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“Where Fillmore County News Comes First” Weekly Edition
Trojan Football State Runner-up pages
14-16
Cross Country commentary
page
4
Monday, December 5, 2016
Spring Valley joins safety training group page
12
Volume 32 Issue 11
Chatfield takes out water revenue note
page
Fillmore County 4-H Awards Program
23
page
29
Canton • Chatfield • Fountain • Harmony • Houston • Lanesboro • Mabel • Ostrander • Peterson • Preston • Rushford • Rushford Village • Spring Valley • Whalan • Wykoff
Many gave to the max in 2016 By Barb Jeffers
By Paul Trende
barb@fillmorecountyjournal.com
Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation’s Give to the Max Day is an annual event held statewide on November 17 that focuses on supporting local non-profit organizations in your community. It was evident again this year, it’s eighth year, how much Give to the Max day means to residents in the area and the importance of the work the foundations do. Sue Kolling, President of the Spring Valley Area Community Foundation (SVACF) in Spring Valley, Minn., and board member of SMIF, would like to give a big shout out to their donors, saying, “We raised almost $19,000 on November 17,” which is amazing! The money raised this year by the SVACF will be used to support the State Veterans Home in Spring Valley, states Kolling, as the foundation has committed $25,000 towards this. “We see the ability to attract the State Veterans Home to our community as a huge economic driver for our community, our school and area residents,” says Kolling, adding, “we felt the Foundation should take a leadership role in supporting this project and show our commitment and the community’s commitment to this project” that will be of great importance to the area. In the event the veterans home is not approved in Spring Valley, the funds will be used according to the vision, mission and purpose of the foundation, which is “Striving to build a dynamic community by encouraging generosity, promoting civic engagement and providing the opportunity to enhance the quality of life by
Ostrander couple jailed after disturbing discovery paul@fillmorecountyjournal.com
On November 17, 2016 a Fillmore County Probation Officer contacted Ostrander Police Chief Tom Mosher regarding one Ryan Robert Rechtzigel, 36, of Ostrander. Among the concerns were that for Rechtzigel’s five-year-old child, who hadn’t been seen at Rechtzigel’s wedding to Angela Lynn Stewart, 31, of Ostrander. Mosher made some calls. Acquiantances of the couple said they hadn’t seen the five-year-old in some time. The child had been taken out of school with plans to “home school”. Probation officers arranged a meeting with Rechtzigel. He tested positive for meth at the conference. Chief Mosher and the probation officers then went to Rechtzigel’s residence in
Ostrander on a probation visit. They found Stewart and the couple’s two youngest children (one 2 years old, one 7 months old) on the main floor. On the upper floor, concealed behind a one-way (in-only) piece of plywood, they found the fiveyear-old confined to a room. The child was happy to see Mosher. The upstairs was considerably colder. The child was just in pajamas. There were no other clothes, no blankets, no toys, and a broken sofa with no cushions. The child had multiple physical injuries and scars. Social Services were called to take in the children. Rechtizgel and later, Stewart (who admitted to doing meth recently), were taken into custody. Inspection of the house revealed meth and methamphetamine paraphernaSee OSTRANDER Page 17
Chronic Wasting Disease identified in Fillmore County By K irsten Zoellner kirsten@fillmorecountyjournal.com
Dan Christianson and Gary Hellickson doing their part in Preston’s 2016 Give to the Max day. Photo by Kari Odenbrett creating community partnerships,” says Kolling. The money SVACF raised last year was dispersed throughout the community, according to Kolling. Recipients included the Wykoff Veterans Memorial, the Little Husker 1k kids run, Missoula Children’s Theatre for
Kingsland school, St. Johns and homeschool children; Music in the Park, Gateway Academy - STEM Summer School, the annual banquet, a summer reading program, and the Spring Valley Historical Society. See GIVE TO MAX Page 2
Sixteen years after being first identified in captive Minnesota elk herds and five years after the state’s only case involving a wild herd, Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) has been identified in Fillmore County. Two bucks were harvested approximately four miles west of Lanesboro in permit area 348. While not a complete surprise, the result is certainly devastating to the ongoing work of the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). The deer were taken about a mile apart, during the first firearm season, but on different weekends by different hunting
parties, with the first harvested Sunday, November 6 and the second Sunday, Nov. 13, according to Lou Cornicelli, DNR Wildlife Research Manager. In a press release, the DNR indicated that 2,493 samples were collected November 5-13 and 373 additional samples collected November 19-21, representing one third of all deer harvested during that time in southeastern Minnesota. Of those, these were the only deer to test positive for the devastating neurological disease. “It’s a huge sport in our area and there are a lot of people it’s See CWD Page 9
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