Thursday, January 23, 2014

Volume 98; Number 30

www.bladepublishing.net staff@bladepublishing.net

A community newspaper serving Browerville, MN and surrounding areas. USPS 067-560

75

Collecting socks for the needy

Alexis Johnson, a third grade student at Browerville Elementary told her parents, Jeremy and Samantha, one day that she needed to talk to them. Alexis told them that she wanted to take charge of a sock drive, collecting as many pairs of socks as she could for the needy. She had learned that of all the items that are collected for the needy, socks are the one thing that no one thinks about, although everybody needs them. Alexis has already collected over 100 pairs of socks, and is getting closer to her goal of 500. She plans on donating the socks, childrens, mens, and womens, to the Salvation Army and Todd County Social Services. If you would like to donate socks, or money, to her endeavor, donations can be made at Zion Lutheran Church, Browerville, or at a drop box at Total Express, Browerville.

EVPS in Statutory Operating Debt

By Rin Porter The Eagle Valley School District #2759 has apparently been placed in Statutory Operating Debt status by the Minnesota Dept of Education. Statutory Operating Debt, or SOD, is determined to exist when a school districts general fund is more than 2.5% in debt on June 30 of any year. The Minnesota Commissioner of Education has an auditing process to determine whether an SOD exists in a school district. Once a school district is placed in SOD status, Minnesota Statute 123B.83 provides for a district to submit a special operating plan by Jan. 31 to reduce the districts deficit expenditures. The plan is submitted to the Commissioner of Education for approval. Apparently the Eagle Valley School District was informed of its SOD status in December 2013. We have been unable to confirm this, but this is the procedure described on the MDE website. Superintendent Barry Johnson and MDE School Finance official David Melcher did not respond to our attempts to contact them for information. At the Jan. 13 meeting of the Eagle Valley School Board, Supt Johnson presented his annual goals. The first one was to develop a plan for the Eagle Valley School Districts SOD status.

Eagle Valley and Parkers Prairie schools will partner on two-year football and wrestling programs
By Rin Porter At their Jan. 13 meeting, Eagle Valley school board members voted to approve a two-year deal with Parkers Prairie to cooperatively sponsor football and wrestling programs for the two upcoming 2014-2016 school years. Parkers Prairie will serve as the host district for the two programs, and the joint teams will continue to be known as the Prairie Valley Nighthawks. Activities Committee member Adam Riedel told the board that no cooperative agreements had been reached to cover basketball or baseball. He said Parkers Prairie wanted to retain its traditional team name and colors for those sports, and did not want to move to a Nighthawks shared baseball or basketball program with Eagle Valley at this time. However, Riedel said Parkers Prairie would accept Eagle Valley players on Parkers Prairie baseball and basketball teams if Eagle Valley cannot fund its own individual baseball Continued on page 12.

High winds, poor road conditions keep emergency personnel busy

Left: On Friday, January 17th high winds and blowing snow caused hazrdous road conditions around much of the state. Local law enforcement and rescue agencies responed to several accidents in the Todd County area. On January 16, at 11:54 am, Todd County Deputies responded to a vehicle crash involving a single axle propane tanker and a semi tanker carrying gasoline on County 21, at 370th St. Both trucks were traveling north on County 21; the propane tanker was turning left on 370th St., with the gasoline tanker attempted to pass, causing the crash. Both vehicle sustained moderate damage. Lawrence Doll, Eagle Bend, driver of the propane tanker sustained a minor injury; the other driver, Scott Carpenter, Wadena, was not injured. The tanks on the trucks remained intact and no contents were spilled. The sheriffs office was assisted at the scene by the Clarissa and Browerville Fire Depts. and the MN State Patrol. The crash is still under investigation. At 11:23 am, January 18, the sheriffs office received a report of a missing person, Continued on page 12. identified as 22 year old Jared

WEEKLY WEATHER REPORT

Tue. Jan. 21 Snow Showers 2/-2 Wed. Jan. 22 Cloudy 2/-19 Thur. Jan. 23 Mostly Sunny -5/-12 Fri. Jan. 24 Snow Showers 27/11 Sat. Jan. 25 Snow Showers 16/-7 Sun. Jan. 26 Partly Cloudy -4/-16