Archive - May 28, 2008

John H. Menefee passed away at St. Mary’s Hospital in Rochester, Minn, Friday, May 23, 2008.
He was born in Faribault on Dec. 17, 1925, one of four children of the Rev. Guy and Marie Curial Menefee. He grew up in Rochester, where his father was rector at Calvary Episcopal Church. John graduated from Rochester High School and attended Rochester Junior College, then, briefly, the University of Minnesota. He was drafted into the Army, where he served from 1944 to 1946 as a medical corpsman on a hospital ship evacuating wounded servicemen from Europe and, later, from the Pacific Theater.

Memorial service for Virginia Pavek will be conducted at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 14, at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church.
Virginia passed away May 21, 2008.

Virginia Keyes Pavek, of Central Point, Ore., died Wednesday, May 21, 2008, at Bloom of Life Adult Foster Care Home. She was 94 years old.
The last member of a pioneering business family, Virginia Keyes was born to Frank H. and Mariam Keyes on Feb. 18, 1914.
Virginia grew up in International Falls, was a graduate of Falls High School, and attended Minnesota School of Business.

The 2008 Indus graduating class received their farewell into the future Friday during commencement.
The list of graduates includes Cory Black, Thomas Doe, Lyle Guerard, Carl Hultman, Nicole Jerome, Christine Johnson, Janelle Johnson, Alyssa Jones, Evan Nosal, John Svitak, Marie (Ally) Trautlein, Meghan Tupper, and Ashley Zaren.
Special music for graduation was provided on violin, viola and piano by Ben, Will, and Renard Bergstrom, relatives of graduate Evan Nosal.

18 percent of children in Koochiching County live in poverty

Koochiching County has among the highest percentages of residents, especially children, living in poverty in the state.
In a recent Children’s Defense Fund study, 18 percent of the county’s children were living in poverty in 2005. The number of children — 152,000 — in Minnesota living in poverty is at the highest level of the decade, according to the study.

The last remaining district fair in Minnesota faced closure this year after 86 years.
The Northern Minnesota District Fair Board was recently forced to decide whether to continue after a carnival operator it used went out of business. The board tried to find another operator, but three other operators that service Minnesota have also gone out of business, according to board member Tom O’Connell.
Instead, the board decided to make changes to this year’s event that would create a more community-oriented fair, O’Connell told Koochiching County commissioners last week.

The Littlefork City Council will conduct a special meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Littlefork City Hall.
The purpose of the meeting is to give preliminary consideration of discipline of a Littlefork Ambulance Service member who serves as an EMT and an officer of the service.

Weight postings on all county and township blacktop roads were removed Tuesday, according to Koochiching County Engineer Doug Grindall.
Postings on gravel roads will be removed next Monday, he said. There may be some gravel roads that the posting will remain due to weak soil conditions, he added.
The Minnesota Department of Transportation’s posting were removed around May 13.

COHASSET — The Littlefork-Big Falls Vikings softball team is two wins away from a State Tournament berth thanks to two wins and one loss in the double-elimination round of the Section 7A Softball Tournament in Cohasset on Tuesday.
The Vikings entered the day as the no. 1 seed and proved it with a 5-4 victory over the Cherry Tigers in game one. The Vikings continue to give coach Imhof gray hairs winning the game in the bottom of the seventh inning on a Carley Anderson hit.

By ROGER JEROME, Sports Correspondent

CLOQUET — The Falls Broncos softball team’s hopes of a state tournament berth came to an end Thursday afternoon at Braun Park in Cloquet as the Broncos dropped two games, 8-4 to Virginia and 5-1 to Eveleth-Gilbert.

To the editor,
For the people, of the people, by the people.
Without research, I wonder how many city council, county commissioners and smaller city representatives know who said this famous quest and what it stands for. And as far as taxpayers being intimidated, they have learned it’s a waste of time and effort. all comments and opinions fall on deaf ears.
To end this schoolyard squabble, write up a list of objectives, set a place and time and let the taxpayers vote on what they would like to see accomplished for their town and children for now and the future.