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Boys basketball page 6 & 7
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AG BENTON Second Section Plus
New Look. Same Local Coverage since 1854. Vol. 163, No. 49
11 2nd Ave. N., Unit 103, Sauk Rapids, Benton County, MN 56379
Saturday, March 17, 2018
Watab residents vote for change Johnson takes seat as supervisor BY NATASHA BARBER STAFF WRITER
RICE — Four hundred thirtyseven Watab Township voters made their way to the polls March 13 to elect a township supervisor and clerk. Julie Johnson won the three-year term of supervisor by 141 votes. Johnson believed the township’s ongoing Àre and emergency service discussion compelled people to cast their ballots in her favor. “The frustration level of the residents is so high with this Àre department issue that residents needed a new voice on the board,” Johnson said. “I have a long history of budgets and Ànance. I’ve done accounting for 30-plus years. The numbers just don’t work on the Àre department. It’s way more expensive than what they are projecting.” Johnson said one focus she’d like the board to concentrate on during her term is creating a road improvement plan. “We don’t have one,” Johnson said. “We have no clue which roads need to be Àxed. We know that Lake Andrew has no top coat. We know that Burton Place is falling apart; yet those aren’t even on the agenda. We have to have a priority list. We have to have the top three critical roads, the next two major roads; we have to have a list. We don’t have one.” Johnson’s win was not a surprise to incumbent Lloyd Erdmann, who has served Watab Township for 24 years. “I felt like I was going to win the election, or I was going to win my freedom,” Erdmann said. “I have my freedom now. I’m not upset.” Erdmann said that township clerk Pat Spence and he made a pact 12 years ago that they would leave the board at the same time. When Spence decided not to run for re-election, Erdmann considered the same. After being urged by residents, he put his name in the hat once more. “I did, but I kind of knew this was coming,” Erdmann said. “It was sort of a mob rule. They formed a pretty good mob and the fact that they didn’t even want to listen to the attorney’s information that last week [Feb. 20] or tonight when they didn’t want the Àre department issue put on the ballot tells me they don’t want everyone in the entire township to have a say in it. They just want to have the ones who are here to have a say.” April Burton, the only candidate listed on the ballot for the two-year clerk position, will likely not take the oath of ofÀce. Burton won the election with 383 votes but sent email correspondence to the township following the deadline for withdrawal. In her email, Burton said, “I assumed there would be room for adjustments in scheduling meetings, but it is clear that this is not the case. For this reason and others, I have decided not to accept the position.” Spence said when a candidate refuses to take the oath of ofÀce, by law it is handled the same as a
SECTION CHAMPIONS!
PHOTO BY MARK KLAPHAKE
The Sauk Rapids-Rice boys basketball team defeated Fergus Falls 64-59 in the section 8AAA championship March 15 in Alexandria. Members of the team include: (front, from left) manager Beth Kobluk, Tyler Hemker, Zachary Storms, Landry Seaman, Nathan Valek, Kobe Lee and coach Derek Peterson; (middle, from left) coach John Kerestes, manager Josh St. Onge, Nathan Waldorf, Obiajulu Ugochukwu, Braden Tretter, Noah Jungwirth and Anthony Massman; (back, from left) Connor Silbernick, coach Jeff Hille, Jerad Schlichting, Cade Milton Baumgardner, Deng Deang, Joshua Schloe, Cody Landwehr, Jacob Schloe and coach Scott Massman. The Class AAA state tournament begins March 21 at Williams Arena in Minneapolis. The bracket for the tournament was not set as of print time.
What’s in the sludge? SRR students carry on science tradition in trimester examination BY NATASHA BARBER STAFF WRITER
SAUK RAPIDS — On the morning of Feb. 28, the sun was shining outside Sauk Rapids-Rice High School. Yet, apprehension Àlled the room of SW131. First period Intro to Chem students were about to embark on a test of knowledge and character. It is the same examination SRR chemistry instructors have used for more than 30 years to assess students’ skills in the class. The test: the sludge. “This is an end of trimester project for them,” said Zach Brown, physical science teacher. “They are taking everything they have learned about – the properties
of matter and separation techniques – and are getting this mixture of stuff and are expected to separate it, characterize it and tell me what it is. We try not to help them too much right now because it is a Ànal project.” A project that has been around since at least 1990, according to high school receptionist Katie Lange. “Everybody has a sludge story,” Lange said. Science teacher David Zaske agreed. He said the recipes for the various sludge concoctions have been handed down to him and the other teachers from former staff. “When I came in 1999, they were PHOTOS BY NATASHA BARBER doing the sludge test, and I learned David Stamm (left) and Kobe Knettel evaluate a mixture of unknown from other teachers,” Zaske said. substances Feb. 28 at Sauk Rapids-Rice High School. The assessment, Sludge page 2 known as the sludge test, is the final examination of Intro to Chemistry.
Text-to-911 provides new way to call for help
Watab page 2
PUBLIC NOTICES • Benton County Sherrif’s Office Request for Proposals - pg. 5 • Minden Township Notice - pg. 5 • Assumed Name-New Age Retro - pg. 5 • City of Sauk Rapids Reg. Council Meeting, Feb. 26, 2018 - pg. 5 • Mortgage Foreclosure - Kolbo - pg. 5B • Mortgage Foreclosure - Baron - pg. 5B • Mortgage Foreclosure - Ziwicki - pg. 5B • Notice of Public Auction - Seized Property - pg. 5B • Benton Co. Hwy. Request for Proposals - pg. 5B
PHOTO BY VICKI IKEOGU
Benton County Sheriff Troy Heck (left) and Mille Lacs County Public Safety Answering Point Manager Al Fjerstad talk about Text-to-911 inside the Mille Lacs County dispatch center Feb. 21 in Milaca. Mille Lacs County provides Text-to-911 dispatching services to 19 Minnesota counties, including Benton County. BY VICKI IKEOGU CONTRIBUTING WRITER
MILACA — For years the standard approach to get a hold of Àrst responders in an emergency has been to pick up the phone and dial 9-1-1. But since late last year, Minnesotans have yet another option when it comes to getting the help they need: texting. The Minnesota Department of Public Safety launched the Textto-911 service statewide Dec. 5. However, only about a dozen counties – primarily in the Twin Cities metro
– have the necessary infrastructure in place to handle Text-to-911 calls internally. For residents of Benton County, along with 18 other counties and the city of St. Cloud, Text-to-911 calls are handled through Mille Lacs County. “We were the only one in the region capable of taking Text-to-911 calls when the state said, ‘Here’s when we are going to go live,’” said Al Fjerstad, public safety answering point manager for Mille Lacs County. “There had to be upgrades done and all sorts of things that had to be done to your system to be available to do
that.” For the caller, Text-to-911 operates much like a traditional 911 call. “Basically, on your phone, no matter who your service provider is, it’s like doing any other text,”Fjerstad said. “You just type in 9-1-1 in the ‘to’ Àeld, put in a message and hit send. It’s like any other text.” At the dispatch center, on-duty personnel see the text message populate on their computer screen and chose from pre-selected messages or type in their responses to the caller. Fjerstad said once enough
information is gathered, the dispatcher contacts the appropriate dispatch agency (such as Benton County) to relay the information to law enforcement. “If we do get an actual text from a community that we aren’t familiar with, what we do is we take all of the information and then we have to call that other agency,” Fjerstad said. “So, if we get a text from someone in the city of Foley, we have to gather all of that information before we actually call over to Benton County’s
Text to 911 page 3