Letters to Santa and Home Lighting Contest Winners
Sports Teams Wrap Up Pre-Christmas Schedule Pages 14, 15
Second Section Pages 17-22
ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SECOND YEAR
BELLE PLAINE, MINNESOTA, DECEMBER 24, 2013
75¢ SINGLE COPY
NUMBER 52
Outgoing Belle Plaine School Board Directors (from left) Mike Daly, Judy Nagel and Gary Steinhagen will take 20 years of board experience with them. They participated in their last meeting Monday (Dec. 23) evening.
School Board Losing Familiar Faces, Plenty of Experience
Christmas came early this year for the Kiecker family of Belle Plaine when emergency room staff at Mayo Health Systems-New Prague (Queen of Peace) saved Omni and Jeff’s daughter Gwendolyn. Born three weeks early Sept. 1, Gwen stopped breathing Oct. 17. The family in- When the Belle Plaine School hagen served four years. The They’ll be formally recognized cludes Jeff and sons Zach and Max plus Omni and Gwen. board reconvenes in 2014, it three decided against running for their service at an upcoming will do so without three expe- for re-election earlier this year, meeting next month. rienced directors who brought opening a door for three new Superintendent Kelly Smith a wealth of experience and dif- directors bringing new perspec- said the contributions the trio ferent perspectives. tives to the school board. made are significant. Nagel, Directors Judy Nagel and Mike The trio attended their last regSchool Board The gifts around the tree contractions and the amount Gwendolyn didn’t eat much at Daly both served eight years on ularly scheduled board meeting (continued on page 8) the board. Director Gary SteinMonday (Dec. 23) evening. Christmas morning might just of time between them told her the 6 a.m. Feeding. Four hours as well be for their children, there wasn’t time for the longer later, she checked her daughsons Zach, Max and daughter drive. ter and found her asleep. Her Gwendolyn. Omni and Jeff Shakopee is about 22 miles breathing was weak. GwendoKiecker already received the closer to their home in north- lyn started to cry, but it sounded greatest gift of all. east Belle Plaine. horse. Gwen is 14 weeks old today. When he came back with With Jeff out of town on busiOmni shudders at the memory some towels for the ride, Omni ness and Omni’s father at the of a nurse calling for emer- told her husband they wouldn’t house helping her with the gency help. The phrase “Code make it to Shakopee. She told boys, she drove to the hospital blue” to Trauma Room 2 is for- him to call 9-1-1. in New Prague. By the time ever etched into her memory. Jenny and Nate Korbel, friends they arrived at Mayo Health “Code blue means she wasn’t living in Belle Plaine, came Systems in New Prague (forbreathing,” she said. over to watch the boys. Jenny, a merly Queen of Peace HospiGwendolyn Kiecker was born nurse, helped deliver Gwen. tal), Gwen was barely breathSept. 1, 11:52 a.m., in the front Police and paramedics arrived ing. The doctor quickly moved seat of her mother and father’s shortly after Gwendolyn was her from an examination room Suburban. She arrived three born. to Trauma Room 2, an area with weeks earlier than expected “They cut the umbilical cord more emergency equipment. weighing just over 5½ pounds. in the ambulance on the ride to The emergency room staff A family friend and nurse, the hospital (St. Francis),” she immediately began to massage Jenny Korbel, assisted with the said. her, hoping to keep her lungs delivery. Delivering earlier than expect- and heart functioning. The Kieckers expected Gwen ed is nothing new for Kiecker. “That’s when she heard the would be born at Immanuel St. Both the boys arrived earlier call over the intercom, “Code Joseph’s Hospital in Mankato. than expected. “We barely made Blue Trauma 2,” Omni said. “I But when Omni went into labor it to the hospital,” Omni said of thought we lost her. I thought three weeks ahead of sched- Max’s birthday 18 months ear- she had died.” ule, Gwen wasn’t about to wait lier. Omni, her father and the boys Dawn-Marie deLara, right, and her art student, Faithie Lenzmeier, turned the former’s home around to make her entrance. The first few weeks of Gwen’s were quietly taken to a small on the 100 block of West Main Street into a gingerbread house setting this holiday season. The delivery went well, albeit life went well. Although she waiting room for what seems much quicker than even they didn’t eat much and was gain- like an eternity waiting to hear anticipated. ing weight slowly, she nursed about Gwen, waiting to hear if The episode started with Omni well, without much fuss, and she was alive. The mother desinforming Jeff they should go slept well, too. Christmas Gift to St. Francis Regional Medical Center in Shakopee rather Something Wasn’t Right (continued on page 9) by Dan Ruud 1/2 hours a week, normally on was Faithie’s idea. than ISJ. The sharpness of the But Oct. 17, Omni noticed Dawn-Marie deLara’s artwork Mondays. When asked what part of the is prevalent throughout the in- “I’ll continue lessons with display she is most proud of, terior of her Belle Plaine home, Faithie as long as she’s into it. Faithie had three words to say: including the colorful murals This may be a very long time, “All of it.” painted on her kitchen cabinets since she once told a friend Faithie has been Dawn-Maand elsewhere in the house. who plaintively asked her when rie’s art student for about four This holiday season, Dawn- she was going to be done with years. They have tackled many Marie decided to share some Monday art classes, ‘when I’m different projects together over of her creativity with anyone dead.’ As I want her to live a the years, ranging from drawdriving or walking along West good and long life, this means ing and painting to sculptMain Street. Her lawn and I’ll have to try to figure out how ing and crafting, the latter of porch, located across the street to live past 130,” Dawn-Marie which is Faithie’s favorite. The from Sparetime Tavern, have said. teacher-student duo even built been transformed to resemble a Faithie and Dawn-Marie set a playhouse last summer. In the gingerbread scene with colorful out on their quest to make the process, Faithie has learned to gumdrops, lollipops, M&M’s, latter’s home look like a ginger- use some power tools. icing, elves and all. bread house in November. “She’s pretty good with a What made the project most “I’m just kind of passion- cordless drill,” Dawn-Marie special for Dawn-Marie was ate about gingerbread. It’s my said. “When she first started her real life helper, 12-year-old Christmas thing. When I was art classes, she was really timid Faithie Lenzmeier. a teenager I made my parents’ and didn’t like loud things like “She is my art student – the house to scale with ginger- power tools. Now, she asks to ‘Artgirl.’ I don’t have kids of bread,” Dawn-Marie said. do things with them.” my own, so I borrow other peo- Faithie had her hands in a lot Dawn-Marie said she is not ple’s kids when I can,” Dawn- of the work that went into turnMarie joked. ing the front lawn into a ginArtist Faithie is the daughter of Alan gerbread theme. She helped (continued on page 2) and Jill Lenzmeier, who own turn flower pots into gumdrops, fabric (dipped in paint) into Members of the Belle Plaine Junior-Senior High School choir performed Friday at Mall of Prairie Farm Supply. Faithie is frosting, and shaped foam into currently being home schooled America. An audience of a few hundred, plus thousands of shoppers at the mall heard the and Dawn-Marie is one of her candy. The “Elves at Work” students performance and offered hearty applause. All the choir students participated in the teachers. Faithie and Dawn- sign in the center of the lawn finale, a heartwarming version of “Silent Night.” Marie work together about 2
Best Christmas Gift Ever Came Early for Belle Plaine Family
Artist and Her Helper Add Some Holiday Spice to Downtown Area
A Holiday Hit at MOA