Serving Polk County’s St. t Croix C i Valley V ll since i 1897
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2015 VOL. 118 NO. 09 www.osceolasun.com $1.00
SPORTS: Osceola football continues their winning ways. PAGE 13
Shrinking class sizes could reflect recession
Former Chieftains win world powerlifting titles in Prague BY RON JASPERSON SPORTS WRITER
BY MELISSA BUTLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Why is enrollment down in the Osceola School District? The incoming kindergarten class is not as large as last year’s outgoing senior class, said superintendent Mark Luebker at the school board’s Sept. 23 meeting. And there’s a likely reason for that. The decline in enrollment was attributed to the 2008 recession. Children entering kindergarten this year were been born in 2010, two years into the financial crisis that negatively impacted many area families. Although a final student headcount will not be reported until October, an informal count revealed that the incoming kindergarten class of 111 students represents a 21 percent decrease from the 2015 graduating class of 140 students. Despite the dip in enrollment for this school year, growth across the Osceola area is anticipated to increase with the continuing economic recovery, as well as the Stillwater bridge completion slated for 2017. Breakfast prices The district can expect to see an increased price for non-reimbursable school breakfasts, from $1.50 to $1.75 for visitor and teacher meals. This marks a 16 percent increase, though the price still falls under the state average for school breakfasts. This change will not impact student breakfast prices, which remain reimbursable to the school through the state. Two additional food service business items included proposed policy changes SEE SCHOOL BOARD, PAGE 21
Mariah Hamm and Alex Stoll have a lot in common — although they may not know each other that well. Hamm graduated from Osceo high school in 2011 ola a and Stoll completed h studies at Osceola his i May of this year. in A common interest f found these two young a adults meeting 4,500 m miles from home, purHamm suing the same goal. Hamm and Stoll are b both world class powe erlifters coming from O Osceola high school c coach Jeff Hahn’s m mentoring. Both had qualified f for the world sub-juStoll nior powerlifting competition in Prague in the Czech Republic. And both athletes took the trip as a dual opportunity: to take in the culture of Prague and push their bodies to the limits in pursuit of a world lifting title. “Going to Prague was truly an amazing experience,” Stoll said. “Just seeing how different everything is was eye opening. Prague is such a beautiful city and the food is so different from what we are used to.” “The city was absolutely gorgeous,” Hamm added. “Tons of beautiful and historic sites, buildings and art. The people were friendly and most spoke English,
SUB,OTTED
Osceola High School graduate Alex Stoll traveled to Prague to compete in the World Powerlifting championships. Both Stoll and Mariah Hamm placed first in their divisions.
an added bonus.” Of course the former Chieftains had more than sightseeing on their minds. Both lifters were there to do their best and see how they compared to other lifters in the world. Both lifters did their family, school and country proud. Hamm and Stoll both placed first in their respective division. Hamm competed in the 185 pound division and had best lifts of 524 pounds in the squat, 297 in the bench and 408 in the deadlift for a total of 1,229 pounds. Hamm missed on her
second and third deadlifts and probably didn’t know where she stacked up against the competition with 408 ponds as her best. “It didn’t look like her coach had told her what she was lifting, nor what place she was in,” Osceola powerlifting coach Jeff Hahn said as he watched the meet on his computer. “Mariah always liked to lift that way. When her coach (Curt St. Romain) told her, she burst into tears; a goal SEE POWERLIFTERS, PAGE 24
A case study in victory Part 2: Solutions elusive as meth use rises BY SUZANNE LINDGREN EDITOR@OSCEOLASUN.COM
As arrest numbers soar in Polk County for methamphetamine-related crimes, there are no easy answers to reducing use. Polk County drug task force officer Tony Grimm believes the only surefire way to slow distribution would be to stop incoming supplies at the southern border. “It’s not a secret to law enforcement that Mexican drug cartels own the drug trade in the United States,” says Grimm. “It would be very difficult to do something about
SUBMITTED
Meth seized during a 2014 bust in Polk County. The target was recently indicted federally.
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that with the amount of products shipped out of Mexico with commercial vehicles, but I think we need to.” Barring that, punishments for users need to be immediate and life changing, say county drug investigators – a move that’s difficult to execute with back logged courtroom schedules. “We need a swift approach,” says Grimm, “but the wheels of justice turn very, very slowly. … Arresting [meth users] only keeps them clean for the time they’re in, and the cost to citizenry is incredible.” Treatment can work – under the right circumstances. “In-patient treatment can be successful,” says Grimm, “but they have to want to do it and I don’t know that a court order helps. And they have to SUBSCRIPTIONS 715-294-2314 office@osceolasun.com
be able to afford to get it. From my perspective as a taxpayer, we’re going to pay for it anyway, so we might as well pay for something that’s going to be successful.” To help shield children, Polk County has started a Drug Endangered Children program. “Our hope is to limit exposure to children whose parents are drug addicts, and prosecute parents who leave drugs readily accessible to children,” says Grimm. “Say if a parent would leave a bag of meth and a pipe in reach of a toddler, then we would be able to charge a parent. Maybe we can get the people who are going to use anyway to be somewhat more responsible … and there’s a better likelihood that SEE METH, PAGE 26
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