Silver Lake Leader - The McLeod County Chronicle

Spring means more adventuresI’m anxious for spring — tosee the lime-green buds on thetrees before they burst intolush, vibrant bunches ofleaves; catch the first fragrantbreeze of peonies; and to finallyspend time in the warmsun outside and shoot my first.22 rifle with my brother.Yes, that’s right, I’ve becomea regular “sportswoman,”as my best friendwould say.In January, I enrolled in theCentershot Archery Ministrythrough Grace Bible Church,and the adventures seemed tohave continued; 2013 is lookingpretty good.After a couple of years ofPastor Tom Rakow gushingabout the class, I decided togive it a shot, and haven’t hadso much fun in a long time.It was an eight-week classthat met Sunday afternoonsand combined Bible studywith archery lessons. It was agreat experience both for myfaith and for my goal to be thenext “Robin Hood.”I had the opportunity toshoot compound, recurve andlong bows at different distances,and would you believeI got more than one bullseye at20 yards?Definitely a bragging moment.I’ve gotten quite “hooked”on archery — so much that Iwas having nightmares aboutmissing class. Talk about obsession!Well, the archery classes aredone, but I’m lucky enough tohave won a free one-yearmembership to the LesterPrairie Archery Club. I thinksummer is going to be prettybusy, and I think my brothersare going to be pretty jealous.And thanks to archery, thisnew sense of adventure I haveattained has snowballed, fromgulping down cold oysterswhile vacationing in Florida tosigning up for a month-longfirearm safety class and joiningmy uncle’s trap shootingteam for the summer.Two weeks ago, I headed toDestin, Fla., along the Gulf ofMexico, for a friend’s beachwedding and the emeraldgreen water and soft, whitesand made for a picture perfectevent, and very romantic ceremony.It was a fun, hectic week ofnormal vacations: time on thebeach, losing luggage, relishingin the luxury of the poolhouse, flight delays, and ofcourse, trying new food, includingMahi Mahi and oysters.I am on and off when itcomes to seafood. I like tuna,tilapia, salmon, and even mussels.The Mahi Mahi was delicious,until someone told me itwas dolphin. My eyeswidened and I freaked a little,but thanks to Google, I foundout they meant, “dolphin fish.”Whew.Because I like mussels, Ithought oysters would be noproblem. Wrong.We ordered a dozen oystersbetween four of us, and it wasthe mission to eat three each.Well, in less than a minute, IDown Memory LaneCompiled by Margaret Benz75 YEARS AGO - APRIL 9, 1938 — At theregular meeting of the Village Council, it wasvoted to contact the PWA administrator in regardto digging a sewer on West Main Streetand to contact oil companies in regard to oilingvillage streets.A used car lot, operated by Mert Rogers, willopen on the lot next to the Svanda Hardwarestore.E.H. Totushek Red & White Store will celebrateits ninth year in business in Silver Lakewith an anniversary sale starting on Saturday,April 9, and ending on Saturday, April 16.Johnny Sunshine will serve free cookies andcoffee all day Saturday, April 9. Some of themercantile specials include: men’s dress shirts88¢; Big Brother work shoes $1.98; Big Brotheroveralls 89¢; “Little Brother” overalls 69¢;women’s wash frocks 88¢; cotton street frocks$1.88; ladies hankies 3¢; turkish towels 9¢; curtains39¢. Grocery specials include: R&W cornflakes, 3 large pkgs. 25¢; seedless raisins, 2 lb.pkg. 14¢; large navel oranges, 19¢ dozen;Sycamore peaberry coffee, 6 lbs. $1.00; RedRibbon salad dressing, quart jar 29¢; Blue &White peanut butter, 2 lb. jar 25¢.The Young Ladies Sodality of St. Joseph’sChurch will present the sacred Lenten drama infive acts, “Claudia, the Daughter of Pilate,” onSunday and Monday, April 10-11, in the churchhall. Admission is 25¢ and door prizes will beawarded.A chimney fire, fanned by a brisk wind,brought the Silver Lake Fire Department to theFred Friauf farm home on Thursday forenoon.Joseph Zdrazil Sr., 73, passed away on Friday,April 1, at his home in Hopkins. Funeralservices were held on Sunday afternoon, April3, at the Deephaven Presbyterian Church.Mrs. Valentine Jaskowiak, 74, died onWednesday, April 6, at the home of JohnJaskowiak. Funeral services were conducted onSaturday morning, April 9, at the Church of St.Adalbert.Daughters were born to Mr. and Mrs. GilbertRehmann on April 4 and Mr. and Mrs. Ben Yuklon April 1. Mr. and Mrs. Frank J. Ardolf are theparents of a son born on March 30.50 YEARS AGO - APRIL 4, 1963 — A terrificwind storm struck shortly after 3 o’clockon Wednesday morning causing some damagein the area. Winds were estimated upwards from55 miles per hour. Snow flurries on Wednesdaymorning gave the appearance of a full-scaleblizzard at times.Silver Lake and Swan Lake opened up onMonday.Kathy Chalupsky, daughter of Mr. and Mrs.Tom Chalupsky and an eighth-grade student atthe Silver Lake Public School, won first placein the county spelling contest at Hutchinson thisThursday.The Village of Silver Lake Clean-Up Weekbegins on Saturday, April 6, and ends on Saturday,April 13.The M.A. Gedney Co. is now signing acreagefor cucumbers. Interested persons are to contactThe Travel SectionBy Alyssa Schauermanaged to scoop out theslimy meat and swallow eachbite without thinking.It’s something I’ll never doagain, but at least can say,“Yeah, I've done it.” Maybe ifthey were doused in butter orfried in cheese, I’d change mytune.This excitement in tryingnew things led me to theLester Prairie Sportsmen’sClub Tuesday night — the firstnight of firearm safety.Of course, I’m in the classwith over 25 kids and only afew parents, but it’s exciting.I’ve never shot a rifle or gunbefore (besides an air softgun), and I’m looking forwardto learning about the equipment,safety, hunting tacticsand conservation of the environment.I called my brother lastweek to bring his .22 back toMinnesota, and he’s been patientwith me as I learn aboutthe muzzle, ammo, trigger,safety, scope, etc.After I told my Uncle Steveabout taking the class, he informedme that there was aspot on his trap shooting teamwith his sons, and asked if I’dbe interested.Practice starts on April 10,and you can expect I haveplans — I’ll be aiming at myfirst clay pigeon. Wish meluck!Ray Paggen if they would like to raise cucumbers.Win a jar full of money at the Silver LakeHatchery & Breeding Farm just by guessing thetotal sum of cash in the jar. The winner will bethe one who comes closest or does actuallyguess the correct amount of money in the jar.The five-room house on a corner lot knownas the James Kulinski residence in Silver Lakeis for sale.A mental patient from St. Peter, who escapedfrom that institution on Friday, March 29, wasapprehended about five or six miles north of SilverLake on Monday morning, April 1, somedistance away from the Emil Kautz farm.The Peter Wawrzyniak auction will be heldon Friday, April 5, at the farm located four mileseast of Silver Lake on Highway 7.A daughter was born to Mr. and Mrs. DavidMickolichek on March 18.25 YEARS AGO - APRIL 7, 1988 — Kenand Dorothy Merrill have purchased the SilverLake Leader. Their purchase, effective April 1,takes over from the estate of Wilbert W. Merrill,son of founder W.O. Merrill.Dale and Doris Jerabek, owners of Jerabek’sMarket, will kick off their grand opening onTuesday, April 12, with many specials andprizes. The market has been completely remodeledand will carrying a full line of groceriesand fresh meats. Store hours will be Mondaythrough Friday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday 8 a.m.to 5 p.m., and Sunday 8 a.m. to noon.The Silver Lake Fire Department AnnualDance will be held on Saturday, April 9, at theSilver Lake Auditorium. The Albrecht Bandwill furnish the music.Due to the rain on Saturday, the Easter EggHunt, sponsored by the Silver Lake Civic Association,was moved from the City Park to theauditorium.Bonnie Nowak, daughter of Mr. and Mrs.Patrick Nowak and Silver Lake High SchoolHomecoming queen, has been selected as a finalistfor Minnesota’s eighth-annual HomecomingQueen selection to be held April 30 andMay 1 at the Minneapolis/St. Paul AirportHilton.The Silver Lake Fire Department respondedto three grass fires in three days. Wednesday,March 30, at 4 p.m., the first fire was at theDonald Pool farm; on Thursday, March 31,grass along the railroad tracks in South SilverLake caught fire; and on Friday, April 1, grasscaught fire at the Broman Vegetable Farmnortheast of Silver Lake at 11:30 a.m.Don Kasper has been selected Minnesota’sDepartment of Natural Resources ConservationOfficer of the Year.Joe and Bernice Gehlen of the Silver LakeLions Club, along with eye doctors, assistantoptometrists, and other men and women, wentto Parral, Mexico, in February to distribute themany eye glasses collected by the Lions Clubs.Jim and Judy (Chap) Allbee are the parentsof a son born on March 31.Letter to the EditorBids Continued from page 1tion are proposed at $172,750,and the costs for materials testingby Braun Intertec are at$43,860, for a total of$216,610.“These are the services forthe construction administrationportion of the agreement, andthis cost was budgeted in theproject from the beginning,”Black said.The Council approved theconstruction administrationproposal from SEH and theconstruction testing servicesproposal from Braun Intertec(recommended by SEH) on a4-0 vote.ScheduleBlack said the timeline forthe project is 75 working days,with the final end date set forSept. 13.“It’s a $1,500-per-daypenalty for every day afterthat,” Black said.He discussed a bit of theconstruction timeline and saidthe first step would be to removeall the bituminous surface.The second step wouldbe to replace the sanitarysewer main and the watermain.“Essentially, constructionwill be working south to north,like we discussed,” Black said.Nelson asked if water serviceswill be turned off duringthe entire time, or even fordays at some point.“No, the water won’t be shutoff for 75 days. There will betemporary connections, orwe’ll service new lines,” Blacksaid.He said the project is on a“continuous rolling schedule.”Black said as everything undergroundgets tested duringconstruction, the plan is tobuild the road up. “They won’twait until all the undergroundconstruction is completed beforefilling the road,” Blacksaid.He added that Al Hahn willbe the contact person for theresidents affected by the project.“Part of his job is to helppeople out there, answer anyquestions and communicatewith them,” Black said. Hesaid Hahn’s phone numberwill be provided, so residentsare not contacting PublicWorks Supervisor Dale Kosek.Venier also said the hope isto begin construction at theend of April, so that only “oneschool year” is affected.“We are hoping that if wecan start earlier, we will finishearlier, and not have to worryabout traffic in September,”Venier said.The Council discussed detouroptions and the possibilitySilver Lake Leader, Thursday, April 4, 2013 — Page 3Morningside: an unnecessary projectTo the Editor:I attended a county budgetmeeting last Tuesday (March26). The essence of the meetingwas whether our county isprepared to spend $3 million(consisting of both county andstate funds) of their possibleshare of nearly $4 million incosts to extend MorningsideAvenue a distance of threeblocks.Many concerns were raised:1) What percent is thecounty’s share of the cost?Should the cost be split 50/50with the city of Glencoe?2) What are the costs formoving the railroad to theeast? (Meanwhile the railroad,Twin Cities & Western, is embroiledwith light-rail transitissues at this time.)3) What are the unknownproblems of building over theold dump site?4) What is the cost of removingthe homes alongsideMorningside (which are currentlynot included in the presentcosts of the project)?5) What state and federalfunds are available and forhow long?6) The county is not pushingfor this project; the push iscoming from Glencoe city officials.7) The project includes closingUnion Avenue. Are we OKwith closing Union?8) If the county spends thesemillions of dollars on this project,other county projects willneed to be cut. What countyprojects would be cut?9) The county is looking atturning back some of itscounty streets over to the cityof Glencoe to save money.How does this affect futurecity costs?10) How will the mediationon wetlands be handled?11) Was there a commitmentto Coborns for a throughstreet?12) How does Diamond Avenue’sclosure affect city andcounty residents?13) The new street extensionwill need to have a weightlimit of 10 tons.14) Should the project bedelayed?We know that this $1 millionto be spent by the citycould be better used to in otherof the one way street in frontof the school becoming a temporarytwo-way street.“We won’t be turning thatstreet into a two-way,” Veniersaid.He added that the “best” isto meet with the school and thecontractors and find out how toaccommodate the school.“I’ve talked to Chris(Sonju), and he and I will meetwith the contractor to find thebest solution. We’ll all need tobe working together. Andmaybe the buses will temporarilyhave to move theirloading zone to ClevelandStreet. Who knows? These aresome options we’ll be discussing,”Venier said.Hydrant/watermeter replacementThe Council also discussedfinancing options for the project,including covering costsfor the hydrant and watermeter replacement.Venier presented the CityCouncil with an option to bondwith the Minnesota RuralWater MIDI Loan Program, inconjunction with using$135,000 cash from the waterfund.Venier said the water fundhas been built up to about$400,000, and because theF16-34eowLaELECTRIC320-286-6570many of the “water problems”in the city are being addressedby the replacement of waterand sewer mains in the GroveAvenue project, the city doesnot need to “rely on that$400,000.”Bebo and other councilorsvoiced concern about depletingthe water fund versus takingout more money in thebond and the time it will taketo build up the water fundagain.Venier said he would preparemore options and scenariosfor the Council to discussat a future meeting.Love, your whole familyM ikolichekPlumbing & HeatingBrian Mikolichek: Owner • Bonded-InsuredResidential RemodelService Light CommercialComplete Plumbing and Heating SystemsAir Conditioning InstallationWinsted, MN 320-395-2002Paul PokornowskiINC.Happy99 thBirthdayGrandmaDorothyon April 7!*13LaResidentialFarmIndustrialTrenchingLocating320-286-6570 Cokato, MNSilver Lakeways like upgrading our presentstreets and not having toassess the adjoining propertyowners.After conferring with a roadengineer, I was informed thatthe amount of money spent onthe three-block Morningsideextension would provide thereplacement of 7.5 miles ofstreets with a seven-ton rating!This would be an enormousamount of savings for the taxpayers.Another County Boardmeeting was set for April 2,with Glencoe city officials invited.I hope the city officialsdiscussed the items listedabove and view this monsterexpense with the same reservationsas did the county.Call the Glencoe City Councilmembers, the mayor, andcounty commissioners, andvoice your concerns over thisunnecessary project — or putthe project on hold.In 2001 Glencoe residents(1,354) petitioned to halt thisvery project!Gary BallardGlencoeLions ClubFtfnLAANNUALSAUSAGE SUPPERThursday, April 11, 2013Silver Lake AuditoriumServing from 4:30 p.m.-7:00 p.m.Tickets: Adults: $ 7.50Ages 4-12: $ 3.503 & under: FreeMenu: Polish sausage, cheesy hashbrown potatoes,corn, bread, sauerkraut, milk, coffee, dessert.Proceeds will go to Silver Lake Fire Department.Thank You!F13La