Leonard Groehler passed away peacefully at his home Saturday, Oct. 4, 2008, following a long and courageous battle with cancer. He was 74 years of age.
Leonard was born Nov. 17, 1933, to Arthur and Villa Groehler in Kelliher, Minn.
He taught school for 33 years at Aitkin Public School District. A career he dearly loved and was proud of.
Leonard was united in marriage to Patricia Lee Van Sickle on Nov. 24, 1955. Together they had four children.

In the notable “Wild Wings” original art catalog, local resident Cherie Taylor Serrano annotates one of her paintings in this way:
“Reverence best describes the feeling that washes over me as I look into the face of an impending storm on Rainy Lake. My personal challenge has been to capture and convey the sense of immanence that motivated me to paint this scene.”

Commissioners tabled road vacation requested by Ray church

The Koochiching County Board is attempting to balance the need for access to private property with the desire to rebuild a church in Ray.
Following a public hearing attended by eight people, the board agreed Tuesday to table a request by the Northwoods Bible Church for vacation of a road until commissioners review property owned by the church and adjacent property owned by Joe Jessop next week.

Cub Scout Pack 145 along with Boy Scout Troops 145 and 150 will collect food for the local Falls Hunger Coalition Sunday. Homeowners are asked to have a bag of nonperishable food items near their front entrance or mailbox by 1 p.m. Monetary donations are also accepted. Make checks payable to Falls Hunger Coalition. Items most needed are canned fruit, canned juice, canned meat and canned meals. If a donation has not been collected by 5 p.m., call 283-8020 and leave a message.

The second threat of violence in a month at Hibbing High School has raised eyebrows and perked up authority figures, but it won’t cancel Friday’s Homecoming football game against International Falls.
The Broncos (1-5, 0-5) are scheduled to take on the Bluejackets (1-5, 0-5) at 7 p.m. Friday in Hibbing.
A threat of violence was found in the boys’ bathroom at Hibbing High School late last week and mentioned violence on Oct. 10, the same day as the football game, according to Hibbing principal Mike Finco.

In the first Iron Range Conference Tournament, the Broncos battled early Tuesday but eventually lost 3-0 to Grand Rapids at Falls High School (27-25, 25-10, 25-18).
With Grand Rapids out of the IRC for two years and Hibbing on the verge of bailing out, the IRC Tournament was created to keep the Class 3A schools in the conference without having them commit to regular season matches against Class 2A and A conference programs. Grand Rapids coach Beth Joki has a good first impression of the tournament and wants it to work.

By ROGER JEROME, Sports Correspondent

LITTLEFORK — The Deer River Warriors used a dominant first game and a comeback in the second game Tuesday to carry them to a 3-0 sweep of the Littlefork-Big Falls Vikings (25-10, 25-23, 25-18).
“Deer River has a strong team and they had great court coverage and strong play at the net,” said Vikings coach Kim Wimmer. “I was pretty proud of the way we came back in Game 2.”
The Warriors made quick work of Game 1, scoring five consecutive points. The Vikings scored one back but the Warriors the went on a 9-0 run to take a 14-1 lead.

Broncos senior Jacob Casareto leads the football team with 84.5 defensive points through five games (a sixth game was won via forfeit). Players are awarded points for everything from tackles (six different point categories) to sacks to interceptions. Mike Jensen has the school’s single-game record of 55.5 points in 2001 and Mike Mannausau holds the season record with 348.5 points in 1993.

To the editor,
Lisa Kaczke’s article about the enrollment decline at Rainy River Community College was an excellent piece of journalism. However, the decline began before the football program.
It began when the college decided to do away with a successful hockey program that went to state and most of the players were local. They put in a questionable football program.

Many of us had high hopes for this campaign season.
We looked forward to productive debates, discussions and even advertisements about what matters to Americans.
But with the increasingly nasty attack ads from the candidates seeking this nation’s highest office, some of those hopes are fading fast.
There are certainly plenty of issues that candidates John McCain and Barack Obama could and should be expressing their views about. The list is lengthy, and includes, just to name a few, health care reform, troop involvement in overseas conflicts, and energy production.