Softball, Baseball Tigers Filling Up on Double Dips
BPHS Pops Concert This Weekend
Tiger Track Teams Gear Up for True Team Page 15
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ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SECOND YEAR
BELLE PLAINE, MINNESOTA, MAY 8, 2013
75¢ SINGLE COPY
NUMBER 19
Council Says No to Raising Chickens In the City Limits by Dan Ruud The Belle Plaine City Council Monday night voted 4-1 to deny petitions by two families to raise chickens in their backyards within the city limits. Making the requests were Philip and Amanda Denzer at 821 Sunrise Lane and Ben and Olivia Aronson at 425 North Meridian Street. “My wife and I have two young children,” wrote Philip Denzer in a letter to the city.
“We would like to teach them how to be self-sustaining. We currently raise a vegetable garden and can tomatoes and salsa as well as some other vegetables. We would like the city’s permission to raise chickens (hens only) in our backyard to provide us with fresh eggs and teach our kids about animal care, responsibility and where
Council
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A Mega Night
Pictured at right is a group of Belle Plaine High School prom-goers before boarding their Mall of America-bound limo for Saturday night’s prom. Pictured above is a large group that posed for a photo just after arriving at MOA. In the background is Nickelodeon Universe, site of the post-prom party. Some 260 students attended this year’s prom, which is believed to be a record for BPHS. It was the second time in three years that the school held prom at America’s largest shopping center. More photos appear on page 16.
Neil and Tina Bhakta have purchased the motel south of Highway 169 from Emma Krumbee’s owner Phil Morris.
FairBridge Inn on 169 Sold The motel on Highway 169 in Belle Plaine, most recently FairBridge Inn and Suites and before that AmericInn, has been purchased by Neil and Tina Bhakta of Eden Prairie. They said they closed on the deal May 2 with former owner Phil Morris. Although the FairBridge sign is still in place, the Bhaktas are changing the name to HomeTown Inn and Suites, which
Cologne Man Killed in Crash
they will independently own and operate. Tina Bhakta said the new sign should be in place later this spring. In the meantime, the hotel remains open. The Bhaktas plan to gradually remodel each of the rooms over the course of the next year, including new furniture, carpet and bedding, etc. Neil Bhakta’s parents own America’s Best Value Inn in Clearwater, Minn.
A 24-year-old Cologne man, Jonathan Timms, was killed last Monday when the car he was driving struck a railroad bridge pier on County Road 40 near Kelly Avenue in Dahlgren Township. Carver County Sheriff Jim Olson reported that his office received a report of debris in the roadway shortly before 6 p.m. When deputies arrived, they found a single vehicle had struck the pier. Timms was found dead inside the car.
Woman, 84, Killed in Hwy. 169 Crash An 84-year-old Brooklyn Center woman, Audrey A. Nyquist, was killed last Wednesday in a car and semi truck crash on Highway 169 north of Le Sueur. Nyquist was a passenger in a car driven by Marcia Vahl, 61, of Maple Grove, who was injured. The driver of the semi, Lonnie Heidegger, was not injured. Both vehicles were in the northbound lane when they collided.
P&Z, Council to Hold Hearings on OLP Expansion Plans Bar-B-Q Days The Belle Plaine Planning and hearing on May 20. July 19-21 Zoning Commission will hold OLP is planning to construct a public hearing next Monday night on Our Lady of the Prairie Catholic Church’s request for a conditional use permit to allow the expansion of the church and school at 200 East Church Street. The site plan will also be considered. The city council will take up planning and zoning recommendation at its own public
an 11,335-square-foot addition this summer next to the existing church (see drawing). According to OLP Pastor Father Michael Kaluza, the addition will be used as a gathering space, more offices and six classrooms. The estimated total cost of the project is $1.8 million, much of which was raised by various church fund-raisers, by the church and its members.
Belle Plaine will hold its annual Bar-B-Q Days celebration July 19-21. This year’s event will again include carnival rides, beef sandwich and other food stands, beer garden, parade, queen coronation and more. The entire celebration ends with a spectacular fireworks display at the baseball field on Sunday evening.
Belle Plaine High School’s state-bound visual artists are (clockwise from top) Kiley Hallgren, Corey Krautkremer, Kate Schmit, Jake Raddatz and Kylee Pass. They are taking six pieces to the state competition. It runs May 12-19 at the Perpich High School for the Arts. A reception for the state artists is May 19, 1 to 3:30 p.m.
BPHS’s Visual Artists Shine at Sectional, Headed to State After an impressive showing last week at the sectional competition, five members of Belle Plaine High School’s visual arts team are bound for the state competition this week in Golden Valley. Belle Plaine’s state entrants include senior Kiley Hallgren, juniors Corey Krautkremer, Jake Raddatz, sophomores Kylee Pass, and Kate Schmit. They are taking six pieces to
the state competition. The state event runs May 12-19 at the Perpich High School for the Arts. A reception for the state artists is May 19, 1 to 3:30 p.m. Hallgren’s entry at state is a painting, “Loxodonta Africana.” It is an acrylic surrealist painting of a tree trunk morphing into a mammoth with a simultaneous day and night background. Hallgren is also entering a
piece in the crafts category, a life-sized dress created out of handmade cast pink paper pulp, white dinner napkins and accessorized with off-white pearl strings. Hallgren created the
Visual Arts
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