PINE CITY
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18 , 2018 VOL. 133 NO. 42 www.pinecitymn.com $1.00
RUNNING HARD: Cross-country boys ranked first in Great River Conference. P12
Meet the candidates at Oct. 24 forum BY MIKE GAINOR EDITOR@PINECITYMN.COM
For the first time, the new Pine City High School Auditorium will be the venue for a candidate forum. The entire Pine City community is invited to attend and take part in the forum, which will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 24 at the Pine City High School
Auditorium starting at 5:30 p.m. The Oct. 24 candidate forum will include separate forum sessions for candidates for the Minnesota State House of Representatives, Pine City Council and Pine City School Board. The candidate forum is a collaboration of the Pine City Area Chamber of Commerce, Pine Technical & Community College and WINDOW Victim
Services. Organizers state that the purpose of the event is to provide the community an opportunity to meet the candidates and learn more about them so that they can make an informed decision before heading to the polls this election year. In a forum, candidates give prepared remarks, then respond to questions that the audience submits on index
cards. At the end, candidates provide closing statements, with an equal amount of time given to each candidate. FORUM SCHEDULE The forum starts at 5:30 p.m. with a welcome and introductions. • This will be followed by a discussion SEE FORUM, PAGE 8
Missing hunter found dead STAFF REPORT NEWS@PINECITYMN.COM
LANCE FURBER | THE PIONEER
Dragons battle Rebels in muddy home contest Nicholas Hansmann rushed for 139 yards in the Dragons’ game against Moose Lake/Willow River. More on Page 10.
On Thursday, Oct. 11 at 11 a.m. Pine County dispatchers received a call of an overdue and possibly missing hunter in the Rock Creek area. The hunter’s family advised that he had gone duck hunting in the area of Nature Avenue, south of State Highway 70. Deputies responded to the area. The missing hunter’s family was on scene with the hunter’s vehicle. Additional searchers from the Pine City Fire Department, DNR, National Park Service, Wisconsin DNR and Minnesota State Patrol flight section responded to assist. Search crews were later assisted as well by the NorthStar K-9 Search and
Rescue organization. Search crews worked until dark on Thursday night and resumed their search on Friday morning. On Friday, Oct. 12 at about 9:30 a.m. the body of the missing hunter was found about 50 yards from shore in a pond east of Nature Avenue at the very south end of the road from Highway 70. The deceased was transported to the Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office. A cause of death had not yet been determined. No foul play was suspected. The hunter has been identified as Matthew Neshek, 38, of Pine City. The Pine County Sheriff’s Office offered gratitude to all who assisted in the search and condolences to the family.
Rock Creek native shares experiences in Tunisia BY TANYA STARINETS NEWS@PINECITYMN.COM
On Friday, Oct. 26 at 7 p.m., Gayla Marty will be reading from her work in progress, tentatively titled “Cooking in Paradise,” at Pine Center for the Arts. This collection of 19 essays recalls her experience as a college exchange student in 1979 to the northern African country
of Tunisia. Marty grew up on a dairy farm in Rock Creek, and graduated from Rush City High School. She studied journalism at the University of Minnesota, and went on to receive a Master’s degree in English. When Marty had entered graduate school, she was planning to write about her experience in Tunisia, but a different story wanted to be told at that particular
time. Instead, what emerged was a memoir about her family’s farm. But Tunisia was not too far in the back of her mind. Even the title chapter of her memoir was largely set in Tunisia. Compared to her 2010 memoir, “Memory of Trees: A Daughter’s Story of a Family Farm,” published by the UniverPHOTO PROVIDED
Marty speaks in Pine City on Oct. 26.
SEE MARTY, PAGE 8
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