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News from the week of August 2, 2000 Headlight Herald - Serving Tracy, Minnesota, since 1880

 

City committee to study sheriff's dept. coverage

A committee was established Monday to study the possibility of Tracy law enforcement needs being taken over by the Lyon County Sheriff's Department.

Tracy City Council members approved the committee, after hearing reports that the city is experiencing great difficulty attracting and retaining officers.

The four-man police department is expected to be two-men short soon. Office Eric Klenken recently left Tracy to accept a position with the Nobles County Sheriff's Department. Officer Judd Latham will leave the department soon, after accepting a position with the Swift County Sheriff's Department. Tracy's remaining policemen are Chief Bryan Hillger and Tony Rolling.

Police Chief Bryan Hillger recommended to council members that the city pursue a contract with the sheriff's department. Two Tracy Police Commission members, Glen Surprenant and Steve Larson, said they also supported looking into the county contract.


State testing snafu affected eight high school students

Eight Tracy Area High School students were affected by the test-score snafu announced last week by the Minnesota Department of Children, Learning, and Families.

The eight students—along with 7,981 other Minnesota students—were incorrectly told that they had failed the math portion of the Minnesota Basic Standards Test taken in February and March. Last week, officials for National Computers Systems, Inc., headquartered in Eden Prairie, admitted that mistakes were made in grading the tests of nearly 8,000 students. At least 336 seniors statewide did not receive high school diplomas because of their test results were incorrectly graded below the passing mark.

Supt. Rick Clark said that the eight Tracy students affected by the grading mistakes were all in the freshman, sophomore, and junior classes. No seniors were affected. He expressed displeasure with the grading mistake news.


Information sought on Sanborn area crime spree

• Sunday vandalism damage expected to exceed $200,000

Authorities are seeking information about vandalism that caused an estimated $200,000 worth of damage in the Sanborn area early Sunday.

The Redwood County Sheriff's Department reports that six vehicles, including a $100,000 fertilizer “floater” truck, were destroyed in the crime spree.

“The vandals also destroyed corn and bean fields in numerous locations in both Redwood and Brown counties,” a statement from the Redwood County Sheriff's Department said Monday. “The vandals also destroyed a pasture fence line allowing the cattle inside to wander out. A large amount of road signs, mailboxes, telephone junction boxes, and business signs were also destroyed by driving the stolen vehicles over them. Numerous power poles were run into by the stolen vehicles, shearing off the power poles.”


Farmfest packs 'em in

The annual Farmfest held at the Gilfillan Estate near Redwood Falls opened with a flourish Tuesday. Despite temperatures that soared into the mid to upper nineties, attendance, including farmers, agribusinessmen and policitians was high.

Hundreds of agricultural exhibits ranging from new technology in agriculture to farm toys spread across acres of farmland set aside for the festival. Exhibitor Don McCarvel of Waseca says he enjoys coming to Farmfest every year.

"This is my fourth year representing Ford at Farmfest. I really enjoy the atmosphere and talking to farmers."


Elvira Bisbee gets celebrity treatment during Norway trip

Tracy rosemaling artist Elvera Bisbee had a marvelously Norwegian time on her recent trip around the Scandinavian country.

Bisbee left for Norway on June 17 from the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport for a 10 day trip with three rosemaled plates she made to present to three Norwegian churches.

The plates Bisbee was commissioned to paint depicted the Olberg, Eggedal and Holmen churches from the Sigdal district of Norway, from which Bisbee's family emigrated.

Bisbee belongs to a group called Sigdalslag, an organization of people who have family ties to the Sigdal district. The group gets together once a year.


Busy Bees erect new Amiret sign, learn history lesson in process

When the Amiret “Busy Bees” 4-H Club was considering what to do for their annual Community Pride project, they decided to look close to home.

“We thought back to past projects we had done and realized that we had almost always done things in Tracy, Marshall, and other communities. We decided to do something for our home town, the place right under our noses.” said John Lanoue, a member of the Community Pride committee.

The committee, composed of John Lanoue, Justin Lessman, and Paul Lanoue, met to select a project.

“Someone had mentioned that the small, green city limits sign had been missing from Amiret for a while, so we decided to build a new sign, bigger and better.” said Paul Lanoue.