Scott County May Buy More Land in Blakeley Page 15
Boys’ Basketball Team Shakes Off Giants
Belle Plaine Class Project to Get Plenty of Use Page 2
Page 17
ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-THIRD YEAR
BELLE PLAINE, MINNESOTA, JANUARY 22, 2014
75¢ SINGLE COPY
NUMBER 4
Suspect in B.P. Theft Arrested After Gunfire
The cast of BPHS’s 2014 one-act play are back row, from left, Jennifer He, Patrick Schaefer, Dylan O’Brien, Max Hughes, Patrick Selly and Stephen LaJeunesse. In the middle row are Kali Gorman, Aiden Winterfeldt, Alec Lorenz, Jake Hartmann, Rylee Pumper and Catherine Littlepage. In the front row are Hannah Burmeister, Raina Busch, Mikhayla Clausen, Nick Johnson, Felicity Mecredy, Jonah Meyer, Megan Littlepage and Katelyn Schmit.
One-Act Play Shooting for Another Star Public Performance Thursday Night
The Belle Plaine High School one-act play group will be out to add another star to the program’s growing galaxy of success when it performs “The Drowsy Professor” as its entry for the 2014 subsection, section and state competitions. That quest will get underway this Saturday with the subsection festival at Le Sueur-Henderson High School, where the top two acts will advance to the section festival at Jordan High School on Feb. 1. Only the top act at the section will advance
to the state festival in St. Paul. Last year, Belle Plaine captured the school’s sixth “starred” performance rating in seven years and the 10th in the last 20 at the Minnesota State High School League One-Act Play Festival at O’Shaughnessy Auditorium on the campus of St. Catherine University in St. Paul. Belle Plaine, which performed “Ridiculosis by Proxy” as its 2013 entry, was one of three schools from Class 1A to receive a star in 2013, which featured eight performances. A total of 208 schools from Class 1A competed in one-act play last year.
“The Drowsy Professor” is a Conference Secondary Schools comedy written by B. Dwayne Festival in 2003. Craft, who was the playwright “The Drowsy Professor” is of last year’s BPHS entry, “Ridiculosis by Proxy,” as well as One-Act the 2008 production “The Win(continued on page 18) ner,” which like “Ridiculosis by Proxy,” starred at state. Tony Hartmann, who co-directs BPHS one-act play with Peter Jacobson, said Craft has been supportive of BPHS using his scripts for one-act play competitions. Craft has taught and directed theater at Bob Jones High School in Madison, Ala., for a number of years. His original one-act play, “The Winner,” won the Best Play award at the Southeastern Theater
A New Ulm man wanted for a variety of alleged crimes, including theft in Belle Plaine, was arrested last week in northeast Minneapolis after fleeing Minneapolis police and U.S. Marshals. Buck Otto White was arrested Wednesday near the intersection of Como and 33rd avenues. Police and Marshals chased White for about four miles before he crashed after they fired at his sport utility vehicle. The chase began when U.S. Marshals served a warrant on White at a house where he was living. It was unclear whether White first fired at officers, the Star Tribune reported, although he reportedly has a history of illegal gun ownership. He was taken to a hospital after the crash but was released to police. White was the subject of several arrest warrants, including one issued in Scott County Jan. 9 for an alleged theft of almost $14,000 in agricultural equipment from Ag. Power in Belle Plaine. White is charged in Scott County District Court with the theft of two gravity bins from the dealership Oct. 11, 2013. A court date has not yet been set. According to Belle Plaine Police, Oct. 10, Ag. Power reported the theft of two gravity bins valued at $4,995 and $8,600. A witness saw them being towed northbound on Highway 169 Oct. 6 between 4:45 and 5 p.m. The criminal charge indicates the witness who saw the bins
Buck White
being towed on the highway noted the bins were hooked up backwards and being towed well above the 30 mph hauling speed. He told police the bins were being towed by a two-tone Chevrolet pickup truck from the late-1980s or early-1990s. Oct. 11, police spoke with another witness who saw the bins being towed in the grassy area behind Belle Plaine Motorsports. He described the driver as a white man in his 40s or 50s. The criminal complaint said the man identified White from a photographic lineup. White’s photo was included in the lineup because he’s allegedly been involved in other thefts in the area. White, also known as Timothy Joseph Hoffman, has been wanted on federal gun charges since July. He was indicted in March for being a career criminal in possession of a firearm
Suspect
(continued on page 18)
City Continues Push for 169 Overpass by Dan Ruud Belle Plaine Mayor Mike Pingalore, Council Member Scott Schneider and other representatives of the city met last Tuesday in their ongoing attempt to drum up support for the proposed overpass at Highway 169 and County Road 3/Meridian Street in Belle Plaine. The meeting, which also included reps from Scott County, took place at the Burnsville office of the city engineering firm of Bolton and Menk. Pingalore said the latest bestcase scenario to get an overpass in place sooner than later with access to prime economic development land involves a plan called Alternative 2B, which he said the cost estimate for is slightly over $5 million. He added that the project could become reality as early as 2015. The county would pitch in at least $700,000 of that sum and the rest could be financed through a variety of sources. Pingalore and Public Works Superintendent Al Fahey both said they remain hopeful that the Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT) may fund a percentage of the cost as well. But Pingalore said he has not ruled out at least some help from the state. He said a “vari-
ety of funding sources will be looked at and pursued, including (funding) partnerships with Scott County, Mn/DOT, private landowners and developers, internal budgeted capital funds and various bonding options.” Alternative 2B would involve the construction of a bridge over Highway 169. However, rather than build it at the point where County Road 3 intersects with Highway 169, it would be located a short distance down the southbound lane of High-
way 169 with access from West Commerce Drive on the north side of Highway 169 and County Road 3 on the south side (see map on page 18). This would not be a full-fledged interchange system with cloverleafs and all, which Pingalore said could cost some $15 million. But Alternative 2B would A patriotic presentation took place prior to the start of the Belle Plaine High School girls’ be enough to provide access to basketball game against Tri-City United last Tuesday night at the BPHS gym. Members of the Belle Plaine Vets Club, which donated a new flag to the school, were on hand to present City the colors for the National Anthem. For the singing of “God Bless the USA” by the school (continued on page 18) choir, numerous students walked across the gym pulling with them long strips of the Stars and Stripes that were loaned to the school by West Central Area Schools, where BPHS Principal Dave Kreft’s brother, John, teaches industrial technology.
O Say Can You See
Belle Plaine Rural Fire Protection Association Meeting Jan. 27 The 68th annual meeting of the Belle Plaine Rural Fire Protection Association will take place 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 27 at the Belle Plaine Fire Hall, 700 East Main Street. All rural residents in the Belle Plaine Fire District are members and are invited to attend. Food and refreshments will be served. The meeting will include the distribution of the annual financial report, determination of yearly mill rate assessment and the election of officers. Three seats will be up in the election of officers. Included
are those of Ralph Malz, Gary Schmitz and Don Guertin, the latter of whom has been on the board for over 25 years but has moved into the city limits and cannot seek reelection. Association Secretary John Murphy said no major purchases or spending increases are planned this year. He added that he expects the mill rate to remain close to the same as 2013.