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“Where Fillmore County News Comes First” Weekly Edition
Beef Month Special Section Pages 13-16
Baby steps toward full equality page
Monday, May 6, 2013
Making up for lost time
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page
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Volume 28 Issue 32
Fillmore County is home to MSA Queen page
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Girls Bowling Team competes at State page
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Canton l Chatfield l Fountain l Harmony l Lanesboro l Mabel l Ostrander l Peterson l Preston l Rushford l Rushford Village l Spring Valley l Whalan l Wykoff
Christ Lutheran Church welcomes special visitors By Barb Jeffers barb@fillmorecountyjournal.com
The mock crash captivated spectators’ attention on April 26 when R-P students depicted this drunk driving scene. Photo by Kirsten Zoellner
R-P mock crash hits hard By K irsten Zoellner kirsten@fillmorecountyjournal.com
“In 2008, 11,773 people were killed in alcohol-impaired-driving crashes. These alcohol-impaireddriving fatalities accounted for 32 percent of the total motor vehicle traffic fatalities in the United States.” “The 11,773 fatalities in alcohol-impaired-driving crashes during 2008 represent an average of one alcohol-impaired-driving fatality every 45 minutes.” – National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, National Center for Statistics and Analysis As the weather warms, the school year winds down, and area youth grow eager to hang out with friends, Rushford-Peterson’s Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) chapter offers a sobering reminder about one
dangers of driving while intoxicated. “Just that one night can affect so many lives. One drink can have so many consequences,” notes group member Rebecca Munson. In a massive coordinated event, the group held a mock crash Friday, April 26. The concept grabs the attention of youth, giving them a shocking visual to think back on when opportunities for poor decisions lurk. R-P hasn’t held a mock crash in what one member estimated was six to ten years. Now, the district is looking at staging an accident once every four years so all students will have the opportunity to see it once during high school. All students in grades 9-12 were bussed out to Enterprise Drive on the city’s north end, where City of Rushford workers had moved several large sections of bleach-
Dirty
Martini
Lounge
ers and blocked off the street. As a pre-recorded segment of crash actors Emma Bauer, Isaiah Bunke, Cody Manfull, Mariah Mueller, Phil and Rachel O’Shaughnessy played over speakers, coordinators held tarps over the two vehicles. Then, with a help from a gust of wind, they pulled off the tarps. A few students gasped, some chuckled, but within minutes all were silently captivated. The crash was to depict Manfull, Mueller, and the O’Shaugnessy siblings in a green van, with an intoxicated Phil O’Shaugnessy at the driver’s wheel. In the other vehicle, a tan sedan, were Bauer and Bunke. All clad in formal prom attire, the actors were splashed with faux blood and each had a particular set of injuries. Rachel O’Shaugnessy’s role See MOCK CRASH Page 6
Monday-Wednesday - Closed Thursday - 4:30-8pm Friday - 4-9pm Saturday - Noon-9pm Sunday - Noon-8pm 109 S. Parkway, Lanesboro, MN 55949 www.riversideontheroot.com
The congregation of Christ Lutheran Church of Preston, Minn. welcomed special visitors during the month of April 2013. Pastor Rocio Morales and Martha Gualtero from San Pedro Lutheran Church in Bogota, Colombia were visitors from April 5 - 15. On April 7 Pastor Rocio preached at Christ Lutheran, which the congregation enjoyed very much. Following the service, a picture presentation of San Pedro was held during Christ Lutheran’s Fellowship/ Education hour. Pastor Morales and Martha, who is the Congregational President of San Pedro, gave bracelets to the Sunday School children which had been made by the members of San Pedro Lutheran Church. The next day they went to St. Mary’s Hospital in Rochester, Minn., to visit with Sister Tierney who taught in Bogota
for 31 years. Following that they went to the Synod Office at Assisi Heights and met with Bishop Usgaard and the staff of the Synod. On April 9, there was a meeting with the Root River Conference Pastors at the Root Prairie Lutheran Church. Chair of the Synod Colombia Operations Team, Byron Meline of Zion Lutheran Church of Stewartville, Minn. spoke at this meeting about the Companion Synod/Partner Congregation program of the Synod. Wednesday, April 10, Pastor Rocio and Martha ate an evening meal with the confirmation classes and then met with the Christ Lutheran Church Council for conversation later in the evening. Pastor Morales and Martha met with the weekly quilters at Christ Lutheran as well as other guests on April 11. The members of the Ruth Circle were given gifts from San Pedro See VISITORS Page 18
Motorcycle charity ride route through Preston Rushford, Preston, and ending in Rochester. Typically there karen@fillmorecountyjournal.com are about 1600 participants. As many as 600 motorcycles The Preston City Council at their April 29 meeting agreed could roll in at a time. They to be one of the host cities are expected to roll through for the thirteenth annual Ron- Preston from 2 to 4 p.m. ald McDonald House Charity The city will probably form Ride to take place on Sunday a committee to help organize volunteers, needing about July 28. 20. Organizations that could The ride raises an average be involved include the Fire of $130,000 annually. This year it is to start in Rochester, See PRESTON Page 3 then on to St. Charles, Winona, By K aren R eisner
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