The Rushford-Peterson School Board heard at its August 19 meeting that the school was fully staffed with licensed teachers for the 2024-2025 school year. As part of the consent agenda, the following employees were hired as well: Nikki Bunke, cheerleading coach; Nathan Whitacre, assistant football coach; Lacey Drinkall, JH volleyball coach; Jacquelyn Guyette, head dance coach; … [Read more...]
Six to Run for Lanesboro School Board
The Lanesboro community will see a total of six people running for the three positions on the school board this fall. At the regular August board meeting, board member Steve Snyder responded to the news with a chuckle, “I like competition!” He was just joking – his position is not even up for election. The board members up for election include Christine Troendle, Sarah … [Read more...]
Houston Honors Lifesaving Ambulance Crew
At their regular August 5 meeting, the Houston City Council got to see four of the Houston Ambulance crew members receive awards for their lifesaving measures this year. Several important visitors attended the presentation of the awards including the person whose life was saved, Ellert Mindrum. Ambulance Director Chris Cox presented the awards to Marty Momsen, Chris Tuveson, … [Read more...]
Now is the Time to Run for Houston School Board
At their August 1 meeting, the Houston School Board emphasized that now is the time to sign up to run for the board this fall. There are a total of four positions up for election this fall – one two-year term to complete the term of a board member who has resigned, and three four-year positions. The current board members also need to register in order to run for reelection. … [Read more...]
Rob and Bettie Bunke Celebrate 75th Anniversary
“As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15 was the Bunkes’ wedding verse when they got married 75 years ago. They have lived by that verse all these years. Rob declared, “I tell the Lord everyday how thankful I am for Bettie!” Rob and Bettie first met when Rob, a farm boy from Hart, came to town for a basketball game. Bettie, a town girl who lived in … [Read more...]
Efficient R-P Meeting
The Rushford-Peterson School Board held one of the shortest meetings ever on July 15. A mere seven minutes passed between the beginning of the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance and the gavel ending the meeting. That is not to say that no business was accomplished. Superintendent Dr. Ben Bernard provides most of the information to the board before the meeting; as a result, … [Read more...]
Concurrent Enrollment Opportunities Increase at Houston High School
Michael Mangan, director of Educational Success and Innovation at Houston Schools, shared the Report Card on Redefining Ready and Concurrent Enrollment Board Update at the July 11 regular board meeting. Using assorted data and comparing with the previous year’s senior class, Mangan showed that overall, 70% of Houston’s 2024 seniors were college ready, 93% were career ready and … [Read more...]
Houston Ambulance Now State Training Center
At their July 8 meeting, the Houston City Council recognized ambulance employees Dave Runningen and Chris Cox for their impressive 40 years of service to the community on the ambulance. In addition, Anna Frauenkron shared that the ambulance has now officially become a training center for the state of Minnesota. With that, the ambulance crew can present EMT, EMR and refresher … [Read more...]
Lanesboro Contracts for Food Service
The Lanesboro School Board approved a contract with food service company Taher, at their July 10 meeting. After putting out an RFP (request for proposal), a single proposal was received from Taher. Following the requirements, a point system was used to evaluate the proposal with Taher receiving a total of 93 points. The contract is pending approval of MDE. The school had … [Read more...]
Milwaukee Road Enthusiasts Tour Local Depots
When MRHA (Milwaukee Road Historical Association) selected Winona as the site for their annual convention, they had an expert with local routes available to help plan a tour of the depots of Fillmore and Houston County. President of MRHA Jeff Goutcher hails from Preston originally. A tour was planned of depots remaining along the route of the Milwaukee Road. On June 28, three … [Read more...]
Rushford Rezones Former Windswept Inn
Following a public hearing on June 12, the Rushford City Council approved rezoning the former Windswept Inn at their regular June 24 council meeting. The new owners, PPS Properties, LLC., intend to create apartments rather than operate a motel. The zoning has been changed from Arterial Commercial to Multi-Family Housing. The plan is to create eight efficiency apartments from … [Read more...]
Hoff Purchases Riley Funeral Homes
Hoff Funeral and Cremation Service recently acquired the former Riley Funeral Homes in both Lanesboro and Chatfield, bringing their number of locations to eight. The Lanesboro and Chatfield locations will now have the same services available as all of the other Hoff locations. Changes will include the use of more technology, more personalization and updates to the facilities to … [Read more...]
Frac Sand Mine Proposed on Hwy. 30
Frac Sand Mining has once again been proposed in Fillmore County on the Roger Dabelstein property 13 miles west of Rushford on state highway 30. Twelve years ago, Minnesota Sands proposed a much larger project consisting of 11 mines. That project had been tabled since 2018 by the EQB (Environmental Quality Board) until this January. An EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) had … [Read more...]
R-P Fully Staffed
R-P Superintendent Dr. Ben Bernard was able to announce to the school board at their regular meeting June 17 that, with the hiring of middle school special education teacher Nathan Whitacre, the school was fully staffed for the 2024-2025 school year. Both the revised 2023-2024 and the proposed 2024-2025 budgets were approved after the examination of the budgets with the help … [Read more...]
Survey Launch for Rushford’s Former Farmers Win Site
City Administrator Tony Chladek shared the details of the public survey regarding the development of the former Farmers Win site in downtown Rushford at the Rushford City Council meeting June 10. On Monday, June 17, flyers will be placed around town, postcards will be mailed out, the survey will be posted on Facebook and physical copies of the survey will be available at city … [Read more...]