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7 Second Avenue Sauk Rapids, MN 56379
“Minnesota’s Oldest Weekly Newspaper” Vol. 161, No. 40
Sauk Rapids, Benton County, Minnesota 56379
A continuation of the Frontiersman, The Free Press, Sauk Rapids Sentinel and St. Cloud Sentinel.
City welcomes new K9
(USPS 482-240)
January 13, 2016
STAYING POSITIVE Alex Landwehr has lived a different childhood than most by ANNA SALDANA STAFF WRITER
“Thunder” with his new training officer, Matt Bosma.
‘Thunder’ joins Sauk Rapids Police K-9 unit by NATASHA BARBER STAFF WRITER SAUK RAPIDS – The Sauk Rapids Police Department and Chief Perry Beise introduced the new K-9 unit, Officer Matt Bosma and his dog, Thunder, to Mayor Gunderson, city council, staff and the community on Monday, Jan. 11. Thunder, the 14-month old German Shepherd, Belgium Malinois cross, comes from Slovakia and has recently began his training with the police department. “This past week was the first week we’ve had him riding along in the car with me. We’ve just started doing a little bit of obedience training and that sort of stuff, so we are ahead of the game when we begin narcotics training,” Bosma said. Over the next several months, the two will complete their training together in order for Thunder to become certified for patrol. Bosma and Thunder will begin narcotics training Feb. 1 and then take the month of March off. In April and May, they will continue training in tracking and apprehension. Bosma has been a decoy for Sauk Rapids’ retired K-9, Storm, over the last 10 years. Although he has not been part of the initial training of a K-9 police dog, he has been included in Storm’s maintenance training which was virtually done every day the dog was in service to the
department. Bosma has been the person who gets into the bite suit and hides from the Storm among other things. Bosma is excited for this new opportunity. “These dogs are driven animals who want to work. They see their work as a game so it’s fun for them. I can’t wait to get done with the training so we can start working together,” Bosma said. The standard length for a police dog is about eight years, and Bosma hopes to get at least that as long as Thunder’s health remains well. In other council news: - Recognized Bill Bard for his service on the Housing and Redevelopment Authority. Addressed resident Mark Kampa’s concern about the dispersal of the Shopping News. Kampa’s worry was that the papers become refuse for residents and often-times become an eyesore for the community. City staff will investigate as to how residents will be able to stop delivery to their houses. -Adopted assessment roll No. 404 payable with 2017 taxes. -Approved the Boards and Commissions for 2016. -Approved 2016 designees. -Approved fourth quarter 2015 building, mechanical and plumbing reports. -Approved the retirement of Police K-9, Storm, and the transfer to Officer Brent Bukowski, the canine’s handler.
ST. CLOUD – While Alex Landwehr’s classmates were enjoying their junior high experience, he was lying in a hospital bed with IVs in his arm and with a tumor that cradled his heart and protruded from his neck. Alex was just finishing fifth grade when he was diagnosed with Stage 4B Hodgkin’s lymphoma. “When the doctors said Hodgkin’s lymphoma, I didn’t even know what that was, because it’s not verbally in our language for cancer like breast cancer,” said Heidi Landwehr, Alex’s mom. Immediately, Alex began treatments at Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis, keeping the family separated. Heidi stayed with Alex. Aaron, Alex’s dad, stayed in their house and worked like normal, and Cody and Emily, Alex’s siblings, moved in with their grandparents in Sauk Rapids so they could continue going to school. “We were told that over 50 percent of couples that have a child with cancer will divorce, whether the child dies or not,” Heidi said. “It was a scary thing and a very hard time for us.” With the odds stacked against them, the Landwehrs continued to fight through their new life. For Cody, it wasn’t an easy adjustment. “I had an older brother that I did things with and then all the sudden he was gone. He wasn’t around at home or anything,” Cody said. “Sometimes I didn’t really get to see my dad either because he was either working or at home, and I didn’t really get to see my mom. We were all separated.” Cody coped with his brother’s illness by visiting him in the hospital to spend as much time together as possible. “There was an arcade room in the hospital and we would always go there to play bubble hockey,” Cody said.
PHOTO BY MARK KLAPHAKE The Landwehr Family has stayed positive through Alex’s (front, right) ordeal. Also pictured are his younger brother, Cody (front, left), his parents Heidi and Aaron, and sister, Emily.
“He loved playing that.” Alex looks back on the moments he cherished the most – when his family and friends were able to visit. “They would always send friends to the hospital to cheer me up, even when they probably weren’t supposed to,” Alex said. “It helped a lot.” With missing so much school, Alex lost touch with a lot of his friends from elementary school, but he has a few who he still keeps up with, and they helped him through. “The worst part about all of it was the social part because he got cancer and had a lot of good friends, who are still good friends, but they got to junior high and branched off into groups. Then they got into high school and they were all hanging out with other groups of friends,” Heidi said. The social aspect wasn’t the only tough part though. With his rigorous treatment schedule, Alex had little time to focus on anything but the cancer. Depression set in and Alex hit rock bottom. In his first bout of cancer, Alex had five days of inpatient treatment before
Staying positive continued on pg. 6
PHOTO SUBMITTED Alex Landwehr has been no stranger to hospital rooms during his teenage years.
Diabetes class helps Gruba make lifestyle change by NATASHA BARBER STAFF WRITER SAUK RAPIDS — When Kathy Gruba made a lifechange in 2015, it wasn’t spurred by the bandwagon New Year’s resolution weightloss trend. Instead, it was simply brought-on by a desire to be more fit and take care of herself as she grows older. The 69-year-old Sauk Rapids resident has a family history of Type 2 diabetes, is overweight and pre-diabetic — or at least she was before she attended the ICAN Prevent Diabetes class held at CentraCare Clinic-Health Plaza. Gruba participated in the program from May through October 2015 and is living proof the classes worked. With the goal of 10, Gruba shed 25 pounds and continues to work to maintain her weight and blood sugar. “We learned about diet and exercise,” said Gruba, who once weighed 216 pounds. “The basic idea of the program PHOTO BY NATASHA BARBER is to cut fat intake down to the Sauk Rapids resident Kathy Gruba has participated in the normal level of what a person ICAN Prevent Diabetes program and lost 25 pounds from should be eating. It’s not a lowfat diet. It’s just cutting out the making routine changes to lead a healthy lifestyle. extra fats I’ve been eating all
What is ICAN Prevent Diabetes? The ICAN Prevent Diabetes program is a 16-week collaborative, community-based, lifestyle change program designed for people with pre-diabetes. The program educates its students by teaching them ways to improve food choices and increase physical activity. this time.” physical activity and According family history. to the American The ICAN D i a b e t e s Prevent Diabetes Association, 1 program is a 16in 11 Americans week collaborative, have diabetes. community-based, In Minnesota, lifestyle change those numbers program designed are on the rise. for people with The Minnesota pre-diabetes. The Department program educates of Health its students by Paula Woischke documents that teaching them ways approximately to improve food 18,000 new cases of diabetes choices and increase physical are diagnosed in the state each activity. When the course is year. finished, groups continue to Type 2 Diabetes develops meet monthly and report on when the pancreas slows down progress. its production of insulin, the “The program is not a hormone which helps the body ‘diet.’ It is learning to make use glucose. There are many a healthy lifestyle changes factors that put people at risk focusing on nutrition and for developing prediabetes or physical activity. This is one diabetes. The reasons include reason the workshop actually but are not limited to age, weight lasts a year — so participants or obesity, low participation in are able to learn to change
unhealthy habits into healthy ones for life,” said Paula Woischke, certified lifestyle coach and instructor of the ICAN class. “The two goals of this program are to lose 7 percent of your initial body weight and work up to 150 minutes of activity each week. We want participants to live an 80/20 lifestyle. It’s 80 percent of nutrition and what we put into our bodies and 20 percent of physical activity.” As the Senior Health and Wellness Coordinator at the Whitney Senior Center, Woischke not only provides the education, but also provides expert coaching and support for those wishing to improve their lifestyles. “Paula is a very nice person. She was supportive, pleasant and empathetic to our situations. She helped us to problem solve and find issues that caused us to over-eat and in-turn gain weight,” Gruba said. “For instance, I had to overcome snacking between meals. If I don’t keep busy doing something, I’m right
Gruba continued on pg. 2