Wright County Journal Press featuring news, real estate, classified ads, dining and entertainment in the Buffalo Minneasota area

Bertram land acquisitions for park nearly complete

Eagle really wanted that fish

Changes in girls' athletics among BHM School Board matters

Maple Lake Ice Fishing Derby rescheduled

Masons' Annual Food Shelf Drive underway

Brad Paumen says he is not guilty of charges in Belize

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Music Listening Team state-bound

BHS students presenting 'An Echo of Wings'

Forty-five years later (Press Feature)

After almost eight years of acquiring land from the YMCA, the Bertram Chain of Lakes Regional Park is nearly complete. Last Tuesday, Jan. 26, the Wright County Board received news that $2.8 million in grant money from the state's Legacy fund is being awarded.

Commissioner Pat Sawatzke commented that altogether, the grant total is now around $11.2 million, and he added that just one parcel remains to be acquired.

Wright County and the City of Monticello have been working together to establish the park. The land might have been sold and developed for housing if the county and the city had not acted.

The county and the city have contributed matching funds to the project. The county's match so far is $4.1 million, and the city's match is also $4.1 million.

Commissioner Mike Potter commended County Parks Administrator Marc Mattice and staff for their efforts. Mattice began working on the project in 2001, and the first land acquisition took place in 2008, he told the Journal-Press.

Action by the County Board last Tuesday included the adoption of resolutions authorizing signatures on contracts and agreements related to grant awards through the Parks and Trails Legacy Program.

The latest land acquisition is Phase 10 in the process and involves 203 acres. The final acquisition that Sawatzke mentioned will involve 41 acres related to a new athletic complex.

A $700,000 grant is being used for developing: the park access road, park facilities, a beach assess road (and restroom and clothes changing facilities), sanitary sewer, water, a picnic shelter, hiking/ski trail, two trail bridges, and remodeling the interior of a rental chalet. The goal is to complete these projects in 2016 and 2017.

A $200,000 grant is being used for contracting a specialist to work with an outdoor recreation program called Connecting People to the Outdoors. This undertaking is a joint project with Stearns County, and it involves outdoor recreation programmer services and environmental educator services.

In other parks business, the Board was given an update on removing structures from property being added to Ney Park near Maple Lake. Bids on the work are nearly twice as high as expected. The Board voted to direct Mattice to seek more bids and then go ahead with the lowest bid.

* approved a request from Tim Dahl, county risk manager, to attend an out-of-state conference in June;

* approved a resolution that allows the City of Monticello to acquire a tax forfeit parcel, the center island of a cul-de-sac;

* approved filling an accounting clerk position, an office technician I position and a social worker position in Health & Human Services; and

Photos from a video shot by Chris Mayhew of Buffalo last weekend at Lake Pulaski show a bald eagle swooping down and grabbing a northern pike. Chris and a buddy, Bob Piekarski of Pike's convenience store in Buffalo, were fishing, and Bob caught a two-pound northern on a tip-up. "An eagle landed close by and really looked like he wanted that fish," Chris said. "We stepped back from the fish, and sure enough, the eagle came in and picked it up 20 yards from us." Thanks for sharing, Chris. "It was a great day on the lake," he concluded.

Changes in girls' athletics were among matters on the Buffalo Hanover Montrose (BHM) School Board agenda last Monday, Jan. 25.

The Board also approved partnering with the South West Metro Intermediate District for programming needs.

During the public comment portion of the agenda, a student and two adults spoke to the Board about whether or not to consider renewing the contract of the girls' lacrosse coach at the high school.

The student and one adult spoke in favor of the coach, saying she has had a positive impact on the team as she has created a respectful environment in which the players enjoy their sport regardless of winning or losing. The second adult to speak said the coach has been good for the players she likes, and the Board was urged to "move forward," meaning a search should begin for a new coach.

At the end of the meeting, the Board conducted a closed session to discuss private personnel data. Afterward, the Board voted for non-renewal of the coaching contract with Andrea Lund, the girls' lacrosse coach. No other information was available due to data privacy requirements.

The Board approved an application to the State High School League for dissolution of a cooperative sponsorship with Rockford and Delano in girls' hockey. Rockford and Delano are creating their own team.

The Board approved an application for new cooperative sponsorships with Maple Lake in girls' hockey, girls' lacrosse and girls' swimming and diving.

The Board approved a resolution to partner with the South West Metro Intermediate School District, which includes school districts such as: Belle Plaine, New Prague, Jordan, Prior Lake, Shakopee, Waconia, and Watertown-Mayer.

Supt. Scott Thielman explained Buffalo-Hanover-Montrose will gain access to programming BHM currently does not have, and BHM is particularly interested in access to special education programming.

School districts with similar needs can jointly come together to obtain services for students at a lower cost than the districts would otherwise pay on their own. The South West Metro group offers programming in areas such as special education, career and technical education, adult basic education, and alternative education.

Other joint powers groups in which BHM is a member include the Wright Technical Center and the Northwest Suburban Integration School District.

The 2016-17 school year begins Sept. 6. A Fall Break is on Oct. 20 and 21. The Thanksgiving Break is Nov. 23-25. The Winter Break is Dec. 23 to Jan. 2. The Spring Break is April 3-7. The last day of school is June 8.

The 2017-18 school year begins Sept. 5. The Fall Break is Oct. 19-20, and the Thanksgiving Break is Nov. 22-24. The Winter Break is Dec. 22 to Jan. 1, and the Spring Break is April 2-6. The last day of school is June 7.

Gary Kawlewski, finance and operations director, presented 2016-17 budget assumptions, which were approved by the Board.

The budget assumptions provide a framework for developing next year's budget. The assumptions match those used in generating the financial projections for the next three years and were presented at the Jan. 11 board workshop and a Jan. 25 work-study.

* $189.55 board approved referendum approved in 2013 - no additional referendum authority;

* General Education revenue formula allowance increases 2 percent and moves to $6,067 per pupil for 2016-17;

* Kindergarten projection assumes 97 percent of the students will attend the full-day program;

* Continuation of 6.0 FTE for Class Size Reduction - includes marketing budget and social workers;

* Salary and benefit changes based on settlements in place and market conditions for non-settled contracts;

* Continued cost containment initiatives, such as joint purchasing agreements, energy use reduction, paper reduction, insurance contracts, and other operational efficiencies; and

* $400,000 to be allocated to assigned fund balance for technology set aside to be spent in the future.

* approved an out-of-state band, choir and orchestra trip to New York City from April 28 to May 2;

* adopted the World Languages Curriculum, which was presented during the regular board meeting in December;

* approved a policy for a wellness pilot program aimed at offering incentive to employees who voluntarily choose to participate in a Fitbit program;

* designated Supt. Scott Thielman and school board member Laurie Raymond as representatives to the State High School League;

* accepted a total of $38,587 in donations and grants, including $17,734 from the Hanover Athletic Association for the Hanover Elementary School's physical education classes and outdoor field items, as well as $12,300 from a read-a-thon for Parkside Elementary School; and

* heard a student council report by Allie Swearingen, who spoke about preparations for RAVE (Respect and Value Everyone) Week, Feb. 22-26;

* Chad Anderson, BCMS Health Teacher and Cassie Knutson, MES 1st Grade Teacher who were selected to receive the TIES Exceptional Teacher Award.

* Cast and Crew of West Side Story who were honored by the Hennepin Theatre Trust Spotlight on Education awards for the following: Outstanding for Overall Performance, Ensemble Performance, Movement/Dance Performance by an Ensemble and Student Orchestra, Honorable Mention for Overall Production; and the following individual awards: Out-standing Performance in a Leading Role - Sam Hagen as Tony, Jonathan Miller as Riff and Emma Maxson as Anita; Outstanding Performance in a Supporting Role - Mitch Benson as Action; Honorable Mention for Performance in a Leading Role - Mallory Rabehl as Maria; Technical Leadership Nomination for Choreography to Ingrid Nelson and for Stage Management to Belle Wanke; and Evaluator Shout-Out to Perrin Thompson, Aaron Otten, Marie Ruhr and Emily Kern.

* Board meeting, Monday, Feb. 22, 7 p.m., in the board room at the Discovery Center.

During a brief special meeting on Jan. 11, the Board elected Dave Wilson as the board chair for 2016.

The 41st annual Maple Lake Ice Fishing Derby will take place this winter, but not when originally scheduled.

Another event, the Maple Lake Ice Fishing Contest, which was planned to take place on Jan. 30, has been canceled.

The 41st annual Ice Fishing Derby is being organized by the Maple Lake - Lake Property Owners Association. Proceeds are used to combat invasive species in Maple Lake.

Come to the Highway 55 beach access on Feb. 20. Over $40,000 in prizes will be awarded, with a 2015 Ice Castle fish house going to the person catching the 41st largest northern pike.

Festivities begin at 9 a.m. as a vintage snowmobile show kicks off the Derby. The annual Arctic Plunge begins at 10:00. Registration information is available at the Costume Shop in Maple Lake.

An ice auger drilling contest, sponsored by Fishing Klinic for Kids, begins at 3:30 p.m. Registration will be available on the ice.

The day wraps up with a dance, on the ice, featuring The Naked Cowboys from 4-8:30 p.m.

Organizers ask the public to please be aware the safety of participants, vendors and volunteers is their greatest concern. Ice conditions will be continually monitored with officials of the DNR (Department of Natural Resources). If conditions are deemed unsafe, an announcement will be made on or before Feb. 10 regarding the status of the event.

On Jan. 1, the Buffalo area Masonic Lodge, Nelson Lodge No. 135 Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, began the 5th Annual Food Shelf Funding Drive program. This year's drive will end on Feb. 29. As in years past, the Lodge is focusing its efforts on the Buffalo and Maple Lake/Annandale area food shelves.

Something different this year is that Nelson Lodge will be partnering with another Masonic appended body, The Order of the Eastern Star, Galilee Chapter No 53. Together with the Masonic supporting charitable benefactor, Minnesota Masonic Charities, the Masons will be matching dollar for dollar donations up to a maximum of $40,000. With the match, that's a total of $80,000 that can be going to support this area's food shelf programs.

Make your donation by writing a check payable to Nelson Masonic Lodge No 135, or Galilee Chapter No 53. Please, this is important, do not make your check payable to the food shelf. In the memo area of your check, write the name of the food shelf to which you want your contribution to be donated, Annandale/ Maple Lake or Buffalo. Deposit your donation at any KleinBank branch or mail it to KleinBank, attn. Masons Food Shelf Drive, PO Box 40, Buffalo, MN. 55313. Your donation will be deposited to the food shelf account you have designated. All funds deposited to the specific food shelf program will go to that specific program. Your donation, including the match, will go directly to the community food shelf you designate. There will be no sharing of funds. There is absolutely zero administrative expenses, a spokesperson, Michael Hilgert, assured. Literally 100 percent of all donations are donated back to the food shelves, including the match.

Also, because the Masons' entire donations are made to the food shelves in March, the food shelf program gets to take advantage of the Minnesota Food Share Program. It's a bonus on top of a bonus.

Nelson Lodge No. 135 AF & AM, is located at 122 Central Ave. in Buffalo. They received their Charter from the Grand Lodge of Minnesota on Jan. 23, 1879 and currently have 48 members. The stated meetings of the lodge are on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of the month at 7 p.m.

To find more information about the Masons, or to become a Mason, please visit the main page of the Grand Lodge of Minnesota's website, mn-masons.org, or you can contact Michael Hilgert at w.b.mikehilgert@gmail.com.

Galilee Chapter No. 53, OES, is also located at 122 Central Ave. in Buffalo. They received their Charter from the Grand Chapter of Minnesota on June 6, 1893. The stated meetings of the chapter are on the 2nd and 4th Mondays of the month at 7:30 p.m.

To find more information about The Order of the Eastern Star, please visit the main page of the Grand Chapter of Minnesota's website, mnoes.com, or you can call 763-682-2203.

Much support has been received from throughout the Annandale and Maple Lake community for Brad Paumen, an area resident who is facing serious criminal charges in Belize.

His wife, Esther, said she has been receiving a great deal of support from people who believe Brad is innocent.

She added that the first of many prayer gatherings took place last Sunday, Jan. 24 in the chapel at St. Timothy's Catholic Church in Maple Lake. She said so many people attended the gathering, the chapel was full, and subsequent prayer gatherings each week on Sunday might need to be moved into the main church.

Brad must stay in Belize for the legal process involving an accusation that he plotted to kill four people, according to news reports from Belize, a small Central American nation located just south of Mexico.

Brad owns and operates a relatively new tourism business in Belize called Dark Night Cave Adventures, and he also owns farmland in Wright County. According to news reports, one of the people he is accused of plotting to murder is an Iranian-American named Michael Modiri, with whom Brad has reportedly had an issue regarding access to cave adventures. News reports say Brad allegedly paid employees to carry out murders of people on a hit list.

Brad is reportedly released on $50,000 bail ($25,000 in U.S. dollars), but he must stay in Belize to await a trial. He was arrested Jan. 8.

Brad had gone to Belize on Dec. 22. He goes back and forth to check on his land and business, Esther said. The length of his stays in Belize varies.

"Many people love and care for him, and they do not believe he is guilty," said Esther, who is extremely worried about her husband, along with her entire family and friends.

The 2015-16 Buffalo High School Music Listening Team includes the state-bound Team One members (left-right): Abbie Kunze, Jonathan Miller and Sophie Lefebvre; Team Two includes Hannah Green, Amanda Sullivan, and Rachel Huss. See story in School News on Page 4C. (Submitted photo)

Senior Mitchell Benson (left) and junior Katie Swartzer (right) play two of the lead roles in Buffalo High School's One Act Play "An Echo of Wings," by George Herman. Swartzer, a heckler, argues in this scene with Benson, the editor, about finding peace and/or a justification after the deaths of children and nuns. See preview in School News, page 4C. (Photo by Rob LaPlante)

Sailor came home from Japan in 1970, but his guitar shipment did not arrive until 2015

Wrapped in plastic and duct tape, an electric guitar was delivered to Dan Husom's home in Buffalo on Dec. 3. At first, family members thought it was a Christmas gift for Dan, but it turned out to be a guitar he had owned about 45 years ago while serving in the U.S. Navy and living for a while in Japan.

The package was put away and was to be given to Dan on Christmas Day, but a very young grandchild innocently and unintentionally let Dan in on the secret. When Dan came home the day the package arrived, his grandson, Andrew, said, "Grandpa, the FedEx man didn't come today and didn't bring you anything."

Dan had served in Vietnam on a land base for Navy electronic reconnaissance aircraft. He was in Japan a while before returning to the U.S., where his military service concluded in 1970. In Japan, he shared a house with a higher-ranking sailor named Mark. Due to his higher rank, Mark was able to ship more things home than Dan was allowed. Therefore, Mark agreed to ship Dan's guitar, which he had bought in Japan.

Roughly 45 years later, Dan had long forgotten about the guitar. He said life and work gradually distracted him, and he eventually stopped trying to contact Mark about the guitar.

He mentioned that roughly a year after coming home, Dan had contact with Mark, who claimed the guitar was in a band room and then disappeared.

Dan suspected the guitar had not just suddenly disappeared, but there wasn't much he could do.

In 1995, another guitar, a Yamaha acoustic guitar, "suddenly showed up," much like the electric guitar showed up last December. There was no note or explanation in 1995, just a picture of Mark with his daughter.

When the electric guitar arrived last month, a note followed, and it said Mark had "procrastinated."

Inside the guitar case was $1,000 in cash. Three days after the guitar arrived, Dan received a note from Mark referring to the cash as a "rental fee."

Dan and his wife, Chris, were quite surprised by the whole episode, to say the least. Chris suggested Mark appears to be an eccentric individual.

"I just don't know what to think," Dan remembers saying when he received the electric guitar and the cash.

Dan said Mark was very smart and served in the Navy as an electronics technician.

Dan recalled he spent about $300 for the Mosrite guitar all those years ago. He said a 1960s band, The Ventures, helped make the Mosrite brand famous.

He had a friend in the Navy who taught him how to play a few things and helped him pick out his guitar.

The 45-year-old Mosrite has some sentimental value, and it's a good conversation piece.

Talking about the guitar brings back memories of serving in the military. Dan enlisted in the Navy after graduating from Buffalo High School in 1967. He served in Da Nang as a ground crew member in Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron 1. Aircraft in the unit included the very large EC-121 Super Constellation, the A-3 Skywarrior and the P-3 Orion.

He mentioned that his squadron suffered a Cold War loss on April 15, 1969, when an EC-121 was shot down off the coast of North Korea by a North Korean Mig-21. All 31 crewmembers died.

Although, Dan was a ground crew member, he enjoyed a few flights as a steward onboard EC-121 aircraft. He mentioned that a local resident now living in Waverly, Don Larson, served in the squadron. He has a picture of another member of the military from this area, Neil Ebeling, standing near the nose of an EC-121.

The air base was hit by rockets and mortars during the Tet Offensive. Occasionally, snipers took shots at people, as well.

During one of the rocket attacks, Dan injured his leg. He said he was running faster than he had ever run before and tripped on a metal rod used for towing aircraft.

One of his happier memories was joining thousands of others for a Bob Hope show. High up on a hillside, Dan was so far away from the stage, he could not see the star comedian very well, but he could hear him over the sound system.

Dan recently bought an amplifier so he can play the Mosrite guitar. A quiet and reserved person, his face lit up when he played a few tunes for his grandson.

Today, the guitar could be quite valuable. Dan and Chris have seen other Mosrite guitars just like Dan's selling online for around $6,000 to $7,000.

Asked if he plans to sell the guitar, Dan said, "Well, I got along without it 45 years."

He hasn't decided whether or not to sell it. The instrument has a nice, smooth, mellow sound.

"I could sell it and then get another nice guitar for around $800 if I just want one to play once in a while," he commented. "I don't feel rushed to sell it."

After he waited 45 years for it to arrive from Japan, it makes sense that he would like to hold on to it for a while.