COUNTRY
Serving Marine on St. Croix, Scandia, May Township
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2017 VOL. 34 NO. 34 www.countrymessenger.com $.75
2018 LEVY: Marine Council approves 2.3 percent increase. PAGE 2
Unhappy holidaze? Coping with a family Christmas on ice BY SUZANNE LINDGREN EDITOR@OSCEOLASUN.COM
Ah, the most wonderful time of the year. The eating, drinking and making merry. The sledding, caroling and good-natured banter that, after a few drinks, always seems to find a way to escalate into disaster. There was the time your aunt, inspired by your cousin’s new headband, danced like a flapper — until she tripped over a grandnephew.
crises, says Sherry Gaugler-Stewart, director of family and spiritual recovery at Wayzata-based addiction treatment center The Retreat. “The angle I come from is the family’s side of things,” Gaugler-Stewart explained. “Sometimes it’s during the holidays that people realize that their loved one has a problem … it may become clear that something has changed.” Other times, she said, “it might be just that
CAROL SEEFELDT
Breakfast with Santa The Scandia-Marine Lions Community Breakfast, Dec. 9, was well attended, brought in many donations for the Scandia-Marine Food Shelf and brought smiles to children’s faces.
Veterans memorial honors 210 BY SUZANNE LINDGREN EDITOR@OSCEOLASUN.COM
The honor walls on the Scandia Veterans Memorial are full, reports Dave Wilson, chair of the memorial committee. “We have now filled all 210 spots on the honor walls for personalized bricks,” he told the Messenger last week. “We are extremely honored and overwhelmed by the response from the public.” Wilson added that the memorial committee will try to find a way to accommodate additional brick requests. “For those interested in a brick to honor a veteran at the memorial, please watch for more information in the Messenger and at the memorial itself,” he said. The project has been about four years in the making and is almost complete, with about half of one wall left un-engraved. An informal unveiling was held in late October.
PIXABAY | CREATIVE COMMONS
The combination of family and drinking can sometimes lead to chaos. Having a game plan can help.
SUZANNE LINDGREN | COUNTRY MESSENGER
Each of the 210 bricks honoring individual veterans at the Scandia Veterans Memorial have been spoken for. However, the memorial committee will try to accommodate additional requests.
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Then there’s the predictable battle over politics, accompanied by wild gestures and spilled wine. Or perhaps you’ll realize that your sister’s short-term pain prescription has morphed into something more significant. Although you might not be able to stop any of this from happening, there are ways to handle such holiday
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SEE FAMILY, PAGE 2
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the family gathering stirs things up.” Either way, a plan can help one cope. “You might not have control over someone else’s decision to drink but you do in how you react,” said Gaugler-Stewart. “If there’s a drunken political debate in the other room, is it OK to step into the kitchen and do
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