Harvest Medallion Hunt Enters Week 3
Cross Country Teams Have Big Week
Page 4
Volleyball Team Posts Big Wins Page 13
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ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-THIRD YEAR
BELLE PLAINE, MINNESOTA, OCTOBER 8, 2014
75¢ SINGLE COPY
NUMBER 41
Joe Hankins and Emilyn Siemon Scenic Byway Races Saturday are expected to end at Court Square Park. runners after they are finished Are Homecoming King and Queen beTemperatures near a comfortable 50 dewith their race. There’s also a
Joe Hankins and Emilyn Siemon were crowned Belle Plaine High School’s 2014 homecoming king and queen at Monday night’s coronation in the school’s north gym. They were crowned by 2013 king and queen – Zach Bahr and Hannah Johnson. This year’s other king candidates were Dylan O’Brien, Ben Wagner, Alec Lorenz and Kincade Retzer. The other queen candidates were Kaylee Shields, Megan Berger, Shannon Egan and Rylee Pumper. The guest speaker was BPHS math and Spanish teacher Mitch Miller, who provided the audience with a humor-filled speech with topics ranging from refereeing flag football games to moms to iPad use in the classroom. Miller also presented a football to the cross country team, which will relay the ball from the home of Friday night’s football opponent (Tri-City United) to Belle Plaine to be presented to the football team at Friday’s pepfest. The pepfest will start at 2:30 p.m. in the school’s south gym. Monday’s emcees were Alyssa Meierbachtol and Ben Stier.
King Joe Hankins and Queen Emilyn Siemon The ushers were Krista Peltonen and Michael Szaroletta. Everyday this week features a different theme at the school. Monday was Formal Day and Tuesday was Tacky Tuesday/ Mismatch Day. Today (Wednesday) is Movie Character Day, Thursday will be Cowboys Versus Superhero Day and Fri-
day is School Spirit Black and White Day. Sporting events at home this week are the volleyball team taking on Norwood Young America 7:15 p.m. Thursday and the football team battling Tri-City United 7 p.m. Friday. Friday’s homecoming dance is scheduled for 9 p.m. to midnight in the school’s north gym.
grees for the start of this Saturday morning’s fourth annual Scenic Byway Half-Marathon and 5K races in Belle Plaine. As of noon Monday, approximately 220 people had preregistered for the races. If you have not yet registered, you can do so online (Belle Plaine Festivals and Events) or in person starting at 7 a.m. Saturday at Court Square Park, headquarters of the day’s activities. The cost for the Half-Marathon is $50 and for the 5K it’s $30. There will also be a Kids Fun Run, the cost of which is $10. There’s also a two-person relay option for the Half-Marathon, the cost of which is $70. The Kids Fun Run (for ages 10 years and under) will start at 8:45 a.m., followed by the HalfMarathon at 9 a.m. and the 5K at 9:20 a.m. All races begin and
Chip timing will be provided for the Half-Marathon and 5K races. Awards will go to the overall male and female winners in both races, and the top male and female finishers in 10 age divisions. Custom medals will be provided to all halfmarathon participants, and all participants will receive a race day shirt. A pre-race packet pickup will be available this Friday from 4-7 p.m. at Oak Crest Elementary School, where the Belle Plaine Lions Club will be sponsoring an all-you-eat pizza fund-raiser from 5-7 p.m. The cost is $8 for seventh-graders through adults, $6 for grades 1-6 and $2 for kindergartners and younger. Volunteers are needed to help with various duties on Saturday morning. Assistance is needed to help with registration or handing out items to the
need for more road guards to help keep runners on course and safe. Cheering and showing your support is also encouraged. There will also be a postrace Harvest Festival at Court Square Park featuring craft fair vendors, food, entertainment and kid-friendly activities, including visit by Cambi, who is Cambria’s mascot. For more information about volunteering or the Harvest Festival, contact Sony Mesenbring, event coordinator, at 952-873-0855 or e-mail belleplainefestivals@gmail.com. You are also asked to bring your gently worn, used “athletic” shoes to be donated. Collection boxes will be near the finish line. All donated shoes will be given to developing nations through a partnership with Funds2Orgs.com.
City Council Accepts Mn/DOT’s Contribution to Bridge Cost Neil’s Pub to Become Neisen’s Corner Bar by Dan Ruud The city of Belle Plaine added another $702,000 to its coffer to pay for the future construction of a bridge near the intersection of Highway 169 and County Road 3/Meridian Street. The city council Monday night unanimously accepted Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT) municipal agreement program funds totaling that amount. In April, the council authorized the expenditure of up to $26,000 for the city engineering firm of Bolton and Menk to proceed with the preparation of a document (Appendix E). The purpose of the document was to pursue potential funding
sources from the state for the construction of the bridge. As it turns out, the city has received the maximum amount from Mn/DOT ($702,000), including $52,000 for engineering and inspection costs, etc. from Mn/DOT. City Administrator Holly Kreft reported that 15 projects were submitted for funding awards and that Belle Plaine was the only one to receive the maximum amount. She added that the only other project in Scott County selected for funding was for the signal improvements at the intersection of Highway 169 and County Road 17/Marschall Road in Shakopee. Kreft said the Belle Plaine bridge project must be let for bids no later than June 20, 2016, otherwise, the Mn/DOT funds will not be available. Kreft also reported that Scott
County recently released its capital improvement plan for review and comment, and it includes $735,110 for the Belle Plaine bridge project. That and Mn/DOT’s contribution will be used to offset the estimated $5 million cost of the bridge. The council will hold a work session after its regular meeting on Nov. 3, during which staff will provide an update on the project’s potential funding and timing. In other business Monday night, the council unanimously approved on- and off-sale, Sunday and 2 a.m. liquor licenses for Neisen’s Corner Bar that will be opening at the present site of Neil’s Pub at 101 East Main Street. Neil Keohane, longtime owner of Neil’s Pub, is selling the
City Council
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High School League Board Tables ‘Transgender’ Policy Until Dec. 4 Belle Plaine School Board to Discuss Issue Monday Saying it wants more time to hear from people with varying opinions on a proposed policy governing participation of transgender students in league activities, the Minnesota State High School League Board of Directors tabled a decision on the issue until its Dec. 4 meeting. MSHSL Board Chairman Scott McReady, the activities director at St. Charles High School and Belle Plaine’s representative on the board, believes some form of policy on transgender participation is likely to pass when the issue is discussed again. He bases that belief on discussion during last
week’s lengthy board meeting. Over 30 states have policies dealing with participation of transgender students. The revised policy the MSHSL Board of Directors discussed Thursday (Oct. 2) is far more concise and direct than the twopage predecessor the board discussed previously, he said. The new draft creates a proposed policy where a transgender student identifies gender for participation in a similar fashion to identifying a change in gender on a driver’s license, McReady said. Belle Plaine School Board members will take up the issue at a workshop Monday (Oct. 13, 6 p.m.) in the District Center. The issue is intended to assure all students the right to participation in MSHSL activities, “regardless of their gender identity or expression,” according to the latest draft policy. McReady said the lack of a
clear-cut policy on assigning a transgender student to a team is obvious. “I don’t know who I would go to if I received a request today,” he said. Mindy Sparby, Belle Plaine’s activities director, said the policy must be consistent. “It should be the same in Belle Plaine as in Shakopee as in Ada-Borup,” she said.
Gender Assignment
The most recent draft policy the MSHSL board is considering states the assignment of a participant’s gender and the team the student participates on will be recognized based on “documentation from medical personnel, acting within their scope of licensure, that the individual has been diagnosed with gender dysphoria and is receiving appropriate clinical
H.S. League
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Belle Plaine Girl Scouts in Troop 25151 donated 100 bags filled with comfort items for children impacted by domestic violence to the Southern Valley Alliance for Battered Women. The girls who worked on the project include (standing, from left) Shaylee Rademacher, Lizzie Sellnow, Emily Saba, Carly Williams, Elliana Fahey, Sydney Brown, Elissa Moonen. The donations were accepted by (seated) Anna Hoy, SVABW’s crisis line advocacy coordinator, and Martha Molnau, the alliance’s assistant director.
Gifts Aimed to Bring Comfort to Children of Domestic Abuse Girls Scouts Hope Gifts Ease the Pain
A group of Belle Plaine Girl Scouts spent much of its summer and fall working on a project to help children in a tough spot hopefully feel a little better. Last Tuesday (Sept. 30), the girls and leaders of Belle Plaine Girl Scouts Troop 25151 and volunteers delivered the blankets, books and cards they had spent the summer collecting and making to the Southern Valley Alliance for Battered Women’s (SVABW) office in Belle Plaine. Seven of the 12 girls in the troop – all fifth-graders fundraised and sought donated books, cards with a hand-written note of encouragement, squeeze toys to reduce stress and materials to fill 100 bags for boys and girls of all ages. The bags are given to children when the alliance helps them
during a domestic dispute. The project is the first of three steps Girls Scouts have to complete to achieve Girls Scouts’ bronze, silver and gold awards. The Gold Award is the equivalent of the Eagle Scout available to Boy Scouts. Everything they donated came from community fund-raising. “We had a budget of zero,” said Molly Moonen, a parent of one of the girls. The project was the brainchild of the girls. Last spring, they stated holding brainstorming sessions on what possible projects and how doable each project might be. Ideas included a buddy bench at school, fixing up the dog park, volunteering at Childrens Hospital. “They wanted to do something that would help kids,” Moonen said. “They were all in.” When the idea of helping children whose parents were arguing came up, Moonen and Mary Ann Bigaouette, executive director of the Southern Valley Alliance for Battered Women, gave the children age-appro-
priate information about SVABW and domestic abuse. The children learned how domestic violence impacts children their own age and what they can do when they see signs of domestic violence. “It’s not just a service project, like raking leaves or picking up trash,” Moonen said. “This has an educational component.” The project also helped the girls demonstrate leadership and speaking. During the course of the project, the girls led parts of meetings where various elements of the project were discussed and plans were discussed and approved. “If they didn’t do their part, the project wouldn’t get done,” said Sara Fahey, one of the mothers assisting the Girl Scouts. Bigaouette said the organization was “honored” by the donation from the Girl Scouts,
Gifts Aimed
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