The Minnesota State High School League and other organizations are launching an initiative in light of recent events. In a statement released today:

Area residents who have concerns, questions or ideas about how to improve Highway 19 the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) wants to hear from you. MnDOT will be having a virtual open house from 6-7 p.m. Wednesday, March 2.

Tri-City United High School crowned its FFA/Snow Week King and Queen on Wednesday afternoon. Students voted Savannah Squires to be Queen and Fakourou Tandia to be King. See more in the March 3 print edition. (Wade Young Photo)

St. Louis Park High School announced this week that it will no longer compete this season against New Prague High School after an alleged racial incident at a Tuesday, Feb. 15, boys hockey game.
St. Louis Park Athletic Director Andrew Ewald sent a letter to New Prague AD Brad Skogerboe on Monday, Feb. 21, saying he's made the decision that the school "will not compete directly with New Prague High School as a result of the racist experience our boys hockey program was subject to.”

Tri-City United Schools kicked off FFA/Snow Week Friday with the announcement of its winter royalty.
The candidates were announced at a Pep Fest on Friday. Making up this year’s snow court are Queen candidates Haley Wasiloski, Mackenzie Holmbo, Sydney Whiteis, Liz Beth Mendez, and Savannah Squires. King candidates are Alex Matchinski, Brody Lerfald, Fakourou Tandia, Owen Block, and Logan Blaschko.

The New Prague adapted floor hockey team defeated Burnsville/Lakeville/Farmington, 8-2, Monday, Feb. 7 to remain undefeated.
Ray Parker led the Trojan offense with four goals. Aaron Adamson and Dylan Raaen each scored two goals.

A Union Pacific train derailed at Oak Avenue SE at approximately 2 p.m., on Saturday, Feb. 12. The incident blocked the intersection for more than two hours.
The train’s two locomotives were pulling three cars southbound on the tracks when the derailment occurred. According to Mike Jaixen, Sr. Manager of Communications for Union Pacific, the conductor immediately knew something was wrong at the intersection.
“The crew recognized the way the locomotive was operating, something was not quite right,” he said.

Rep. Jim Hagedorn, R-Minn. of Blue Earth, died Thursday night at age 59 of kidney cancer, his wife said in a Facebook post.
Hagedorn represented the Minnesota’s First Congressional District, that includes 21 counties from South Dakota to Wisconsin, along the Iowa border. The district covers much of the southern third of the state and includes Rochester, Austin and Mankato.

The Irish have an eloquent way about them and their blessings are almost like poetry. It seems they have a blessing or toast for every occasion and every celebration including those that hallmark the milestones in life.
From greetings to marriage and even death, a well-expressed verse in the form of a proverb or an anecdotal saying is sure to be had.
For decades, the Messenger had a fantastic Irish lad who was instrumental in the newspaper’s publication. The lad passed away last week at the age of 83 years old.

Thomas F. Simon, age 75 of Lonsdale, passed away Friday, February 11th, 2022 at Reflections of Three Links Care Center in Northfield. Tom was born on November 8th, 1946 in Northfield, Minnesota to Raymond & Ann Skluzacek Simon.

Second-grader Graham Velishek likes assembling puzzles. Once he put together a three-dimensional version of the Eiffel Tower.
“It was up to my neck, at least!” Velishek stated.
The son of Laura and Andy Velishek used his puzzling skills with partner fourth grader Hayden Akerlund to win the Most Holy Redeemer School (MHRS) Buddy Puzzle Competition on Thursday, Feb. 3. The duo completed their 500-piece puzzle of an adult giraffe kissing a baby giraffe’s head in 13 minutes and 18 seconds.
“I like doing puzzles. They’re fun and easy to do,” Graham said.

The TCU Wrestling Team hosted a Quad Meet on Friday with visiting schools Sibley East, St. Peter and Marshall. The TCU team faced off and beat Sibley East and St. Peter, but fell to Marshall in a close match.
TCU 51 - Sibley East 19
TCU 39 - St Peter 33
TCU 32 - Marshall 34
St. Peter 56 - Sibley East 17
Marshall 58 - Sibley East 18
TCU 39 - St Peter 33

Informational meeting to be February 13
The Miss Czech Slovak MN Program is seeking participants for its pageant in April and younger girls for its Junior Ambassador Program. An informational meeting for both groups will be held on Sunday, Feb. 13, 2022, at 1 p.m. at Montgomery Oil Company and David's Diner, 200 Fourth Street NW.
Miss Czech Slovak Minnesota Pageant

After closing a 10-point gap, the TCU Titan girls lost a close game to the Medford Tigers in the final minutes by a score of 45-47 on Thursday, Feb. 3.
Despite the loss, Titan Coach Don Marcussen said his team is playing ball better than it has the previous games.
"I felt if we didn't do too much damage to ourselves, we could compete with the Tigers,” he said. “We had a slight lead at halftime. Medford actually took the lead by as much as 10 points in the second half but the Titans made a nice run at it in the closing two minutes of the game.”

The annual Lonsdale Area Chamber of Commerce dinner returned to its in-person format on Tuesday, Jan. 25 after last year’s drive-in style due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The year’s dinner took place at Ettlin’s Ranchero Supper Club in Webster where several dozen chamber members gathered together to enjoy a meal, share many laughs, and hear about the successes in 2021 and what is in store for the Chamber in 2022.