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A Look Back at The Times

10 YEARS AGO

FEBRUARY 16, 2012

The Barron County Sheriff’s Department recently completed another round of alcohol age compliance checks, and of the 15 outlets checked, two Turtle Lake businesses sold alcohol to an 18-year old high school student working with the sheriff’s department. Those two businesses were Auto Stop and Cenex, according to the sheriff’s department.

Turtle Lake Lions Club treasurer, Pat Wick, presented a check for $200.00 to Collette Kasper, representing the Food Pantry. The Food Pantry donation is just one of the many community projects the Lions Club is involved in on an annual basis.

It took a jury of nine women and three men nearly an hour-and-a-half of deliberation to return a verdict of not-guilty on two charges in a criminal case against a rural Turtle Lake farmer who shot a bear in defense of his livestock. Donald Sundvall, rural Turtle Lake was charged with killing a bear without a Class A bear license and possession of a bear during closed season for the July 10, 2011 shooting of a bear that had killed two of his closed herd calves in the early morning hours of that day.

For the past 13 years church groups from this area have been traveling to Mexico to construct buildings used for schools, churches, etc. for the impoverished people of that country. This year thirty-six volunteers traveled to Palmview, Texas. “After going to Mexico for the last 13 years we found the need on this side of the boarder was just as great,” the group said.

The Laker guys made it five in a row with wins over Shell Lake and Unity, securing their hold on second place with a 13-5 overall record, 8-1 in the conference. The Clayton Bears sit atop the conference with a 13-1 record, 7-0 in conference. John Lahti and Tanner Arnold led the Lakers against Shell Lake with 17 points each. Nick Herzan added 11. Kyle Steffen led the Lakers against Unity with 16. Tanner Arnold had 14 and John Lahti added 10.

The Laker gals split their past two games, first getting past the Shell Lake Lakers last Tuesday night and then traveling to Northwood, where the Evergreens used a big second half to claim the win. Toria Westlund’s 16 points led the Lakers past Shell Lake. Also in double figures were Lizzie Braml with 14 and Ashley Lahti and Hope Kuhl with 12 each. Against Northwood Ashley Lahti led the Lakers with 12. Liz Braml added 9.

 

20 YEARS AGO

FEBRUARY 14, 2002

“As the Queen of the Lakes and Snows I had the honor to attend the St. Paul Winter Carnival and proudly represent Turtle Lake,” said Rachel Belisle. “My experience was wonderful and I had a great time at this annual celebration known as “The Coolest Celebration on Earth” I had tons of fun and got to meet over 90 other queens from areas of Wisconsin and Minnesota.”

Father John Spanjers, Pastor of St. Ann, recently announced the hiring of Frank Chiodi as the new Pastoral Associate for the St. Ann Parish in Turtle Lake. Mr. Chiodi if the former Director of Administration of the Minneapolis City Attorney’s Office where he worked for 24 years.

Mike Knight, Luke Paulson and Kel Klingelhoets each won regional championships and Bob Popenhagen finished second at Unity last Saturday to qualify for sectionals on Saturday at Somerset. Kenton Olsvig and Tony Hellstern each placed fourth while Tim Vink and Alan Broker finished sixth.

The Laker season continued to be a struggle this past week as the gals dropped games to Northwood and Shell Lake. With only four games remaining in the regular season the gals looked to hit the winning track before tournaments began, but it wasn’t to be. Steph Hanson led the Lakers with 16 against Northwood. Amanda Hamble added 10. Against Shell Lake Steph Hanson led the Lakers with 12. Acsia Leaf had 8.

The Lakers were on the road twice last week for the northern swing as they traveled to Northwood on Tuesday and hit Shell Lake on Friday, losing both games big. In the 82-55 loss to Northwood, Justin Hoffman earned game honors with 21 points. Sean Stalpes added 12. In the 74-54 loss to Shell Lake, Eric Nordquist led the way with 19 on five threes and a pair of twos. Sean Stalpes added 13 and Jeremy Henck chipped in 10.

Toss your lighted outdoor displays, put away your solar night lights, and take out your aerosol can, a Clayton, Wisconsin company has created a paint that glows in the dark, making lighted outdoor displays and night lights obsolete, thus saving electricity. The paint, appropriately named “Glo Paint”, applies off-white in color that appears that color in the daylight, but after only 15 minutes of exposure to the light source such as sunlight, a light bulb, headlight or even a flashlight, glows a neon green. The paint will hold that glow for 24 hours, after which it requires re-exposure to the light source to continue glowing.

 

30 YEARS AGO

FEBRUARY 13, 1992

The Turtle Lake Public Library will host an Open House at its new location on Saturday, February 22, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Staff and volunteers will demonstrate software programs on the library’s new microcomputer, tell stories to the children, and register people for new library cards. Refreshments, refrigerator magnets, book bags and other library material will be available.

The Turtle Lake Lakers put three wrestlers in the finals and came away with two champions in the Lakeland Conference tournament at Cameron last Saturday. Kurt Olsvig, 135 lbs., and Vince Graf, 171 lbs., won championships. Ryan Shortess, 140 lbs., finished second.

The Laker girls added two more conference wins to their record this past week as they defeated Minong 47-18 and Prairie Farm 64-28. Both games were on the road. Jackie Young led all scorers with 12 against Minong. Julie Koenig and Jacki Danca each added 10 points. Julie Koenig led all scorers against Prairie Farm with 16 points. Jackie Young added 12.

The Turtle Lake Lakers improved their conference record to 8-1 with a 74-56 win over the Cameron Comets, a nice Parents Night victory. Five Lakers hit double figures for the evening, led by Jesse Nitchey with 16, Brian Thill with 11, Jamie Torgerson, Kurt Molls and Jason Fredericks with 10 each.

Mike Woodley, host of Sports Night, a nightly sports talk show on WCCO-AM, St. Paul/Minneapolis, is in France to help the CBS national radio network on coverage of the Winter Olympic Games. He will be gone from his duties at WCCO for three weeks. He will cover hockey, cross-country skiing and ski jumping. Mike’s father, Bob Woodley, lives in Turtle Lake.

 

40 YEARS AGO

FEBRUARY 11, 1982

Effective February 1, 1982, the Almelund Creamery, Almelund, Minnesota, was merged with Associated Milk Producers, Inc., the largest milk cooperative in the United States. Joe Vaske, Division Manager of AMPI’s Turtle Lake/Boyceville Division, said the approval vote of 235 members at Almelund was by an 88% margin. The plant is 10 miles north of Taylors Falls, Minnesota, which is just across the St. Croix River from St. Croix Falls.

Congressman Steve Gunderson has announced the nomination of Darwin Haines of Turtle Lake as a competing alternate to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Nominations to service academies are made by members of Congress to fill vacancies of graduating cadets from their districts.

Housing projects for low-income area residents are under construction in Turtle Lake and Almena. Both expect to be completed this summer. Impact Seven’s Housing Development program is assisting both projects.

Thursday, February 4, the Lakerettes traveled to Clear Lake and returned with one of their biggest victories this year. From the first quarter, behind Sheri Hansen’s 11 first quarter points, the Lakerettes dominated the pace of the game, running away with a 60-29 win. Sheri Hansen topped all scorers with 20 points. Debbie Carlson added 14 and Cathy Carlson had 10. On Tuesday the Lakerettes started out hot for the first half but cooled down in the second half and dropped a 42-38 decision against the Siren Dragons. Cathy Carlson led the Lakerettes with 11 while sister Debbie hit for 9.

The Turtle Lake Laker basketball squad played host to the Siren Dragons Tuesday, February 2 and came away with a 54-50 victory. Mike Schradle led the Lakers with 20 points, followed by Phil Stauner and Steve Elfers with 13.  Coming off the impressive win over Sire, the Lakers traveled to Clear Lake on Friday for another conference clash with the Warriors., notching their second win of the week, 62-55. Phil Stauner led the balanced attack for the Lakers with 15, followed by Mike Schradle, Eric Solum and Steve Elfers with 13 each.

Saturday, February 6 was a day for some exciting action as the eight teams in the Lakeland Conference met in Flambeau for the Conference Wrestling Tournament. Overall action was dominated by Clear Lake as they were named this year’s Conference Champions. Turtle Lake showed improvement this year over last year. Both Mark Carlson, at 185 lbs., and Dan Heidtke, at Hwt., made it to the championship round and both finished second. Jim Palas, at 132 lbs., placed 3rd after losing his first match to Clear Lake and winning his second and third matches against Minong and Cameron.

 

50 YEARS AGO

FEBRUARY 10, 1972

On Saturday, February 20, at 12 noon it will be race time in Turtle Lake when the starting flag is dropped for the 3rd Annual Turtle Lake Lions Snowmobile Race. The race site this year is at the Turtle Lake High School athletic field.

In attendance at the recent Future Farmers of America Farm Forum held at the Holiday Inn, Stevens Point, were Hughie Mommsen of Rice Lake, Carsten Ellison, Barron, and Ray Hansen, Turtle Lake. There was a total of 165 FFA members and sponsors in attendance.

Two Lakers, Dave Quade (112) and Mike “Lightening” Klingelhoets (132) captured firsts at the Lakeland Conference Tourney, leading the way for a third place team finish. Dave Nevins (138) and Tom Braml (185) took hard fought seconds. Brad Ostermann (145) and Bob “Killer” Flottum (Hwt) wrestled their way to thirds.

The Turtle Lake Lakers dropped their 15th game of the season Tuesday night, February 8, to the Prairie Farm Panthers by a 43 to 79 score in their last away from home game played at Prairie Farm. Hampered by their top scorer, Dan Tornio, being unable to play due to an infection, the Lakers were out-gunned by the sharp shooting of George Christenson of Prairie Farm, who scored 13 baskets and 11 freethrows for 37 points. Two other Panthers hit double-figures, Jeff Roemhild, 16, and Brad Hemauer, 15 points. Steve Lueck topped the Laker scoring with 15 points followed by Todd Swenson with 10.

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