Living History

5 years ago

Excerpts from the July 18, 2002 Pioneer Journal

• Missing Hewitt man found

The search for an 86-year-old man in the marshes near Hewitt ended successfully early Tuesday morning with help from a heat-sensing State Patrol helicopter. Ground searchers found Irwin James Lee responsive and lying in deep brush at about 5:45 a.m. after the helicopter crew spotted Lee and hovered above his location.

• National Honor Society reinstated

The National Honor Society chapter at Wadena Deer Creek High School was reinstated at Monday's school board meeting. The board had dissolved the chapter in May 2002, and school board members said they were dissatisfied with the progress on making the application process to the group more objective.

• County workers threaten strike if agreement fails

Public health nurses and other Wadena County union employees said they could strike as soon as July 19 if a contract dispute wasn't settled. Teamsters Local 320 voted in a July 8 meeting to strike within 10 days if wage and health insurance needs weren't met. (The strike was averted with an 11th hour agreement.)
10 years ago

Excerpts from the July 17, 1997 Pioneer Journal

• Wadena County gears up for welfare reform

A report showed county social service workers were struggling to explain and prepare for the newly passed welfare reform bill. A $50 "pass through" on Aid to Families with Dependent Children was eliminated.
"I know I'd notice if my paycheck was all of a sudden reduced by $50," said Jean Stokes, Wadena County financial assistance supervisor.

• Car hits buggy by Deer Creek

An accident involving a car and a horse-drawn buggy on Highway 210 near Deer Creek on July 3 left one person injured. Henry Borntregger, 34, Deer Creek, was treated for minor injuries.

• Kempf farm honored at fair

Ambrose Kempf's farm became the 16th Wadena County to be honored as a "Century Farm" at the Minnesota State Fair.
25 years ago

Excerpts from the July 21, 1982 Pioneer Journal

• Mayor of Wadena, meet the mayor of Wadena

Bob Tapley, mayor of Wadena, Minn., and Eugene Zagrodney, mayor of Wadena, Saskatchewan, Canada, met here as Zagrodney was taking a family trip through the area and stopped in to see the town of the same name. Wadena, Saskatchewan drew its name from the Minnesota version when Otto Benjamin Tolen moved to Canada in 1904 and made a home on the prairie, dubbing the town Wadena. The Canadian National Railway came soon after, and the town grew to about 1,500 by 1982.

• Computer costs city $124,427

The Wadena City Council voted 4-1 to approve the purchase of an IBM 34 computer system at a bid price of $74,365 and software. The cost of the system over a five-year period was expected to be $124,427.

• Longie tees up ace

KWAD radio man John Longie got a hole-in-one at the Wadena Golf Course last Wednesday.
40 years ago

Excerpts from the July 20, 1967 Pioneer Journal

• Olympic torch passes through Wadena

A team of relay runners will bring the Olympic torch through Wadena on Highway 10 en route to Winnipeg for the 1967 Pan American Games. Governor Harold LeVander presented the lighted torch to runners on the steps of the State Capitol on July 17.

• 3 pound cucumber draws curiosity

A three-pound cucumber that appears freshly picked from the patch rests atop the cash register at Tappe's Palace Café in Wadena. The size is of no consequence, but the vegetable appears perfectly fresh even though no preservative was placed on the exterior of the cucumber - despite being picked one year ago and brought in then by Willie Kicker in Browerville.
60 years ago

Excerpts from the July 17, 1947 Pioneer Journal

• Skywriter over Wadena Tuesday

A sky show, enacted against the world's biggest backdrop, took place over Wadena Tuesday evening when Pepsi-Cola Skywriter Arnold Laird wrote the words "Pepsi Cola" at an altitude of 12,000 feet. Arrangements for Laird's appearance over the city were made by Wayne Kopp of the Wadena Bottling Works.

• [I'm sure they didn't mean it that way]: "Swim trunks: 1/3 off" at Stern and Field [from their ad in the newspaper. Some might say swimsuits are one-third off today!]