Dusting Off the Archives
- Trinity Gruenberg
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
News from Verndale's Past
40 Years Ago, January 21, 1985
• After hearing all the recommendations and estimated costs for the city, council members voted to instruct Jamie Robinson of Region 5 to continue with the Small Cities Development application for the water extension to the outskirts of the city in two areas. Robinson said the approximate cost has been estimated at $207,000. Robinson recommended the extension only, rather than a comprehensive application which would include housing. The reason was with cutbacks, only $500,000 has been made available. He felt that with the contaminated wells, Verndale’s chances for being one of the seven or eight chosen would be greater.
• Pictured holding a copy of “Turtle”, a magazine for pre-school kids, is Matthew Callahan, 5, son of Mark and Joni Callahan. He’s proud of the fact that his drawing of the three bears was published in that issue. Deb Grandon, director of the day care center where Matthew spends much of his time, sent his drawing and that of Mike (3) and Mark Hess (5) to the magazine.
• Verndale students had the opportunity to study the solar system while the ECSU Starlab was here last week. The space-age material used to form the igloo-like dome provided a nighttime view of the sky onto which constellations were projected on the entire surface, while Mr. Olson used a flashlight with a red light pointed to the formation under discussion.
• FFA members Kevin Black, Peter Schmitz and Lori Wellman recently participated in the Dairy Judging Contest at Crookston. Verndale FFA placed 19th out of 32 teams while Peter finished 53rd out of 183 participants.
15 Years Ago, January 20, 2010
• Ted and Gen’s in Aldrich recently closed their doors for a few days, just before Thanksgiving, to do some remodeling. The updates included all new carpeting, tongue and groove wood paneling, a new bar and the removal of an inside wall to create a more open atmosphere. They have added additions over the years, but this is the first major interior change. Before becoming Ted and Gen’s it was originally Little Joe Shandle’s in the 1940s. Frank and Christine Roth purchased it in the 1950s and it became Frank’s Bar B.Q. They put in the original open pit grill which is still in use today. Ted and Gen Ludovissie purchased the restaurant in November of 1971 and along with that came the name change to Ted and Gen’s.
• Central Lakes College, Brainerd, hosted the district Future Farmers of America career development event on January 11, which included a fish and wildlife identification contest. Derek Hamann, a Verndale High School senior, was among the competitors. Fifteen schools were represented.
• After months of work on the former Hewitt School, not the Hewitt Museum, the Hewitt Historical Society opened the doors this past fall for a tour of the work that had been done and to see the many wonderful displays. Much of the work was made possible through a grant that Michael Dagen wrote. The grant was for $156,369 and was from funds provided by the state of Minnesota through the Minnesota Historical Society from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. The city of Hewitt and the Hewitt Historical Society also added $5000 from each of them as a condition of the grant for matching funds.
• Last Tuesday, the Pirates traveled to Browerville to take on a tough Tigers team and lost by a score of 45-66. The boys got a change to face the number two seeded team in the state on Friday with the Sebeka Trojans coming to town. Leading scorers for Verndale were Zack Meidinger with 14, Dallas Ehrmantraut added 8 and Isaac Schmitz chipped in with 6.
