BURNETT COUNTY
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18, 2017 VOL. 55 NO. 18 www.burnettcountysentinel.com $1.00
STATE OF THE STATE: Excerpts from the Governor’s speech last week. P2
Snow cures winter blues BY TODD BECKMANN SENTINEL
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Riders take a stretch break along the trail.
New clerk brings vast experience BY STEVE BRIGGS SENTINEL
GRANTSBURG—“Bittersweet” is how Patty Bjorklund describes leaving the Webster Village Clerk job she loved to take a similar job in Grantsburg and return to the community of her youth. Before graduating from Grantsburg High School in 1978, she and her new co-worker, Grantsburg Village Treasurer Sheila Meyer, were high school chums. “We’re going to be a great team,” she says. As Webster clerk for eight years, Bjorklund says she got to know nearly everyone in the community and to be a part of the village’s growth and centennial celebration. She wore many hats including Webster clerk, village treasurer, elections coordinator, cemetery sexton and utility biller. She also recorded the Webster Village Board minutes and advised the board on projects including water and sewer improvements, the centennial celebration planning, the dog park development north of the village and last summer’s addition of the nearly $500,000 handicap-accessible playground. “I was ‘the face’ of the village board and represented them at many county and state meetings,” she said. “It was very interesting. I learned a lot and I SEE BJORKLUND, PAGE 7
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BURNETT COUNTY—With riders chomping at the bit, the snowmobile trails in Burnett County officially opened on Jan. 11, following the biggest snowfall of the season to date — six-plus inches. “The riders were anticipating the trail opening for a long time,” pointed out Cozy Corner Trails Club Secretary and TreasurerSue Smedegard. Riders truly understand why the trails aren’t open sooner.” She makes a good point as trails are available to be open after the bulk of the hunting season comes to a close, December 15 — but the “open trail” declaration comes only when conditions allow. And, for the 2016-17 riding season, those conditions didn’t allow it until last week.
For the parks department, it’s more than just announcing the trails are open. “We contact the trail association and we talk with individual clubs to see if their individual trails can be opened,” Parks Administrator Jake Nichols pointed out. “Once we get the thumbs up, we start the process of notifying everyone the trails are open.” But once the word is out, as it was on Jan. 10 — look out! “As soon as the word got out that the trails were open, there were sleds out there,” she continued. She reported seeing several large covered trailers with snowmobiles inside on the SEE TRAILS, PAGE 6
Myers discharged following transplant GRANTSBURG—Mike Myers, recovering from bone marrow transplant surgery, has been a patient at Regions Hospital in St. Paul since Dec. 8 — but that all changed last week. “Much has happened since the last journal entry, including a discharge date,” an elated Tyler Myers, Mike’s son, wrote on Mike’s CaringBridge site last week. “If things remain as they have been, we will be heading to the apartment in Minneapolis on Monday, January 16 — this day has been a long time in coming” Mike was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia on Aug. 24 and started treatment. Treatment included chemotherapy plus an additional drug known as a tyrosine-kinase inhibitor (TKI) and led to the transplant last month. “Mike’s WBC is now at 1.8 with an absolute neutrophil count (ANC) of 1.0,” Tyler stated. “These cell numbers have continued to improve almost daily.” Tyler said that due to the increase in his ANC, Mike no longer has one of his IV antibiotics (cephepime). “The only IV medication he is taking right now is Neupogen
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Mike Myers
but he still has IV nutrition,” Tyler said. “The doctors anticipated that his mouth would heal once his white blood cells increased but this hasn’t been the case, so eating
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continues to be more of a chore for Mike, and he usually is only able to consume about 800 calories a day.” Unfortunately, daily trips to the clinic will continue until Mike’s platelets start coming in and his hemoglobin numbers increase — until they do, he may end up having transfusions regularly. “He is considering the use of a clinical trial drug called Romiplostim which is designed to help the bone marrow produce platelets,” Tyler explained. “Platelets tend to be the last cells that the bone marrow produces in a transplant, particularly when receiving an umbilical blood cord.” Energy-wise, Mike is still pretty weak. “One day last week he was given the go-ahead to leave the room for walks as long as he wears the special mask,” Tyler remarked. “We took one walk down the hall and that wore him out enough to require a nap,” he added with a laugh. The family is hopeful, though, that as his hemoglobin and platelet counts improve, his energy will as well.
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