Dusting Off the Archives

News from Verndale's Past

40 Years Ago, August 13, 1986

• The Sunday morning community church service held in celebration in the new Lions Community Center was well attended. Pastors taking part in the service were: Craig Haberman (Methodist) Gregg Valentine (CM&A), guest speaker Pastor Orie Schrock of Motley, Father Ed Morslander (Catholic) and Roger Melquist (Assemblies of God). Ted Masog provided piano accompaniment for the community singing accompanied by Barb Seaton and Helen Melquist as they sang solos.

• Pictured watching, as Jay Weiher, one of the emcees, interviewed kiddie parade participants Saturday morning were: Co-emcee Mike Hokanson, People Pleaser Grand Marshal Fred Klimek and his wife Wanda; Miss Verndale Kim Trosen and Princesses Pauline Colby and Jennifer Ninneman.

• Dwarf corn is one of the topics to be discussed at the Field Day at Staples. Norm Krause, irrigation center director, and Del Lecy, area ag coordinator, are comparing the dwarf corn with regular corn. Dwarf corn is seeded with a grain drill different then the normal population.

• On Tuesday, August 5, the Verndale Astros faced Sebeka Liquor in the Wadena Softball League Tournament. Sebeka started out with base hits and two home runs for a 5-0 lead, and soon added another three points. The Astros had only one hit by Wayne Mills after two innings. The Astros broke the shutout in the fourth with Tony Tuseth hitting a line drive home run. Bill Blaha singled but was forced out at second allowing Jim Runyan to get on by fielder’s choice in the fifth. Mike Mahlen’s double, scored Runyan.

15 Years Ago, August 18, 2011

• An estimated 400 people from around the state attended the Old Wadena Society’s 21st annual Rendezvous which was held this past weekend. The Old Wadena Society is a non-profit organization working toward the improvement of the trails and grounds within the Old Wadena County Park. They also hold a spring program that includes a keynote speaker talking about either historical or environmental topics related to the central Minnesota area. The Old Wadena Society is working on a bog walk. They have also sponsored some of the archaeological digs at Little Round Hill and digs around the Ferry Crossing.

• Both the Aldrich and Vining post offices might possibly be closed down. As of right now they are not going to close, but are under consideration as the postal headquarters studies and receives information about the government offices. There are about 32,000 retail offices run by the U.S. Postal Services currently and 3700 of those offices are being studied and possibly will be closed down—including Aldrich and Vining.

• Former Verndale City Council Member Jim Ackerson took the oath of office during the meeting and replaced Louie Randall who recently resigned from the council. Ackerson then joined the rest of the council in voting to hire James Lueck from Deerwood as the city’s new public works manager. Lueck replaces longtime maintenance supervisor Jim Berguist who resigned in early July.

• Did you know that within the great town of Verndale, kids on the north side have no safe access to fun community based playground equipment? We are about to put an end to that and build a huge playground for an entire community of kids. This upcoming project is one which we can all rally together to initiate healthy change in our community. The week of August 29 to September 3, we will break ground on a new play structure that is valued near $35,000.

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