A tour of Lake Benton

Executive Director Heather Ulrich-Glynn presents Lake Benton as the original Wind Power Capitol of the Midwest and explained renewable energy in the vicinity in addition to the history of the town to a bus tour group at the Heritage Center.

By Dan Kuss

lbnews@itctel.com

The City of Lake Benton hosted an afternoon bus tour for Bank Club members of First Bank and Trust of Milbank and Brookings, S.D.on Thursday, April 19.

Executive Director Heather Ul­rich-Glynn gave guests a person­alized tour of many Lake Benton attractions.

The bus arrived at 1 p.m. and visitors browsed the Heritage Center before Ulrich-Glynn gave her presentation on the history of Lake Benton.

The group re-boarded the bus for a tour of a local wind tower prior to visiting the historic Lake Benton Opera House and were treated to a concert by Lonny Carpenter from 3:30-4:20 p.m.

Carpenter kept the audience entertained with original and cover songs in the old venue and told stories of growing up on a farm outside of Lake Benton playing Elvis songs on his four-string guitar and playing the Op­era House stage with his aunt.

From the Opera House the group went to a nice dinner set up for them at the Country House Supper Club before hitting the road back to South Dakota.

Many members of the tour said Lake Benton is a lovely little town.

The Heritage Center is open for all citizens to visit and learn more about the history of Lake Benton.

Lincoln County seniors hold annual Spring Fling

Leona Christianson, age 93 of Hendricks, is pictured dancing with Lilas Widmark at the Lincoln County Senior Citizens Club Spring Fling on Thursday evening, April 19 at the Lake Benton American Legion. About 120 participants enjoyed bingo, chicken dinner catered by the Country House, drawings for door prizes and dancing to the band Dakota Country.

By Dan Kuss

lbnews@itctel.com

The Lincoln County Senior Citizens Club held their annual Spring Fling on Thursday eve­ning at the Lake Benton Ameri­can Legion.

The evening began with bingo at 5 p.m. for seniors from Arco, Hendricks, Ivanhoe, Lake Benton and Tyler followed by a chicken dinner with all the fixings ca­tered by the Country House Sup­per Club.

“We can’t win at bingo so we have to give it to them,” said 91-year-old Lorraine Krog of Lake Benton. “I guess Clara (DeZeeuw) won but we haven’t had much luck.”

Vernard Van Erdewyk likes to watch baseball with his grand­children and is in the process of getting them prepared to go hunting.

“I like having a good time with people,” said Van Erdewyk of Hendricks. “We’re celebrating our 50th anniversary in Decem­ber and have been here for the past eight or nine years.”

“We do the Spring Fling here and the Fall Fling in Ivanhoe. “After-dinner entertainment was provided by Dakota Coun­try, who played country, old-time and 50s and 60s favorites music.

The band was started by Joyce Ruesink as the Jolly Neighbors in the 1970s and they play a lot of se­niors dances.

Leona Christianson, age 93 of Hendricks, was on the dance floor with danc­ing partner Elaine Stinske.

“I was a bit bruised last year after I attacked a snake with a fork at Syt­tende Mai and missed and fell,” said Christianson. “I love to dance and I drag Elaine to Brookings when­ever I can.”

Drawings were held throughout the evening and many participants went home with fabulous prizes.

“Who won the trip to New Ulm?” asked Senior Club President August Hamer of Hendricks, who will be 85 on April 29. “We usually have 130 or so people so we’re a little short tonight, but it’s okay, we’re having fun.”

Krog was one of the originators of this event and started the bus line around 1974.

“I’m here with the Man­or ladies Vivian Paulson, Bette Ramert and Dorothy Rourk and we had a good meal,” said Krog. “I en­joy this but I wish I had a dance partner.”

Hamer said he’s getting a little tired and wishes someone from the young­er generation would take over.

In all, many seniors said they had a great time and next year plan to keep track of who is the oldest and who was the youngest at the event.

The evening closed around 9 p.m. with a final round of drawings.

HoPE 4 Hayden benefit May 5

Hayden Yockey

By Dan Kuss

lbnews@itctel.com

A HoPE 4 Hayden silent auc­tion, raffle, bake sale and pool tournament benefit will be held at the Lake Benton American Legion on Saturday, May 5 from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. for Hayden Yockey, son of Brittany Chris­tensen and Mike Yockey.

Hayden Yockey was born with Semi lobar Holoprosencephaly (HPE) and diagnosed with Cere­bral Palsy at the age of one. He has undergone many surgeries in the past four years.

“Hayden was real sick for a long time and spent 73 days in the hospital last year,” said Brittany Christensen, Hayden’s mother. “He is doing so much better spending zero days in the hospital this year and just start­ed school last week.”

“He used to get therapy at home, but now gets it all at school. He goes to preschool as part of the regular class at Madi­son Elementary on Mondays and Wednesdays.”

Yockey will be five years old on May 18 and takes about eight different types of medication for his condition and takes no food by mouth as he has a Mickey Button and is tube fed.

He has two brothers, three-year-old Dyllen and 10-month-old Lane, and likes to go outside and play, have books read to him, loves to swing and is otherwise a normal little boy with more challenges.

HPE occurs when an unborn baby’s brain does not grow forward and di­vide properly during early pregnancy. Normally, the brain splits into two halves called hemispheres during development.

The hemispheres com­municate to each other through a band of 200-250 million nerve fibers, called the corpus callosum. With HPE, the hemispheres are not separated properly.

“Hayden loves movies and his favorite TV show is Sponge Bob,” said Chris­tensen. “In addition to his therapy, he just started using a switch, which he presses with his cheek to communicate via an iPad.”

“They love him at school and he loves being there.”

Family and friends of Hayden Yockey will hold the benefit and pool tour­nament to help pay for things not covered by in­surance such as occupa­tional therapy toys and tools, travel and lodging toSioux Falls,S.D.and Twin Cities doctor appoint­ments, a new wheelchair as Hayden has outgrown the one he is in and pos­sibly a handicapped acces­sible van.

“We really need a new wheelchair and handicap accessible van,” said Chris­tensen. “Right now it takes me two hours just to pack the car and, though I am completely organized, I can barely fit it all in with myself and two kids.”

The pool tournaments, one for men and one for women, will start at 9 a.m. and run the length of the event. There are still open­ings for men and women to participate. Participants are urged to contact Bill Vollmer at (507) 828-2489 or Misty Kolbreck at (507) 227-1204.

Pork sandwiches, hot dogs and other food items will be served for lunch during the church bake sale, silent auction, raffle and pool tournament, all of which will be held at the Lake Benton American Le­gion.

Anyone wishing to do­nate silent auction or bake sale items for the HoPE 4 Hayden benefit may do so by contacting Diane Borre­sen at (507) 247-5232.

Thrivent Financial will also be donating sup­porting funds to benefit Hayden. Proceeds from the benefit will go toward specialized equipment needed to aid in Hayden’s care.

“Hayden loves it when people talk and interact with him,” said Christens­en. “He likes to watch Dyl­len play and giggles and laughs when he jumps on the couch.”

“You learn to let go of the light stuff and learn to know what and who is true when you have a kid like Hayden.”

Lake Benton holds severe weather planning seminar

Guy Harding, Garrett Peterson and Chuck Debates, pictured above, represented the Police Department, Fire Department and First Responders, respectively, at the severe weather planning meeting this past Thursday at the Lake Benton American Legion.

First Responder Chuck Debates spoke next. He described the process that the EMS rescue team goes through both during and after storms.

Next, Volunteer Fire­fighter Garrett Peterson explained what occurs for the Fire Department dur­ing severe weather.

Then Chief of Police Guy Harding offered his ad­vice on how to react dur­ing a storm situation. He stressed being prepared and knowing what to do during a storm.

All three department representatives empha­sized that during the after­math of a storm, it is best to worry about yourself and your neighbors, but stay out of the way of the First Responders, Fire De­partment and Police De­partment. They want you to be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

Lastly, First Responder Gary Serie spoke. Serie talked about the impor­tance of communication during severe weather. He stressed how important it is to have a good source of information about incom­ing severe weather, wheth­er it’s from a television or a weather radio.

The Lake Benton First Responders are selling weather radios at a cost of $50.

The Lake Benton City Council has agreed to cover half the cost of the weather radios for residents of Lake Benton. Residents can ob­tain a weather radio from Lake Benton Hardware.

“Sylvia” opens at Opera House

The cast of “Sylvia,” pictured above from left to right, includes Lori Jacobson of Volga, S.D., Alan Riedel of Brookings, S.D., Kathy Wilmes and Sandy Hanson, both of Tyler, Beth Reems and John Williams, both of Brookings, S.D.

By Dan Kuss

lbnews@itctel.com

“Sylvia,” a comedy in two acts by A.R. Gurney, originally pro­duced by Manhattan Theatre Club in May of 1995, opened on Friday, April 13 at the Lake Ben­ton Opera House.

“Sylvia” is a story about emp­ty-nesters Greg and Kate set in aNew York Cityapartment. Greg is played by Alan Riedel and Kate is played by Lori Jacobson, who is making her Opera House debut.

Greg brings home Sylvia, a Labrador-Poodle mix brilliantly played by Beth Reams, much to the chagrin of his wife, who has no time for a dog at this stage in their lives.

Sylvia immediately takes to Greg, who talks Kate into a trial period although the dog is al­ready causing trouble by pid­dling on the floor, drinking from the toilet and jumping onto the furniture.

Greg meets Tom, played by John Williams, at the dog park and Sylvia meets Tom’s dog Bowser.

Tom tries to help Greg by giv­ing him advice on how to handle the situation as Sylvia eventually mates with Bowser, leading to her being spayed.

Greg’s love grows for man’s best friend and Kate becomes jealous of Sylvia.

Things get worse at home, which is not helped by Kate’s best friend Phyllis, played by Kathy Wilmes, who is disgusted at the dog hair on the couch and also thinks that Sylvia should go.

Dog humor and innuendos run rampant throughout the play as Reams playfully acts out dog be­haviors using “Hey, hey; hey, hey, hey” as her bark.

Things eventually come to a head and the couple visits Leslie, played by Sandy Hanson, a mar­riage counselor whose gender can be determined as either man or woman, leaving it to Greg and the audience to decide, and rec­ommends divorce for the hap­less couple.

The play is directed by Mark Wilmes who is enjoying 20 years at the Opera House directing his 30th play.

“It’s a fun show to do,” said Kathy Wilmes. “We saw it in the Cities and thought it would be cute to do it here at the Opera House.”

Refreshments are served at in­termission in the Kimball Build­ing next door with free-will do­nations going to help fight cancer through Relay For Life.

Many members of the audi­ence shared their own dog sto­ries over lemonade, bars and cookies.

“Sylvia” runs for three more performances on Friday, April 20 and Saturday, April 21 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, April 22 at 2 p.m.

Everyone is welcome to attend the remaining shows to find out the fate of Sylvia.

Lake Association stocks pre-spawned pan fish

By Dan Kuss

lbnews@itctel.com

The Lake Benton Lake Associa­tion took advantage of the warm spring weather to get a jump on lake management and the fish­ing season by stocking the lake with pre-spawned pan fish.

About 90 gallons, or 720 pounds, of crappies, bluegills and perch were stocked into the lake last week, which will give them an opportunity to naturally spawn this year.

“Everything is early this year due to the mild temperatures,” said Sam Hedge, president of theLakeAssociation. “We put in some good-sized fish today and they will be able to spawn natu­rally in the lake.”

Hedge said the fish were pur­chased by the Lake Benton Lake Association using membership dues, fundraising efforts and do­nations.

Jim Bosek of Bosek Fisheries said they put in natural spawn­ing adults who will lay millions of eggs in a month or two.

“Success is phenomenal in just one year when they spawn naturally,” said Bosek. “It’s the quickest way to re-establish a population into a lake and the perch should just take off with an explosion of fish.”

Bosek said the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), theLakeAssociationand the parks are all working together on lake management, which is a smart use of good community resourc­es.

“Not many people have a great lake like this on the edge of town,” said Bosek. “With weed control over the past several years the lake has re-established family oriented recreation such as fishing and boating with a nice clean shoreline.”

“The DNR is right behind it overseeing things and making it work right.”

Bosek said pan fish nest and the fish biomass in any lake is a delicate balance between rough fish like carp and bullheads and game fish such as pan fish, north­ern pike and walleye.

“The water temperature on the surface is between 46 and 49 degrees,” said Bosek. “If it stays warm it should be a big take this year for this class of fish.”

“They are seeing nice sized perch from the first year where they have spawned naturally.”

Bosek said as the perch popu­lation gets high, the DNR will stock more walleye, as perch is their main food source because they are easier to eat than other fish.

Hedge said that the efforts of all the groups and people in­volved in treating and managing the lake has helped to bring back native plant species as well.

“This is our fourth or fifth year of doing this,” said Hedge. “The invasive species are diminishing and the pan fish are populating, which makes a healthier lake for recreation.”

“We appreciate the support of the various communities and all of the people who continue to contribute to help make this possible. We wouldn’t be able to make this kind

17th annual Ridgeview Hospice Benefit April 13

Make plans to attend the 17th Annual Ridgeview Hospice Ben­efit on Friday, April 13 at the RTR High School Gym.

There are many wonderful si­lent auction items including gift certificates, handmade items and several baskets donated by departments of Tyler Healthcare Center.

Our meal this year includes Swedish meatballs, barbeque meatballs, hamballs, baked po­tato with fixings, green beans, buns and a variety of delicious cupcakes.

A glimpse of the live auction features patio furniture, a six-burner gas grill, 12 tickets to “Seussical the Musical” with piz­za, pop and Kimball House pic­tures with the cast, hand-crafted wooden items and many more.

All ages will enjoy entertain­ment by The Lonny Carpenter Band.

Please join us to help support our local hospice program.

“Sylvia” opens at Opera House April 13

The Lake Benton Opera House will present the two-act com­edy “Sylvia” beginning April 13 with a six-show run. The show revolves around Greg and Kate, who are 22 years into their now empty nest marriage. They move to Manhattan, where Greg meets a street-wise mixture of Lab and Poodle named Sylvia. He brings her home, where she becomes a major bone of contention be­tween husband and wife. The marriage is put in serious jeop­ardy until, after a series of funny and touching complications, Greg and Kate learn to compro­mise and Sylvia becomes a val­ued part of their lives.

The cast includes Alan Riedel, Beth Reams and John Williams, all of Brookings, S.D., Lori Ja­cobson of Volga, S.D., andSandy Hansonand Kathy Wilmes, both of Tyler. The show is under the direction of Mark Wilmes ofTy­ler.

Show dates are April 13, 14, 20 and 21 at 7:30 p.m. and April 15 and 22 at 2 p.m. For reserva­tions, call the Opera House ticket office at 507-368-4620 or email lakebentonoperahouse@gmail.com.

Monroe Crossing at Opera House

 

Monroe Crossing came to the Lake Benton Opera House to play their special brand of bluegrass music on Friday night, including a tribute to Bill Monroe, the Father of Bluegrass Music, and other favorite acoustic music.

By Dan Kuss

lbnews@itctel.com

The bluegrass band Monroe Crossing returned to the Lake Benton Opera House on Friday night to share their special brand of music and down-home humor in the historic theatre.

The band is named in honor of Bill Monroe, the Father of Blue­grass Music, and the show fea­tured a tribute which included many ofMonroe’s songs in ad­dition to other bluegrass artists and original songs.

“The Lake Benton Opera House is a great venue,” said Matt Thompson, mandolin play­er in the band. “They put in a lot of time and money and restored it. That’s why we’re here.”

The band last played the Op­era House four years ago.

The first half of the show fea­tured a farewell to Earl Scruggs in addition to many other stringed favorites and heartfelt originals.

The second half of the show was all requests, including “At Last” by Etta James, a song the band learned for a close friend’s wedding, “I’ll Fly Away,” which the band termed as a Lu­theran song instructing the audience to clap in the key of D if they wanted to clap along in which the packed house sang along to and also featured 10-year-old Burlin Fuglie on mando­lin playing “Cripple Creek” with the band.

The acoustical band prides itself on the use of one vocal microphone, originates out of the Twin Cities and features Thomp­son on the mandolin, fiddle and baritone vocals, Derek Johnson on guitar, lead and harmony vocals, Lisa Fuglie on the fiddle, man­dolin, lead and harmony vocals, Mark Anderson on stand up bass and bass vo­cals and David Robinson, the newest member at 18 years of age, on the banjo.

Monroe Crossing brought 10-year-old Burlin Fuglie up on stage to play mandolin with the band on the song “Cripple Creek” last Friday night. The bluegrass band made a return trip to the Lake Benton Opera House to entertain area enthusiasts in the intimate and acoustically sound setting for a concert.

Each of the band mem­bers crossed paths through the music of Bill Monroe so they like to say they had a “Monroe Crossing.”

“We mostly play in the upper Midwest but have played from coast to coast in the United States and from Canadato the Carib­bean,” said Thompson. “

“We’ve played Europe and theNetherlandsand do a Bluegrass Cruise inMexico. One year there was a 105-degree differ­ence from where we were on the cruise and our home base inMinneapolis.”

Monroe Crossing played originals from their third all-Gospel recording in­cluding Johnson’s “Joy Joy Joy,” Fuglie’s “Boy on the Gravestone” and Anderson and Fuglie’s “Micah 6:8,” which was written after a show in a Duluth church.

Thompson played the mandolin as a second banjo on “Dueling Banjos” and picked up a fiddle to make a twin fiddle bag­pipe sound on a Monroe Scottish tune, which was his heritage.

The show closed with “Orange Blossom Special” as each player took the spotlight to highlight their instrument and, after a standing ovation, the band performed an impromptu “Cumberland Gap” and the Soggy Bottom Boys’ “I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow” before calling it a night.

There were no refresh­ments served on this night so the band mingled with the audience during inter­mission to sign autographs on the t-shirts and CDs that they had for sale.

“We rented the Opera House out to the band and people who have seen them before brought friends to the show,” said Mark Wilmes, Opera House President. “It’s a nice inti­mate setting for the band and the audience.”

“There are not too many chances for people to see a band of this or Lorie Line’s caliber play this close to the audience.”

ARMER Grant finalized

By Dan Kuss

lbnews@itctel.com

Lincoln County Emergency Management Director Jeanna Sommers presented an update to the Lake Benton City Council at the regular meeting on Mon­day night.

Sommers said she received the final invoice for the ARMER Grant in the amount of $105,397.64 for fire department pagers and ra­dio subscriber equipment from Alpha Wireless.

Work is progressing on the towers, which is a different proj­ect altogether.

Mayor Carpenter updated the council on the Siren Grant proj­ect. Sommers said there was a $5,000 grant for a new early warning siren and that the city is moving ahead with the paper­work for a loan at 3.5 percent until the grant is approved.

Carpenter also updated the council on the Emergency Pre­paredness Seminar to be held on Thursday, April 12 at 7 p.m. in the hall at the American Legion.

Carpenter said the city has been working with the First Re­sponders, the Police Department and County Emergency Manage­ment personnel in a joint effort to put on the public informa­tional seminar and asked that all trustees be present for the meeting.

Carpenter asked for a motion to reimburse the First Respond­ers up to $300 for the advertis­ing and expenses to put on the event and the council approved. The American Legion Auxiliary will serve bars or cookies and coffee.

Sommers also pointed out that April 16-20 is Severe Weather Awareness Week. Emergency drills have been set up to take place at the schools during the day and an evening drill has been set up for 6:55 so parents can instruct their children what to do and where to go in the event of an emergency at home.

City Maintenance Su­pervisor Todd Draper said with the weather they are 30 days ahead of schedule.

Draper and Troy Nord­meyer have begun curb­side pick up on the first Wednesday of the month for branches and leaves as people spring clean their yards.

Draper said the city is planning the annual spring cleanup for the week of April 30-May 4. Yard waste pick up will be May 2 with appliances on May 3. A trailer will be placed near the recycling shed for scrap metal.

Draper said the burn site opened May 1 last year and there is usually an ini­tial blast in the spring and again in the fall. The coun­cil agreed to open the site from May 5 to Labor Day every Saturday unless it is raining and will talk to Eric Fish to see if he wants to continue to monitor it.