Dusting off the Archives
News from Verndale's Past
75 Years Ago, January 1, 1948
•Double tragedy struck the village of Aldrich at about 2:50 a.m. Saturday, leaving Aldrich and the surrounding community stunned and saddened. Two fine young men, brothers Kenneth Cameron, 23, and Frankie Cameron, 13, were killed instantly when their car was hit in the Aldrich rail crossing by the fast Northern Pacific train No. 4. Apparently the car stalled on the tracks as they attempted to back out of the way of the approaching train.
• The Verndale Independents have scheduled a special game with the Bertha Independents here Friday night beginning at 8 p.m. The local independents have a league standing of three wins and two losses. Their wins were over New York Mills, Park Rapids and Menahga, and their only two losses were to Staples and Wadena by close scores.
•Lloyd N. Paulston, former Verndale Northern Pacific (N.P.) Agent, was last week named agent of the Wadena N.P. Depot, effective January 1. The change, we are informed, was brought by the retirement of the N.P. Agent at Stillwater, resulting in the Wadena agent being transferred to Fergus Falls and the Fergus agent going to Stillwater.
40 Years Ago, January 6, 1983
•Louise Otremba took the oath of office for her fourth term as Verndale’s first woman mayor, administered by Clerk Madonna Desrocher at Monday’s regular monthly meeting of the city council. She did not run for office this past year, saying it was someone else’s turn, but when only one other person, not a resident of the city, had indicated an interest in the position, a group of Verndale businessmen, persuaded her to run on a write-in ballot, which she won.
•A letter of resignation from Police Chief Cedric Haugen was read and accepted. He indicated in the letter that he accepted a position with the Aberdeen, South Dakota police department. For the present, city police matters will be handled by Patrolmen Scott Miller and Oscar Forcier, the latter as acting chief.
•Now that the weather has stabilized, so has the ice on the skating pond behind the school, and youngsters are enjoying it to the fullest. Much appreciated this year is the new warming house built by the Lions Club. They also erected a light.
15 Years Ago, February 6, 2007
•The Citizen’s Advocate and its sister paper the Verndale Sun submitted entries to the MNA Better Newspaper Contest. Carol Clauson won first prize for Best Columnist, Paula Wojick won first prize for Best Sports Feature and Lisa Walsh won honorable mention for News Photography.
•This week is a bittersweet one for the Citizens Advocate. We are losing a long-time friend and co-worker, Paula Wojick. However, we are happy for her new endeavor. Paula has decided to put her talent and education into another venture. She will be working for a trails magazine based in Sauk Centre.
•Five students from the Verndale Junior High Band participated in the first annual Minnesota Band Directors Association Northeast Region 6-8 Honor Band on January 26. Students were nominated by their director, Tammy Friday, based on their outstanding musical ability and dedication. They are Danielle Card, Travis Lollar, Kira Ollia, Ariana Sandberg and Meghan Sly.
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