Cheer clinic held during Lady Elks game

The annual cheer clinic was held at halftime of the Lady Elks varsity game this past Friday, Jan. 27. First through fourth grade girls performed cheers that they had rehearsed earlier in the day.

The Elkton-Lake Benton Girls Basketball Team honored their parents with balloons and flowers before varsity action began this past Friday, Parents’ Night.

School board elects officers, hears of four-day week

By Dan Kuss

lbvalleyjournal@gmail.com

The Lake Benton School Board elected officers and heard a pre­sentation on a proposed four-day school week by Elkton School Superintendent Brian Jandahl at its regular meeting on Wednes­day, Jan. 25.

Superintendent Ryan Nielsen opened the meeting at 7 p.m. and asked for nominations for chairman of the board. Board members voted to retain Tony Schwing as chair.

Schwing proceeded to contin­ue with the election of officers. The board voted in Darrel Bus­selman as vice-chair, Mike Smith as treasurer and Roger Rude­busch as clerk.

Appointments to various com­mittees will be selected at a fu­ture date.

Elkton School Superinten­dent Brian Jandahl presented a proposed plan for a four-day school week for Elkton-Lake Benton Schools, assisted by Elk­ton School Board Member Tom Landsman and Ag Ed Teacher/FFA Advisor Dan Robbins.

Lake Benton School Board members were presented with an outline document and viewed a Power Point presentation in the computer lab as Jandahl spoke.

The goals for the four-day week are to improve teaching through professional develop­ment opportunities on Fridays, improve student attitude and attendance, reduce failure rates through Friday educational tu­toring and help opportunities, reduce stress for students and teachers and to focus on Com­mon Core Standards which will be implemented in 47 out of 50 states and the territories of the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico in the near future.

The standards were developed in collaboration with teachers, school administrators and ex­ perts to provide a clear and consistent framework to prepare children for col­lege and the workforce.

At present Elkton teach­ers have two non-student contact days to prepare at the beginning of the school year and one at the end to wrap things up.

Teachers will remain on a 175 day contract though the plan is for 154-160 student contact days.

The plan calls for up to 16 days with reduced sup­port staff in a combination of Fridays and Mondays depending on the calen­dar.

“The misconception is that there would be 36 days off,” said Jandahl. “In all, there would be up to 16 inservice days. We wouldn’t have every Fri­day off.”

There is a potential cost savings of $20,000 to $25,000 per year due to the reduced support staff days and transporta­tion through bus routes, though saving money is not the object.

Extra curricular activi­ties will still be scheduled with other schools on Fri­day and Saturday nights.

TheLakeBentonactivity bus will still run on Friday or Monday to transport students for practice and/or games.

The activity bus is fund­ed byLakeBentonbut has been scheduled and orga­nized by Elkton.

One of the goals of the four-day week is to reduce or eliminate as many dis­tractions from the Monday through Thursday sched­ule as possible.

Doctor and dentist ap­pointments, voluntary field trips and extracurric­ular events that normally require early dismissal on Fridays could be sched­uled on outside days, re­ducing absenteeism.

It would also give stu­dents and teachers a chance to catch their breath as many high end students are active in ad­vanced classes, extracur­ricular clubs and activities and push themselves to excel, many times leaving them exhausted by the end of the week.

The outside days would provide enrichment time for students to get addi­tional help on those days.

There are 39 school districts inSouth Dakotausing the four-day week though many are in their first few years.

“The Elkton School Board has been taking their time, a whole year, to research this,” said Jandahl. “If they decide to go with it, we’ll make it work.”

“We are not the first to do this and we are not leading a trend.”

Jandahl has met with manySouth Dakotaand southwest Minnesota schools to observe the pros and cons of the four-day week schedule.

There would still be some full weeks of school.

In June 2011 the Elk­ton School Board directed Jandahl to form a commit­tee to present proposals for the board to consider for the 2012-2013 school year.

The committee consists of Steve Kuehl, a parent with kids in Elkton, Robin Sik, a parent with kids in both districts, Dan Rob­bins, a high school teacher, Steve Erickson, an elemen­tary teacher, Tom Lands­man, a board member with six kids in the Elkton district, Kelly Neill, Elkton principal, Ryan Nielsen, Lake Benton Superinten­dent/Principal and Brian Jandahl, Elkton Superin­tendent.

The four-day week com­mittee met on Nov. 4, Dec. 7 and 14, 2011 and Jan. 4, 2012.

The committee present­ed its findings to the Elk­ton School Board on Jan. 9 and to the Lake Benton School Board at this meet­ing on Jan. 25.

The Elkton School Board will be meeting on Mon­day, Feb. 13 and encour­ages parents from both cit­ies to attend, listen to the objectives and voice their concerns.

The Elkton School Board may follow discussion with possible action and plan to make a decision by March 12.

An alternative proposal was also presented on the Flexible Learning Year to include early release days.

Lake Benton School Board members had an opportunity to ask ques­tions following the presen­tation.

“We have kept the lines of communication open,” said Jandahl. “I speak with Mr. Nielsen all the time. We want all kids to feel welcome. The goal is to educate all kids.”

In other business, Sixth Grade Teacher Kelli Lar­sen presented to the board and thanked them for the opportunity to attend the Young Writers Conference at Southwest Minnesota State University in Mar­shall.

“The entire sixth grade class, two fifth graders, two fourth graders and one third grader were able to attend the confer­ence,” said Larsen. “We had a great day and really learned a lot.”

The conference was held on Jan. 5 and celebrated writing, featured a key­note presentation by au­thor Rebecca Fjelland Da­vis and hands-on sessions that introduce students to authors, illustrators and other types of communi­cators.

Through interaction with presenters, students discovered their cre­ative abilities and how to express their thoughts during sessions such as journaling, poetry, script writing, news writing, comics, sports writing, writers block and much more.

Over 900 students and 200 teachers and chaper­ones from area school dis­tricts attended the event.

The Lake Benton Volun­teers for Education (LBVE) sponsored the trip for the students and Mrs. Larsen said they plan to make it an annual event.

The board declared two sets of old lockers from the girls locker room surplus. They will be advertised for sale in the Lake Benton Valley Journal.

The board reviewed and approved the revised bud­get for 2011-2012 though a few items need to be al­tered slightly.

The school board ap­proved transfer of $1,499.61 from the capi­tol projects fund 06 to the debt service fund 07.

Lake Benton School came in under budget on the construction project.

The school purchased tires for one of the buses. Though tires can cost $1,200 each, the school was able to get a slightly used set at $275 per tire.

Nielsen updated board members on the recent school board convention saying it was a positive ex­perience and invited them to participate in future conventions as there were many informative break-out sessions.

It is the only free school board convention in the country.

Nielsen said the school spelling bee was a success and that Tanner Gregoire, a fifth grader, won the contest and will represent Lake Benton School at the regional competition in Redwood Falls.

Students will be at­tending the history fair inBrookings,S.D.in the near future.

Elementary basketball has started and will be go­ing on for the next month or so.

Tony Schwing attended the negotiations session earlier in the day and will meet with the committee again in the near future.

The board acknowl­edged Paraprofessional Week from Jan. 16-20 as declared by Governor Mark Dayton and thanked Lake Benton School para­professionals for their ser­vice.

The next meeting of the Lake Benton School Board will be at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 15 in the school media center.

Out on the ice in Lake Benton

With the ice thickening again, ice fishing houses begin to commune on Lake Benton Lake just out from the pier.

Library expansion project hearing held at council

The proposed Lake Benton Library expansion is illustrated above as presented during a Jan. 17 meeting.

By Dan Kuss

lbvalleyjournal@gmail.com

The Lake Benton City Council met in its regular meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 17 at 5:30 p.m. at the Heritage Center/city offices.

The council reviewed and act­ed on the claims presented to the city and the municipal bar and also accepted recent rehabilita­tion grant checks which were presented for payment.

At 5:45 the council held a pub­lic hearing on the library expan­sion project in which several interestedLakeBentoncitizens, members of the Friends of the Library and library board mem­bers were in attendance.

There were no public com­ments made referring to the project, so Mayor Mike Carpen­ter asked Executive Director Heather Ulrich-Glynn to present an update on the project.

The city would add on to the library using USDA loan and grant money in addition to funds donated by individuals and a $2,500 promise from the Lake Benton Area Foundation from proceeds from this year’s Gala fundraiser.

An anonymous donor has of­fered $1,000 per year for the life of the 40-year loan.

Carpenter said the whole thing started when City Maintenance Supervisor Todd Draper jokingly asked USDA Rural Development if they had any grant money fornew citytrucks or tractors.

The USDA Rural Development people said they did not, but there was grant money available for libraries.

The project originally called for an expansion of the library to create more room before Carl and JoAn Burk graciously of­fered to donate the John C. Fre­mont Emporium in honor of Jack Burk.

Banner and Associates per­formed an extensive study to update the building for use as a library, but the project was cost prohibitive.

The Library Board and Friends of the Library group had also researched other buildings in town for use as a library before deciding to revisit and pursue the expansion project.

Citizens of Lake Benton turned out for the public hearing on the library expansion project at the city council meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 17.

Motions were made on Feb. 23 and May 12, 2011 and the project was on the council agenda on April 26 and July 15, 2011.

A public hearing on the project was held last spring, though library committee members Barb Powell and Duff Traut­man thought this hearing should be held to update and hear citizens’ con­cerns about the project.

A detailed letter to the editor cowritten by Friend of the Library Shawna So­derholm and Librarian Lisa Schardin was recently published in the Valley Journal to inform the pub­lic about the project.

Other fundraisers such as the Lake Benton Lions Club Benefit Breakfast have been held with pro­ceeds going toward the public library, though they do not pertain to the ex­pansion project and deal with other expenses the library needs help with.

Mayor Carpenter sug­gested the library board stay in touch with Trust­ees Powell and Trautman on the timing of accept­ing the donation of the lot and also with Executive Director Ulrich-Glynn on interim financing through utility funds.

Ulrich-Glynn said she needs to speak with legal counsel on some of these issues.

In other business, the council said the $130,000 2008 Street Project bills have been paid though the Water Utility funds and that the funds need to be broken down.

The amount is the same but the categories need adjustment.

The next meeting of the Lake Benton City Council will be on Monday, Feb. 6 with a lengthy agenda.

Hwy. 68 Corridor Coalition requests county reps

By Tammy Mathison

hendrickspioneer@gmail.com

The Lincoln County Board of Commissioners heard reports and updates from county enti­ties at their Jan. 20 meeting.

Lee Amundson included in his report to the commissioners an update on the proposed shop in Tyler. The intention is to get a shop put up in Tyler for under $100,000.

Christin Berger provided an update on the DSI Trails Grant. In regard to the Hole-in-the-Mountain Trail, a water/wetland review will be done and, if need­ed, the trail will be rerouted to accommodate the wetland. Con­struction is slated to begin on the Hole-in-the-Mountain trail this year.

Jeanna Sommers spoke to the board regarding the county si­rens grant. Each city has applied for a USDA grant and would get $5,000 toward these sirens. “I would like the siren to go off each night in Ivanhoe at 6 p.m. like it used to,” said Commis­sioner Gillund, who appeared pleased with the favorable news regarding the sirens grant.

Rebecca Day of the Minneota EDA spoke to the commissioners about the Highway 68 Corridor Coalition, presenting a packet of information on Highway 68, of which 3.7 miles runs through a portion of Lincoln County. The packet contained information on the highway itself and the need to fix it. Maps were also in­cluded in the packet, as well as the dimensions of the road and shoulders. Safety issues con­cerning the road were brought up, including the narrow shoul­der widths, steep slope and the fact that it is a heavily travelled road.

The Coalition was at the meet­ing on Jan. 20 to request of the commissioners representation for Lincoln County so that needs and concerns regarding the stretch of Highway 68 in Lincoln County could be voiced at up­coming meetings. Commission­er Blumeyer and possibly the county engineer will represent Lincoln County.

Area finds first real snowfall of season

Milo Downs was finally able to break out the snow blower last week as Lake Benton got its first real snow of the season.

Historical Society to display works of Jack Burk

This year’s Lake Benton Area Historical Society Annual Meeting will feature the works of long-time Lake Benton resident and artist Jack Burk in a display entitled “50 Years from Lake Benton to France: The Artistic Works of Jack Burk.” Pictured above are more works ready to be displayed on the piano made to look exactly like Abraham Lincoln’s coffin, which was donated to the Historical Society by Burk. The event will be held Jan. 22 at the Heritage Center.

By Dan Kuss

lbnews@itctel.com

The Lake Benton Area Histori­cal Society (LBAHS) will display the works of Jack Burk at the an­nual meeting to be held on Sun­day, Jan 22 at 2 p.m. at theHeri­tageCenter.

A portion of the Heritage Cen­ter will be transformed into an art gallery with a display enti­tled “50 Years from Lake Benton to France: The Artistic Works of Jack Burk.”

“It’s cool to see a lot of Jack’s earlier works that we’ve never seen before,” said Executive Di­rector Heather Ulrich-Glynn. “Many of these works were from the 1950s and 1960s and were found while they were cleaning out his attic.”

The public is invited to come out to peruse the display, attend the brief annual business meet­ing, enjoy coffee and bars and discuss accomplishments and activities of the LBAHS.

Members of the public are also invited to join the LBAHS for a nominal fee in one of three categories—Student (under 18), Adult and Donor.

The Lake Benton Area His­torical Society has been a mem­bership organization since its beginning in 1999 and its goal is to keep working to preserve, protect and educate about the proud history in the area.

“The purpose of the LBAHS is to collect, preserve and dis­seminate knowledge about the history of the Lake Benton area and to relate that history to the State ofMinnesota,” said Ulrich-Glynn. “We feel that this is an important endeavor for future generations.”

“Our small town, located in beautiful surroundings, is rich in history and memories and those things need to be talked about and shared.”

Over half of LBAHS funding comes directly from the public through fundraising, donations and memberships. Members receive re­duced rates on microfilm usage for research and copying costs.

“More importantly, peo­ple will have an active role in preserving the history of Lake Benton and the satisfaction of supporting a good cause,” said Ulrich-Glynn. “It is not what the organization does for you, but what your member­ship does for the organiza­tion.”

Jack Burk graduated fromLakeBentonHigh Schoolin 1951 and re­ceived his Masters Degree in Art fromMankatoStateUniversity.

Burk had been an art teacher in the Mankato Public School System after beginning his teaching ca­reer in theLincolnCountyrural schools.

In 1961 Burk had the opportunity to become the art supervisor for the U.S. Army in Orleans,France and for two years he trav­eled throughout Europe and studied the Impres­sionist School of art while in France.

Upon his return he be­came the art supervisor for the Wayzata Elementa­ry School system for eight years.

“Every effort will be made to arrange the many works on display in a chronological setting starting with art projects required by Mankato State University in 1956 and concluding with Jack’s final painting in January 2010,” said Carl Burk. “Other projects were developed and demonstrated while teaching students how to work with different media and elements used to cre­ate art projects at both the middle and elementary school levels.”

Many techniques will be on display including chalk, watercolor, knife painting and various brush strokes.

Burk moved back to Lake Benton in 1976 with his mother Alvina and be­gan his long career in es­tablishing Burk Antiques, Christmas in the Valley, John C. Fremont Empo­rium, which later became the High Valley Art Gallery, and managing the Midwest Antique Guild.

“As an Impression­ist painter, Jack’s style changed over the many years, but the recurring theme for his painting wasLakeBenton,” said Burk. “His painting of summer in his neighbor’s backyard filled with summer flowers won for him the People’s Choice Award at Brook­ings Art in the Park.

“Nothing would change about Jack until his pass­ing on Feb. 24, 2010. Jack’s art will live on in the hundreds of paintings that have found homes throughout the country and the world.”

The display is in the process of being set up by Carl Burk, Heather Ulrich-Glynn and Gary Gussler using protective sleeves to protect the works.

Chamber of Commerce ramps up for an exciting year

By Dan Kuss

lbnews@itctel.com

The Lake Benton Chamber of Commerce met in its first meet­ing of the calendar year on Jan. 11 at the new time of 5:45 p.m. in hopes that more members will be able to attend the meetings.

Treasurer Jenny Nordmeyer reported that the budget appears to be at a loss due to the fact that the chamber paid for two years’ worth of Visitors Guides in the same year and that revenues for the guides haven’t been collected as of yet.

Nordmeyer also said that the organization paid out $5,000 for this year’s Red Wing Pottery and that $2,900 worth of the product has been sold.

Nordmeyer suggested that the chamber close out thenew cityfloat account with a balance of $32 since the float has been completed and all of the bills for that project have been paid.

Nordmeyer also said that a nice donation of $2,000 has been received from an individual who requested anonymity and that repayment of a book loan from the Historical Society will be re­turned to the general fund.

Special event insurance cov­ers the annual kickoff, flea mar­ket, Benton-Fremont/Te Tonka Ha, Santa Claus Day and Saddle Horse Holiday.

The chamber is still looking for a vice-president to fill that board position and President Mike Carpenter, Treasurer Jenny Nordmeyer and acting Secre­tary Heather Ulrich-Glynn have agreed to retain their positions for the coming year.

The chamber talked about the possibility of combining with the school and the city to pro­duce a community newsletter to be mass mailed quarterly to reach more people in order to get better activity and help with events.

The chamber would use the potential newsletter to spot­light businesses in town and will check with the Valley Journal about assisting with production and preparation for mailing, though someone would have to take on the project.

Secretary Heather Ulrich-Glynn suggested that office ex­penses be shared by the various community organizations that use them. Costs are currently split for advertising with the South Dakota Glacial Lakes Board of Tourism between the chamber and the Community Visitors Bureau (CVB) and there are copier codes for those organizations and the Historical Society and the Economic Development Association (EDA).

Ulrich-Glynn suggested sharing telephone and In­ternet costs as well.

President Mike Car­penter said the executive board needs more help with Saddle Horse Holiday 2012. Carpenter would like more people to get involved to help generate new and different ideas for events and help coordi­nate and run them.

Carl Burk said he would like to reestablish the Ben­ton-Fremont committee for the Te Tonka Ha Ren­dezvous. Burk has been doing a lot of the work and needs help generating new attractions and enter­tainment.

The event has been hold­ing its own but things are changing for many of the talent and attractions.

Burk would like to bring back the popular style show and add an evening program with a power-point-type living history show in addition to games for kids and rock painting with assistance from the High Valley Art Guild.

Several chamber mem­bers agreed to be on the committee, which will hold its first meeting in March.

The chamber received several thank you letters from winners of turkeys at the holiday open houses and also from winners in the holiday lighting con­test.

The chamber will pre­pare a First Dollar Award for the new owners of the Garden Gate Greenhouse, which recently changed hands.

In the Mayors Report Mike Carpenter invited everyone to come to the Historical Society Annual meeting on Jan. 22.

“It’s a great organiza­tion,” said Carpenter. “Ev­eryone should become a member of the Historical Society.”

The next meeting of the Lake Benton Area Cham­ber of Commerce will be on the second Wednesday, Feb. 8 at 5:45 p.m.

Trails Task Force meeting Jan. 19

The Lincoln County Trails Task Force will meet on Jan. 19 at 5 p.m. in the assembly room of the Lincoln County Courthouse in Ivanhoe. All are welcome to attend. The Task Force is meet­ing to develop a comprehensive trail plan forLincolnCountyand participation from county residents is essential to the pro­cess. Please call Christin Berger at 507-694-1552 or email her at christin@dsi-services.com if you have any questions.

Hurd to deploy to Afghanistan

Alex Hurd will deploy to Afghanistan in March and will serve for five months as an Air National Guard flight crew chief/mechanic. Hurd and his father Dean are pictured in Lake Benton prior to their family Christmas celebration last week.

By Dan Kuss

lbnews@itctel.com

Alex Hurd, son of Dean and Wendy Hurd ofRichfieldand grandson of Ray Hurd ofLakeBenton, is preparing to deploy toAfghanistanin March.

Hurd, a 2006 graduate ofRich­fieldHigh School. graduated from U.S. Air Force Basic Train­ing at Lackland, AFB on April 1, 2008.

“I was interested in planes since I was in grade school,” said Hurd. “My Grandpa Ray and my Uncle Dave served and I always wanted to experience it so I can say that I served, too.”

Hurd spent three years on ac­tive duty as a flight crew chief/mechanic at Nellis AFB inLas Ve­gas,Nev.and got out a year early in the Palace Chase program to join the Minnesota Air National Guard on April 4, 2011.

Hurd has spent one weekend a month and will be training at the 133rd Air Base inSt. Paulfor the next three months before his unit deploys to Bagram Air Base inAfghanistanthe first week of March for five months.

“The only place I went was to Tindahl AFB inPanama City,Fla.so I wanted to travel and seeAsiaand want to do my job in a de­ployed state,” said Hurd. “I have friends that have been there and have some there now.”

“I’m not nervous but don’t know what to expect going into a country at war, but I’m ready to go.”

Hurd was born inSioux Falls,S.D.and moved toRichfieldwhen he was two. His mother Wendy is from Tyler and his fa­ther Dean graduated fromLakeBentonHigh Schoolin 1978.

“I’m proud that he’s serving in the armed forces,” said Dean Hurd. “His grandpa’s proud too. My proudest moment was when he graduated.”

“We shook hands with a bird colonel whose son graduated with Alex and gave kids hugs whose parents couldn’t be there.”

Hurd was in town for the Hurd family Christmas and will be back in time for the Hurd Open, a family golf outing held in July at Pipestone.

“Mom’s not as worried now that we have Facebook and can stay in contact almost daily,” said Hurd. “Before she was anti-war and wouldn’t allow guns in the house. My dad wears a keychain which is a miniature version of a flight streamer that they remove before a plane takes off.”

“I’ve been waiting to go for a couple of years now.”