Dusting Off the Archives

News from Verndale's Past

40 Years Ago, September 25, 1985

• After listening to an oration by Faith Rudnitski, administrative assistant, Verndale's school board voted to allow four teachers to pursue the Talented and Gifted Children's Program. Karla Johnson and Roger Olson, elementary teachers; and Marie Buckreis along with Miss Rudnitski will attend a workshop at Brainerd to get the local program underway. Miss Rudnitski informed the board that an advisory board would have to be selected to write a philosophy and set school/community goals. She added that they'd be looking at an after-school program—probably in the winter trimester because of the availability of late bus transportation in all directions.

• Part of the entertainment during the Homecoming Pepfest last Friday afternoon in the school auditorium was presented by Michael Madden, a magician, and his assistant, his sister Kassie, of Minneapolis. Kassie is shown in the photo after getting into a box through which Mike passed two 12x18 sheets of steel at her waistline and below the waist, then pushed that portion of the box away, leaving space where her stomach should be located. All the while, her face, hands, and feet remained in the holes where she had placed them after the door was closed. Their services were obtained through the Minnesota Program Services. Mike began doing magic tricks for school events in junior high, and after being invited to perform at birthday parties, etc., decided to expand his offerings. He has since been working his way through college with his magic programs. Kassie often serves as a stand-in for his regular assistant.

• The Verndale Pirates won their Homecoming game 37-0 over the Pillager Huskies last Friday afternoon. The Pirates had a great game both offensively and defensively. The offense scored with 3 minutes, 7 seconds left in the first quarter on a two-yard touchdown run by Bryan Jacobson. The PAT pass to Jacobson was also good. The Pirates scored again with just 11 seconds left in the first quarter on a 15-yard touchdown run by Jacobson.

• Effective January 1, 1986, a new Minnesota law requires all employers to provide pay check stubs or a statement of earnings. The new law provides that at the end of each pay period, the employer shall give each employee an earnings statement in writing covering that pay period. The earning statement may be in any form determined by the employer but must include: the name of the employee, the hourly rate of pay, the total number of hours worked, the total amount of gross pay, a list of deductions, the net amount of pay after deductions and the date which the pay period ends.

15 Years Ago, September 23, 2010

• On July 31, Dennis and Nancy Benson of Verndale were awarded the Minnesota Farm Family of the Year by the University of Minnesota. Senator Dan Skogen and Wadena County Commissioner Dave Schermerhorn presented the Bensons with their certificate at the Wadena County fairgrounds. They couldn't be more honored to have been nominated for the award. "We're very proud of the farm we've built," said Nancy. And they ought to be, as both Dennis and Nancy together have been building up and improving their farm since 1972.

• Homecoming attendants for 2010 are as follows: freshman attendants, Marcos Gomez and Kiana Lambert; sophomore attendants, Josh Gilb, Danielle Card; junior attendants, Tyler Suhl and Kira Ollila. King candidates are Daniel Kneisl, Andrew Green, Jacob Perius and Kyle Booth. Queen candidates are Faith Kern, Elizabeth Johnson, Jennifer Swenson and Katie Bounds.

• Reggie Petrich, owner of Staples Sign Company, isn't afraid of heights. After 30 years of working on signs, large and small, short and tall, he has see a lot of "signs of the times". He is pictured as he was fixing the Verndale Municipal Liquor Store neon sign that had some letters that were not working.

• The Verndale football team travelled to Bertha-Hewitt on Friday night in hopes of building off their momentum from the previous week. The Bears would not allow that as they came out firing on all cylinders. Verndale started on offense, but was not able to get anything going and was forced to punt. Dustin Motschenbacher had a great night punting the ball, but in the photo this one went off the side of his foot and resulted in excellent field position for the Bears.

Subscribe to get more of your current news!