Her son was just two years old when she boarded a military plane bound for Afghanistan.
Leaving was hard. Really hard.
But, the young mother knew that her military service was important and embraced her one-year deployment.
Sara (Southard) Warner of Waterville enlisted in the Army Reserve shortly after earning her General Education Diploma (GED) in 2004. She was 18.

Due to a decrease in funding from the state, Le Sueur County veterans will see a change in their transportation provided by the county.
Veterans utilizing the Le Sueur County Veterans Van will now be charged $10 per trip to the Minneapolis VA Hospital.
This change was approved during the Tuesday, Nov. 6 Le Sueur County Board of Commissioners meeting in Le Center.
According to Veteran's Service Officer Jim Golgart, the funding his department receives from the state has dwindled to between $1,500 and $2,000.

New mayors have been elected in Elysian and Morristown Tuesday, Nov. 6. Tom McBroom has been elected the Elysian Mayor, receiving 145 votes. Pat Nusbaum received 127 votes and Shawn Anderson received 78 votes. In Morristown, Tony Lindahl was elected mayor with 182 votes. Kurt Wolf received 156 votes and Rick Vollbrecht received 97 votes. The WEM building bond was approved by a wide margin, with 1955 people voting for the $19.3 million dollar bond and 1,154 voting against. In Waterville, Al Schmidtke remains the mayor, and David Wollin and Roy McIntyre remain the city council members.

Le Sueur County voters chose to keep incumbent Sheriff Brett Mason and incumbent Auditor/Treasurer Pam Simonette in office, along with three other county officials who were unopposed for re-election in county-wide races. 
 
They also returned two incumbents to the Board of Commissioners and chose Danny O’Keefe to represent District 2 on the County Board. 
 

As of 1:30 p.m. Election Day, Tuesday, November 6, a total of 363 people had cast their votes at Waterville's City Hall.

The Waterville-Elysian-Morristown volleyball team claiimed its 4th straight South Sub-Section Championship Thursday,. Nov. 1, defeating St. Clair 25-27, 25-23, 25-15, and 25-16 at Mankato East. The Bucs will face the North Sub-Section Champions, Mayer Lutheran, for fourth straight time in the Section 2A Championship. The Crusaders knocked off No. 1 seed BOLD in five sets Thursday. Mayer Lutheran is the two-time defending State Champions and handed WEM one of their two losses at the Class A Volleyball Classic in September.

The Waterville Area Chamber of Commerce held an election October 18.
Bill Conlin, Del Point, and Todd Schwartz were elected to serve three-year terms on the Chamber’s Board of Directors. Wendy Davis and Sean McCaslin were elected to serve two-year terms on the board. This filled five of the seven open positions.

The Lake Region Area will feature a number of races in local community elections. The WEM School Board will also have an election and a building bond to vote on. In Elysian, Shawn Anderson, Tom McBroom. Pat Nusbaum, and Roger Quiram are vying for the position as mayor. Bobby Houlihan, Dennis Schnoor, Bryan Suemnick, and Derek Westby are looking to fill two Elysian City Council positions. In Morristown, Tony Lindahl, Rick Vollbrecht, and Kurt Wolf will be running for mayor. Justin Duncan, Tim Flaten, Jake Golombeski, and Seth Prescher are seeking two council positions.

The Cannon River Watershed Partnership (CRWP) staff gathered stories from watershed residents about how their community and lakes are doing.
This project of the CRWP dealt with “Lake Stories” from the Waterville Creek Watershed.
The CRWP staff interviewed eight community members about the following:
* Concerns for the future and their local lakes;
* Ideas for how partners can work together to strengthen communities;
* Recommendations for improving water in our lakes, rivers, and wells.
Among the community concerns were:

A Waterville woman sustained non-life threatening injuries after a one-vehicle crash Monday morning, October 29, in Elysian Township.
Christina Kepner, 50, of Waterville was driving a 2008 Mazda 6 westbound on Highway 60 in Le Sueur County when the vehicle drifted off the roadway to the left and continued down the south ditch. The vehicle vaulted and rolled, landing on its side.
According to the Minnesota State Patrol incident report, the accident occurred at approximately 6:30 a.m.

The Lake Area Historians hosted local speaker Chester "Chet" Hrdlicka of Elysian during the organization's October 15 meeting that was held at the Elysian American Legion. Hrdlicka shared "Part 2" of his historic tales of Elysian.
Hrdlicka's grandfather, an immigrant from the Czech Republic, settled in the Elysian area when there was no electricity and Park Street was the Main Street of the British/English community that was called Logan at the time.

Le Sueur County and the State of Minnesota have entered into a Joint Powers Agreement (JPA) pertaining to Sanborn Lake.
This JPA was approved during the Tuesday. Oct. 23 Le Sueur County Board of Commissioners meeting in Le Center. Tim Koppelman, an assistant manager with the Minnesota DNR in Nicollet County, presented the agreement which makes the county the drainage authority for County Ditch 54 which is located near this lake which is 1.5 miles northeast of Montgomery.

Local history was alive and well, Saturday morning, October 20, at the Waterville Public Library. Four Waterville "historians" shared facts, stories, and a few giggle-worthy tales about when they were growing up in Waterville during a Local History Panel event that was sponsored by the Waseca-Le Sueur Regional Library System.
Will Wesley shared memories of his formative years growing up in Waterville. He began his story with when the lights first came on in town, in the late 1930s.

The WEM football team, the No. 4 rated team in Class AA, scored eight touchdowns in their 54-20 win over Blue Earth Area in the Section 2AA Quarterfinals played Tuesday, Oct. 23 in Waterville. The Bucs will host St. Clair/Mankato Loyola Saturday, oct. 27 at 2 p.m. in the Section 2AA Semifinals. The Spartans defeated Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial 28-7 Tuesday. They are 8-1 this year, with their lone loss to undefeated United South Central. NRHEG and Le Sueur-Henderson will play in the other semifinal game Saturday. The winners will play Friday, Nov.

The 2018 Homecoming Coronation was held Monday, Oct. 8 in Waterville. Dawson Bauer and Morgan Nusbaum were named Homecoming King and Queen that evening. The rest of the week there were a handful of events for the students. Friday, Oct. 12 is the annual parade (1:45 p.m.), pepfest (2;15 p.m.), Music Arts Booster Tailgate event (5 p.m.), WEM football game vs. Maple River (7 p.m.), and the Homecoming dance (9:30 p.m.). For more on the Homecoming Court check out the Oct. 11 edition of the LIFE/Enterprise.

Morgan Nusbaum, daughter of Dave and Tammy Nusbaum, and Dawson Bauer, son of Darren and Lori Bauer, were crowned the 2018 Waterville-Elysian-Morristown Queen and King during the annual  Homecoming Coronation held in Waterville Monday, Oct.