Lake Benton students present “Imagine Nation”

Connor Kremin, Brayden Nielsen, Rachael Krog, Autumn Tooley, Noah Greer and Leighland Hooks of the Dakota Players are pictured as pirates in the school production of “Imagine Nation” held on Saturday afternoon at the Lake Benton School Auditorium.

lbnews@itctel.com

Lake Benton School presented “Imagine Nation,” a school the­atre production, with the Dakota Players on Saturday, March 31 in the school auditorium.

Dakota Players Leighland Hooks and Kevin Earlywine came to town on Monday, March 26, held student auditions after school and immediately began rehearsing with students for the production, which was pre­sented to the public on Saturday afternoon.

“It was amazing what they ac­complished in one week,” said Superintendent/Principal Ryan Nielsen. “The kids had fun with it, worked hard all week and even remembered all of their lines. Some of them had quite a few to remember.”

The script and lyrics for “Imagine Nation,” which is a story about a family preparing to go to Grandma’s farm for the Osbourne Family reunion, were written by Sandra Kern Moll­man.

The kids were bored so Little Brother, played by Bryson Sik, conjured up a scheme to have some fun with Hercules the Prai­rie Pirate, who taught them how to control their imagination.

Both professional actors taught and directed the student cast throughout the week and also acted in the production. Hooks played Father and Ear­lywine played Larry, the family dog.

In other lead student roles Hannah Krog played Sister, Carter Peake played Brother, Sa­mantha Schindler played Mother while Anika Finzen played Izzy, Madeline Bressler played Lu and Alexis Christensen and Emily Miller played the Cousins.

The play flowed nicely as the actors sang and danced their way to Loop­iter and back with precise choreography.

Loopitarians were played by Jaxon Harstad, Madisyn Nielsen, Aubrey Schindler, Julia Drietz, Kai­lyn Drietz, Morgan Smith, Karissa Olsen, Brooklyn Nielsen and Caul Harstad.

Hooks played a dual role as Hercules, the Prai­rie Pirate as Noah Greer, Wade Busselman, Con­nor Kremin, Jesse Bussel­man and Brayden Nielsen played Red Pirates and Au­tumn Tooley and Rachael Krog played Green Pirates.

Zoey Greer, Blake DeVr­ies, Caedmon Bressler, Eli Determan and Wade Nib­be played Parrots as Grant DeRuyter, AJ Busselman, Dani Bjork, Skylar Mendro and Matthew Nibbe played Romp Animals.

Dakota Players Christian Erickson provided orches­tration, Sandy Van Gerpen, costume design and Scott Mollman set design for the production.

Jacob Miller acted as as­sistant director and sound technician behind the scenes.

After the show Hooks and Earlywine thanked the parents of the cast and crew for their flexibility and told humorous stories about working with kids.

“We’ve done this play a few times but a fresh cast always keeps it exciting,” said Hooks. “The kids are really creative and gave us ideas, too.”

The student actors took the stage in costume for a parent photo session after the production.

“Our goal is to do this every year providing we have enough funding,” said Nielsen. “It’s nice that the kids have a chance to be in the Children’s Theatre at the Opera House in the fall and to do this in the spring.”

“We’ll at least try to do this every other year.”

Prior to the student pro­duction of Imagine Nation, Lake Benton School held a community Whopper Feed from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. to raise funds for the Lake Benton School History Center project.

School board approves service contracts

By Dan Kuss

lbnews@itctel.com

The Lake Benton School Board approved several service contracts with the Southwest West-Central (SWWC) Service Cooperative in Marshall for the 2012-2013 school year at the board meeting held Tuesday, March 20.

Contracts include a 2012-2013 membership agreement at $150 per year; environmental/occu­pational health and safety man­agement program 2011-2014 for $4,360; health and safety management assistance services for 2012-2014 at $282.68; drug and alcohol services for 2012-2014, (alcohol – $15 per driver, drugs – $15 per driver with ad­ditional fees for random screen­ings;) Regional Management Information Center (RMIC) for maintaining school district re­cords at $19,094.80; general In­formation Technology Services for 2012-2013 at $1,6635.00; Student System and Data Ware­house for 2012-2013 at $962; behavior analyst services for 2012-2013 at $3,175 (five days) and curriculum and assessment and instruction services for 2012-2013 at $8,624.

The board spent considerable time reviewing and discuss­ing the Lake Benton 2012-2013 school calendar.

The Elkton School Board has decided not to go with the four-and the board is a little concerned that it may not pack down correctly with the reduced amount of traffic in the summer months.

The board also talked about the school roof. There were a few leaks during the last big rain and it may be due to the direc­tion the rain came from.

The board talked about the possibility of doing the whole roof at once next year as opposed to patch­ing it.

Nielsen said the music curriculum from 1991 needs to be updated as most of the songs are out­dated. The math curricu­lum was updated last year at $10,000 but the music curriculum should only cost about half of that.

Nielsen also said he would like to implement some Apple iPads into the classroom. He is check­ing into the possibility of securing grant money from the Lake Benton Area Foundation to help offset the cost of placing one in each classroom.

Nielsen also said he would like to start looking at updating the desk in the main office. Some of the overhead cabinets are sag­ging and most of the draw­ers don’t lock.

Nielsen wants to main­tain data privacy with locking doors and cabinets and said Donnita Bennett’s computer screen should be hidden from view.

The desk is a first im­pression for people that come into the office and it would be nice to have an updated system that is aesthetically pleasant.

Steve Bennett said the current desk was donated by Don Hughes some time ago, saving the school money at that point, but it is beginning to fall apart.

A new desk could cost up to $3,000 but Nielsen and Bennett are looking into a good used unit at surplus outlets.

The board passed a mo­tion to add the snow day and the two days from the girls state basketball tour­nament to May 11, 14 and 15. The last day for staff will be Wednesday, May 16.

Nielsen said the school play will be on Saturday, May 31 at 1:30 p.m. with a Whopper Feed taking place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. to raise money for the Lake Benton School His­tory Center.

The Dakota players will be in town the week of May 26 to hold auditions and rehearsals at school. Two or three professional the­atre people will be staying at the Benton House dur­ing the week.

The board talked about the possibility of going to a consent agenda to save time during meetings. A consent agenda discusses several agenda topics with one motion to approve to speed things up.

The board also spoke of using on-line meeting soft­ware that allows desktop and screen sharing on Mac, PC and iPhones and the agenda could also be dis­played to a large screen.

The software would only run about $50. The board may try it out beginning in July at the beginning of the new fiscal year.

The next meeting of the Lake Benton School Board is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Wednesday, April 18.

Monroe Crossing appearing in concert at Lake Benton Opera House

Monroe Crossing will be appearing at the Lake Benton Opera House Friday, March 30 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available at First Security Bank of Lake Benton, Citizen’s State Bank in Tyler, Farmers and Merchant’s Bank in Pipestone and Hy-Vee in Marshall. Tickets are $13 in advance, $16 at the door and $10 for children age 12 and under. For more information, go to www.monroecrossing.com.

World-class bluegrass enter­tainers Monroe Crossing will appear in concert at the Lake Benton Opera House on Friday March 30 at 7:30 p.m.

The Lake Benton Opera House is located at120 Benton StreetinLakeBenton. Tickets are $13 in advance, $16 at the door and $10 for age 12 and under.

Tickets are now on sale at Citi­zens State Bank of Tyler, First Se­curity Bank of Lake Benton, First Farmers and Merchants Bank of Pipestone and Marshall HyVee.

Monroe Crossing dazzles audi­ences with an electrifying blend of classic bluegrass, bluegrass gospel and heartfelt originals. Their airtight harmonies, razor sharp arrangements and on-stage rapport make them audi­ence favorites across the United States,Canada and Europe. They are touring in support of their brand new CD, “Joy Joy Joy.” This, their 11th CD and their third all-gospel release, features many audience favorites and original compositions. Named in honor of Bill Monroe, the Father of Bluegrass, Monroe Crossing also recently released a trib­ute CD, “Monroe Cross­ing Plays the Songs of Bill Monroe,” which features 15 classic bluegrass songs made famous by the “Big Mon” himself.

In addition to releas­ing 11 indie CDs and a live concert DVD, Monroe Crossing has made over 1,250 concert appearanc­es throughout theUnited States,CanadaandEurope. The secret to the band’s longevity and success? Ac­cording to fiddler and lead singer Lisa Fuglie, “It’s just plain hard work and dedi­cation. We all share a love for bluegrass music and for performing on stage. We appreciate every audience, large or small, and under­stand that we’re there for them, not the other way around.”

Mandolin player Matt Thompson adds, “We have learned the importance of entertaining audiences and not just playing top-quality music. We regu­larly hear people say that they didn’t think they liked bluegrass music until they saw us play!”

“Midnight in Paris” at prom

Kelsie Jandahl, Abbi Sudtelgte and Cassidy Gebhart are pictured with their dates after the Grand March at the Elkton-Lake Benton Prom on Saturday night just prior to making the final round through the audience.

By Dan Kuss

lbnews@itctel.com

The Elkton-Lake Benton Ju­nior-Senior Prom entitled “Mid­night inParis” was held on Sat­urday night at the high school in Elkton ,S.D.

Dinner was served by sopho­mores at 6:30 p.m. followed by the Grand March in the school auditorium at 8 p.m.

Jessica Weise adjusts Nathan Slegers lapel at the Elkton-Lake Benton Prom on Saturday night. Students had dinner before the Grand March, followed by the dance and all-night party at the school.

At the end of the Grand March, students in attendance made a final pass through the audience before heading in to the dance and all-night party put on by the Prom Committee in the school cafeteria.

City, First Responders to present public training for emergencies

By Dan Kuss

lbnews@itctel.com

The Lake Benton First Re­sponders in conjunction with the City Council, Police Depart­ment and county emergency management personnel plan to hold a community emergency preparedness training session on Thursday, April 12 at the American Legion Hall.

The training session will be set up to give Lake Benton resi­dents information, instruction and options they have on warn­ing signs, how to be ready to re­act and what to do in the event of an emergency.

“The meeting will be infor­mational for people on what to do and where to go in case of a tornado or other emergency,” said Mayor Mike Carpenter. “In the past, people have gone to the fire hall and that’s not an official place of safety.”

“We will also give an update on where the city is at with the emergency siren project, what the sirens mean and how to re­spond.”

The council talked about the possibility of paying for a por­tion of weather radios as it has in the past, a program that was well received.

Many people in town have purchased the early warning devices for their own safety and are notified of a weather emer­gency via radio.

A special election will be held on Tuesday March 27 at the community center due to the death of State Sena­tor Gary Kubly. A primary must be held prior to the special election on April 10 as there is an indepen­dent and two Democratic candidates who have filed for the seat.

The council authorized the clerk to pick up the ballots and get everything ready on Monday.

The city council also dis­cussed at length the repair and maintenance ofLakeBentoncity streets.

The council and city maintenance supervisor have been monitoring the situation and preparing for seal coating to protect the integrity and longevity of city streets.

There is $15,000 set aside for the seal coat­ing project and just under $80,000 in another ac­count of which $15,000 can be used for the other half of the seal coating ,saving $65,000 for Coteau Streetand other projects.

“We need to preserve what we have and look at the other projects later,” said Duff Trautman. “A few streets are messed up but we will fix that and do it correctly.”

The plan is to do half the town now, the other half in a few years with resurfac­ing happening every six years or so.

There will be a little over $100,000 in the cof­fers next year for streets in the TIFF District and the money will have to be used specifically for cer­tain streets.

Some streets will take a considerable amount of work, time and expense to repair, while others have older water pipes and no sewer.

“I don’t want to put in a new street without put­ting in new water,” said Carpenter. “If I had a guar­antee that it would last 10 years, maybe, but it usually doesn’t work that way.”

Maintenance Supervisor Todd Draper said an en­gineer will need to be in­volved with those as there are water concerns and some require a total dig out, sub cut and matting.

Other work will be timed out according to what the county and state does.Lin­colnCountywill be seal coatingBenton Streetin 2013 or 2014.

Draper is waiting to see what County Engineer Lee Amundson secures for a locked price on oil and pea rock can be purchased at $6.55 per ton in Russell.

Draper said there was a water break onHarrison Street last Thursday due to a frost break. The ground moved and snapped the pipe like a pencil.

Draper also presented a list of curb stops that need to be replaced. There are five curb stops that have been problems for over 10 years and the city can­not turn the water off to certain dwellings from the street.

The cost will be $500 per curb stop for a total of $2,500 and a few must be moved from MnDOT right-of-way, also requir­ing moving signage.

Draper would like to use a mini excavator for bet­ter maneuverability on the project. The council ap­proved.

Draper said he received a building request for a new 78×47-foot home at 606 West Mork, lot 7 and half of lot 8 for Royal Lynn.

The city has received a $25 check from the con­tractor who would like to start digging by the end of the week. The council ap­proved the request.

City Clerk Rosie DeZeeuw presented a com­bination deferred loan and mortgage document for rehabilitation payments. The council authorized the mayor and clerk to sign.

The council approved payment of $10,377 for re­hab grant checks. DeZeeuw said the money is in the ac­count.

Carl Burk reported on the status of administra­tive tickets. He said Barb Powell provided him with a copy of the Tyler Admin­istrative Ticket and they are researching the pro­cess.

“Is it worth our while?” asked Burk. “People like them because they don’t lose points.”

Chief Guy Harding said they are limited in what they can write. The city must fill out a form and ap­ply with the state, keep ac­curate records and adopt a resolution.

A plan must be in place for appeals in a differ­ent city with an objective, openminded citizen not involved with the city or police mediating the pro­ceedings.

Powell said an agree­ment between Lake Ben­ton and Tyler could take place though most people don’t appeal as it goes on their record.

The next regular meet­ing of the city council will take place at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, April 2 with a lengthy agenda at the Her­itage Center/City Office.

Sportsmen’s Club hosted Wild Game Feed Saturday

These ladies of the Sportsmen’s Club served up tasty dishes at the 23rd Annual Wild Game Feed at the American Legion Hall on Saturday night. Entrees made with bear, buffalo, elk, duck, goose, pheasant, wild turkey, wild boar, moose and venison were among the types of wild game served.

By Dan Kuss

lbnews@itctel.com

The Lake Benton Sportsmen’s Club held their 23rd Annual Wild Game Feed on Saturday night, March 17 at the American Legion.

Once again, at precisely 5:30 p.m., the line of hungry guests stretched from outside the door, around the inside perimeter of the hall to the serving line which contained 20 or so roasting pans full of delightful wild game en­trées as diners ate at the tables in the middle.

“A lot of us do two dishes, such as Lonny, Eileen and Al,” said Scott Christensen, treasurer of the club. “We add new recipes each year and a lot of it depends on what we catch or what we bag.”

Sportsmen’s Club members said it all starts with opening fishing and hunting seasons, that’s when the fun begins.

“We basically prepare all year,” said Christensen. “We get to­gether two months before the event to tally up what people have donated and one month be­fore, we decide who is going to cook what.”

Beginning at noon on Saturday, over 35 Sportsmen’s Club mem­bers descended upon the kitch­ens at the Lake Benton American Legion and Community Center to cut up and cook the food.

By the time the doors opened at 5:30 p.m., parked cars lined Center Street and covered every available space in the surrounding lots.

Patrons filled their plates with bear and veni­son meatballs, goose, duck, elk lasagna, buffalo, wild turkey, pheasant, moose, buffalo, wild boar and oth­er wild game.

“You’ll want to try a lit­tle of everything,” said Ila Christensen. “I bet most folks have never tried elk lasagna. It’s really good.”

Sportsmen continually breaded and deep-fried the Rocky Mountain Oys­ters, Chislick and North­ern Pike to tempt the taste buds of those still waiting in line and to keep a fresh supply on hand.

Beans, potato salad and wild rice were also served in addition to cups of Perch Stew.

“It’s the wife’s recipe,” said Bob Redlinger. “I’m just serving it, but I did help cut up the ingredi­ents.”

Margaret Anderson brought her Silver Fox Mustard Sauce, which was new this year to go with the bear meatballs.

“This was the best one ever in 20 some years,” said Clarice Nordmeyer. “Ken always enjoyed this type of thing and won the gun one year.”

“We argued about hang­ing it in the house. I didn’t want to but it still hangs there today.”

Bert Kuehl told the story of how the whole thing started.

“Me, Terry Miller and Mark Meyer shot a bunch of rabbits back in the early 1990s and didn’t know what to do with them all,” said Kuehl. “We decided to cook them up and share them with everybody and the rest is history.”

Sportsman Tommy Christensen said the turn­out was great.

“We usually serve around 300 people with our high last year of 375 when we ran out of food,” said Christensen. “We are always hoping to break the record and reach the 400 mark.”

As people ate their fill and purchased tickets for the drawing of a Stoeger double barrel 12 gauge shotgun, a Pheasants For­ever print and a Ducks Unlimited print, others filtered out into the warm and sunny evening mak­ing sure to compliment the Sportsmen’s Club for a wonderful meal.

“Nice weather,” said Scott Christensen. “The nice weather helped a lot.”

“Cleanup is a lot easier now with the roaster bags, too. Back in the day we al­most had to use a chisel to get the stuff off after it sat in the pan for a couple of hours.”

Broadway meets Lake Benton at the Opera House

Mark Bosveld, Wes Myers, Chris Shuckhart, John Voit, John Williams, John Ward and Steve Meyer perform “Gee, Officer Krupke” from “West Side Story” as the opening act of Broadway Meets Lake Benton on Saturday at the Opera House.

By Dan Kuss

lbnews@itctel.com

The Lake Benton Opera House presented Broadway Meets Lake Benton, a musical review, in shows at 2 and 7:30 p.m. on Sat­urday, March 17.

The show, directed by John Voit, featured several area play­ers performing numbers from a wide variety of Broadway musi­cals.

“I was very excited going into the show for I knew that we had a very talented cast,” said Voit. “I loved the fact that we had people both singing and playing instru­ments. It just shows how versa­tile and musical these people re­ally are.”

“These people are also dedi­cated musicians and veterans of the theater. They knew what they had to do in order to do a great job with the show, and that is what they did.”

The show opened with a male ensemble performing “Gee, Of­ficer Krupke” from “West Side Story” followed by Caroline Kos­ka singing “A Change in Me” from “Beauty and the Beast.” Emilirose Rasmus­son came out dressed in a black cape to perform “Shy” from “Once Upon a Mattress” and at a stra­tegic point in the song opened her cape to reveal a flashy red dress, proving she wasn’t really shy, just shy one guy.

John Voit and Chris Shuckhart perform “Guys and Dolls” from the musical of the same name on Saturday, March 17 in the Lake Benton Opera House presentation of Broadway Meets Lake Benton.

Steve Meyer entered the auditorium from the rear to sing “Oh, What a Beauti­ful Morning” from “Oklaho­ma!” and John and Stacey Voit teamed up to perform “A Stud and a Babe” from “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change.”

Mark Bosveld made his Opera House debut with “The Mason” from “Work­ing” as did Catherine Luk­ken, a sophomore from SMSU inMarshallwho sang “Times Like This” from the play “Lucky Stiff.”

John Ward returned to the opera house stage to perform “The Kite” from “You’re a Good Man, Char­lie Brown” using a string as a prop and Chris Shuck­hart made his Lake Benton debut singing “Mack the Knife” from “Threepenny Opera.”

The first act ended with Paula Nemes and Emil­irose Rasmusson perform­ing an adorable number entitled “Cookies” from “A Year with Frog and Toad” assisted by Caroline Koska and Mark Bosveld as birds to help eat the cookies.

Refreshments of lem­onade, cookies and other goodies were served next door in theKimballBuild­ingduring the 15 minute intermission with the free-will donations going to help fight cancer through Lincoln County Relay For Life.

“I thought that the shows went quite well,” said Voit. “The audience reaction both during and after the shows was ex­tremely positive. They had a great time and so did the performers.”

The second act opened with “Brush Up Your Shakespeare” from “Kiss Me Kate” performed by Mark Bosveld and Wes Myers followed by John Williams singing “Lonely Room” from “Oklahoma!”

Caroline Koska sang “I’m in Love With a Wonderful Guy” from “South Pacific” followed by Steve Meyer singing “Maria” from “West Side Story.”

Catherine Lukken then teamed up with Chris Shuckhart to sing “Sue Me” from “Guys and Dolls” followed by Wes Myers performing “Get Me to the Church on Time” from “My Fair Lady” with a little help from Voit and Williams who dragged him off the stage.

John Ward sang “Wand’rin’ Star” from “Paint Your Wagon” fol­lowed by Chris Shuckhart and John Voit perform­ing “Guys and Dolls” from “Guys and Dolls.”

The show closed with “Big Spender” from “Sweet Charity” performed by a female ensemble of cast members singing to the male members of the cast.

The performers were accompanied by Stacey Voit on the piano with John Ward filling in on “A Stud and a Babe” and “Big Spender” while Mark Wilmes played percussion for the entire show and Wes Myers played bass guitar when he wasn’t singing.

“It was a very talented group and was great fun being a part of the show, said Opera House Presi­dent Mark Wilmes. “Our crowd numbers suffered because of the amazing weather, but the people who came showed their appreciation very loudly for the show.”

Voit and Paula Nemes were Master and Mistress of Ceremonies while Cindy Williams worked sound and lights and Ann Ward and Andrew Haun ran the spotlights.

The Opera House Board would like to invite people to review the schedule for coming events.

“It’s too bad moreLakeBentonpeople don’t come out to take advantage of this wonderful venue we have right here in town,” said board member Milo Downs. “If they came out once, I’m sure they would come time and again.”

Monroe Crossing will be performing in concert at the Lake Benton Opera House on Friday, March 30.

Tickets are available at First Security Bank in Lake Benton, Citizens State bank in Tyler, Farmers and Mer­chants Bank in Pipestone, Hy-Vee in Marshall and at the door the night of the show.

One team, one dream

The Lady Elks were greeted at a welcome home ceremony after their bus was escorted through town by the Elkton Fire Department when they returned from the SDHSAA State Class A Basketball Tournament in Spearfish, S.D. Pictured with their Third Place Class A trophy are, in front, seniors Stephanie Johnson, Cassidy Gebhart, Alissa Landsman, Megan Krogman, Haylee Denison, Becca Jurgens and Molly Koch. In the back row are Mindee VanDyke, Ashlyn Landsman, Courtney Mulder, Gabby Kampmann, Brooke Jaacks and Kelsey Kinner.

By Dan Kuss

lbnews@itctel.com

The Lady Elks seven seniors played their last high school game for Elkton-Lake Benton at the South Dakota High School Athletic Association State Class A Basketball Tournament on Sat­urday night in Spearfish, S.D.

Since their freshman year, this group of Lady Elks sports a re­cord of 89 wins, 12 losses and have placed first, second and third in state tournament action within the last four years.

“If you think about it, you can actually subtract three of those losses,” said Head Coach Steve Krause. “We lost those three ear­ly on to top-ranked teams while I was getting them acclimated to my system.”

“We don’t even worry about the win-loss record before Christmas break since at that point we are only concerned about establishing our game, so it’s not a big deal.”

Alissa Landsman, Becca Jur­gens, Cassidy Gebhart, Haylee Denison, Megan Krogman and Molly Koch have played together since third grade and Stephanie Johnson joined them in fourth grade.

“They all went out for basket­ball in third grade and begged me to come and play with them,” joked Johnson. “I came out the next year and we have played together ever since.” The girls played through grade school and Jr. High before Cassidy Gebhart moved to varsity as an eighth grader followed by the others in their freshman year.

Gebhart and Krogman reached 1,000 career points this season and were both named to the Dakota Val­ley All conference team with Gebhart receiving Most Valuable Player hon­ors.

Johnson and Jurgens were named to the DVC all-conference second team.

Gebhart surpassed the 1,000 point milestone ear­ly in the season and holds the school record for total points, while Krogman hit the 1,000 point mark in game one of the state tour­nament playoff againstClark-WillowLake.

Gebhart and Krogman were also named to the all-tournament team.

Junior Mindee VanDyke completed the top eight regular players on this year’s team.

Junior Ashlyn Landsman and sophomores Gabby Kampmann, Kelsey Kinner, Brooke Jaacks and Court­ney Mulder made up the remainder of the roster and waited in the wings, each receiving consider­able playing time during the regular season and in tournament play.

Cassidy Gebhart drives the lane for two of her 17 points in the Friday night game against St. Thomas More. Stephanie Johnson, foreground, hustles in to be ready for a potential rebound.

The Lady Elks battled hard, played well and came within six points of playing in the state cham­pionship game.

The Lady Elks are well-liked by competing teams, who cheered for them to win.

“We stopped at Wall Drug for a break and to eat dinner on the long drive home,” said Krause. “More than one person came up to me and said they were thoroughly impressed at the way our girls carry themselves and respect others. A real class act.”

Fans wearing blue and white from Elkton andLakeBentonfilled the stands from Thursday to Saturday at the state tour­nament games to cheer the Lady Elks on to victory.

The Elkton Fire Depart­ment met the Lady Elks’ bus on the outskirts of town and escorted them with lights flashing and sirens blaring down the main drag to the school where a welcome home celebration was held at 7 p.m. on Sunday evening.

The players, coaches, managers, statisticians and official scorer Steve Ben­nett disembarked from the bus amid cheers and made their way into the North Gym auditorium and sat in a row of chairs behind the big third place state tro­phy to music played by Tal Farnham.

Athletic Director Er­vin Gebhart opened the program and told stories about the girls playing as a team while growing up.

Superintendent Brian Jandahl thanked the team for their effort and for rep­resenting the school with class and dignity.

Each of the team mem­bers took a turn at the mi­crophone mostly thanking the coaches, parents and fans for their support.

Assistant Coach Rebecca Beuckens was moved to tears and couldn’t speak.

“She says thank you,” said Krause with a smile on his face.

Krause himself choked up a bit but maintained his composure as usual and thanked the team for their effort and dedication.

Players and fans stood and clapped as the school song was played for the fi­nal time for the seniors.

CLIMB Theatre teaches respect to Lincoln County students

Professional actors JR Ritcheson, Siddeegah Shabazz and Jay Kistler portray characters in CLIMB Theatre’s original production “Snapshots” on Tuesday, March 6 at Lake Benton School. The play was performed for all of Lincoln County’s third through sixth grade students from RTR, Hendricks, Lincoln HI and Lake Benton Schools on the topic of respect for self, others and other people’s property.

By Dan Kuss

lbnews@itctel.com

CLIMB Theatre returned toLakeBentonon Tuesday, March 6 to perform its original play “Snapshots” for third through sixth grade students fromLin­colnCounty’s RTR, Hendricks, Lincoln HI and Lake Benton Schools.

Professional actors JR Ritcheson, Jay Kistler and Sid­deegah Shabozz were in resi­dence performing with a focus on respect.

“The kids were great,” said Ritcheson. “It is always nice to perform in front of kids who are attentive and involved and this play has a great topic about re­spect.”

Elliott Poirot, played by Kis­tler, is a fifth grader who was in his first week at Lake Stanley El­ementary School.

Elliott likes to stay up late on Thursday nights to watch old unsolved mysteries on TV and has read every Sherlock Holmes story at least twice.

Elliott and his sidekicks, Alex Schwartz played by Ritcheson and Holly Vasquez played by Shabozz, are members of the De­tective Club at school and embarked on a mission to solve the mystery of the Camera Culprit.

No one knew who the camera culprit was, but ev­ery day new photographs were mysteriously posted around school.

The characters uncov­ered the unsolved mys­tery and discovered along the way that disrespect at Lake Stanley Elementary is what can make it a not-so-pleasant place to be.

“Through the play, stu­dents are taught the im­portance of respect for themselves, for others and for other people’s property,” said Ritcheson. “The play models posi­tive behaviors and shows possible consequences of both positive and negative behaviors.”

CLIMB’s innovative play “Snapshots” also gives schools a common lan­guage and a set of expec­tations for respect both in and out of school through effective programming on respectful behavior for el­ementary-aged students.

The CLIMB Theatre per­formance also left educa­tors with new vocabulary and teaching tools to re­iterate the importance of being respectful in their own classrooms.

“Theatre is a very pow­erful tool for promoting change,” said Buffy Sed­lachek, producer at CLIMB. “Students learn strate­gies to improve their lives while being engaged as an audience.”

CLIMB stands for Cre­ative Learning Ideas for Mind and Body. CLIMB’s work is not only entertain­ing, it is also educational.

For more information about CLIMB, visit http:// www.climb.org.

Two new employees with Co. Highway Department

By Steven Hurd

Lake Benton

Valley Journal Intern

The first March meeting of the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners was held last Tuesday morning at the Lincoln County Courthouse in Ivanhoe.

At the meeting, Environmental Administrator Robert Olsen esti­mated a cost of $230,000 for the replacement of the 18-inch tile with 30-inch dual-walled plastic on County Ditch 33.

Olsen also reported that over­age charges for garbage and recycling pick-up are down from $500 to $50 since Michael Thooft has been monitoring and documenting the area daily. The board then approved a two-month renewal for the months of March and April for Thooft’s services.

Lincoln County Engineer Lee Amundson started by explaining that the budget numbers for the Lincoln County Highway Depart­ment are below budget so far this year.

Amundson then introduced orado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Massa­chusetts, Minnesota,New Jersey, Oklahoma and Ten­nessee.

These states will also be able to factor in subjects beyond reading and math.

The board approved Consideration of Claims and Accounts for the month in the amount of $29,205.87.

The board also ap­proved a motion for the final revised budget for 2012-2013 in the amount of 2,175,979.

The board had its first reading of the school cal­endar for the 2012-2013 school year which is in a rough draft stage as of now. The calendar will be finalized at the next board meeting.

The board also dis­cussed the possibility of purchasing a more effi­cient vehicle. The board directed Nielsen to begin looking for a solution since all school vehicles must be newer than 12 years old.

The board discussed the opportunity forLakeBentonresident students to participate in the Post­secondary Enrollment Op­tions (PSEO) program.

The program inMin­nesotais administered through the Minnesota Department of Education and allows high school ju­niors and seniors to earn college credit while in high school.

Students can take cours­es at a postsecondary in­stitution, take courses of­fered at their high school taught by a qualified high school or college instruc­tor, sometimes referred to as concurrent/dual en­rollment or “College in the Schools,” or take courses offered online taught by a college instructor.

PSEO provides students with a great variety of class offerings and the opportu­nity to pursue challenging coursework.

The next school board meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 20 at 7 p.m. in the school media center.