Seven county men inducted into the U.S. Army

Feb. 10, 1955 – Seven county men were inducted into the U.S. Army when they volunteered for service. They were Maynard Lundebrek of Glenwood, John Clasen of Glenwood, Richard Dalager of Glenwood, Wayne Estby of Brooten, Duane Pingree of Glenwood, Harlan Rajdl of Villard and Roger Reents of Glenwood.

The district speech festival was to be held at Glenwood High School with the following local students participating: Patricia Strecker, Fred Kickertz, Margaret Halstead, Carol Connett, Dona Elvehjem, Jim Gloege, Sharon Gandrud, Arlys Nelson, Marion Swenson, Carole VanDer Veen, Gretchen Grove, Jean Lemon, Janice Dreyer, Towana Walden, Ronald Olson, Naomi Flom, Gloria Helling, Delores Olson, Pauline Morton, Rosalie Kvale, Karen Schelin, Lila Peterson, Mickey Elsey, Susan Hanson, Judy Hoplin, Orla Christianson, Gail Slattery, Janice Hallstrom and Paul Engebretson.

Feb. 11, 1965 – The season’s heaviest snowfall dumped five inches on the area, and the weather bureau predicted more.

The snow was whipped by gusts of wind and had been preceded by freezing drizzle which left roads in a bad condition. The Starbuck basketball team spent the night in Osakis and, when they did get home, it took them over two hours to make the trip.

Villard coach Bob Blaine described the loss as “our worst game of the season” as the Mallards bowed to Kensington 60-51 in a Little Eight Conference clash. Scoring for Villard, however, was Maclaren Pennie with a total of 21 and Dave Dziengel with 10. Scoring for Kensington were Dave and Dale Hausmann with 15 and 13 points.

Feb. 13, 1975 – Ellsworth E. and David Thompson of Starbuck were the top award recipients at the annual DHIA banquet and awards ceremony. The Thompsons milked 35 cows and produced an average of 17,006 pounds of milk per cow with a 3.7 percent test and 650 pounds of butterfat.

The Soo Line Railroad’s payroll hit $1.5 million for people who received their checks in Glenwood. The entire system’s payroll was over $74 million; neither figure reflected retirement benefits or other fringe payments to employees.

The Glenwood High School clarinet choir, under the direction of John Varner, performed at a session of the Minnesota Music Educators Association conference in Minneapolis. In the choir were Jackie Varner and Kathy Bartos, first clarinet; Erick Gandrud and Paula Hough, second clarinet; Jane Kinney and Beth Bullock, third clarinet; Connie Weber and Jayne Lock, alto clarinet; Tammy Soderholm and Monta Hausken, bass clarinet; and Jean Christman, contra clarinet. Soloists with the group were Julie Hanson, french horn, and Steve Mikkelson, flugelhorn.

Feb. 14, 1985 – The Minneapolis-based Soo Line Railroad had agreed to purchase the Milwaukee Road, and rail officials said that the real beneficiaries would be the shippers. The two companies operated more than 7, 500 miles of line and were said to handle large quantities of coal, grain, forest products, manufactured goods and intermodal traffic from the Canadian border through the Twin Cities and Chicago to Kansas City and Louisville.

The cost of sending a letter by first-class mail was to rise to the cost of 22 cents while postcards were up to 14 cents. It had been three years since the last increase, and postal officials said that rates in the United States were still among the least expensive in the world.

The Pope County Board of Commissioners approved a program for dealing with problem beavers that involved contracting with trappers through the Department of Natural Resources.

Feb. 13, 1995 – The Minnewaska Area High School one-act play cast and crew had received a star rating at the Minnesota State High School League’s one-act play festival. MAHS was one of four Class A schools in the state to receive the highest rating award. The cast and crew had presented The Final Trial of Richard III under the direction of Lee Paulson.

Chris Boelke, a senior at MAHS and the son of Julie Boelke, of Glenwood, was named Minnewaska Star of the Week. He had a wrestling career with over 100 wins and had twice earned West Central Conference Championship titles. He had also been a state entrant in 1994.

Heidi Mueller and Jason Bosch had been crowned queen and king during the fourth annual Snow Week coronation at Minnewaska Area High School. Other events during this week were a snow sculpture contest and the great boat race, which consisted of teams who built a boat with milk cartons and raced them in the swimming pool.

Feb. 14, 2005 – Pictured in the Tribune was Jenna Schley, a senior at Minnewaska Area High School, being congratulated by MAHS Principal Lyle Katzenmeyer, after being named one of Minnesota’s distinguished finalists for community service activities in a national awards program. Schley developed a mentoring program that pairs at-risk children with high school juniors and seniors who spend one to two hours per week with the children. Schley not only mentors a child herself, but also recruits and trains mentors, registers children and arranges matches.

Future Farmers of America members from across Minnesota congregated at the Minnesota State Capitol for a chance to meet their legislators, discuss vital issues surrounding agricultural education and to see state government in action. Minnewaska students in attendance were John Gerde, Vanessa Pooch, Candice Menze, Derek Hjelm, Joh Klimek, Keith Ehrnst and Elizabeth Zins and Bob Friesen as chaperones.

Feb. 9, 2015 –  At the Feb. 3 county board meeting, Jim Thoreen, county coordinator, presented the latest news on the Fremad building. Thoreen told the board he has been in contact with the state historical society, and members will visit Glenwood with an architectural consultant to inspect the building. Potential dates have not yet been set, said Thoreen.

Ten students in grades 7 and 8 circled the globe on Friday morning after qualifying to compete for the school title in the National Geography Bee. Students duked it out in friendly competition for approximately 50 minutes before two finalists rose to the top. First place went to Hunter Troen, who will move on to take the state-level Geography Bee qualifying exam. Nathan Gallagher earned the runner-up spot. Competitors were Isabelle Green, Isaiah Anderson, Brandon Schoen, Peyton Kolstoe and Nathan Gallagher, Hunter Troen, Evan Palmer, Drew Nelson, Calvin Hoffmann and Sam Peters.

Last week students and staff at Minnewaska Area High School wore their jammies to school on Monday, twinned up with a friend for Tuesday, wore wacky whatever on Wednesday, hit the past with throwback Thursday, and ended Friday with Laker pride. Senior boys put the dress code to the test, literally, at Friday’s pep fest, competing in a pageant complete with interview questions and a talent portion. Above, contestants were Jackson Hendrickson, Kit Ingersoll, Will Anderson, Caleb Blaisdell, Sean Stelter, Riley Thompson, Josh Thompson, Luke Nielsen, Thorin Erickson and Jon Nygaard. At left, And the winner was… Will Anderson! Anderson won the judges over with his enthusiastic, lip-synched rendition of “Let it Go” from Frozen, complete with cleverly hidden paper snow.