Eugene Charles “Chuck” Wann, 77, of New Prague, passed away Friday, March 17, 2023, in Fort Myers, FL. Chuck was born on January 25, 1946 in New Prague, to Eugene C. and Lois (Suel) Wann. He attended St. Wenceslaus School and was a 1964 graduate of New Prague High School. After attending the College of St. Thomas in St. Paul, he graduated from Mankato State University. On February 10, 1968, he was married to Barbara (Franz) Wann in New Prague. They had two children. He later married Janis (Bethke) Wann on August 20, 1995, in New Prague.

Four WEM/JWP wrestlers combined for a 22-0 record in conference matches this last season and they were all honored by Gopher Conference coaches.
Sophomores Keegan Kuball and Carson Petry were honored for the second time while freshman Brady Murphy, sophomore Avery Fall, and senior Jack Cahill were honored for the first time.
Kuball, Petry, and Murphy were named to the 15-member All-Gopher Conference Wrestling First Team. Fall was named to the 8-member Honorable Mention Team. Cahill was one of seven wrestlers to receive the Sportsmanship Award.

The City of Elysian is looking for funding for a new water treatment plant.
Mayor Tom McBroom made a plea on behalf of the city at both meetings of the House of Representatives and Senate Wednesday, March 8 and Thursday, March 9.
Proposals for clean water and wastewater infrastructure upgrades in Elysian, Blue Earth, and Lewisville were heard. These bills were authored and presented to the committees by Senator Rich Draheim (R-Madison Lake), who represents all three communities.

Grant Pope, owner of We Buy Houses Southern Minnesota, is always looking for opportunities in the area where they can add value to a property and the surrounding communities.
Little did he know his latest project is one of the oldest buildings in Waterville that has significant history to the growth of the city.
The company purchased the old Union Hotel at 201 Paquin Street E. This property has been accepted into the National Register for Historic Places in Minnesota. Pope did not know that upon purchase but found out in quite a hurry.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) launched a $1.9 million test pilot that aims to improve public transportation needs across western and southern rural Minnesota. If the test pilot goes well, it could be expanded state-wide and improved upon.

Long-time educator Juanita Krueger of Morristown has been selected the 2022 Outstanding Elementary Teacher of the Year by a committee from the Minnesota South District of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod.

Class A No. 9 rated Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial outscored the WEM girls basketball team 34-25 in the second half, helping them defeat the Bucs, 60-48 in the Section 2AA, South Sub-Section Semifinals Thursday, March 2 at Mankato East.
The Knights, 27-1 overall and winners of 20 straight games, had defeated WEM 64-45 February 13.
The contest Thursday was much closer than the 12-point victory margin. One little scoring spurt was enough to push the Knights into the Sub-Section Championship against NRHEG, a winner over Waseca in the other Sub-Section Semifinal.

Margaret Weaver, age 85 of Waterville, died on Thursday, March 9, 2023. 
Born on September 9, 1937 in St. Peter, Minnesota, she was the daughter of Anthony “Tony” and Esther (Flowers) Schabert.  Margaret graduated from St. Peter High School in 1955 and then began working at the First National Bank in St. Peter.  She married George Weaver on November 29, 1961 in St. Peter. Together, George and Margaret lived on their farm located three miles north of Waterville. They continued to farm and expand their operations for over 50 years before retiring from active farming in 2006.

Townships in Scott, Le Sueur and Rice counties, as well as in counties throughout the state, will hold their annual meeting Tuesday, March 14.
Known as Township Day, these annual meetings are held every year on the second Tuesday in March and set townships apart from other forms of local government. The meetings allow township residents to voice their opinions about local issues with other township residents and also vote directly on their annual tax levy -- direct democracy in action. Citizens attending annual meetings also often discuss and vote on other local issues.

The names, faces, and stories of all the people I’ve met and interviewed over the course of the last 20 years are flooding back to me as I sit down to write this column.
This will be my final column.
After almost two decades working as a writer for the local newspapers, I’ve decided it’s time for a career change.
Thank you to all of you who have welcomed me into your lives and homes and trusted me to share your stories. It has been an honor.

Bonnie Mae Stangler, age 97, of Waterville passed away on Wednesday, March 1, 2023 at Benedictine Living Community in St. Peter.
Born on October 18, 1925 in Mankato, Minnesota she was the daughter of Albert and Delma (Biehn) Schuenemann. She graduated from Janesville High School with the class of 1943.  Bonnie was united in marriage to Clayton Stangler on January 17, 1946 at St. Andrew’s Catholic Church in Elysian. Together they raised two daughters, Kathryn Ann (Walz) and Patricia Kay (Mariska).

The Amber Alert for Leon is canceled. The child has been found safe. Below is the message from the City of Lakeville. 

Joan Helen (Bokelmann) Reineke, age 77, of Owatonna, MN, passed away on February 20, 2023 at the Homestead Hospice House in Owatonna, surrounded by her family, after a long journey with Sjogren’s disease and brief battle with Lymphoma.
Funeral services will be held at Trinity Lutheran Church, Owatonna on Friday, March 10, 2023 at 11 a.m. The Reverend Todd Buegler will officiate. Interment will be at Riverside Cemetery, Morristown. Visitation will begin at 9:30 a.m. until the time of the service at the church.

It’s science-fair season, and my fifth grader, Ellen, is testing if the width of a cat’s whiskers truly alerts them to whether or not they will fit through a hole.
Her project is titled: Whisker widths.
Fortunately, she has enough at-home test subjects with our three felines, Rocky, Honey, and Penelope.
Unfortunately, Ellen is a procrastinator, and cats don’t tend to cooperate.

They’re “beeping buddies.”
They are also amateur history junkies and treasure hunters.
Armed with metal detectors Dan Smith of Kilkenny and his son, Josh, who resides in Warsaw, spend hours scouring the local area in search of long-lost, forgotten historical items. When they come across a metal item on or under the ground, their detectors beep.

Impending inclement weather has changed the National FFA Week/WEM Snow Week activities. But not the coronation of royalty.
Emma Woratschka, daughter of Mike and Jennifer Woratschka was crowned Snow Queen and Ethan Greenwald, son of Ron and Kris Greenwald, was crowned Snow King during the coronation held Tuesday morning in Waterville.
All other events scheduled for the week will be postponed until the week of February 27 due to the projected snow storm.
Snow Prince and Snow Princesses were also crowned from the freshman, sophomore and junior classes.