Dusting off the Archives
News from Verndale's Past
75 Years Ago, January 16, 1947
•At a special meeting of the Verndale Village Council last week, Mr. Dell A. Gibbs was named as the new Councilman to fill the vacancy left by Arthur Bergquist who was recently appointed Mayor.
•Sheriff Gus Tullgren arrived back in Wadena Friday from Chicago with William James Wensmann who is to face murder charges in the death of his stepfather, Alfred Wensmann. Wensmann was taken to Fergus Falls on Saturday to be held until the latter of this week when he will be brought back to Wadena where he will be arraigned on murder charges before Justice Charles Soumela.
•Art Attleson, promoter of the Golden Gloves Elimination Bouts in the Wadena Memorial Hall next Monday night, reports that he has some good fights booked. Some of the young men from this community to take part are: Morris Borchers, Lloyd Hallett and Dickie Grewe of Verndale; Clint Jolliffe and Don Sellnow of Hewitt”; Albert Derby and Wilbur Brunko of Wadena.
40 Years Ago, January 24, 1982
•Mike Mahlen, Verndale’s athletic director and football coach, attended a meeting of area coaches last week, Wednesday, to discuss the future of football, and finalize the establishment of a third conference in the area for smaller schools, such as Verndale. Twenty schools are involved; two leagues have six and the smaller one, eight. Verndale is officially part of the Prairie Conference.
•Orlan Lien was identified as the Outstanding Farmer of the Year in his efforts toward conserving the soil of his farm at the annual meeting anD banquet held in Nimrod last week, Wednesday. Oland is a 1961 graduate of Sebeka High School. His wife Karen is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. H.G. Ernster is a 1961 graduate of Verndale High School. They farm 240 acres of their own and 160 are rented from his mother. They have about 150 livestock. They have four children: Anne, Orren, Tim and Carey.
•Monday’s contest between the Verndale Pirates and the girls from Deer Creek was fast-paced game as indicated by the defense of the Wildcats. The Pirates won 47-40. Robin Adams was a high scorer for the evening with 15 followed by balanced scoring from Carmen Hosek, 8; Kathi McCormick, 7; Margaret Runyan, 7; Cam Nelson, 6; and Nancy Coats, 4.
15 Years Ago, January 17, 2007
•Creative Writing teacher Jordan Hinkle gave a rather tough assignment to his students earlier this semester. He asked them to write three poems. These were not just any poems, the students were asked to write three sonnets. The complex sonnet is 14 lines, every other line rhymes and must be 10 syllables. Hinkle decided to enter all 25 students into a poetry contest for young poets through Creative Communications, Inc. Hinkle was pleasantly surprised a few weeks later when he received a letter from Creative Communications that 17 of his student’s poems were worthy of publication.
•Thanks to donations from the Aldrich Lions, the Morris Lynch Family and Tri-County Hospital Foundation, the Verndale Fire and Rescue were able to purchase a valuable piece of equipment for their emergency efforts. According to Chief Wayne Stave, the donations allowed them to purchase a pulse oximeter, a device that measures the amount of oxygen in a person’s blood as well as pulse rates.
•The Verndale boys basketball team dominated the court on Thursday, January 11. Winning by 11 points over the Menahga Braves, Shane Finck and Wayne Kopp were among the top scorers for the Pirates with 28 and 21 points respectively. Josh Kem was not far behind with 14 points.