WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2017
Serving Polk County’s St. Croix Valley since 1897
VOL. 120 NO. 7 www.osceolasun.com $1.00
SPORTS: Osceola soccer wins on late corner kick. PAGE 10
Lindstrom author publishes ‘Woodland Manitou’ Book launch at Simply Living BY SUZANNE LINDGREN EDITOR@OSCEOLASUN.COM
When Lindstrom-based author Heidi Barr started a blog with her sister-in-law nearly a d decade ago, s didn’t she r realize the o observat tions and r ections refl s shared she o online would Barr B one day become the contents of her second book. It would be years, in fact, before she published her first. But her internet musings connected her to a community she might not have found otherwise. “I just kept writing,” she said of the blog, Woodland Manitou. “And that evolved into many other projects.” She edited, for a time, for a nature-aligned collective called We Are Wildness. More recently, she began organizing retreats with Lindsey Ruder — a familiar face to regulars at the Watershed Cafe — through WildFire Wellness. And seven years after starting Woodland Manitou, Barr looked back at all she’d written and understood that the entries fit together as a larger piece. She refined old posts and added new ideas, then let the book sit for awhile longer. In keeping with the origins of the essays, she titled it
JAIME LEIGH PHOTOGRAPHY
New Osceola royalty
New Osceola royalty crowned Sunday night at the Osceola Community Fair includes Little Miss second princess Alajah Moore, Miss Osceola second princess Eirinn Collins, Miss Osceola Journie Rosenow, Little Miss Osceola Brynn Flater, Miss Osceola first princess Ashlyn Getschel and Little Miss first princess Lilly Rae McLaughlin.
Dresser narrows search for public works staff BY SUZANNE LINDGREN EDITOR@OSCEOLASUN.COM
Dresser’s Finance and Personnel Committee interviewed three people in late August for two open positions in the public works department. “It went very well,” trustee Grace Bjorklund told the village board Sept. 5. The committee went on to review and discuss qualifications and planned to do second interviews with two of the candidates Sept. 6. They had tentative plans to recommend new hires for approval by the full board at a special meeting Sept. 12. Horsmann-Peterson Street Project Road reconstruction on
Horsmann Avenue and Peterson Drive, financed in part by a recently awarded federal Community Development Block Grand, is likely to begin next year. “The village is in a financial position to finance this project without trouble,” said Bryan Beseler, the village’s president. The project was budgeted for 2017, but won’t take place until 2018. “That’s going to push everything (ahead) a year,” said Beseler, “which is better for the taxpayers. … We’re looking at financing options to minimize if not eliminate impacts to the taxpayer. Long term the taxpayer will pay for it, but we’re working to avoid a one to two year mill rate impact where the taxpayer
feels it those one to two years.” Osceola Area Ambulance The board voiced informal support for budgeting $2,000 for the Osceola Ambulance Service in the 2018 budget. The money would be used to regrade and re-pave the driveway at an estimated cost of $10,000. The ambulance board hopes to split the cost evenly between the Village of Osceola, Town of Osceola, Village of Dresser, and towns of Alden and Farmington, which own the ambulance service jointly. Bryan “Fatboy” Raddatz also noted that a recent donation in the form of stocks would fund the remainder needed for a new SEE DRESSER, PAGE 10
Wherever you go, we’re right there with you! 715-246-6901
NEWS 715-294-2314 editor@osceolasun.com
ADVERTISING 715-294-2314 sales@osceolasun.com
HUDSON
715-247-4501 715-386-9301 PUBLIC NOTICES 715-294-2314 sales@osceolasun.com
SEE AUTHOR, PAGE 10
Locally owned and operated
Making dreams come true since 1919
NEW RICHMOND SOMERSET
“Woodland Manitou: To Be on Earth.” Barr describes the book as a walk through the seasons, as observed over several years. “The book starts in spring and moves through the seasons,” she said. “It’s about my personal connection with getting outside, the earth, the seasons and that rhythm. … “Manitou is kind of a spiritual presence and I always feel that way when I’m outside in the woodlands and forests,” she explained. “That nature connection.” Barr’s first book, “Prairie Grown,” traces a similar path through the seasons, although that book — “two parts recipe and one part story,” as Barr puts it — is set on her parents’ South Dakota vegetable farm. “Woodland Manitou” takes those rooted-inthe-earth themes a step further. “It brings in uncertainty and problems in the world, and how to use
www.fn-cb.com DRESSER
715-755-2174 SUBSCRIPTIONS 715-294-2314 office@osceolasun.com
NMLS #412555
BREAKING NEWS, UPDATES Whenever, wherever you are! Scan me with your smartphone