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Vol. 163, No. 24
Saturday, September 23, 2017
11 2nd Ave. N., Unit 103, Sauk Rapids, Benton County, MN 56379
Spohn, Mastey named homecoming royalty
Sauk Rapids woman named visiting scholar for Twin Cities Benedictine Center
PHOTO BY VICKI IKEOGU
HOMECOMING 2017
Barbara Sutton has been named the Àrst Scholar in Residence for the Benedictine Center of St. Paul’s Monastery in Maplewood. Sutton, a resident of Sauk Rapids, will be conducting a variety of workshops and retreats on leadership and community building through faith throughout the next year. BY VICKI IKEOGU CONTRIBUTING WRITER
The Sauk Rapids-Rice senior homecoming court – (front, from left) Zac Spohn, Gage Donovan; (back, from left) Jayden Schaap, Brindelyn Mastey, SAUK RAPIDS — Barbara Beth Kobluk, Cody Landwehr, Ella Benoit, Summer Schmidt, Abby Swanson and Chainagubo Balo – strike a pose at the high school Sept. 18. Spohn Sutton knew from an early age that and Mastey were named the 2017 homecoming king and queen. BY ANNA SALDANA STAFF WRITER
SAUK RAPIDS – Two crowns, a robe and half dozen red roses sat on a chair in front of an awaiting crowd Sept. 18 in the Sauk RapidsRice High School Performing Arts Center. SRRHS celebrated their homecoming coronation Monday
to kick off the week’s festivities leading up to the Sept. 22 football game against Brainerd. Ella Benoit, Beth Kobluk, Brindelyn Mastey, Summer Schmidt and Abby Swanson were all in the running for homecoming queen, while Chainagubo Balo, Gage Donovan, Cody Landwehr, Zac Spohn and Jayden Schaap were vying for the title of king.
A surprise to both, Spohn and Mastey were chosen by the students to reign as the homecoming royalty. “When I was crowned, I didn’t believe it was real,” said Mastey, who was selected for queen. “I was so shocked that I had been voted in by the student body. I feel honored to represent my school and show Storm pride. It feels surreal walking in the hallways, having people say
2018. The plan intends to expose 704 acres of land at a cost of $333 per acre. Eagle Creek Renewable Energy, the owner of the Sartell hydroelectric dam, is on board with the project as long as their $235,000 energy income loss is substituted. Benton SWCD and the LRLA are seeking government and grant funding in order to do so. Residents have also shown their support. As of 2016, over 60 percent of drawdown survey-takers are in favor of the project. Why now? Following the blue-green algal bloom of 2007, Little Rock Lake was listed as an impaired water and increased attention was focused on restoration of water quality. A study completed by Benton SWCD in 2012, suggests that both external and internal nutrient and sediment loading needs to be addressed in order to improve the water. Over the last Àve years, over 70 best management practices, from agricultural feed lots to shoreline buffers, have been installed within the watershed. The projects have resulted in the reduction of 2,340 pounds of phosphorus deposited into the lake from outside sources each year. “That annual reduction in phosphorus should reduce 700,000 pounds of algae created in the lake,”
she had a calling to pursue ministry. As a kid growing up on a dairy farm in central New York, Sutton said she was heavily involved in her Methodist faith. “I was always involved in the church,” she said. “I was a Sunday school teacher. I worked at their summer camp. Their missionaries always had me doing something. So, I decided, or rather God decided, that I had a call to ministry.” As a sophomore in high school, Sutton decided to tell her family what she wanted to be when she grew up. “I announced it one Sunday at the dinner table,” Sutton said. “But my father, with a little Archie Bunker in him said, ‘Oh no, women don’t do that.’” The matter was settled. Sutton would go on to earn bachelor’s and master’s degrees in food service and nutrition and eventually Ànd her way to Florida. During this time she also converted to Catholicism. The desire to serve God and help others never left. “I went to a conference up in Minneapolis on young adults,” Sutton said. “I went to that and for the Àrst time in my life learned that lay people could be in ministry. Getting paid by the Church and doing important work.” Sutton said it was conference that reafÀrmed her calling. It was that conference nearly 30 years ago that rekindled her desire. “So, I went home and resigned my position,” Sutton said. “It was a great conference and I was reminded of my call. I said I can do this and I went back to school for ministry.” In the years since, Sutton has dedicated her life to serving others. She has served in various ministry positions including the director of religious education in a parish in Florida to working as the director of parish care and empowerment in a West Virginia diocese. About 10 years ago, Sutton relocated to Minnesota to work for St. John’s School of Theology and Seminary in Collegeville as the director of Àeld education and ministerial formation. She is also an adjunct professor and has earned her doctorate in ministry from St. Paul Seminary and School of Divinity. It was through her work at St. John’s that Sutton, a Sauk Rapids resident, became acquainted with the sisters at the Benedictine Center of St. Paul’s Monastery in Maplewood. The Benedictine Center provides a variety of ministry services including spiritual direction, retreats, teaching, faith formation and parish pastoral care. “I’ve gotten to know the sisters really well,” Sutton said. “I’ve cooperated with them on different retreats and projects.” When the sisters and other staff
Little Rock Lake page 3
Sutton page 3
congratulations to me. I’m over the moon ecstatic and I’m so grateful for the memories. I love the other girls I was up against and I wish we could all share the crown.” Spohn feels honored as well. “It was a pretty cool rush to be crowned. I’m really excited to represent our school because I don’t
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Restoring the lake Sept. 27 meeting to offer drawdown details BY NATASHA BARBER STAFF WRITER
SAUK RAPIDS — Community stakeholders will have the opportunity to learn about the proposed drawdown of Little Rock Lake and Sartell Pool Wednesday. The project is being considered to help restore lake water quality. The Little Rock Lake Association in conjunction with the Department of Natural Resources will host its second informational session Sept. 27. The meeting will take place at Watab Township Hall — 660 75th Street NW, Sauk Rapids — from 7-8 p.m. Representatives from the DNR, Eagle Creek Renewable Energy, LLC, Benton County Soil and Water District and the LRLA Board of Directors will be in attendance to provide information, updates and answer questions. “We all have a common goal of cleaning the water,” said LRLA President Kellie Gallagher at a session in August. “Little Rock Lake has been dirty for an awfully long time. We have an opportunity here. There is a lot of research and good work that has been done by these organizations. We have an opportunity to really make a difference now, actually make something happen and turn the tide with our weight.” Little Rock Lake is listed in the
PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE MINNESOTA POLLUTION CONTROL AGENCY
Excessive nutrients result in increased algal growth in Little Rock Lake. The lake became listed as an impaired water in 2008.
top 4 percent of the most polluted resident, along with Benton SWCD lakes in the state of Minnesota. The Supervisor Chuck Rau also spoke at unhealthy water quality of the lake is the August meeting. not a new issue, and history plays a “There was actually a lot of part. vegetation in the basin and when it The lake, with an average depth was Áooded the vegetation started of 8 feet, began degrading, but as a wetland there was really that developed “That annual reduction in nowhere for it to into a vegetated phosphorus should reduce go,” Altena said. marsh after the “Even though we 700,000 pounds of algae have a fairly high construction of a downstream exchange rate of created in the lake.” dam in 1907. In about two to three 1934, water levels times a year, it - Chuck Rau, Benton County were raised, still does not Áush Soil and Water Conservation Áooding the area, out that easily. District Supervisor submerging plantDeeper portions life and creating a of the lake hang man-made body of water. onto that nutrient load.” Eric Altena, DNR Area Fisheries According to the Benton SWCD, Manager and Little Rock Lake water levels have not been allowed to Áuctuate more than six inches since that time. This, along with multiple factors such as lack of shoreline stability and land use changes, has contributed to the excessive nutrient and sediment loading, resulting in increased algal blooms. Although a drawdown has been delayed over the past years due to public support and funding, the summer 2018 proposal is plausible. The updated proposal suggests a 3-foot complete systems drawdown Algae swirls along a lake shoreline. A 3-foot drawdown of Little Rock of Little Rock Lake, Harris Channel Lake, the Harris Channel and the Sartell Pool will potentially take place and the Sartell Pool that would take Aug. 1 through Sept. 14, 2018. place from Aug. 1 through Sept. 14,