Being the hands and feet of Jesus with her dental talent

Stefanie Slegers of Lake Benton, pictured holding one of the children she helped, recently returned from a mission trip to Guatemala where she and a team of medical personnel provided free dental care. Slegers works with Dr. Wilmes at Tyler Family Dental.

By Shelly Finzen
lbvjeditor@gmail.com

In America, dental care is taken for granted. Accord­ing to the Center for Disease Control’s 2016 report, 84.6 percent of children between 2 and 17-year-old have had a dental checkup within the last 12 months. Furthermore, more than 64 percent of adults have had a dental visit in the last year. The same cannot be said for those living in less fortu­nate countries, especially in Guatemala, where most rural residents have never seen a dentist. Lake Benton resident Stefanie Slegers, a dental hy­gienist who works at Tyler Family Dental, recently joined a group of nine other Minneso­tans to change that statistic.

For the full story, read this week’s Lake Benton Valley Journal.

To plow or not to plow; that is the question

The piles of snow keep growing as Mother Nature continues to dump the white stuff across the region.

By Shelly Finzen
lbvjeditor@gmail.com

With the white stuff falling so frequently, many Lincoln Coun­ty residents are left wondering where the snowplows are. Rest assured, according to Lincoln County Engineer Joe Wilson, they are out there, in well below ideal conditions, doing their best to make road conditions conducive to travel.
In a recent interview Wilson ex­plained that the decision to plow or not to plow is generally made by Lincoln County’s Maintenance Superintendent. “He has been part of the staff since 1996 and has been in that position since 2011,” Wilson said. The decision is made to plow or treat road surfac­es when “the roads are icy, there are two inches or more of snow or there is drifting.”…

For the full story, read this week’s Lake Benton Valley Journal.

Lincoln County will sponsor the City of Tyler in a local street project

Rick Drietz was introduced as the new Maintenance Supervisor for the Lincoln County offices and grounds at the Feb. 5 meeting of the Lincoln County Commissioners.

By Shelly Finzen
lbvjeditor@gmail.com

At the Lincoln County Commissioners’ Feb. 5 meeting, a public hearing concerning citizen partici­pation in the Small Cities Grant Program for rental properties located in Tyler and Lake Benton was held. DSI representative Teresa Schreurs spoke during the hearing. “Lincoln County is seeking $595,937 through the Small Cities Develop­ment program to assist rental property owners with rehabilitation fund­ing for health and safety issues, energy efficiency, accessibility and lead-based paint hazards in the cities of Tyler and Lake Benton,” Schreurs said. If the funding is awarded, the project will include five single-family units, six duplexes and 36 multi-family units. If the grant is awarded, projects will be able to begin in January and February 2020. There were no members of the public present at the meet­ing to comment. The board approved a resolution to submit the final applica­tion for the grant.

For the full story, read this week’s Lake Benton Valley Journal.

Lincoln County Corn & Soybean Growers held annual meeting

Speaking at Saturday’s Lincoln County Corn and Soybean Growers annual meeting were (clockwise from top left) Minnesota Soybean Growers Association (MSGA) Vice-President Jamie Beyer, MSGA Regional Project Manager Sam Johnson, MSGA CEO Tom Slunecka and Lincoln County Chairman Tim Jerzak.

By Mark Wilmes
tributeeditor@gmail.com

The Lincoln County Corn and Soybean Growers an­nual meeting was held Sat­urday evening at the VFW Hall in Ivanhoe. A large crowd was on hand to hear updates from local and state-level officials, win door prizes, bid on a host of auction items and enjoy a steak supper.
Minnesota Soybean Growers Association (MSGA) Vice-President Ja­mie Beyer commended the local organization for the success each year of its an­nual meeting.

For the full story, read this week’s Lake Benton Valley Journal.

Another snow, another blow for Lincoln County residents

By Shelly Finzen
lbvjeditor@gmail.com

Another round of heavy snowfall and high winds wreaked more havoc across Lincoln County last week and into the week­end. The snowfall, which was much heavier than originally predicted by the National Weather Service (NWS), led to school clo­sures and event cancella­tions, and interfered with bus routes.
The weather forecast for Tuesday, Feb. 5 included snow, but forecasters ex­pected no more than two inches to fall across the region…

For the full story, read this week’s Lake Benton Valley Journal.

The countdown to the spelldown

Brooklyn Schmidt, a Lake Benton sixth grader, will participate in the regional spelling bee on Feb. 5.

By Shelly Finzen
lbvjeditor@gmail.com

 
Brooklyn Schmidt will be traveling to Redwood Falls on Friday, Feb. 5 to compete in the regional spelling bee. Brooklyn hopes to do well enough to move on to the state spelling bee in Fergus Falls on Feb. 19.
Getting to the state level may not be as easy as many people think. Sixth grade teacher Mrs. Kelli Larson explained that the regional bee is held in three rounds. “The first round is the written round,” she said. In this round, contestants are taken to a classroom and given a list of 25 words to write in ink. They cannot change the spelling once it has been written.

For the full story, read this week’s Lake Benton Valley Journal.

Baby it’s cold outside!

Severe cold temperatures created dazzling atmospheric displays last week.

By Shelly Finzen
lbvjeditor@gmail.com

 
Lincoln County saw some of the coldest temperatures in 20 years last week. The air temperature plunged to the negative 20s and 30s while the windchill values were as low as -53. While the region sees super cold temperatures most Januarys, it is not often that the cold lasts for several days.
According to the National Weather Service, the cold was caused by a polar vortex settling over the upper Midwest…

For the full story, read this week’s Lake Benton Valley Journal.

Robinson discusses TIF options with council at Monday’s meeting

By Sirrina Martinez
News Contributor

The Lake Benton City Council held its first monthly meeting on Feb. 4. There was no one pres­ent for the open forum, so the council moved on to the business agenda.
No one from the police depart­ment was present to deliver a report so Administrator/Clerk Eileen Christensen relayed the department’s request to open a separate bank account for civil forfeiture money obtained by the department to use for train­ing, or other department needs…

For the full story, read this week’s Lake Benton Valley Journal.

Former Lake Benton resident’s husband receives Citizens Award

Pictured are two of Sioux Falls’ City Council members giving Dave Fox, center, a Citizen’s Award at their city council meeting.

Recently, Cheryl (Trautman) Fox’s husband Dave was contacted by the Sioux Falls, South Dakota City Council and asked to attend their city council meeting. Little did he know that he was to receive an award that evening.
During the meeting, one of the council members shared this story…

For the full story, read this week’s Lake Benton Valley Journal.

A big catch for the annual ice fishing tournament

Although the number of participants in the tournament was lower this year, probably due to the cold temperatures, the catch was great.

By Shelly Finzen
lbvjeditor@gmail.com

The fifth annual Ice Fishing Tournament, sponsored by the Lake Benton Sportsman’s Club and the Lake Benton Resort, was held on Lake Benton Lake Satur­day, Jan. 25. Registration began at 6 a.m. with a shotgun start at 10 a.m. Despite heavy snow on the lake and extremely cold tem­peratures, the tournament saw a huge catch.
There were 465 registered anglers of all ages…

For the full story, read this week’s Lake Benton Valley Journal.