BURNETT COUNTY
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2020 VOL. 58 NO. 46 www.burnettcountysentinel.com $1.00
BAGGED A BEAR! Ten-year-old from Webster gets bear through mentor program. P8
First female Army M-P has local ties JONATHAN RICHIE EDITOR@BURNETTCOUNTYSENTINEL.COM
SENTINEL PHOTO
Siren Nationals returns Saturday
“For those of you who still hold it’s a man’s world or believe Women’s Lib is something new on the scene, take a gander at the above 1950 photograph. Pictured there is none other than the Seattle Post Office’s own Meta Shepherd, Personnel Clerk (Relief), Lander Street Annex, who, believe it or not, was the first woman M-P in the history of the United States Army.” This is the opening from an article from a publication in Washington state in April 1971. Titled “Pistol-Packing Mama,” the article explains how Meta Shepherd became the first female M-P in the Army. “(She) certainly doesn’t look as if she could use jujitsu to throw a two-hundredpound male or expertly fire a sub-machine gun, – but she can!” Shepherd’s cousin, Elma Karels, stopped into the Sentinel office and showed a variety of documents and photos from Shepherd’s life. Karels found the documents after her cousin passed away in May in Arizona. She has been digging through “All her
JONATHAN RICHIE SENTINEL EDITOR
Siren Nationals will be back at the Burnett County Municipal Airport on Saturday. The event includes a car show, 1/8 mile radar run, swap meet and local vendors selling concessions. The event was cancelled last fall due to the repaving of the runway used for the radar run. It was also cancelled in the spring due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus. This will be the first radar run on the newly renovated runway, the project cost about $2 million. The runway 5/23 was ranked one of the worst in the state.
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Meta Shephard shown here in her U.S. Army Military Police uniform in a newspaper clipping from 1950.
SEE SHEPHERD, PAGE 2
“Airport officials would like to have the pavement completely set before having the racers back at the airport,” County Administrator Nate Ehalt said last fall. At the time jets and planes were already using the runway but officials were concerned about the number of vehicles on the runway so soon after finishing the project. Siren Nationals always draws a big crowd. Last May the event brought in over 600 spectators, with about 100 cars participating in the radar run. There is a general admission fee and a fee if you would like to participate in the radar run. More information can be found at www.facebook.com/ sirennationals.
‘Typical day in jail’ More maintenance issues with inmates A Burnett County inmate destroyed newly installed visiting video station equipment. Burnett County maintenance director Gary Faught described the scene as “a crazy guy ripped it apart.” He added that he also used toothpaste and other materials for part of the dismantling. He described it as “a typical day in jail” for his crew. The maintenance department went into the jail and repaired
the wall and the electronics were replaced by the company that installed them. Faught said he was not sure about whether it was going to be compensated or if the county has to pay for the replacement equipment. “That’s a question for the jail,” Faught told the Infrastructure Committee last week. Jail Administrator Mark Schmidt told the Sentinel follow-
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ing the meeting that the equipment is not owned by the county so they did not cover the cost of replacing it. Schmidt said the equipment is used by inmates to make personal phone calls and replacing it will not cost the county anything. He said Inmate funds pay for expenses with the phone meaning the county did not have to pay for replacing the equipment.
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The third floor of the Government Center is for the Burnett County Jail. There have been many maintenance issues for years.
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