Tribune acquires new photo engraving machine

May 14, 1964 – George Opheim, director of instrumental music at Glenwood High School, was given a leave of absence to pursue an advanced educational degree. Hired to replace him while he was on leave was John Varner, who has most recently taught both vocal and instrumental music at Halstad.

Photographs and some other printed materials at the Pope County Tribune were now being made on a new high-speed engraving machine. The Photo Lathe engraving machine scanned photographs which had been placed on a revolving cylinder and simultaneously cut the scanned image into a metal plate placed on a second cylinder. Jim Kinney, publisher of the newspaper, reported that the Tribune was one of the first area newspapers to have such advanced equipment.

Glenwood High School seniors, 114 of them, would be graduating May 19 in an early ceremony held to facilitate the remodeling of the school building. The speaker for the event would be Dr. Harvey Rice, president of Macalester College. Donald Larson, son of Mr. and Mrs. George Larson, would present the valedictory.  

May 16, 1974 – Area residents were set to vote in the annual school board election. Voters in Villard would choose two of six candidates for positions on the board. The six were Luverne Gaffaney who was the incumbent, Harlan Rajdl, Richard Reichmann, Douglas Scott, Edyth Skurat and Bill Smith. Willard Ommen, the other incumbent, had declined to run. In Brooten, two incumbents, Dr. R.R. Frear and John Rademacher, were running against Harold Jacobson and Donald Johnson for two positions on the board. In Starbuck, the election looked to be a quiet one with only the incumbents, Dr. S.B. Wilson and Ralph Chalenburg, on the ballot.

Hartvig Pederson, Pope County’s clerk of district court for 15 years, resigned from his post to retire. He had succeeded Louis Solhaug in the position 1959.   

May 17, 1984 – Three incumbents were elected to the Board of Education of Independent School District No. 612. They were Dave Tostenson, Elaine Bennett and Robert McCrory though Mary Stackpool received 125 write-in votes. In the Villard district, write-in candidate Cliff Volkmann defeated incumbent Harry Husmann, while incumbent John Enger was re-elected. Other candidates were incumbents Ken Terhaar and Ivo Jenniges. The Starbuck district elected Paul Anderson and Tom Beuckens. Incumbent, Barb Lamski was defeated. In Cyrus voters re-elected John Dosdall and Paul Carbert. Larry Mix was also a candidate. 

The Terrace Mill Foundation was holding its annual Heritage Festival on May 20, the Sunday closest to Syttende mai, the Norwegian Independence Day. A breakfast by the millpond, music and crafts were to be a part of the event. 

May 16, 1994 – Dr. Roderick Brown of the Glenwood Medical Center had an article published in Surgical Laparoscopy & Endoscopy, a specialized peer-reviewed medical publication. The article, Laparoscopic Hernia Repair: A Rural Perspective, reported the results of laparoscopic hernia repairs done by Brown between March 1991 and December 1992 at Glacial Ridge Hospital and several other area hospitals. 

The Pope County Board of Commissioners had set the wheels in motion for a successor to Ralph Ranum, commissioner for District No. 1, who had died the previous Friday. At an emergency meeting, the board had approved a schedule for filling the position, a primary election and a general election. 

Efforts to raise money and develop a plan for the Central High School auditorium and west wing continued with members of the Save the Auditorium committee sleeping on the roof of the second entrance. John R. Stone, Tandy and Jeanne Pederson, Jeri Shea and Steve Nestor all spent nights sleeping on the second entrance roof, and the fundraising mark reached $44,000. The purpose of the roof occupation was to get additional publicity and the effort was successful with two television stations coming and doing reports. Mike and Joyce Shea were pictured in the Tribune using a megaphone to talk with some people who had stopped by. Jerry Leedahl was also pictured raising a flag on the school’s flag pole, something which had not been done for a number of years. 

May 10, 2004 – Candidates were being sought for the 2005 Waterama queen and junior queen. A queen candidate needed to be a current Pope County resident, a graduate of Minnewaska Area High School and be at least 17 years old but no older than 21.

A total of 38 Minnewaska Area High School students earned the right to compete recently at the State History Day competition at the University of Minnesota in Moorhead. Seven of the students made it into the finals and received honorable mentions for their presentations. The group included Grant Hollermann for his Cuban missile crisis display; Tom McMahon for his Pope County depression display; Erika Olson, Alex Lagred, Amie Chan and Kali Cordes for their performance of the All-American Girls’ Baseball League. 

May 12, 2014 – On April 21, 2014, shoes that recently pounded the pavement of Pope County hit the ground running at the 118th Boston Marathon. Those shoes belonged to Rachel Hedlin of Lowry – one of 36,000 pairs from around the world running in America’s oldest and most famous footrace. 

Eagle Bank and AmericanWest Bank have entered into a definitive agreement for Eagle Bank to acquire the Starbuck branch of AmericanWest Bank – a location that many locals still refer to as First National Bank of Starbuck. The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval and other customary conditions of closing, is expected to be completed in the third quarter. Upon completion of the acquisition, the location will become a branch of Eagle Bank, it was announced last week.

Bobbie Jo Johnson, a second-grade teacher at Minnewaska Area Elementary School, received this year’s Teacher of Excellence award. Johnson was surprised with the honor at MAES during a Teacher Appreciation Week pep fest. Pictured in the Tribune, Dawn Jensen, PTA vice president, and Kristi Gruber, PTA president, presented Johnson with a $500 check to be used for her classroom.