Fishing opener declared the best in years

May 21, 1964 – A dairy princess and two attendants would be picked from a field of 14 candidates in Pope County. The 14 were Audrey Mickelson, Sheila Erickson, Nancy Anderson, LaVerne Anderson, Helen Odegaard, Margaret Mortenson, Judy Anderson, Ann Anderson, Mary Ramey, Arlene Lundebrek, Connie Loen, Alyce Kalina, Corrine Kjorstad and Rosemary Barsness. 

The county’s fishing opener was declared the best in years by county resort owners, conservation officers and anglers. The Tribune reported the weather to be almost ideal and said that most fishermen came off area lakes with fish, and in many cases, limits of fish. 

Grant L. Hustad and James Gremmels, incumbents, were re-elected to the Glenwood school board in the district’s annual election. Hustad was elected to his fourth straight three-year term while Gremmels would serve his second three-year term.  

May 23, 1974 – A graduating class of 105 from Glenwood High School was set to receive diplomas. Speakers for the commencement were to be James Bennett, members of the school board with students in the class of 1974. The Rev. Greg Garmer of Glenwood Lutheran Church would give the invocation, and Greg McIver, senior class president, would welcome families and friends. Robert Lommel, counselor, would announce scholarship winners. 

Forty-five seniors would graduate from Brooten High School and 19 from Villard.    

May 24, 1984 – Glenwood High School would graduate 84 seniors in its 93rd annual commencement ceremonies. Speakers would be Nancy Hovren and Craig Oeltjen. Honor students from 1984 were Sara Anderson, Owen Braaten, Jeff Davie, Nancy Greene, Thomas Haima, Nancy Hovren, Eric Jore, Barbara Katt, Chris Leedahl, Sue Lundblad, Pamela Meyer, Deborah Mrnak, Joel Muehlberg, Daniel Munsterman, Craig Oeltjen, Julie Orlowski, Lisa Ostendorf, Sandy Peters, Kelly Salonen, Kristen Schwerin, Tracy Searcy, Erick Sondrol, Steve Troen, Margaret Walerius and Brian Wildman. 

Twelve were graduating from Cyrus High School. Honor students, Beth Kaehler, Julie Young, Devon Mix and Robert Huskey, would speak. Nine students were set to graduate in Villard. Students in the program included Darrell McKigney, Marty Laumeyer and Karen Jellison. In Brooten co-valedictorians, Kimberly Jennissen and Kimberly Schwartz would speak to the class of 35 seniors. In Starbuck, the top three students, Tammy Knoblauch, Paul Makenke and Barb Billehus, would speak to the other 32 seniors.  

Funeral services were held for longtime Glenwood resident, Ann J. Bickle, who died at the age of 98. Mrs. Bickle had been active in her community, was president of the Glenwood Hospital Auxiliary for 12 years and was one of the founders of the Minnesota Hospital Auxiliary organization. 

May 23, 1994 – Renae Brown was re-elected to the Minnewaska Area School District Board of Education. From the four precincts in the consolidated districts. Brown had received a total of 293 votes. This was the first school board election to be held at-large rather than each of the former school districts voting only for its representative to the board.  

Minnewaska Area High School was to award diplomas to 121 graduates during its third annual commencement exercises. Senior Michal Hustad was to deliver the invocation and class president Misty Burns would welcome guests. Seniors Spencer Kramber and Ted Reichmann had been chosen by their classmates to be the class speaker.  

Candidates were being sought for the crowning of the 39th annual Waterama Queen. A limit of 16 candidates was to be allowed to vie for the title. 

Minnewaska’s Marcy and Carrie Olsen had been selected to play in the girls’ softball All-Star Game. Marcy played shortstop for the Lakers and had been chosen as a starter for the game. Her twin sister, Carrie, who pitched and played outfield for the Lakers, was to accompany her as an alternate. Also chosen to make the trip was Lakers assistant coach Bill Mills. 

May 17, 2004 – The most recent Minnesota Basic Skills test scores were in, and they show that students at Minnewaska Area High School (MAHS) did very well, according to principal Lyle Katzenmeyer. A total of 88 percent of the eighth-graders at MAHS passed the Minnesota proficiency test they took in March. That was up 4 percentage points from year 2003 figures. 

Kara Leedahl, a senior at Minnewaska Area High School, entered a colored pencil drawing of a drake wood duck in the Minnesota Junior Duck Stamp Competition and won second place in the 10th through 12th grade division. The school also had a third-place winner and other award winners. The winners included Kara Leedahl, Jonathan Sutton, Nicole Ajax, Nolan Rasmussen, Sherry Johnshoy, Nicole Forsberg, Andy Toop and Carrie Rasmussen.  

May 19, 2014 – With the goal to be open in July, construction of the GrandStay Hotel & Suites in downtown Glenwood has really progressed over the past few weeks. Construction workers were working both inside and outside the facility last week with the exterior nearing completion. The GrandStay facility will consist of a 39-room hotel and also include an indoor pool and whirlpool, a complimentary breakfast area and a community meeting room. 

Glenwood City Commissioners overruled the city planning commission’s recommendation and denied a variance request from Pope County that would have reduced the size of a planned parking area in front of the Pope County Health and Human Services (HHS) facility along Minnesota Avenue.

Local letter carriers recently joined their coworkers from across the U.S. to deliver a blow to hunger. The local food drive, held May 10, was part of the nation’s largest one-day food-collection drive, an effort sponsored by the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC). On May 10, postal customers nationwide were invited to place nonperishable food items near their mailboxes. Locally, 1,400 pounds of items were collected and donated to the Pope County Hearts and Hands food shelf. Postal workers and their families helped pack and deliver the food.