COUNTRY
WEDNESDAY, MAY 8, 2019
Serving Marine on St. Croix, Scandia, May Township
VOL. 36 NO. 02 www.countrymessenger.com $.75
THE BATTLE OF PUEBLA: This week in history. PAGE 8
It’s official: Marine purchases school property BY SUZANNE LINDGREN EDITOR@COUNTRYMESSENGER.COM
The City of Marine officially owns the Marine Elementary School property, councilmen Bill Milller and Lon Pardun announced May 1. “[We] would like to thank everyone for their help and support throughout this process,” Miller wrote in a short email announcing that the purchase was official. The city has had its eye on the property since the Stillwater school district announced plans to close the school at the end of the 2016-2017 school year. Due to a district-wide freeze on post-consolidation planning, negotiations toward a purchase did not start until late 2017. After in-person discussions, the city and district settled on a price of $950,000 last August. In October, Marine council members made the offer official and the Stillwater school board accepted. The sale closed May 1 at a final purchase price of $910,000. “Think of where we started, at $2 million,” Miller said. “I think we did OK for getting it done.” With the backing of residents, Marine SEE PROPERTY, PAGE 2
SUZANNE LINDGREN | THE SUN
Bridge replacement planned for 2025
Alana Cuellar, left, and her father Guillermo Cuellar examine pots from a recent firing.
Pottery tour celebrates culture of handmade Honors legacy of Warren MacKenzie BY SUZANNE LINDGREN EDITOR@OSCEOLASUN.COM
A week and a half before the annual St. Croix Valley Potter Tour, Shafer potter Guillermo Cuellar is unloading his kiln. The array of pitchers, teapots, mugs and other vessels have one thing in common. They’re meant to be used. “I don’t make pots as artistic statements,” he says. “I’m not trying to be overly humble about it, but I think the overall purpose is just for people to take them and use them at home. If they break it’s not a tragedy.” It’s a philosophy shared by many in the region, from potters themselves to those who buy and use their hand thrown wares. “There’s a huge audience for
straight, functional pots,” reports Cuellar. It’s a phenomenon he attributes, in large part, to the late Warren MacKenzie. This year’s tour will be the first without MacKenzie. But at Cuellar’s studio, one of the tour’s host sites, MacKenzie’s impact is as evident than ever. “He valued functional pots,” Cuellar says. “Not extraordinary gallery pots, although a lot of his pots ended up in museums because they were just that great. But they weren’t made with that intention.” MacKenzie learned the craft from English potter Bernard Leach, whose studio ran not on artistic expression but quality and consistency. “Warren learned in a production studio where they had to make a number of pieces to standard for a catalog,” Cuellar says. “They had cards with a silhouette
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of the piece and the amount of weight of clay necessary to make that piece. So you had to learn to throw and have the piece come out exactly like the silhouette. It was a real training like a musician would go through, which today is very, very rare.” MacKenzie returned to the United States excited to share his knowledge, minus the strict adherence to standardization of form. “He was a natural teacher,” Cuellar said. “He had the charm and really engaged with the public. “He had a number of generations of students, and students of students, who have carried that interest forward and made Minnesota an international center for pots. It just took on an energy of its own. “Even though people make pots SEE TOUR, PAGE 2
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SUZANNE LINDGREN | THE SUN
At 66 years old, the Osceola bridge is showing signs of deterioration that call for replacement. BY SUZANNE LINDGREN EDITOR@OSCEOLASUN.COM
Planning is in the very early stages to replace the Osceola bridge. The departments of transportation in Minnesota and Wisconsin have their sights on year 2025. By then, the bridge will be more than 70 years old. Built in 1953, the crossing is showing signs of dete-
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rioration that can no longer be fixed with surface-level repairs. MnDOT inspected the bridge last week, part of its regular annual inspection schedule, and findings reinforced the need to plan for replacement. “It’s an old bridge and it really needs to be replaced,” said Adam Josephson, SEE BRIDGE, PAGE 2
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