WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2016
Serving Polk County’s St. Croix Valley since 1897
VOL. 119 NO. 10 www.osceolasun.com $1.00
SPORTS: Osceola tennis team takes third in conference. PAGE 12
Tough questions, candid answers Polk County Candidates ask for your vote November 8 BY JESSICA DE LA CRUZ EDITOR@THEAMERYFREEPRESS.COM
Polk County voters will face some tough choices this November when asked to decide between several contested races. Republican Sharon Jorgenson and Democrat Mary Jo Hacker will vie for the County Clerk position, while incumbent Democrat Dan Steffen goes headto-head with Republican challenger Jeff Kemp in a contentious race for Polk County District Attorney. Also on the ballot but running unopposed are Register of
Deeds candidate Sally Spanel, and Treasurer candidate Amanda Nissen. Some of these candidates are new to voters, and others are not. To arm our readers with as much information as possible, we got right to the point with these candidates, and asked them tough questions that voters really want to know this November 8. Voters who’d still like to learn more about each candidate will have the opportunity to ask more questions at a candidate forum sponsored by Friends of the Milltown Public Library on October 11. The forum will be held at the Milltown Public Library from 7 to 9 p.m.
CORA BARCZAK | THE SUN
OHS Homecoming
Left to right: Juniors Noah Kunkel-Smith, Jack Michel, Trista Haan, Geena Challeen, Taylor Weber, Julia Sandberg, Leah Gunderson and Mia Campeau represent the Class of 2018 in this year’s Homecoming Parade.
SEE CANDIDATES PAGE 10
Local author to read stories to radio audience
Collaboration is essential to success, say tourism professionals BY SUZANNE LINDGREN EDITOR@OSCEOLASUN.COM
Whether welcoming pumpkin pickers, kayakers, art fair goers or cyclists, local businesses have a lot to gain by promoting one another — that was the case made by regional tourism advocates last week, who stressed the value of collaboration at the St. Croix Valley Regional Tourism Conference in
Stephanie Lundeen, owner of Café Wren.
St. Croix Falls. The conference featured speakers on topics specific to this region — welcoming trail and road cyclists, agricultural tourism, and the intersection of art and nature in the St. Croix Valley — and on broader strategies to encourage tourism through photography, video and social marketing. Calling the collab-
orative approach to tourism an “engine to economic opportunity,” conference organizers stressed that travelers have become essential to the success of Polk County and the greater St. Croix Valley. “I came away realizing the St. Croix Scenic Waterway is a shared natural resource that
Osceola’s Mark Hayes Peacock will read stories from his Amazon-Kindle short story collections on W WPCA-FM (93.1 FM) at 3 p.m. on Tues., O 11. Oct. The stories Peacock will read include “ “Conversations in Absentia” from Four B Break Time Stories, “Little Red Hoodie,” f from More Break Time Stories, and “The D Duo” from his forthcoming short story c collection, Yet More Break Time Stories. Peacock The host of WPCA’s weekly Poet’s Corner, Amery Poet Laureate LaMoine MacLaughlin, will introduce Peacock’s story readings. WPCA-Fm streams online at WPCAradio.org.
SEE TOURISM, PAGE 2
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