Dusting off the Archives
News from Verndale's Past
75 Years Ago, January 26, 1950
• Rachel Wellman of the Oakdale 4-H Club was recently named the state champion girl Holstein breeder for 1949. Each year one boy and one girl are selected as the outstanding Holstein breeder and club member in the state of Minnesota. Rachel, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Dave Wellman and a graduate of the Verndale High School, is now attending the college of St. Scholastica in Duluth where she is majoring in home economics.
•Lee Sowder shot a large coyote northeast of here last Sunday. Hunting with Lee were Milt Chapin and John Sperley of Staples. They had three of Chapin’s hounds and also Lee’s hound with them. A farmer in that vicinity said he had seen five coyotes in one group recently. The men were on the trail of two Sunday but succeeded in getting only one. Lee said it had tough going in the deep snow and would go less than a mile when it would stop, crouch in the snow and be on guard against the dogs. It was while the dogs were trying to hold the coyote that Lee fired the fatal bullet.
• Fire swept through the Johnson Electric Company and the Coca-Cola bottling works and storage plant at Wadena on Saturday night, causing damage estimated at $30,000 to the electric company and many thousands of dollars of damage to the Coca-Cola company. Fire apparently started in the workshop of the electric company but the origin is unknown. It was discovered about 11:30 p.m. on Saturday by a passerby who saw flames coming from the building.
40 Years Ago, January 23, 1985
• Masonic Lodge No. 139 of Verndale donated an Accu-Check diabetic monitoring apparatus to Verndale School last week with Master Charlie Miller and Louis Youngberg, senior warden, making the presentation. Accepting on behalf of the school were Kathy Techam, phy ed instructor, and Principal James Madsen. The local lodge also provided instruction for Mrs. Techam to learn the technicalities of operating the device. She said it should be most helpful. Had they had such a unit last year, they could have detected diabetes in a student prior to her experiencing a coma.
• After head lice was detected on a third grade student on Thursday, a check was made of all classrooms where more were found. It was then decided that school for elementary students would be called off on Friday in an effort to squelch the spread of this dreaded malady over the weekend. Suspect students, it was reported, would be checked again on Monday to determine whether or not treatment was effective and if determined that further treatment was necessary, parents would be notified to come and get their children. It was stressed that a doctor’s note would not be necessary to regain admission to the classroom, but students still infected would not be allowed back until treated successfully.
• Warren Smith, 57, of Willmar, his wife Betty, 53, their oldest daughter Sherideth Fuchs, 36, and her husband all lost their lives in a fatal plane crash at Reno, Nevada on Monday. Warren, the youngest brother of Dorothy Callahan and a cousin of Floyd Peterson, both of Verndale, was a Verndale High School graduate. He was the owner of a large truck fleet and had formerly been associated with Pollman Transfer at Wadena. They are survived by four other daughters.
15 Years Ago, January 28, 2010
• On January 14, Danny Lee Bettcher of Wadena was sentenced in Otter Tail County District Court to four years in prison for his 27th DWI conviction—a Minnesota record. Bettcher has spent more than four years behind bars for a prior drunk driving offense and was most recently arrested for consuming a few beers and Jagermeister before driving his motorcycle through a four-way stop.
• State aid payments totaling $875,498 will likely be withheld from Independent School District No. 818 this spring due to the state’s cash flow problems. Verndale Superintendent/Principal Paul Brownlow announced the news during the Verndale School Board meeting. However, the state law requires the legislature to pay the money back no later than June 20, and the district is in good financial shape and does not have to borrow money at this time.
• The Snow Daze senior candidates are Jonathon Kohlhase, Kristen Goddard, Caleb Burczyk, Darian Nadgwick, Justin Kern, Leah Mills, Nathan Wiese and Brianna Kimber. Coronation will be held on Monday, February 8. The MCs are Sammi Rutter and Nathan Dunbar. Junior attendants are Kaitlyn Bounds and Jacob Perius. Sophomore attendants are Kory Stave and Crystal Kay Weeks. Freshmen attendants are Ashley Denny and Ben Horstmann. Junior royalty are first graders Dusty Koval and Lilliana Ash.