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Wednesday, August 30, 2023
Number 35 • Volume 134
3 incumbents, 1 newcomer file for Holdingford School Board
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
BY HANS LAMMEMAN STAFF WRITER
pg. 6
The Holdingford School Board, during their Aug. 16 monthly meeting, adopted a resolution for the Nov. 7 school board election for four board members. Positions up for reelection are currently held by Elissa Ebnet, Rob Knettel, treasurer Evelyn Martini and vice chair Lori Opatz. At the Aug. 15 filing deadline, incumbents Martini, Opatz and Knettel filed for reelection, and there is one COMMUNITY COVERAGE 127 YEARS newcomer, Nicole Burg. During the meeting at PHOTO BY Holdingford High School, AN CAROL MOORM board members also approved m fro t, on (fr Marcus an evaluation of Superintennes Ag d an cy Lu , ft) le dent Chris Swenson, who is (back) Hemmesch; and hold entering his ninth year in the e, their dad, Dav m their role. canned goods fro e this According to the evaluapantry and mad g. 25 Au tion summary by chairperson growing season kitchen. se ro el M r Ed Feia, the board was satei in th nning isfied with Swenson’s perDave has been cas. Not ar Melrose man continues family tradition in Hemmesch household close to 12 ye Cindy. formance. Swenson said the ctured is Mom pi overall positive evaluation did not highlight any noteworthy Lucy tried her hand at mashing the BY CAROL MOORMAN | STAFF WRITER concerns; instead, it allowed cooked apples as Agnes held the colander for a brief discussion on a passed down from their dad’s mom, Mary Jo couple of items of interest to ave Hemmesch mashed cooked Hemmesch, who still cans in her rural Lake Growing a 50-foot by 60-foot, chemithe the board. apples through a cloth-covered Henry home. Dave’s grandmothers, Marie cal-free garden after he and Cindy (Arceneau) As sun was starting to rise Monday, Commercial The evaluation is anworkers annu- from Melrose colander, Hemmesch and Agnes Rothstein, also canned. married 10 years ago was the reason for canContractors Company were in-straining the juice into al practice to assess the perfora bowl early morning Aug. 24, while his “We got a lot of Grandma (Marie) Hemning. Dave was raised on a farm near Lake side the Lisa’s On Main building working on securing mance of the superintendent and wife Cindy’s children, Agnes, Lucy and mesch’s jars after she passed,” Dave said. Henry, and Cindy is from Melrose. the PHOTO BY CAROL MOORMAN and west their wall. compatibility with Marcus, watched. The juice was poured into He has been canning close to 12 years His reasons for canning are four-fold. the school board. As Swenson pint jars. and of his four brothers, Ron, John, Kevin “We grow stuff in the garden, and I wantis in the midst of a contract, Canning is a regular occurrence – and a and Albert, Ron and Kevin also can. ed to preserve it for longer than the season,” the evaluation did not impact family affair – in the Hemmesch household. His mother has been his canning mentor he said. his contract. This was Dave’s first season making apple and resource along with recipes. Hemmesch page 3 juice, although he has made applesauce. “Sometimes it’s trial and error,” he said.
400 Block update
Canning connection
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School board page 2
Second Melrose apartment complex a done deal
Albany’s Hillcrest now
Bear Crest Lounge
City tops $23.5 million in 2023 building permit valuations
Small-town feel an attraction for Ter-Bear
BY CAROL MOORMAN | STAFF WRITER
BY CAROL MOORMAN STAFF WRITER
Terry Torrence’s nickname is “Ter-Bear.” He used that bear twist when naming his business – Bear Crest Lounge-Family Restaurant in Albany – complete with a bear on his logo. On July 1 he became owner of the former Hillcrest Family Restaurant & Stubby’s Tavern, purchasing it from Sandy Eggert. Torrence, a Maplewood resident, who was raised in Brooklyn Center, may not have any experience cooking for crowds but he is not afraid to wash and bus dishes during a busy buffet day. Just don’t ask him to prepare food – yet. “I’ll leave the cooking up to the cooks,” he said Aug. 15 sitting in the dining room.
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PHOTO BY CAROL MOORMAN
Terry Torrence (right) and wife Marieta gather Aug. 23 inside a Bear Crest Lounge-Family Restaurant dining room in Albany. As the new owner of the former Hillcrest Family Restaurant & Stubby’s Tavern, he has a vision for the upstairs dining and downstairs bar areas.
Thanks to his people personality, he loves visiting with customers, including regulars who, over the past month, he has gotten to know. “Farmers come in for
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breakfast, a group from Kraft came in, and I talked with another group of woodworkers,” he said. “I love woodworking.” With more than 40 years as a building con-
tractor in Minnesota, his connection to Albany was a recent business project.
Bear Crest page 3
Construction of a second apartment complex, on the west side of Melrose, could begin soon. The Melrose Area Development Authority closed on the sale of a Railroad West lot to GCRE-Melrose, LLC, Aug. 28. A permit for this construction is among more than 200 permits applied for, to date in 2023, totaling $23.5 million in valuations in Melrose. “It is the second highest year, already, in terms of valuation, … and we’re only in August,” Sheila Hellermann, community development director, said during the Aug. 17 council meeting at the Melrose City Center. “Jennie O’s construction in 2017 was the only year higher.” Among the permits for new construction is Kwik Trip, St. Mary’s Catholic Church rectory, Meadowlark Country Club cart shed and Riverside Flats apartment/ retail complex by the Sauk River. Hellermann told the council the developer of the second apartment complex, Granite City Real Estate Partners, plans to begin construction of the 73-unit multi-family apartment building in September. Two cul-de-sacs with 25 lots for single family dwellings and a green space between the cul-de-sacs and the apartment building with a future municipal park are part of the platting for the area. Council members approved a preliminary and final plat for Railroad West, a rezoning of the area to a R-1 district and a conditional use permit for the planned development, as recommended by the Melrose Planning and Zoning Commission.
Apartment page 3
PUBLIC NOTICES
BIRTHS page 3
Melrose Area School Sealed Bids Notice ............ pg. 7 Stearns County Board of Adjustment Public Hearing . .......................................................................... pg. 7 City of Albany Planning Commission Public Hearing . .......................................................................... pg. 7
Vivian Ella Kluempke Ella Rose Freidrichs
OBITUARIES page 4 Thomas A. Ecker Alice T. Eichers Mary Ann M. Engelmeyer
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