Dusting Off the Archives
News from Verndale's Past
75 Years Ago, May 16, 1946
•Three filings have been made for school directors, according to Dr. A.F. Shuft, clerk of the district. They are Harlan Conley, H.T. Waterhouse and Clarence Horn. The terms of Harlan Conley and Wm. Desrocher expire this year. The annual school election will be held on Tuesday, May 21.
•The sophomore class play, “Don’t Keep Him Waiting,” presented Tuesday evening of this week in the high school auditorium broke all previous attendance records, and brought in a gross of over $170. Much of the credit for the financial success of the play is due to the two ticket sale teams. One of the teams was captained by Mildred Miller and the other by Allan Dalen. Alan’s team was the winner.
•Effective now, all dogs in the village of Verndale will have to be kept on their owner’s premises. If they are caught running at large about town, they will be shot—by order of the village council.
40 Years Ago, May 14, 1981
•Verndale’s Teacher of the Year Jerold Hanson congratulated Jim Derby OLE and Mary Tangeman, editor, at the recognition banquet held last Wednesday at Little Falls. Jerry was among the 34 Teachers of Excellence chosen from the 179 nominees representing 176 schools. Jim was one of the many outstanding laypersons recognized. He had undertaken the task of planning the assembly of the school playground equipment for the PTA.
•As a reward for their faithful service during the past school year, members of the school safety patrol journeyed to the Twin Cities last Saturday to take in the Twins-Indians (Cleveland) game. The trip was sponsored by the Legion Post 326 of Verndale, and chaperoned by Mr. Dean Krogstad and Mr. Roger Olson, advisor of the patrol. Making the trip were Paul Harne, Susan Kopischke, Shari McClure, Wade Kern, Matt Ganz, Deanna Davis, Randy Denny, Jennifer Ninneman, Peter Schmitz, Kim Trosen, Bridget Perish, Jan Edin, Steve Carlson and Jim Otremba.
•At the recent State-Regional Music Contest held at Henning, JoAnn Bergquist received a superior rating for her soprano solo. She was also a member of the girl’s trio which was rated at the top. Other members were Jan Horsager and Nancy Fisher. Their instructor is Mr. Larry Spencer.
15 Years Ago, May 18, 2006
•Sheriff Mike Carr reported that on May 14 at 10:18 a.m., Wadena County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a home in Wing River Township after receiving a 911 call. The caller reported that Wilber James Payne, 61, had been shot and was dead in his home. Upon investigation, officers arrested James Norman Payne, 50, at the scene.
•The Lady Raiders ran close to home last week. The team traveled to Wadena on Tuesday and ran on their new track. The Raiders competed against six other teams. The team was able to place in 12 events, scoring 63 points and received four first-place finishes. Taryn Fuller had an excellent day as she led the Raiders in the relays with some very good times and also won the 400M with a 1:03.56. Molly Moenkedick won the 1600 with a 5:35. Both Fuller and Moenkedick were on the two relays that placed first along with Katie Sero and Kayla Finck.
•Verndale Bison Steve Schmitz got four solid hits and four RBIs in Sunday’s baseball game against the Red Eye Country Boys. The Country Boys won 13-9. Right-hander Matt Hartung pitched the first six innings of the game and had Verndale ahead 6-5. Verndale ace Ryan Greenwood pitched the seventh. Nate Runyan came in relief of Greenwood to finish out the game. Greenwood got tagged with the loss.