WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2015
Serving Polk County’s St. t Croix C i Valley V ll since i 1897
VOL. 118 NO. 10 www.osceolasun.com $1.00
SPORTS: Chieftain football wins, showdown Friday. PAGE 14
Local businesses bet on bright future BY SUZANNE LINDGREN EDITOR@OSCEOLASUN.COM
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Pennies for Patients campaign manager Kelli Anderson presents Barbara Jorgensen with a Lifeblood Award for her dedicated work on Pennies for Patients, Thursday, Sept. 17.
Pennies for Patients planner wins surprise award BY SUZANNE LINDGREN EDITOR@OSCEOLASUN.COM
When Barbara Jorgensen, a long-time teacher at Osceola Elementary, received an invitation to an awards reception hosted by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, she had no idea she was on the evening’s roster.
And the invitation made no mention of it. Still, she penciled the event onto her calendar and when Sept. 17 rolled around, made her way to the Women’s Club of Minneapolis. “She went because she’s such a strong supporter of this program,” SEE JORGENSEN, PAGE 6
Youth services librarian hopes to foster community BY AUNDREA KINNEY CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Osceola residents may have noticed a new face at the Osceola Public Library. In August, Rebekah Palmer of Osceola joined the staff as the village’s first youth services librarian. Before the library created her position, library director Kelly McBride and another staff person juggled youth programSEE LIBRARY, PAGE 8
AUNDREA KINNEY |THE SUN
Rebekah Palmer is the Osceola Public Library’s first youth services librarian.
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New solar arrays will reduce electricity bills and carbon emissions at Crystal Ball Farms, Viebrock Construction and Common Harvest Farm, each of which has taken advantage of grant or tax-credit programs for new solar installations. Crystal Ball Farms It took more than a month to install the 564 solar panels that make up Crystal Ball Farms’ 151-kilowatt array. The system, which went online in late September, will provide between 95 and 100 percent of the organic dairy producer’s electricity. “It’s going to basically wipe out my electric bill,” said Troy DeRosier, who runs the business with his wife, Barb. “We’ve been looking into it for a couple years. The price of solar has fallen in the past couple years and this year there were a couple
SUZANNE LINDGREN | THE SUN
Three roofs at Crystal Ball Farms now hold solar arrays, which will supply the organic dairy with 95 to 100 percent of its electricity.
incentives that made the numbers work.” The DeRosiers received a grant from Focus On Energy to cover about 25 percent of the array’s cost, and will receive a 30 percent tax credit too. “We use a lot of energy, so it took a lot for the numbers to look good,” said DeRosier. “When you use a high volume the rate goes down, we have Xcel and they were good for that.”
Xcel has also been easy to work with on the transition to solar, said DeRosier. “We’re overproducing a lot of the time and then at night we’re underproduction,” said DeRosier, “so Xcel does reconciling. At the end of the year they’ll look at the production numbers and decide whether we owe them money or they owe us money.” Solar fits with Crystal Ball Farms’ mission,
said DeRosier. “It prepares us for the future because it isolates us from higher energy costs,” he said. “And obviously you’re not burning fossil fuels, so its clean energy. We’re using what the sun gives every day; it’s all free after basic costs. And the numbers work. I wouldn’t have done it unless the numbers made sense.” SEE SOLAR, PAGE 13
Osceola grad helps team to third in NCAA golf ABOVE THE FOLD MEDIA SPECIAL TO THE SUN
Charlie Danielson’s college golf career will conclude in 2016, though predicting the end of his amateur status is more difficult. Danielson – an Osceola graduate and current golfer on the University of Illinois men’s team – is playing his senior year for the Illini, who ended the 2014-15 season ranked No. 3 in NCAA Division I by the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) and entered this season with a No. 1 preseason ranking from Golfweek. Illinois coach Mike Small said Danielson has been an integral part in both those accomplishments and several more the past few years. “Charlie will go ADVERTISING 715-294-2314 sales@osceolasun.com
down as one of the best golfers in Illinois history,” Small said. “It is no coincidence that during Charlie’s playing career here
“Charlie Danielson will go down as one of the best golfers in Illinois history.” Mike Small Golf coach, University of Illinois at Illinois, our team has had NCAA finishes of second, fifth and third.” Last year, Danielson earned his third postseason recognition in as many years while SEE DANIELSON, PAGE 2
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Osceola’s Charlie Danielson and the University of Illinois men’s golf team started the season ranked No. 1 in the country. Danielson, a senior, will be pondering a move to professional golf in the summer of 2016.
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