournaments at the complex. More about Sengupta’s plans will be covered in future editions of the Herald. In other business Monday
night, the council unanimously authorized the mayor and city administrator to execute a development agreement with DG Minnesota CSG 4 LLC for the soon-to-be constructed solar energy complex in Belle Plaine. Last October, the council approved a request for an interim use permit to establish a ground-mounted utility scale solar energy system at 1300 South Street West. Also approved was a variance to allow an above ground power line at West South Street in association with the project. Construction of the solar garden is expected to begin late this spring or early summer and take two to four months to complete. The property is owned by
City Council
(continued on page 12)
Scott West Finishes Familiar Third Belle Plaine’s High School Jackson Stauffacher Second Again in Individual Tourney
by Dan Ruud As the late Yogi Berra said – It’s like déjà vu all over again. For a third year in a row, the Scott West wrestling team won two of its three matches in Thursday’s Minnesota State Class 2A Team Tournament at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. In each case, the Panthers won in the quarterfinals, lost in the semifinals and won the match for third place. Also this past weekend, Panther junior Jackson Stauffacher duplicated his individual runner-up finish of a year ago. Scott West, the No. 3 seed this year, defeated unseeded TotinoGrace 50-11 in the quarterfinals before losing a couple of hours later to No. 2 seed Simley 4322. Scott West returned again a couple of hours later to defeat No. 4 seed Foley 33-24 in the match for third place (see tournament recap inside). Kasson-Mantorville successfully defended its state Class 2A championship with a 45-18 victory over Simley. Winning all three of their matches in the team tournament for Scott West were sophomore Justin Stauffacher, Jackson Stauffacher, senior Parker Huss and junior Tyler Buesgens, the latter of whom won each of his
matches by pin fall. Justin and Jackson Stauffacher were the Panthers’ two selections to the state Class 2A all-tournament team. Finishing 2-1 in the team tournament for the Panthers were junior Jack Fogarty, sophomore Jon Huss and sophomore Calvin Menke. Scott West has now placed third at the state team tournament five times. The others were in 2016, 2015, 2008 and 2004. Its highest finishes were second in 2005, 2011, 2012 and 2014. The Panthers were fourth in 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).
in a row, then dropped his state championship match to the No. 1 seed, this year being Jake Gliva of Simley by a narrow 3-2 margin. Stauffacher lost to now three-time defending state champion Tucker Sjomeling of Delano 10-3 in last year’s 126pound championship It was Sjomeling who defeated Shackle 7-2 in this year’s 132pound semifinals. The Delano standout went on to win the championship Saturday evening, while Shackle ended up placing fifth. Buesgens had won his first five matches at state (which included the team tournament) by pin fall leading up to Saturday’s 182-pound semifinals against Bobby Striggow of Orono. Buesgens, the No. 2 seed, led Individual Tourney the match early on and the outcome was still in doubt until Highlights Striggow pulled away in the Three of Scott West’s five final minute for a 9-3 victory. individual tournament qualifi- Buesgens went on to win two ers won both their matches on Scott West Friday to advance to Saturday (continued on page 2) morning’s semifinals. Included and their weight classes were junior Jackson Stauffacher (126), sophomore Tyler Shack- Spring Forward le (132) and junior Tyler BuesSaturday Night gens (182). Stauffacher was the only one Daylight Savings Time begins of those three to win his semi- early this Sunday morning, final match, defeating rival meaning you should set your Brock Luthens of Hutchinson clocks ahead one hour before 5-1 in what was a rematch of going to bed Saturday night. their Section 2AA championship match the week before. Stauffacher, for a second year
Grad Rates Slowly Climbing
Girls Graduating Graduation Rates The following table shows the 4-year graduation rates, overall at Faster Rate and by gender, of Belle Plaine and area high schools. Than Boys HIGH SCHOOL 4-YR RATE GIRLS / % BOYS / % Belle Plaine saw 91½ percent of its 119 seniors in the Class of 2016 graduate in four years. The list of graduates includes 96.6 percent of the class’s 56 girls and 87½ percent of its 63 boys earn a diploma at the end of four years. Belle Plaine’s graduation rate exceeds the state average. Just over 82 percent of the state’s 54,024 fourth-year seniors graduated last year, according to the Minnesota Department of Education. The rate of graduation for Belle Plaine’s boys is similar to their counterparts statewide. Of the 26,589 boys in the Class of 2016 statewide, 79.4 percent graduated after four years. The Belle Plaine School District has seen growth in the rate seniors are graduating after four years. In 2015, 89.1 percent of the Class of 2015’s 90 seniors graduated in four years. That number was down a bit from 2014, when 93.3 percent of the 111 seniors graduated. In 2013, 86.7 percent of the class’s 91 students graduated.
Belle Plaine Jordan Le Sueur-Hend Central (NYA) Tri-City Untd Sibley East Shakopee Chaska New Prague State
119 / 91½ 145 / 95.4 62 / 89.9 85 / 95½ 129 / 94.2 82 / 91.1 403 / 87.2 291 / 96 291 / 96 54,024 / 82.2
56 / 96.6 63 / 87½ 73 / 96.1 72 / 94.7 36 / 92.3 26 / 86.7 37 / 92½ 48 / 98 63 / 92.7 66 / 95.7 38 / 95 44 / 88 212 / 87.2 191 / 87.2 157 / 96.3 134 / 95.7 144 / 98 147 / 94.2 27,435 / 85 26,589 / 79.4 Source: Minnesota Dept. of Education
The Class of 2012 had 92.9 percent of its 104 students graduate. Compared to the public schools in the Minnesota River Conference, Belle Plaine is in the lower-third of the conference, above Le Sueur-Henderson and Sibley East but below Jordan, Central (Norwood Young America) and Tri-City United. Belle Plaine is ahead of Shakopee but below its neighbors New Prague and Chaska in four-year graduation rates. Along with the lower percent of boys graduating in four years, the high school is also
seeing a lower number of its students on free-and-reduced meal plans graduating in four years. Last year, 75 percent of the fourth-year seniors, boys and girls alike, on free-and-reduced meal plans graduate. The previous year, 89½ percent of the fourth-year seniors on freeand-reduced meal plans graduated. Of the 90 fifth-year seniors last year, 90 percent of them graduated. Forty-four girls (91.7 percent) and 46 boys (88½ per-
Grad Rates
(continued on page 12)
B.P. Fire Department Fish Fry Friday The Belle Plaine Fire Department will hold its annual fish fry Friday (March 10) at Chatfield Elementary School. The fish fry runs from 4 to 7:30 p.m. The cost is $12 for
adults, $5 for children and free for children ages 5 and under. Take-out orders are available. Proceeds from the fish fry go to the fire department’s relief association.
Area Townships Hosting Annual Meetings Tuesday
Townships in the Belle Plaine ings Tuesday (March 14). area and across the region will The annual meeting is where be hosting their annual meet- townships residents participate in so-called grass roots government. They’ll set the township’s property tax levy for roads, fire service and general government for the year.
A ‘Superior’ Performance for BPHS Choirs
Belle Plaine Junior-Senior High School’s concert choir, its mixed choir, and chamber singers all earned superior ratings -- the top rating possible -- at the Large Group Vocal Contest last Wednesday (March 1) at Jordan High School. The BPHS Concert Choir (pictured above) performed “Ubi Caritas” and “Ritmo.” The mixed choir performed, “I Carry Your Heart With Me” while the chamber choir performed “Sweetheart
of the Sun.” BPHS Choir Instructor Brianna Velzke selected “extremely difficult pieces for all three choirs because I wanted to challenge them and wanted them to be proud of their hard work and truly appreciate their success,” she said. “Some of the judges comments included, ‘Gorgeous sound on a difficult piece’ and ‘Great singing with a strong vocal foundation- lovely singing.’ ”