Harvest Coin Still Hiding
School Board Approves 2017 Preliminary Levy
Fall Sports Teams Complete Busy Week
Pages 12-13
Page 14
Page 4
ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FIFTH YEAR
BELLE PLAINE, MINNESOTA, SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
75¢ SINGLE COPY
NUMBER 309
Scenic Byway Races Saturday
King and Queen Candidates Belle Plaine High School’s homecoming is next week and on Monday night two of the above seniors will be crowned the school’s 2016 homecoming king and queen. Monday’s coronation is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. More on homecoming week will appear in next Wednesday’s Herald. At front and center in the photo is the new traveling football trophy between Belle Plaine and Jordan, which the Tigers captured a couple of weeks ago and will remain at BPHS at least until next season. Some candidates are also holding other fall activities items, from a volleyball and trophy to a football to a FFA jacket to fine arts masks to cross country sneakers. This year’s king candidates, from left, are Jack Larson, Jonah Meyer, Kellen Bergs, Nathan Herman, Noah Ellingsworth and Alec Ruud. The queen candidates are Hailey Witt, Selin Dikmen, Montana Bahr, Elizabeth Johnson, Filiz Dikmen and Taylor Kruger. NOTE: The Tigers are the first possessors of the OLD HWY 169 BLVD trophy, which will be kept in the school of the winning team each year. Anyone who frequently travels on Highway 169 between the two communities will recognize this piece of fencing from Jim’s Apple Barn, which ceremonially marks the halfway point between the two communities.
Harvest Fest Battle of Bands Saturday Night Six bars in downtown Belle Plaine will be participating in a Battle of the Bands this Saturday night. Each of the bars will have a band, and you can qualify for prize drawings for hundreds of dollars by signing up at each of the bars. The drawings will start at 11:45 p.m. For more information, including drawing eligibility rules and participating bars, etc., see the Battle of the Bands advertisement on page 2. The event is being sponsored by Belle Plaine German Days Committee.
October begins this Saturday and so will Belle Plaine’s colorful sixth annual Scenic Byway races, which will again be comprised of a half-marathon, 5K and kids fun run. As of Friday midday, which was the last day to preregister, approximately 150 people had preregistered for the races, which was almost evenly split between the half-marathon and 5K. If you are not yet registered to run (walkers are also welcome), you can do so at belleplainefestivals.org or www.andersonraces.com. The various fees for the races are also posted. Race day check-in starts at 7 a.m. at Court Square Park. Both the half-marathon and 5K courses are USATF certified and chip-timed, making this event a great, competitive running opportunity along the fall colors of the Minnesota River Valley. Anderson Race Management will help organize the events, which include awards, medals and a post-race party with food, entertainment and kids activi-
ties at Court Square Park for participants and families. There will also be a kids’ run that gets underway at 8:45 a.m. Participants will receive a kids’ race day shirt. Runners must be 10 years of age and younger to participate. Parents are welcome to run along with their kids. The half-marathon starts at 9 a.m. and the 5K at 9:20 a.m. Awards will be given for the top male and female in seven age categories in both events, and the top male and female finishers in both events. Special custom medals will go to all half-marathon participants. There is also a two-person relay. Runners are responsible for their own transportation to and from the halfway exchange point. The first runner will be running a bit longer than half of the 13.1 miles due to safety of the runners and having a safe exchange point. The exchange will take place near mile mark-
Races
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Family Offers $5,000 Reward for Info on Who Killed Their Son With no leads from an investigation, a grieving family is hoping a $5,000 reward will help uncover who left a Belle Plaine man to die after a hitand-run crash on Highway 169 in the early-morning hours of Aug. 14. The Fath family has offered a reward for information leading to the arrest of the person who hit Derek Fath as he walked home from a party. The reward for the hit-and-run fatality was announced Friday (Sept. 23) at a press conference held with state troopers. Fath’s body was discovered in the northbound lane of Highway 169 near Belle Plaine Trail. The Minnesota State Patrol be-
lieves he was hit between 4:30 and 5:10 a.m. State patrol investigators are looking for the driver of a 2010 to 2012 Ford Fusion or Mercury Milan that was damaged in the hit-and-run crash. They suspect it might have been to a body shop for repairs since the fatal crash. The family is hoping the reward will keep the story of Derek Fath’s tragic death in the minds of anyone who knows something about the crash. The family is looking for answers that would lead to closure.
Reward
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Bill Steffen, left, and Marco Safakhoo have sealed the deal in the sale of the former Steffen’s Hardware Store building. Safakhoo, who is moving into the second-floor apartment, plans to convert the main floor into a martial arts training establishment.
So Long Jim, Hello Master Safakhoo For generations, the building at 201 North Meridian Street in downtown Belle Plaine has been used as a hardware store owned and operated by the Steffen family, most recently Jim Steffen. That tradition came to an end with the recent Steffen’s “retirement sale” and subsequent closing of the store. Steffen has sold the building, which will be back in use in the coming months. Another hardware store? Not even close. Try martial arts training, weapon training, martial log training, iron body training and women’s self defense, etc. That’s where Master Marco Safakhoo comes in. He bought the building from Steffen and plans to bring his long and successful career in martial arts and self-defense training to Belle Plaine. Safakhoo has operated one of the largest martial arts academies in northwest Florida for
34 years. It’s located in Pensacola and is called Nabard Combat and Fitness, which remains in operation even though Safakhoo has made the move into the apartment that is on the second floor of the building he bought from Steffen, below which will be his martial arts academy. Why Belle Plaine of all places? “We (he and his friend Donna Lucas) were all over the United States and we got here and fell in love with Belle Plaine and the people here,” said Safakhoo, who also invests in properties. “This is a very nice environment with a charm to it. We are going from the warmth (Florida) to the cold but we just fell in love with the warmhearted people here.” Safakhoo, 58, said he will continue to own his martial arts academy in Pensacola but will make transforming a hardware store in an aging building into another of his martial arts endeavors his main focus.
Some of his students in Pensacola have included FBI and Secret Service agents, as well as SWAT team members and narcotics officers, etc. In fact, Safakhoo has developed his own martial art that is “interchangeability based on biomechanics,” much more of which is explained on his Nabard Combat website and Facebook pages. There’s also a 2011 ABC News report on YouTube featuring Safakhoo, in which he explains some of his martial arts philosophies. Just Google Pastor John Meyer, his wife Tammy, and their children (from left) Johnny, Jimmy and Holly “Master Safakhoo Under 35.” are leaving Belle Plaine’s Trinity Lutheran Church and moving to Sparta, Wis. where Pastor The Martial Arts of the World Meyer will serve as St. John’s Lutheran Church’s pastor. Grandmaster Gallery, which is also online, states: “In 1983, Grandmaster Safakhoo introduced T.O.A.S.
Safakhoo
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Trinity Lutheran Says Farewell to Pastor Meyer, Family
John Meyer has delivered hundreds of sermons in his 12 years as a pastor. None of them were quite like the one he delivered Sunday morning at Trinity Lutheran Church. Meyer was saying farewell.
It was difficult to look into So when Meyer was offered the faces of the congregation. the chance to speak to the Many knew what he was say- membership during an informal ing. It was no secret that Meyer breakfast gathering after the had accepted a call to serve as Pastor Meyer the pastor at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Sparta, Wis. (continued on page 8)