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Herald Sauk Centre
NUMBER 35 • VOLUME 156
Plans progress for Authors Addition New 44-acre residential area platted for 85 lots
THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 2023
| WWW.STAR-PUB.COM
Reborn
from a flood
BY BEN SONNEK STAFF WRITER
The city’s new residential land now has a name – Authors Addition – and platting for the property is underway. During their Jan. 18 regular meeting at Sauk Centre City Hall, the Sauk Centre City Council approved the preliminary and final plat of Authors Addition; the land is 44 acres on the west side of Sauk Lake between Hickman Drive and Fairy Lake Road, purchased in 2022 from John Meyer. The city has it platted for 85 residential lots, the larger ones being in the southeast area, and the preliminary plat proposes four phases for development while the final plat will create lots for only the first phase. All other phases will remain as outlot for future development. The preliminary design also includes the design for utilities, ensuring the lots can be serviced by municipal utilities including stormwater. The design will be reviewed at the city’s Feb. 1 meeting to approve bidding preparation.
City council page 4
First Lutheran Church renovations underway BY BEN SONNEK | STAFF WRITER
Just as the great flood in the Bible was God’s opportunity to renew creation, so too is First Lutheran Church in Sauk Centre using the water damage from the 2021 storms to reshape their worship and community spaces. “We could just put it back the way it was and keep doing what we used to do, but (the congregation) wanted something different,” said Rev. Michael Carlson, pastor of First Lutheran Church. “They saw
it as an opportunity to do more intentional ministry for the community, and there’s a lot of excitement around it.” First Lutheran Church’s sanctuary was built in the 1950s, a block south from their original church. The education wing was added in 1969; more work was done in the 1980s, but the next major phase was the 2004 addition of their Christian Life Center, office complex and extended entryway. Moving into the 2020s,
McAlister family moves to Sauk Centre from Hawaii
PHOTO BY BEN SONNEK
The McAlisters – Melissa, Lance and 5-year-old Matthew – go sledding in their backyard Jan. 23 in Sauk Centre. Having previously lived in Texas and Hawaii, this is the family’s first snowy winter.
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PHOTO BY BEN SONNEK
Rev. Michael Carlson stands in the middle of the Christian Life Center, the new wall behind him, Jan. 11 at First Lutheran Church in Sauk Centre. The church’s renovations will reorient the sanctuary to create a more intimate but still sizable worship area. GRAPHIC SUBMITTED
(Inset) A computer-generated image shows how First Lutheran Church’s sanctuary will look after renovations. The Christian Life center will have a glass wall so it can serve as overflow seating for the sanctuary.
First Lutheran Church had no further renovations planned, but then 2021 brought two major storms on July 28 and Aug. 28. Both of those storms landed tree limbs on the flat roof of the church’s 1969 addition,
plugging its drain. The water levels then got so high that they spilled into an exhaust fan. “The first storm in July hit at night,” Carlson said, “We were here earlier in the evening because we had a wed-
ding rehearsal, and about 7 o’clock the next morning, our wedding coordinator called, frantic, saying, ‘We’ve got waterfalls in the church.’
First Lutheran page 3
Minnesota
,
BY BEN SONNEK | STAFF WRITER
H
aving started in Texas and later moved to Hawaii, it is almost certain that nobody would have guessed the McAlisters next residence: Sauk Centre. However, the family – with the grandmother, Brenda; the parents, Melissa and Lance; and 5-year-old Matthew – have been enjoying Minnesota’s infamous winters so far, and the rural environment has made it an active yet peaceful place to live. “There’s a lot up here that reminds me of the east Texas I grew up in,” Lance said. “I love the wide-open country.” Both Melissa and Lance were born and raised in Texas, meeting in the east Texas town of Tyler in 2007 at a church singles event; Melissa was a travel nurse at the time, and Lance was working for Walmart. They married in 2008 – honeymooning in Hawaii – and Lance was promoted to store manager in Roswell, New Mexico, so they moved there for almost three years before returning to Texas. Three years after that, an experimental market supply chain manager position opened up in Hawaii. Lance was chosen out of a pool of
OBITUARY Anna Mae Haskamp
about 100 other applicants, and he and Melissa packed their belongings into shipping containers, flew over to Oahu and lived with of six suitcases and an air mattress for about five weeks. Being enjoyers of water and water-related activities, the McAlisters loved living in Hawaii. “I lived by a lake in Texas before Hawaii,” Melissa said. “We love snorkeling, and the weather’s always great. The first year, we lived where it rained a little too much because we were really close to the mountains on the windward side, so we moved closer to the beach where it didn’t rain quite as much, and it was perfect.” For the next six and a half years, Melissa continued nursing at area schools, and Lance commuted for his work with Walmart. His day would often begin with a half-hour drive over the Oahu mountains, as all the Walmart stores he managed were on the west, or leeward, side.
Hawaii page 3
PUBLIC NOTICES • Mortgage Foreclosures (4) - pg. 7 and 9 • Assumed Name - Dockendorf Properties - pg. 7 • Assumed Name - CS Nelson Properties - pg. 7 • Amended Assumed Name - Neighborhood Realty - pg. 7 • City of Sauk Centre Public Hearings (2) - pg. 7 • City of Sauk Centre Summary Budget Statement - pg. 6 • Ashley Township Meeting Change Notice - pg. 7
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