Clarence “Harry” Bernard Harriman, age 81, passed away on Tuesday, April 22, 2025, at Mayo Clinic Health Systems - St. Mary’s Campus in Rochester, MN. A visitation will be held from 1 p.m. – 4 p.m. on Friday, May 2, 2025, with a funeral service immediately following at 4 p.m. at Nasinec Funeral Home in Wells, MN. Please see nasinecfh.com to leave online condolences. 

Le Sueur County is in the process of updating its land use and zoning code plan and will hold an open panel discussion on Le Sueur County’s VISION 2050 Comprehensive Land Use Plan will be held tonight, Thursday, May 1, 6:30 p.m., at the Le Center American Legion, 97 S. Park Ave.
 

A house fire near Hunt Lake in rural Rice County, south of Vintage Escapes Winery & Vineyard, is ongoing but under control. Multiple fire agencies are attending to the fire. Initial reports are that the house is a total loss, but not verified. More details will be in May 1 Montgomery Messenger.

Flag football for females will be part of the 2028 Summer Olympics.
Flag football for Minnesota high school students started in April.
One of the teams who will be part of the new flag football league hail from Waterville-Elysian-Morristown.
A total of 51 teams from throughout the state, mostly metro schools, started this journey in early April thanks to the Minnesota Vikings. Last year there were only four teams who competed.

WEM students have produced some outstanding artwork during the course of the 2024-2025 school year.
Two of those students have been judged to be among the best in the State of Minnesota.
Seniors Halle Fessel and Clara Nuetzman were selected to have their artwork displayed at the State Visual Arts Festival held at the Perpich Center for the Performing Arts in Golden Valley on May 10.

The WEM baseball team was involved in two shutouts last week, one ending in their favor.
The Buccaneers earned their first victory of the season Monday, April 14 with a 10-0, five inning win over Blue Earth Area (BEA). Kenyon-Wanamingo (K-W) came to Waterville Monday, April 21 for a night game and handed the Bucs an 8-0 loss for their first win of the season.
Senior Ivan Pratt was nearly perfect on the mound in the win against BEA. He faced 16 batters, struck out eight, allowed one hit, and tossed 48 strikes in 60 pitches.

Eighty short years ago a new club was chartered in Waterville and since that date in January of 1945, the Waterville Lions Club has been one of the finest organizations not only in Waterville, but in the State of Minnesota.
The Lions Club observed their 80th year with an event recently at Classic’s Pub in Waterville. Dozens of people attended the event, which featured awarding some of their longest serving members with awards.
Curt Bohlen was honored for being a member for the past 50 years.

Kilkenny forming a historical society
A group of special visitors from Kilkenny, Ireland, visited Kilkenny, Minn., on Wednesday, April 16 — husband and wife James and Monica O’Reilly, and baby Julia O’Reilly. They spent the afternoon touring the town and exchanging historical information.
They were accompanied by Jana Freiband, Monica O’Reilly’s mother, who lives in Minneapolis.

Richard Flanders, 81, of Calvin, ND, passed away unexpectedly on Thursday, April 3, 2025.
Visitation will be held at the Gilbertson Funeral Home, Devils Lake, ND on Friday, June 13, 2025, from 4 p.m. until 6 p.m. with a Prayer Service and Time of Remembrance at 6 p.m. Funeral Services for Richard will be on Saturday, June 14, 2025, at 1 p.m. at Langdon Presbyterian Church with fellowship to follow. Burial will be in the Corinthian Cemetery  rural Calvin at 3:30 p.m. 

Three candidates vied for the title of Miss Czech-Slovak Minnesota at the 36th annual pageant held Saturday evening at the Montgomery American Legion.
Winning the title of Miss Czech-Slovak Minnesota was Gianna Olsen. She was crowned by her parents, James and Martha Olsen. They are from Stillwater.
Alexia Timmerman was named first princess. She served as second princess this past year, and first princess the year before. She is the daughter of Ryan and Tasha Timmerman of St. Peter.

Ralph Earl Dyer, age 95, of Waterville, formerly Elysian, died surrounded by his family on the afternoon of Monday, March 31, 2025, at Mayo Clinic Health System in St. James.

The WEM Board of Education offered a contract to Mark Winter to become the new WEM Superintendent during a special meeting Thursday, April 3.
Winter and current WEM High School Principal Dr. Jennifer Wilson were the finalists for the position and both interviewed Thursday, a week after being named the top two candidates for the district’s top position.
Following the interviews, the board held approximately 25 minutes of discussion before voting to offer the position to Winter. The roll call vote was 6-1, with board member Jeff Stangler voting against.

Third grader Jacee Knish, daughter of Andrew and Cara Knish, won a State Wrestling Championship Saturday, April 5 in Rochester.
Knish competed in the 3rd and 4th grade division of the Northland Youth Wrestling Association State Tournament. She won four straight matches to claim her second straight State Title.
She pinned Sophia Lares from Albert Lea in 11 seconds and pinned Raelynn Schmidt from Big Lake in 21 seconds.

Senior Ashlyn Pelant and junior Addison Condon each won events during the Blue Earth Area Indoor Quadrangular held Friday, April 4 at MSU, Mankato.
Condon won two individual events, placing first in the 60-meter dash in 8.4 and the long jump with a distance of 15-feet 10 1/2-inches. Pelant won the shot put with a season-best distance of 37-feet, 7-inches.
The Buccaneers placed third in the meet with 40.5 points. JWP was the winning team with 77 points, followed by St. James/Madelia with 45 points and Blue Earth Area with 37.5 points.
Placing second were...

Every two years the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) places teams in competitive Sections for all extra curricular activities.
For the most part, there aren’t many changes. Most teams stay in the same class and the same Section.
According to the MSHSL, the competitive section placement process includes:
• Determining league enrollments by using enrollment and free/reduced lunch information provided by the Minnesota Department of Education.
• Creating classification cut-offs for each activity to determine the class of competition for each team.

Nearly eight decades ago Marian Bemis Johnson graduated from Waterville High School.
When she attended school there were no girls sports in any high schools in Minnesota.
Johnson recently wrote a letter to the WEM girls basketball players explaining the some of her findings when it came to girls basketball in Minnesota.
“That was the life of most Minnesota girls and women in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, and why was it that way?” Johnson said in her letter. “Why did anyone think that girls should not be athletes and play on teams and reach their personal goals?”