WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2019
Serving Polk County’s St. Croix Valley since 1897
VOL. 122 NO. 03 www.osceolasun.com $1.00
SPORTS: Legion team wins regional championship. PAGE 10
Osceola police seek regulations on vapes BY SUZANNE LINDGREN EDITOR@OSCEOLASUN.COM
The Osceola Police Department has asked village leaders to create an ordinance barring possession of e-cigarette vaporizer devices for those under 18 years of age. Many substances can be inhaled via vape, some with nicotine and some without. Under the current ordinances OPD can only enforce nicotine possession and, according to a memo to village board members from Police Chief Ron Pedrys, there is no field test for nicotine. In requesting regulation of the devices, Pedrys also asked that any potential ordinance have stronger penalties for bringing a vape onto school property.
Historical society celebrates Wisconsin supper clubs BY GRETA PALMBERG POLK COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
More than 130 people attended a Polk County Historical Society fundraiser with a Supper Club theme August 15. Held at the BrowTine Event Center, the event raised close to $10,000 for the Polk County Museum. The supper club event featured a fish fry buffet with grasshopper dessert and specialty drinks including Brandy Old Fashioned available in signature glasses. Live supper club music was provided by Rep. Gae Magnafici and her band. The night also included a talk by Holly De Ruyter and her documentary, “Old Fashioned: The Story of the Wisconsin Supper Club” and Mary Bergin, author of the “Wisconsin Supper Club Cookbook.” A live auction conducted by Gary Hines, featured five items: A Green Bay Packers autographed football from the 2018 season, an original watercolor of the Polk County Museum created by Michael Jekot of Bal-
sam Arts, handmade beaded moccasins by Miscobinayshii (St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin), a chef’s dinner for four from Indianhead Supper Club and a one-day pontoon rental on Balsam Lake by Sunnyside Marina. The night also featured a silent auction with many items donated by community businesses. As a non-profit, the Polk County Historical Society relies on museum membership, grants and donations to help support their mission: Preserving the past for future generations. The museum is home to three floors of exhibits and artifacts featuring Polk County’s unique history. The Historical Society serves the community by preserving and maintaining records of the documents and artifacts housed in the museum, hosting educational presentations, conducting school tours and offering free entrance to the museum during its season, Memorial Day to Labor Day. SEE SUPPER CLUBS, PAGE 16
NEWS 715-294-2314 editor@osceolasun.com
Milestones marked at Community Homestead BY KELLY HOLM CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Asger and Mary Elmquist, the in-laws of Community Homestead co-director Christine Elmquist, have lived alongside adults with special needs for their entire married lives. In the early 1960s, they were part of a group who came over from Europe to found the United States’ first Camphill Village in Copake, New York. Camphill Villages, of which today there are over 100 spread across the globe, are agriculture-focused residential lifesharing communities in which both disabled and non-disabled individuals live on the land in a sustainable manner, similar to the mission of Community Homestead. It wasn’t long before Asger became Camphill Copake’s head farmer. The community flourished, and its population grew. However, it eventually came time to move on, and now the Elmquists have been at
KELLY HOLM | THE SUN
Asger and Mary Elmquist’s new house at Community Homestead, graced by a 50-by-20 foot
Community Homestead for 17 years. Having nearly six decades of lifesharing with adults with special needs under their belt, both in New York and Wisconsin, Asger and Mary are now setting out on an entirely new adventure — living independently as a married couple, in a newly constructed house on Community Homestead land, heated geother-
mally and powered by a 19,200-watt solar array on the roof. “We wanted the house to be net-zero,” Christine Elmquist said of the structure’s sustainable energy sources. “The energy the house creates should equal the energy the house uses, but even better than that… we’re actually going to power most of what [our] community center uses too.”
The solar array, which has been operational for more than 10 months, has produced 16,300 kilowatt-hours of energy since last October, and fuels just over half of Community Homestead’s total electric usage. Measuring roughly 20 feet long and 50 feet wide, it consists of 64 smaller 300-watt modules. SEE HOMESTEAD, PAGE 21
Schlettys named 2019 grand marshals BY SUZANNE LINDGREN EDITOR@OSCEOLASUN.COM
When a young dentist set up shop in downtown Osceola 44 years ago, few in town could have predicted the impact he and his wife would have on community in the years to come. Since then, Steven and Donna Schletty — grand marshals this year’s Community Fair Parade — have raised three children, volunteered with myriad local groups and inspired a recent fundraising effort for a new fair building. They met in their early 20s, both living in the Twin Cities at the time. “This goes back to me in dental school,” Steven recalled. “We were invited to a get together. I was with my date, and a dental classmate of mine brought Donna.
ADVERTISING 715-294-2314 ads@osceolasun.com
She certainly caught my eye. My colleague, thank goodness, later said the two of them wouldn’t be dating and gave me her number. “After the third time calling her,” he continued with a smile, “she finally said she would go out with me. And the rest is history.” About two and a half years later, after marrying, the couple moved into an apartment in Forest Lake. For the first few years they drove separate ways during the day: Steven to his dentistry practice in Osceola, Donna to work in the cities. But weeks before their first son was born she decided she would stay home to raise their children. They commissioned a local contractor to build their home on a wooded 15 acres in Osceola.
PUBLIC NOTICES 715-294-2314 office@osceolasun.com
SUZANNE LINDGREN | THE SUN
Donna and Steven Schletty, grand marshals of the 2019 Community Fair Parade.
“We’ve been there ever since,” Steven said. “That’s our first and only home and that’s where I hope to stay.” In the decades that followed, the couple has contributed to a variety
SUBSCRIPTIONS 715-294-2314 office@osceolasun.com
of community efforts. Steven was a founding member of the Junior Chamber of Commerce and, later, a member of the Osceola Business AsSEE GRAND MARSHALS, PAGE 21
BREAKING NEWS, UPDATES Whenever, wherever you are! Scan me with your smartphone