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Wednesday, February 8, 2023
Number 06 • Volume 134
Polar Plunge dives in Feb. 18 at Middle Spunk Lake
ATKINSON TO TALK ABOUT SPACE MISSIONS BOOK AT MELROSE LIBRARY
Melrose researching policing options ... pg. 3 Hiltner happy to carry on legacy ... pg. 7 ‘A Team’ has first baby boy in 2017 ... pg. 16 Gymnasts scoring with the best ... pg. 10
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Avon welcomes Special Olympics Minnesota winter fundraiser BY TIM HENNAGIR | STAFF WRITER
The planning emails are flying regarding logistics for a fun-filled winter fundraiser coming to Avon. Middle Spunk Lake is the new host site for the Saturday, Feb. 18, Special Olympics Stearns County Polar Plunge. Deputy Chad Meemken is Region 7 coordinator for Law Enforcement Torch Run events and Stearns County Sheriff’s Office Special Olympics liaison. Plungers will start jumping at noon that Saturday. “There will be no parking along County Road 54 in front of Fisher’s Club,” he said. Parking will not be allowed along the shoulder. Two parking off-site lots will be used. “Primarily, we’d like people to park in the Avon Community Church Parking lot. The hope is any overflow will be at Blattner Company,” Meemken said. Organizers will run a shuttle starting at 10 a.m. from those two parking lots. The shuttle will run until about 5 p.m. even though the event won’t go that long, he said. Shady’s Hometown Tavern in Albany is the shuttle service sponsor, Meemken said. Fisher’s Club, at 425 Stratford St. W., is located next to the Stearns County Polar Plunge check-in location that will beAsused participating individuals teams. Commercial thebysun was starting to riseand Monday, The StearnsCompany County Polar Plunge has Melrose raised more thaninContractors workers from were $1.1 million in its 15-year history. Last year, 158 plungers side the Lisa’s On Main building working on securing raised morewall. than $40,000 in fundraising. the west PHOTO BY CAROL MOORMAN Meemken is optimistic organizers will top this year’s $45,000 goal. “We have about 50 more plungers registered this year, which is a good sign,” he said. “We’re doing very well but need more. A lot of people bring cash donations in on their own.” Meemken said he’s been working with four Avon businesses regarding a Saturday “Warm Up In Avon” business promotional effort that’s associated with this year’s Polar Plunge: Gathering Grounds Coffee Shop, PJ’s on the Lake, Fisher’s Club and Spunky’s Bar. “Local business is being 110% supportive of what we are trying to do,” he said,
400 Block update
Polar Plunge page 4
COMMUNITY COVERAGE 127 YEARS PHOTO BY CAROL MOORMAN Tom and Laurel Enneking visit about married life Feb. 2 in Laurel’s room at Mother of Mercy nursing home in Albany. The two have been blessed with 43 years of marriage and are grateful Laurel’s sister Nita Schneider has played a big part in their lives.
Story of
love and blessings
God’s hand weaves through Ennekings’ lives BY CAROL MOORMAN | STAFF WRITER
T
om and Laurel Enneking share a late-in-life love, accented by Laurel’s sister Anita “Nita” Schneider who adds sparkle to their 43-year marriage. The Ennekings married in 1979, when both were in their mid-40s, after years in the religious life. Today, they are living the life they know they were meant to live. “It’s God’s blessing, for sure,” Laurel, 88, said Feb. 2 at Mother of Mercy Nursing Home in Albany, where she, Tom, 90, and Nita, 80, live. “God has given us wonderful years together.” Mild-mannered Tom credits his wife for their life of love and blessings. “She’s heaven on earth,” he said, holding Laurel’s hand tightly. Laurel softly adds, “Ditto.”
Intertwined in their lives is Nita whose inspiring story is depicted in “Anita, Our Angel of Delight,” a book in the final stages of being penned by Laurel. Laurel and Nita were raised on a farm in rural Breckenridge, one of Joe and Catherine Schneider’s 17 children. Laurel explains Nita developed challenges, due to oxygen-lacking issues, soon after she was born. They had a “marvelous family life,” even though it was during war time. “My mother was saintly with a sense of humor,” Laurel said. “She taught us to be self-sufficient and caring.” Laurel attended St. Benedicts High School in St. Joseph, run by the Sisters of St. Benedict. With nine daughters in the family, her dad thought one would go
into the religious life. “I promised my dad I would be a nun,” said Laurel who was given the name Sister Bibianna. As a Benedictine sister, she taught at schools, including in St. Joseph, Long Prairie and Sauk Centre and was principal in Wadena. Then she was diagnosed with cancer and left the Order of St. Benedict. It was while she was in St. Paul, applying for a teaching position, that she met Tom Enneking, who, by this time had left the Order of the Holy Cross (Crosier vocation) and worked at 3M in the Twin Cities. Tom was raised on a farm north of Melrose with his eight siblings, the children of Henry and Rose Enneking. He liked milking cows and working with draft horses.
Ennekings page 3
Freeport inches closer to Welle’s Plat 4 addition
Sippin’ on
Bids could be awarded in March Melrose Senior Center luncheon brings people together BY CAROL MOORMAN STAFF WRITER
ST R
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PUBLIC NOTICES
Six crockpots filled with homemade soups lined a Melrose Senior Center counter at the Melrose City Center Jan. 11. On the other end were plates filled with a variety of breads and a pan of brownies. It was the monthly community soup and bread luncheon, started three years ago and held the second Wednesday of the month from September through May, said Liz Pohlmann, one of the original Senior Center Board members who were instrumental in PHOTO BY CAROL MOORMAN starting the event. It was gaining momentum Ivanna Meyer ladles up a bowl of the Mini-Meatball soup she and then the coronavirus pandemic hit and made for the Jan. 11 community soup and bread luncheon at was cancelled, but now it is up and running the Melrose Senior Center in the basement of the Melrose City again with an average number of diners in Center in Melrose. It was one of six soups served. the mid-40s.
Before the 11:30 a.m. serving time, people visited, as more diners trickled in until 1 p.m. “We missed you last month,” Eileen Maus, board member pouring coffee, said to Mary Wenning as she went through the line with her sister, Alice Schaefer. The Wednesday luncheon is for anyone of any age with a freewill offering accepted but not needed, said Ivanna Meyer, board member, stirring “Mini-Meatballs” soup she made, while fellow member Karen Mueller, who was overseeing the January lunch, prepared plates of breads. “It’s a means of bringing people together,” Meyer said. Senior Center Board members and other members donate soups and breads, for which there is a small stipend, Meyer said. “Anyone can bring soup and bread,” she said.
The city of Freeport is expecting to receive the final blessing soon from the United States Department of Agriculture on Welle’s Country Acres Plat 4. “USDA has to review it before we bid,” City Engineer Dave Blommel told the council during their Jan. 31 meeting at city hall. Once Blommel receives the OK, the city will seek bids on the city improvement parts of the project, including road work and utilities, which the council authorized him to do during a previous meeting.
Soup page 3
Freeport page 4
• Holdingford School Minutes, Feb. 1 - pg. 8 • Melrose Area Schools Ballot counting location - pg. 7 • Assumed Name - The Editor - pg. 7 • City of Albany Amendment to Ord. No. 30 - pg. 7 • City of Albany Amendment to Ord. No. 31 - pg. 8 • WCED Meeting Minutes, Nov. 14 - pg. 8 • Albany Area Schools Meeting Agenda - pg. 8 • Albany Area Schools Reg. Minutes, Jan. 25 -pg. 7 • City of New Munich Ord. No. 99 - pg. 7 • Probate Notice - Schuur - pg. 7 • Mortgage Foreclosure - pg. 7
BY CAROL MOORMAN STAFF WRITER
BIRTHS page 3 Clay Duane Anderson Jaxon Jason Pirttila
OBITUARIES page 4 James E. Prodinsky Jerome L. Schulte
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