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2019 4 29 - AU G U S T
Highlights page 12 & 13
Saturday, August 10, 2019
Walter resigns council position Two additional Rice roles vacant
Same Local Coverage Since 1854.
This is only a drill
BY NATASHA BARBER STAFF WRITER
RICE – Five months since filling a vacancy, the Rice City Council is back to the drawing board. Council member Kyle Walter has resigned his role due to his family’s relocation. The resignation is effective Aug. 15. “First of all, I want to apologize,” Walter said. “I wouldn’t have come to you guys and interviewed if I didn’t think I would be able to do the full term. But we were approached with our house not on the market and – fortunately and unfortunately – it sold.” Walter was sworn in to office March 4 after being appointed from a pool of six candidates. Walter, a husband and father of four children, will be building a home in Langola Township. “I’m excited but disappointed at this situation,” Walter said. “I appreciate the time I did and wish I could longer.” In addition to Walter’s resignation, the city approved a resignation from park board member Jerry Sauer, who is also moving out of the area. This brings the city’s total staff vacancies to three. The city has received two applications
Rice City Council page 4
Vol. 165, No. 18
11 2nd Ave. N., Unit 103, Sauk Rapids, Benton County, MN 56379
Emergency responders simulate a community’s worst day BY NATASHA BARBER | STAFF WRITER
SAUK RAPIDS – It was 7:14 p.m. when the call came in: A gunman at the Sauk Rapids-Rice Middle School. “This is only an exercise,” said a volunteer as she made the call which initiated one of two training drills that took place at the building Aug. 7. Several 9mm blanks were fired and the sharp pops echoed through the hallways near the west gym. The scent of gun powder lingered in the air. Sauk Rapids Police Department, Sartell Police Department and Benton County Sheriff’s Office were dispatched from the nearby Sauk Rapids Government Center where they were staged prior to the call. The gunman, trying to evade officers, ran down the hallway and cut through the community room. He was apprehended in less than 5 minutes. When the building was secured by officers and role-playing victims were located, members of the Sauk Rapids Fire Department were escorted by law enforcement as they began rescue procedures.
Hostile threat page 3
60 years and counting
Hacketts celebrate six decades at the Benton County Fair
BY ANNA HINKEMEYER Esther said. “It helped I STAFF WRITER knew his sister and I have
RICE – The Benton County Fair has been an annual occurrence for 107 years and is a way for the community to come together and celebrate the best of what Benton County has to offer. For one Rice couple, the annual event means much more. Larry and Esther Hackett fondly remember their first days at the fair in 1959. The two were showing animals in 4-H and had their humble beginnings. “We had that common bond of animals, agriculture and 4-H,”
a brother the same age as Larry. We met as I was getting ready for freshman year and never dated anyone else. He was it.” The couple celebrated their 60th year at the Benton County Fair, attending five days of the six-day fair event. They did their self-described favorite things – watching 4-H competitions, visiting with friends and family and enjoying fair food staples like Prom’s cheese curds and Lowell’s corn dogs. “We just love fairs,
Hacketts page 4
PUBLIC NOTICES • Mortgage Foreclosure - Payonk - pg. 16 • Sauk Rapids-Rice School Special Board Meeting - pg. 16 • Benton County Notice of Abandoned Property - pg. 16
PHOTO BY ANNA HINKEMEYER
Esther and Larry Hackett enjoy each other’s company in their yard Aug. 7 in Rice. The couple met in 1959 at the Benton County Fair and have been to the fair every year since. • Benton County Reg. Meeting Minutes, July 16, 2019 pg. 17 • City of Rice Notice of Public Hearing - pg. 17 • City of Sauk Rapids Notice of Public Hearing - pg. 17
OBITUARIES • Elizabeth C. Benoit