Today Marks 150th Anniversary of Executions Page 4
Boys’ Basketball Team Evens Record With Win Over GFW
Page 17
ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FIRST YEAR
BELLE PLAINE, MINNESOTA, DECEMBER 26, 2012
75¢ SINGLE COPY
NUMBER 52
The mobile home of the Schmeckpeper family was destroyed by the strong winds of an earlymorning storm on June 19. Some wind speeds were reportedly clocked as high as 80 mph.
The Year in Review
Margy (Schmit) Hanson, a 1982 graduate of Belle Plaine High School now living in Ames, The 12th year of the new milIowa, is pictured with her daughters Julia and Abby at Sunday’s Schmit family reunion at the lennium brought with it major Borough Bowl banquet room. The trio returned this past weekend from a week-long mission- news events across the nation, ranging from the Penn State sex ary trip to Haiti. abuse case to the re-election of President Barack Obama to Superstorm Sandy to the biggest of all – the fatal shooting of 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in It’s been a diverse holiday of the Prairie Catholic Church. Margy and her daughters ar- Newtown, Conn. season for 1982 Belle Plaine Afterwards, they went to the rived in Haiti on Dec. 15, where High School graduate Margy banquet room at Borough Bowl they helped care for a number In Belle Plaine, things weren’t (Schmit) Hanson of Ames, for the Schmit family reunion. of impoverished children on nearly that daunting. In fact, it Iowa, and her daughters Julia Later on Sunday, the Hansons behalf of Mission Youth. The was one of those years where and Abby. made the three-hour drive back food and drink atmosphere they the closing of the downtown experienced at Sunday’s family bake shop and a tree falling on After returning Saturday from to their home in Ames. a mobile home are pieces to a week-long missionary trip to Margy, 49, is one of eight chil- reunion was far different from two of the Herald’s’ top 10 stoHaiti, they visited Belle Plaine, dren of Dick and JoAnn Schmit their surroundings just a day or ries for 2012. This year’s list is where they attended the baptism of Belle Plaine. Her husband two earlier in Haiti, which is one in which nearly every story of Margy’s 2-month-old niece Mark is a commercial roofing still reeling from the effects of on it could swap places with a massive earthquake in 2010 Estelle Ableidinger at Our Lady contractor in Ames. and Hurricane Sandy this past any other on it. There was no Superstorm Sanfall. “Many of the people are dy in Belle Plaine but the comstill living in tent cities. Their munity was hit with its share homes are made of tin and tarp of weather in 2012, including and they have dirt floors,” said most recently what the Weather Margy. “There’s just so much Channel dubbed Winter Storm destruction of buildings and Caesar (yes, that’s correct), roads. We spent the bulk of our which dropped about 10 inches A prank by students in multiple By Thursday, they were wrap- time in a clinic with sick and of snow in Belle Plaine eargrades had Belle Plaine police ping up their inquiry of what severely malnourished babies lier this month. More damagand school officials on edge for happened and who was respon- and toddlers. We held them, ing were the storms and rains a brief period last Wednesday sible. Superintendent Kelly gave them love, changed their of late spring. Among them was the windstorm that struck the morning, five days after a gunPrank Haiti early-morning hours of June man murdered 27 people in a (continued on page 6) (continued on page 18) 19, which leveled large trees school in Connecticut. across the community and damaged homes, one of which (the Schmeckpeper family’s mobile home) was destroyed. On St. Patrick’s Day, local clans marched and celebrated downtown in shorts and T-shirts as the temperature hit an allDan Neisen of Belle Plaine me an offer.” “With the driving laws the time high for March 17 with an was driving along Highway 22 Ray Urban, Biscay’s mayor, way they are, you just have to official reading of 80 degrees. between Glencoe and Hutchin- said talks on selling the facility sell food,” Neisen said. The same day Obama deson one day last August when to the Neisens went smoothly. Neisen said the bar and grill is feated Mitt Romney, another he saw an opportunity too good He expects they will be wel- well positioned geographically incumbent wasn’t as fortunate to pass by. Four months later, comed in the area. to be successful. He expects it as Belle Plaine City Council on Dec. 20, Neisen and his After purchasing the 10,000- will draw residents from Glen- Member Mike Pingalore dewife, Lori, opened Neisen’s Bar square-foot facility from the coe, Hutchinson and Silver feated Mayor Tim Lies. & Grill in Biscay, a small town City of Biscay, the Neisens in- Lake as well as people passing Meanwhile, a Belle Plaine between Glencoe and Hutchin- vested $50,000 in updating its through Biscay along Highway police officer unceremoniousson. kitchen. Neisen’s Bar & Grill 22. ly resigned from his job after Talk about being in the right in Biscay will have a full menu, “If you sell a good burger, peo- being arrested for his second place at the right time. “They an array of beverage options, ple will come.” Neisen said. DWI while a member of the were selling off the liquor (from plenty of TVs for sporting Neisen is no stranger to the department. On the other end the Biscay municipal liquor events and occasional live muof things, Belle Plaine High Neisens store). I stopped and asked the sic. It will also have an off-sale School student Michael Kroells (continued on page 9) mayor about it. He said, make option. completed his second straight undefeated season of wrestling en route to winning another state title. He was later named Mr. Minnesota of Wrestling. Kroells was just as good in the classroom as he ended his high school career with a perfect grade-point-average. As is usually the case, a number of Belle Plaine businesses closed in 2012 and others arrived. Examples include the closing of The Bake Shop downtown and the arrival of Domino’s Pizza south of Highway 169. Included on pages 14 and 15 is a recap of the first five months of 2012. The Year in Review Throughout the day and in the dark of night, the community Nativity scene along East Main will continue next Wednesday. Street in Belle Plaine reminds passers-by of the Christmas season. In the fall of 1951, a group of businessmen assembled a community Nativity on quarter-inch marine plywood. Sixty-one years later it is still a part of the holiday season. Today, members of the Belle Plaine Rotary Club and Boy Scouts erect the scene.
Former Belle Plaine Woman, Daughters Return from Missionary Work in Haiti
Cell Phone Prank Puts School Staff, Police Momentarily on Edge
Neisen Family Opens Another Bar & Restaurant
Merry Christmas
Top 10 Stories of 2012 (1) Storms and Drought – After a dry first 10 days of June, the soaking rains that prevailed in May returned as 7.15 inches fell at the Ewald and Adella Gruetzmacher farm in Belle Plaine between June 11-18. Counting the 11.42 inches of rain that fell in May, over 18 1/2 inches had fallen the past seven weeks. Flooding rains the night of Sunday, June 17 in Belle Plaine were followed by a strong windstorm the following Tuesday morning, the latter of which resulted in considerable damage to trees, power lines and some homes. Some wind speeds in Belle Plaine were reported to be in excess of 80 miles per hour. Amidst the wreckage was Chris Schmeckpeper's and his mother Shirley’s mobile home at 601 West Forest Street, where a large tree fell onto its roof, literally squashing a portion of the structure from top to bottom. Approximately 50 “large” trees were reported down in Belle Plaine, and multiple residential power lines were damaged. No injuries were reported. All the above was followed by exceptionally dry weather through the hottest days of summer and into fall, which took a toll on many area crop fields. (2) Elections – Belle Plaine Mayor Tim Lies was defeated in the November General Election by City Council Member Mike Pingalore by 1,601 votes to 1,457. A record 3,313 people voted at the Belle Plaine Government Center, which was 96.03 percent of the city’s 3,450 registered voters. Cary Coop, who lost to Lies in the mayoral race by just nine votes in 2010 (resulting in a recount), was involved in another close election this year and this time prevailed. He renewed his seat on the city council by finishing second among the three candidates who were vying for the two four-year terms. Coop edged challenger Kurt Laabs, a first-time candidate, by 29 votes (1,507 to 1,478). Incumbent Gary Trost was the top vote-getter with 1,749. Meanwhile, Commissioner Joe Wagner of Sand Creek Township held off a fierce challenge from Belle Plaine native Jerry Kucera to win re-election and another term on the Scott County Board. Wagner beat Kucera by 290 votes – 6,453 to 6,163. Wagner overcame a huge deficit between the primary and general elections to get the win. In the presidential election, Romney received over 56 percent of the vote in Belle Plaine with 1,850 votes to 1,337 for Obama. (3) Business Departures and Arrivals – There would be no freshly-baked goods to be bought in downtown Belle Plaine until further notice, if ever. The Bake Shop, which had been owned and operated by Mark and Jami Kruschke since 2001, shut its doors at the close of business on Saturday, June 30. “We have appreciated your business and friendship and being part of your celebrations, births, confirmations, graduations, birthdays and weddings,” stated the Kruschkes. They had purchased the business from Tom and Valerie Peterson, who operated it under the name Starlight Bakery for a number of years. Prior to that, downtown’s longtime pastry establishment (same location) was called Don’s Bakery. In the 1930s, ‘40s and ‘50s, it was known as the Belle Plaine Bakery operated by Peter Mahoney. “Closing a business that has been in place there for 60 or 70 years is very hard on our hearts. It’s very emotional,” Kruschke said. Among the other business closings were Mystic Journey, Lecy Chiropractic and Stuff for Sale, all of which were located downtown. Some of the new arriving businesses included H&R Block at BP Commons, Domino's Pizza in the complex next to Coborn's, Memories and Milestones Academy (day care) in the former Westerman Lumber building, Belle Plaine Transmission and Auto in the former Belle Auto building and RT Garage in the former Keup Motors building. (4) Bar-B-Q Days – For a second straight year, abovenormal heat was a factor in Belle Plaine’s Bar-B-Q Days celebration as the temperature all three days reached the lower 90s. But according to Bar-B-Q Days Chair Carrie Traxler, the 2012 event went “very well” as beef, beer and carnival ride sales all increased over 2011. There were some 120 entrants in Saturday’s parade, the grand marshal for which was Mary Ann Gill. Kelly Morrison was crowned Miss Belle Plaine during Sunday’s coronation ceremony in the BPHS south gymnasium. Also receiving crowns were First Princess Cassidy Pumper, Second Princess Kalli Koepp and Miss Congeniality Erin Winters. Despite a temperature of near 80 degrees at the 9 a.m. start time, a total of 342 runners participated in 5K Bull Run, which was 68 more than last year. Top 10
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