Dusting off the Archives
News from Verndale's Past
75 Years Ago, May 27, 1948
• The Verndale Isaac Harrison Lyons American Legion Post held their annual election of officers on Tuesday evening of this week with the following officers being elected: Commander Gordon E. Bluhm; First Vice Commander Pete Polaschek; Second Vice Commander Wm. Pilgrim; Adjutant Earl Seaton Jr.; Service Officer Dell Gibbs; Finance Officer Pete Gaul; Post Chaplin Bob Denniston; Sergeant of Arms Quinn Rundell; Child Welfare Ned Rundell.
• It is with great pleasure that we can now retract our statement in the last week’s Sun that the Village Council could not go ahead with the city water project due to a lack of a substantial amount of money to carry through. Soon after the publication of last week’s article, the Village Council was informed that the extra money needed could be easily managed without having to wait or bring it to another vote before the public—in that, all the money would not be needed for some time.
• In the eventful North-South kitten ball clash held last Friday evening, the South came out the victors 12-7 over their traditional rivals before a large crowd of spectators. Alan Dalen and Morty Borchers did the pitching for the Southerners with Warren Dalen on the receiving end, and for the Northerners Bill Pilgrim did the mound work while Ev Davis and Art Grewe changed off on the catching.
40 Years Ago, May 26, 1983
• Leo Bautch handed over one of the tools he has used for digging graves the past 40 years, a shovel, to Ken Kern, who just enclosed the grave of the late Sam Kemple. Leo says he has enjoyed the work and it did bring in a few extra dollars.
• The front end of Rich Nanik’s Chevy was extensively damaged last Thursday morning when he ran into the back of a school bus on his way to school. The accident happened on Brown Street between Highway 10 and First Avenue North. The driver of the school bus was Glee Moyer who had stopped to pick up passengers on that corner. The previous day, Wednesday mid-afternoon, a car driven by Phyllis Umland struck one being driven north on Farwell Street by Dave Wellman as she backed out of a parking space. Damage was done to the right fender of the Wellman car.
• Two kindergartners, Alfred Mead and Charity Anderson, looked through magnifying lenses received last week by the school, which were but two of the items “purchased” through Campbell’s Soup and Swanson’s Foods labels. Each year one of the elementary rooms has its choice of prizes. This year it was the fourth grade. They chose the rubber bases for softball, two puff footballs, the listening lab (informational learning tapes and worksheets), and the two magnifying lenses and a rock mineral set that were not yet received.
15 Years Ago, February 21, 2008
• Last Tuesday’s Hoots & Toots Family Fun Night was a huge success with close to 300 people in attendance! The overcast skies and a few sprinkles of rain did not hinder students and their parents from exploring the service vehicles displayed by local businesses, police, and fire departments. Among them were the Wadena County Sheriff’s Department, Verndale Police and Fire Departments, Wadena County Posse, Tri-County Hospital Ambulance, Lakewood Health System Ambulance, Evergreen Equipment John Deere, Joe Roussland Trucking, Aldrich Tractor and the city of Verndale.
• The Verndale girls softball team opened up the sub-section tournament play with the #1 seed. The Lady Pirates drew #8 Bertha-Hewitt in the quarter-final round. It was a close battle throughout with no scoring until the fourth inning when Alicia Johnson led off with a double, advanced to third on a ground out, and scored on a sacrifice fly by Alexia Christianson.
•BHV faces stiff competition at the sub-section meet in Long Prairie. The quality of runners and performances made it very difficult to advance to this year’s Section Meet. The Raiders went into the meet knowing they would have to perform very well in order to advance. In the throwing event, things started well for Janessa Waver and Gretchen Alexander. They both advanced to the finals in the discus and were looking to make the top five. Waver placed fourth and Alexander placed fifth. They will both compete at the section meet.