Dusting Off the Archives

News from Verndale's Past

40 Years Ago, April 30, 1986

• Two bids were received from local contractors for the repair of a section of the school roof over the home ec and band rooms. D.J. Construction of Wadena bid $3114 for materials and labor, and Mason Construction of Verndale submitted a bid for $2760 according to the specs and an alternate bid of $2510 for a variance. The board policy is to table the bids on the night opened until the next meeting.

• Four interested persons waited until the last day to file for the school board vacancies when the terms of two present members expire which will occur on June 30. Among those filing were the two incumbents Jerry Nanik and Dave Bessler, the later withdrawing before the filing period ended when he learned that others had expressed an interest by applying. The other two filing were Bill Beven and Dave Hietela.

• Local police officials reported they were continuing investigation Monday after the driver of a vehicle which they attempted to stop just west of Verndale about 9 p.m. on Saturday, abandoned his car and took off into the wooded area nearby. A call went out for assistance, but all efforts to apprehend the suspect failed. It was a wet, rainy night, so progress in the area in the dark was very difficult.

• Reaching to loving pet “Dolly” are Benny Schenk, Melissa Reul, Diane Norton as Andy Schmitz tells the second graders about his pet white rat. Last year, students in Mr. Olson’s sixth grade room experimented with feeding two white rats different diets, learning how nutrition affected their growth. One was fed only milk and dried oatmeal twice a day, while the other was fed sugar and water, along with the dried oatmeal. The students had been divided into five groups and the task rotated to caring for the rats in their homes on weekends. At the end of the year, all names of the students who wanted one were put into a hat and drawn to see who would win the prize. Andy won the right to the one which had survived on milk and Carl Kinney got the other.

15 Years Ago, April 21, 2011

• Congratulations to eighth grader Dillon Card, the 2011 National Wrestling Champion. The competition for the National Title took place in Naperville, Illinois, on April 9. Card wrestled in the Division 5, 187 pound weight class, which was an 8-man bracket with state champions from all over the nation.

• The 19th annual Verndale Fire Department auction was held on Saturday, April 16, at the Community Center in Verndale. It was a chilly, blustery day, but the snow and slush did not dampen the bidders’ spirits. It was a very large sale and items were sold in three auction rings. Consigned items consisted of household, antiques, guns, lawn and garden equipment, tools, building supplies, tractors, machinery and recreational and sporting goods.

• Jana Bachmann and Seoyeon Lee partnered up to create more warmth for each other as they went without food and shelter for 30 hours during the Assembly of God’s 30 Hour Famine to experience what other less fortunate people might have to endure on a regular basis.

• April 12 was a beautiful spring day and the Bertha-Hewitt-Verndale Raiders baseball team was fortunate to have a doubleheader on the schedule. The Pillager Huskies were in Verndale for the season opener with the Raiders finishing on top of both games of the twin bill. BHV won the first game 6-5 and finished with a 6-4 victory in game two.

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