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Wednesday, April 5, 2023
Number 14 • Volume 134
Van Beck’s theatrical light shines bright
PHOTOS BY CAROL MOORMAN
Nicole Burgardt (left) gathers with her mother, Laurie Quistorff March 29 at Laurie’s cabin north of Sauk Centre. They talked about life since Quistorff was diagnosed with brain cancer three ATKINSON TO TALK years ago and are ABOUT SPACE thankful she is MISSIONS BOOK AT cancer free. 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
pg. 6
Humor a constant during Quistorff ’s quest to defeat brain cancer
COMMUNITY COVERAGE 127 YEARS
400 Block update PHOTO COURTESY OF GREAT THEATRE
Spencer Van Beck sings “Chip on my Shoulder” March 28 at the GREAT Theatre rehearsal hall in Waite Park, practicing for “Legally Blonde the Musical,” which opens April 7 and runs through April 23 at The Paramount Center for the Arts in St. Cloud. Van Beck, 23, has been in Melrose productions since he was 11, and he is excited for the opportunity to be on the Paramount stage portraying a part he played on the Melrose stage in 2018.
Loving life
Living his dream as lead in Paramount production CAROL MOORMAN | STAFF WRITERCommercial As the BY sun was starting to rise Monday, Contractors Company workers from Melrose were inVan be living out a on dream side Spencer the Lisa’s OnBeck Mainwill building working securing Friday, the westApril wall.7. PHOTO BY CAROL MOORMAN On opening night of GREAT Theatre Company’s “Legally Blonde the Musical,” he will portray lead Emmett Forrest, a smart and sensitive law student who takes Elle Woods under his wings, on The Paramount Center for the Arts stage in St. Cloud. The character is charming, quirky, loveable and friendly, words that fit Van Beck’s personality perfect.
Van Beck page 3
Easter atmosp at ph he ere re
BY CAROL MOORMAN STAFF WRITER
L
canc free
aurie Quistorff has touched the lives of many people during 42 years in her nursing career, as an aide, followed by a LPN, RN and in homecare. She has a special fondness for helping the elderly. “Listening to their stories,” is her answer March 29 sitting next to daughter Nicole Burgardt in Laurie’s Sauk Lake cabin north of Sauk Centre, recalling years spent working at care facilities in Albany, Sauk Centre, Melrose and St. Cloud. “Homecare and geriatrics’ were her bread and butter,” Nicole said. Today, Laurie’s role has been reversed, and she is the one being
Laurie Quistorff (front, center) is surrounded by former Pine Villa Nursing Home co-workers Mary Tschida (front, left) and Diane Hellermann; and (back, from left) Rosie Wiechmann, Kathy Lemm, Geri Boecker and Nancy Kemper March 30 at True North Marketplace in Melrose. They reminisced about old times and caught up with life in retirement.
cared for. Nicole is her mom’s caregiver, after brain cancer side effects have left her unable to care for herself. Laurie and husband Wayne, who passed away in 1998 from can-
cer, raised Randy and Nicole, who is married to Brent, and Laurie has two grandchildren, Brayden and Lincoln.
Quistorff page 3
Education best tool for combating
youth vaping, drug use During March 22 Albany schools presentation, adults encouraged to know the facts BY HERMAN LENSING STAFF WRITER
PHOTO BY CAROL MOORMAN
Lorraine Curto places a dyed egg on the table March 30 at the Melrose American Legion in Melrose. VFW Post 7050 members boiled 50 dozen eggs early that morning and auxiliary members dyed them, and more eggs will be dyed this week for the VFW Auxiliary 7050 Easter Egg and Bake Sale April 8 at the American Legion.
Easter page 2
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Education is the best tool for combating vaping and drug use among youth. That was the primary message during a March 22 Albany Police Department and Albany Area Public Schools presentation attended by close to 35 students, parents and community members at the school in Albany. Information was presented by Allison Dudek, from Stearns County Human Ser-
PHOTO BY HERMAN LENSING
Allison Dudek (from left), Stearns County Human Services; Mary Kalla, Albany Area Middle School social worker; and Sgt. Matt Gannon, Stearns County resource officer at Albany Area Public Schools, discuss vaping and drug use March 22 during a presentation at the school in Albany. The vaping products and drugs on the table were confiscated from students and displayed by Central Minnesota Violent Offender Task Force members.
vices; and Dan Greenwald Central Minnesota Violent and Joel Schmidt, from the Offender Task Force.
PUBLIC NOTICES Mortgage Foreclosure ............................................................ pg. 7 City of Melrose Notice of Property Assessments ..................... pg. 7 Probate Notice - Prodinsky ..................................................... pg. 7 Probate Notice - Oreel ............................................................ pg. 7 Albany Township Property Assessment Notice ....................... pg. 7 Farming Township Property Assessments Notice.................... pg. 7 Melrose School Board Minutes ............................................... pg. 7 Albany Area School Work Session ........................................... pg. 7 Melrose Area Development Authority Public Hearing ............ pg. 7 Spring Hill Board of Appeal and Equalization ......................... pg. 7 City of Avon Ordinance Amendments ..................................... pg. 7 Melrose Township Property Assessments Notice .................... pg. 7
Vaping, smoking of e-cigarettes and drug use is appearing at area schools. Dudek gave a quick overview of the 20-year-old history of vaping, which has users using battery operated vaping devices to heat up a special liquid into an aerosol that users inhale. The products are marketed with youth in mind, she said. “The products now use nicotine salts, which come from the tobacco leaf,” Dudek said. “Those salts deliver an addictive dose of nicotine to the user’s brain faster without the harsh experience they have from inhaling the cigarette smoke.”
Education page 4
OBITUARIES page 4 Valeria J. Braun Daniel J. Fuchs Stephen D. Mayers Mark H. Meyer Bernice M. Uhlenkamp
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