Neighbors

Catching up with T.O.Injured Lake Mills football player

Tyler Olson now goes to India to get stem cell injections in the hopes that the 19-year-old quadriplegic can walk again. He says, “I just want to be like everybody else.”

Name that buildingHow well do you know your small-

town edifices? Put the names to the places in these Freeborn County communities: Twin Lakes, Emmons, Glenville, Hayward, Hollandale and Geneva.

InsIde

By Michelle [email protected]

NEW RICHLAND — The results from fundraising efforts to help folks in need after floodwaters ravaged the town of New Richland still astonishes Pam and Larry Goehring to this day.

Pam, chairwoman of the New Richland Benefit Com-mittee, and her husband and right-hand-man of op-erations, Larry, spearheaded fundraising efforts, which have now topped $49,000.

“You can never underesti-mate the power of a commu-nity binding together to help each other,” said Pam.

Thursday, Sept. 23, 2010, is a day most people of New Richland will never forget.

Twelve inches of rain fell that day, causing a drainage ditch that runs through the town to overflow. That same ditch flows into Boot Creek two miles west of town, and Boot Creek empties into the Le Sueur River three miles northwest of town. But the system wasn’t meant to carry

this much water away from the city at once, resulting in flooding.

More than 125 homes were damaged, the New Richland Care Center was evacuated and several other businesses in town were temporarily shut down. Damages were estimated at $2 million.

Because the town is not considered a flood zone, neither the residents nor the businesses had flood insur-ance. Because insurance typically won’t cover damages from floods, this meant hom-eowners and small business owners would be paying for these damages out of pocket.

“We immediatedly thought people are going to need help with this,” Pam said.

The following Monday, she and Larry set up a flood-relief fund account at the State Bank of New Richland.

“Pam said we need to do a benefit,” Larry said.

The planning for the New Richland Flood Relief Benefit started immediately. Pam, who had assisted in only one other benefit for an ill

classmate the prior year, got on her e-mail and Facebook accounts and began sending messages for help.

About a week later, Pam had formed a committee of people to help plan a benefit.

“From the very first meet-ing, we had a lot of individu-als volunteer to help get food because they worked at Kwik Trip, Hy-Vee, Walmart and Mrs. Gerry’s,” Larry said. “By the second meeting, they had talked to their bosses, and we had all of the food donated.”

People who weren’t getting food donations were getting items donated for the auction and money donated to help.

“People just knew people who just knew people,” said Pam.

And while their efforts were to benefit the people and businesses of New Rich-land, they had local business-es in turn trying to help out.

“I said, ‘No, we’re trying to raise money to help you; we don’t want your donation,’ but they insisted,” said Pam. “It was just stunning to see the generosity.”

One local resident, an over-the-road trucker, solicited donations on his runs back and forth to the East Coast. The Facebook messages and e-mail messages begging people to donate “from the bottoms of our soggy hearts” resulted in donations and silent auction items from Florida to Washington, New York to Colorado and even California.

“We had a lot of items from the professional sports teams in the Twin Cities,” Larry said.

By the time of the benefit, Nov. 6, everything was in place, and everything from the food to the silent auction, live auction and bake sale items were donated. Pam said they ended up paying $200 for expenses incurred.

The surprises came all night long. More than 700 people attended the event. The bake sale alone raised more than $1,000.

At the end of the night, the Goehrings were astonished

Photo by Michelle Haacke/Graphic by Stacey BahrPam and Larry Goehring of New Richland weathered the September rains, then organized a benefit for flood victims.

Flood FightersThey organized an event that raised $23,000 for victims in New Richland; people keep giving Heroes:

Pam and Larry GoehringSecret Identities: Pam is the

chairwoman of New Richland Benefit Committee; Larry is retired and Pam’s right-hand man with the committee

Base of operations: 211 First St. NW, New Richland

Superpowers: They know a lot of people and were good at get-ting them all together for the New Richland Flood Relief Benefit in October.

Kryptonite: They had little expe-rience with putting on a benefit.

Origin: Pam is originally from New Richland. Together, they have lived in the community for years and know many people through their involvement with a number of organizations, including the local food shelf. In just over one month’s time, Pam and Larry formed a flood-relief fund and organized the benefit to help those whose homes and businesses were damaged in the flooding on Sept. 22. Although the benefit was in November, they still receive donations to the flood relief fund. To date, their efforts have raised $42,200 to help the people of New Richland.

4Goehrings, Page 7

400 layoffs are estimated

because of downsizing at the Cummins Filtra-

tion plant in Lake Mills, as it prepares to move a portion of its facility to Mexico. Although the company has delayed a major downsizing to the second business quarter of 2011, Cummins has already let more than 150 employees go. Cum-mins is projected to lay off another 200 workers in the spring.

1/4 of the work-force in Lake

Mills — population 2,140 — will be affected by the layoffs. It’s estimated to affect 73 students in the Lake Mills school

district whose parents work at the plant, 35 married couples with both husband and wife working at the plant, 130 employees with Lake Mills addresses and 80 employees with Albert Lea addresses.

3 people, Hoffman, Mark Skaar of KIOW

radio and Carol Peterson of the Iowa State Ex-tension Service, joined forces to form the Com-munity Cares Coalition. With Lake Mills already reeling from layoffs at the Winnebago plant, Hoff-man spearheaded this co-

alition to bring together local resources to assist people being laid off.

7 categories of com-munity support are

represented in the CCC: financial/budgeting as-sistance, food banks and food assistance, health/medical/dental/family resources, housing, men-tal health/counseling, workforce/employment and utility assistance/weatherization. More than 50 phone numbers of local people and agen-cies are listed in the CCC directory for those who need assistance to call.

By Andrew [email protected]

LAKE MILLS, Iowa — Tyler Olson’s doctors think the 19-year-old quadriplegic will some-day walk again. His stepfather, Bart Winter, expects him to. And the family is wasting no time or resource in making that happen.

In January, Olson began a three-month stay at Nu Tech Mediworld in New Dehli, India, where he receives daily embry-onic stem cell injections into his injured spinal column and rigorous physical therapy, which he refers to as “boot camp.”

Accompanied by his sister, Kessa Olson, and lifetime friend, Luke Storby, Tyler Olson hopes he finds his legs in India, but he hasn’t been prom-ised anything.

“It’s a gamble,” Winter said, of the treatments Olson will receive in New Dehli. “It can cure him and it can literally kill him. We’re siding with aggressiveness rather than passivity.”

Olson was injured in 2008 during his junior season on the Lake Mills football team. On Sept. 5 in Forest City, Iowa, Ol-

son tackled a Forest City running back on the first play from scrimmage. Ol-son’s head and shoulder jolted into the ball car-rier’s thigh pad crushing his vertebrae and sending a bone fragment into his spinal cord.

The tackle looked rou-tine but as Olson laid on the field as flat as a pan-cake he couldn’t stand up. He was paralyzed from the chest down.

“I heard a pop and was a little dazed,” Olson said, of the hit. “My friends were like ‘Get up’ and I said ‘I can’t move.’ I couldn’t tell if I was moving but I was trying really hard.”

Luckily, For-est City was the only school in the North Iowa Conference that season to have a para-medic on site. Olson was given the necessary anti-swell-ing steroid within 43 minutes of his injury and received decom-pression surgery within four hours.

“Out- side of break- ing his neck it happened in the perfect environment,” Winter said.

Olson spent four months at St. Marys hos-pital in Rochester and has since received treatment in Mason City, Forest City and Lake Mills.

Two and 1/2 years since the injury, Olson

has regained a numb feeling from his chest down, developed a stronger voice and has improved his ability to move his arms. His fingers don’t work so to grip something he uses his wrists.

The basement of his parents house has been converted into an apart-ment where Olson can watch TV and play video games with friends. He can sit in a hot tub or

Page 2 • Albert Lea Tribune • Sunday, February 27, 2011 PROGRESS

for supportingmy education at

Lake Mills Community School!

Lake Mills Community School102 South 4th Ave. East • Lake Mills, IA 50450-1628

641-592-0881

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“Through our collective efforts we are committedto teaching & learning for all.”

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Call for information onhousing and new business

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Development Corperation203 North First Ave.W.

Lake Mills, IAE-mail: [email protected]

$1,000 Finder’s FeeTo anyone that helps bring in a

new business to Lake Mills, Iowa.The business must:

Establish a business in Lake Mills employing at least 10 people.

Have an average starting wageof at least $10 per hour.

Make a capital investmentof at least $500,000

Lake Mills has available buildingsand workforce due to an industryrelocating jobs outside the U.S.

Tyler Olson sits next to a wall of memora-bilia in his bedroom. He has autographed jerseys, footballs and baseballs as well as post-ers from his junior season on the Lake Mills football team.

Andrew Dyrdal/ Albert Lea Tribune

Michelle Haacke/Albert Lea TribuneMarilyn Hoffman is the executive director of Lake Mills Chamber Development Corp.

T h e o n e . T h e o n l y.

T.O.Tyler Olson is working toward getting back on his feet

Lake Mills, Iowa

work out with friends in an exercise room, where Olson’s buddies are able to lift weights alongside

4Olson, Page 5

Hero: Tyler OlsonSecret Identity:

First-year student at North Iowa Area Com-munity College

Base of opera-tions: Lake Mills

Strength: positive attitude

Kryptonite: ESPN’s “Sportscenter”

Origin: Olson was born in Omaha, Neb. and moved to Lake Mills, Iowa when he was one years old. Olson began playing football when he was in seventh grade.

Battling job loss By Michelle [email protected]

Hero: Marilyn Hoffman

Secret identity: executive director, Lake Mills Chamber Development Corp.

Base of Opera-tions: Lake Mills, Iowa

Superpowers: detail-oriented, com-passion for people, positive personality

Kryptonite: keep-ing up with new social networking forms of communication

Affiliations: husband, Jerry, two daughters, one son and eight grandchildren

Origin: She worked for the Lake Mills Graphic and then Winn-Worth Betco before becoming the first staff person at Lake Mills Chamber Development Corp. in 2001. The economic-development agency was the former Lake Mills Chamber of Commerce and Lake Mills Development Group.

By the numbers:

PROGRESS NEIGHBORS Sunday, February 27, 2011 • Albert Lea Tribune • Page 3

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Sarah Stultz/Albert Lea TribuneManchester Township’s grader and snowplow operator Doug Jacobs has worked for 10 years to make sure the roads in this township are passable.

Hero: Doug JacobsSecret identity: grader, snowplower,

corn and soybean farmerBase of operations: Manchester

TownshipSuperpowers: staying out of the

ditchKryptonite: eating candy bars while

plowing snowAffiliations: wife, Diane, five grown

childrenOrigin: Ten years ago, a Manchester

Township supervisor asked Jacobs if he wanted to become the township’s grader and snowplower.

And he’s been doing it ever since. With 34 miles of roads in the town-

ship, he grades the gravel roads in the spring and summer and then clears them of snow in the winter.

Thanks to Jacobs, township residents are able to travel the roads safely.

He said during the winter, he goes by the state and county highway official’s rules as to when to go out and plow.

If visibility is bad, he doesn’t go out. Usually, he said, he ventures out to

clear the snow at 4 or 5 a.m.; other times, he waits until a storm passes and then goes out in the evening.

“It’s kind of like snowmobiling — it’s a rush,” Jacobs said.

He noted that while he tries not to go in the ditch, he has an agreement with Hartland Township to pull him out if it does happen. He offers the same service if the Hartland operator goes off the road.

Michelle Haacke/Albert Lea TribuneJeremy Parpart of New Richland stands next to a New Richland Fire Department firetruck.

Hero: Jeremy ParpartSecret Identity: assistant fire chief of the New

Richland Fire Department and chief of the New Richland ambulance crew

Base of Operations: New RichlandSuperpowers: getting resources together quickly Kryptonite: not knowing when rising waters

would stopAffiliations: two sonsOrigin: Parpart was the leading force in coordi-

nating the sandbagging operations that ultimately saved the New Richland Care Center when heavy rains on Sept. 22 caused the overflow of a drain-age ditch that runs into Boot Creek.

Within the span of an hour, he had used his re-sources to line up sandbags, sand, equipment and volunteers.

“The water rose two feet within three hours and I said we need to get the people out of here,” he told officials just before the New Richland Care Center evacuated.

The people Parpart called set a chain reaction in motion, calling more people for help, who then called even more people for even more help.

“It was just unreal when the volunteers showed up,” he said.

By the end of the day, more than 350 volunteers had bagged up more than 1,500 tons of sand. The work saved the nursing home for worse damage.

Chief 2 Hats By Michelle [email protected]

Motor GraderMojo

By Sarah [email protected]

NEWRICHLANDONTHEROADThis feature publishes 4 times throughout the year. If you would like your New Richland area busi-ness advertised here, please call Catherine at (507) 379-3428.

Page 4 • Albert Lea Tribune • Sunday, February 27, 2011 PROGRESS NEIGHBORS

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Jon Theuer/Albert Lea TribuneKory Olson stands outside Worth Mutual Insurance in Manly, Iowa. Olson is an insurance agent and went into the family business with his dad and uncle.

By Jon [email protected]

NORTHWOOD, Iowa — Kory Olson spends most of his day in his office in Manly, Iowa, working as an agent for Worth Mutual Insurance.

When he’s not in his office, Olson is working on another important project close to his heart.

Olson is the president of the Northwood-Kensett Athletic Complex Committee. Its members are busy raising money in hopes of securing the funds to dramati-cally upgrade the athletic complex at Northwood-Kensett High School.

The current facilities at Northwood-Kensett High School, according to Olson, haven’t been upgraded in nearly 40 years.

Currently, the track at N-K High is a dirt track, which Olson says gives the athletes an unfair ad-vantage when competing against other schools.

“I think the only track meet we have on a dirt track is our own,” Olson said. “Most of the meets are on all-weather tracks. We just kind of have an unfair advantage having to practice on a dirt track all the time.”

Along with the track, Olson said the bleachers and press box are in need of major upgrading along with the score-board at the football field.

“The bleach-ers and the press box are in need of major upgrad-ing,” Olson said. “And the score-board, I’ve seen a picture of the backside of it and it works, but it’s just about falling down. It needs major upgrades.”

The new upgrades would take care of all of those problems. They would include a new track and upgrades to the bleachers, press box and scoreboard at the football field among other things.

“Well, its going to be an eight-lane Olympic all-weather track,” Olson said. “The football field is also going to take on some construction. It will have a new scoreboard, new bleachers, just kind of an update on the whole facility.”

The Athletic Com-plex idea started in July when the school board members contacted the booster club and told them they were inter-ested in this project and to see if they could help raise money. The booster club agreed and then went to work on organiz-ing a committee to help.

“We kind of picked out 10 to 12 people who we wanted to form a com-mittee to spearhead the money involvement part of the project. The school has the say in the con-struction of the project, we’re just spearheading the fundraising part of it.”

While Olson originally was slated to be the vice president of the commit-tee, the president they

originally selected had conflicting issues and had to step down from the committee. Olson then volunteered to take the position as president.

“Kory stepped in as president when our former president stepped down,” committee mem-ber Troy Christensen said. “Kory is in town, he’s able to dedicate time to calling people and making contacts.”

N-K girls’ coach Ryan Severson says since tak-ing over Olson has done a wonderful job.

“He was vice president at the start and then took over,” Severson said. “He’s doing a great job.”

The committee usually tries to meet every week and discuss what project they can do during the week to help raise money.

“For the most part we have been kind of meet-ing every week,” Olson said. “We will get over to one of the committee member’s houses and sit down and meet and discuss what our next project is going to be or our we going to a tailgate for this event.”

As president, Olson said he really just con-ducts the meetings and makes sure to bring up the important things they need to talk about.

“Just conducting the meetings is the really big part,” Olson said. “And trying to bring up the things that we need to talk about at each meeting.”

Several people on the committee and in the community give Olson praise for the work he’s done.

“He’s got a good rap-port with people, and he’s a good person to be in charge and get things done,” N-K football coach and boys’ track coach Dave Capitani said.

Vice president Gary Hennigar said everything runs very smooth with Olson as president.

“Everybody loves Kory,” Hennigar said. “Having him as president

makes everything run real smooth.”

Treasurer Kim Hengesteg said Olson’s background having grown up in Northwood, along with raising three kids who were involved with sports, is important and he’s done a great job.

“He originally comes from here,” Kim Hengesteg said. “He has raised three kids, all of whom have been involved in sports. He’s been a great president for orga-nizing things and putting them together.”

While Olson holds the role as president, he says the whole committee plays a huge role and that everyone has done a great job.

“Our commit-tee has been so good,” Olson said. “When we need something done it gets done. We do concession stands at the football games and a lot of our parents are football people. So we called in one of our arms and they were there you

know and it always gets done.”

Currently, Olson and the N-K-AC commit-tee have raised close to $315,000 with donations coming from the North-wood-Kensett school board, local businesses in the community, alumni of Northwood-Kensett along with raising money themselves in a different variety of ways.

Among the donations the committee received was from alumnus Paul Adams.

Adams donated $50,000 to the project and issued a challenge to alums and businesses that if anyone matched the donation, either alone or as a group, he would maybe consider giving

more toward the project.“The principal ap-

proached us and we had a tailgate just before the first football game,” Olson said. “He approached us then and said there was an anonymous donor out there that wanted to donate $50,000 and he’s been in contact with him through all this time. He wanted to remain anonymous. Just about three weeks ago he got a hold of the principal and said it’s time. If you want you can release my name and throw that challenge out there that if anybody matches this whether it is another alumnus or a business or a group of businesses or group of alumni or whatever. If anybody wanted to match it the challenge is out there that he would pos-sibly give some more.”

With this project, Ol-son feels not only will it help the school, but it will also help the community as well.

“It just brings people into town,” Olson said of the track meets. “They’re not only spending money at the concession stand they’re all over. A track meet you know doesn’t just last an hour. When we go it usually starts at 4 and were leaving at 9:30. People are there for quite a while.”

Along with helping the community, Olson feels this project will help make the school viable over the long haul.

“It’s just kind of some-thing everybody’s wanted to keep this school viable here,” Olson said. “If we just let it go, our chances of keeping this school as a viable school without merging with somebody are going to be gone.”

Olson also hopes that with the completion of the track, the school will be able to host to eight or nine track meets a year and hopes to hold the con-ference meet at the track and other events, too.

Olson says they will take donations right up to when they expect to start construction on the athletic complex which he hopes to start after the track season in May/June of 2012.

If you would like to do-nate to the Northwood-Kensett Athletic Complex project, you can visit the Northwood-Kensett school website and click on boosters to get a donation form or you can send a check made out to NK-AC to treasurer Kim Hengesteg at NSB Bank, ATTN: Kim Hengesteg, PO Box 288 Northwood, Iowa 50489. All dona-tions are tax deductible.

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The Booster Rocket Hero: Kory Olson

Secret identity: In-surance Agent, Worth Mutual Insurance

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Superpowers: Mo-tivated, Hard working, Family oriented

Kryptonite: Likes sports.

Affiliations: wife, Sherry; sons Bryan, Jayson and Shayne

Origin: He went into the family busi-ness with his dad and uncle, becoming an agent at Worth Mutual Insurance.

Andrew Dyrdal/Albert Lea TribuneThe scoreboard at the Northwood-Kensett High School athletic facility looms in the background as football players wait for the referee to spot a ball during a game in August.

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him while he uses an electronic stimulation bike to help circulation and prevent atrophy in his legs and arms.

His room is filled with gifted memorabilia including signed jerseys, footballs and baseballs of some of his favorite players and posters from when he played football, basketball and baseball for Lake Mills.

He has a pad any 19-year-old would envy, but still doesn’t have his legs — that’s where New Dehli comes in.

“I just want to be like

everybody else,” Olson said. “To be success-ful and have a family someday.”

Olson works with Dr. Geeta Schraff, director of the fertility clinic at Nu Tech Mediworld. From one donated embryo, she has reproduced stem cells and treated more than 600 patients.

Olson is her latest and the embryonic stem cells that are introduced into his spinal column will hopefully be a catalyst in reproducing nerves, creating a bypass around the injured area so that his brain can finally again

communicate with the lower half of his body and rejuvenate scar tissue.

According to Winter, Schraff has had a lot of success working with em-

bryonic stem cells and all signs to point to success for Olson, too, because he has just one thing wrong with him — an interrupt-ed spinal cord.

1 The number of gas stations in the town of Clarks Grove,

which has a population of 734, according to the 2000 US Census. Just east of the town, the Go-Pher Stop gas station and convenience store has been a fixture, with its mammoth walleye statue easily visible from Interstate 35.

5.7 The number of miles from the intersec-

tion of Interstate 90 and Interstate 35 to the Go-Pher Stop. The gas sta-tion is located just west of exit 18 on Interstate 35.

2001 The year Bruce

and Jennie Nielsen pur-chased the Go-Pher Stop. Prior to that, it was called Boyer’s Gopher Stop. The building was originally The Fisherman Stop, which had an archery range and fishing sup-plies while also serving as a gas station. The giant walleye statue that still stands outside the station originally marked The Fisherman Stop.

3 The number of gas stations owned by the Nielsen’s. They

also own a Cenex gas

station in Hartland and the Gopher Stop North in Ellendale.

“But of course, our store is the best,” Schmidt said jokingly.

7 The number of employees at the Go-Pher Stop, which

includes manager Sandi Schmidt of Albert Lea, Debra Moe of Alden, Christi Dawson of Hart-land, André Converse and Terra Miller of Freeborn,

and Levi Waltz, Sara Jo Luna and Brady Ebert, all of Clarks Grove.

11 The number of combined years experience for

Go-Pher Stop employees. Schmidt, who is Bruce Nielsen’s sibling, has worked for him on and off for five years. Jennie Nielsen said the Go-Pher has a good atmosphere for a small town.


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Adam Harringa/Albert Lea TribuneLike Charlie’s Angels, the clerks at the Go-Pher Stop come to the rescue, only it is for many wary travelers on Interstate 35. They also lighten the day for many usual customers from the Clarks Grove area. Clarks Grove Go-Pher Stop clerks from left are Debra Moe, Sandi Schmidt, manager, and Christi Dawson. Schmidt said the group enjoys a laid-back work environment that includes sometimes pulling pranks on their usual customers.

The Clerks of Clarks GroveBy Adam [email protected] the numbersHeroes:

Debra Moe, Sandi Schmidt, Christi Dawson, Levi Waltz, Sara Jo Luna, André Converse, Terra Miller and Brady Ebert

Secret identities: Gas station clerksBase of operations: Go-Pher Stop, Clarks

GroveSuperpowers: The clerks make the Go-Pher

Stop the place to go in Clarks Grove by offering a friendly, small-town atmosphere and they’re always up for sharing a laugh with customers.

kryptonite: Some of the clerks take having fun seriously, by playing pranks on the regulars. How-ever, Schmidt, the manager, says customers are quick to return the favor.

affiliations: The Clarks Grove Go-Pher Stop is owned by Jennie and Bruce Nielsen of Hartland. The Nielsens own two other gas stations.

Origin: The Go-Pher Stop was originally The Fisherman Stop, and the Nielsens purchased the station in 2001.

“It is a small business, and we’re a small corporation, and because it’s a small group of people, it’s a good location,” Jennie said.

“It’s homey,” Schmidt added. “A lot of [the atmosphere] is based on the customers we have come in here, but it’s also because of our personalities.”

Once every few weeks, the

Go-Pher Stop employees pull a prank on a customer or coworker. Schmidt is the first to admit the employees are known around Clarks Grove for their practical jokes. Everything from greasing door handles to wrapping a vehicle in plastic wrap; Schmidt said they are always up for a little fun. A lot of times, Schmidt said customers

will get them back, too.“We come into work, and it’s

a spur-of-the-moment thing,” Schmidt said. “We decide who we’re going to pick on, and that’s our victim.

“It’s a laid-back environment. All I care is that we get our work done, but you also have to have time to play around.”

About the Go-Pher Stop:

Olson: Will stem cells grow spinal cord nerves?Continued from Front Page

By Ed [email protected]

HARTLAND — A small park at the main intersection of Hartland and across from Farm-ers State Bank evolved in 2009 in what had been an empty lot. And what resulted is a new gazebo, flower gardens and a wall with murals of past scenes in Hartland.

Years ago this lot was the site of Sibilrud’s Gro-cery. In time, the grocery store ceased operations and the lot eventually became city property.

The heroes who created this compact park are the City Council, the volun-teers who donated their time to this project, and the people who provided the financial donations and grants that made this park possible.

Over the past few years, the city has undergone a beautification pro-cess. Corners have been spruced, landscaping has been planted and a gazebo will be built.

A large part of the project is a park, mural and gazebo on the corner of Johnson Street and Broadway Avenue — an

intersection in the middle of town at a four-way stop.

Artist Steve DeLaitsch painted the mural on the Olson Excavating build-ing, 615 Broadway Ave. Adjacent to the building is a green space that was forfeited by back taxes. Soon it will be a park with walkways, landscaping and a gazebo.

“It’s kind of a city proj-ect,” said city council-

woman Linda Pederson.The project, she

said, was made pos-sible through many local businesses and people. Work will be done by 4-H students, the gazebo was donated by Larry Nelson of L&D Ag Services, Matt Staloch donated the labor for the gazebo construc-tion, Nancy Skopham-mer of Farmers State Bank donated trees and residents came together

for a spaghetti dinner to help raise funds for the muralist.

The city residents wanted to make the area a park “so people could sit and enjoy it, so that’s what we’re doing with it,” Pederson said.

The project started in 2006 when Freeborn County approached Hartland about acquiring the land at Johnson and Broadway.

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Ed Shannon/Albert Lea TribuneThe gazebo in Hartland is one of the newest gazebos in Freeborn County. It is near a mural. The two were part of a townwide beautification effort.


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Hero: Gloria I. Peterson

Secret identity: presi-dent of the Community Historical Society

Base of operations: Alden

Superpowers: ability to laugh

Kryptonite: keeping positive

Affiliations: husband, Dean; three children; seven grandchildren; eight great-grandchil-dren; dog, Harry

Origin: After Alden residents Ruben Schmidt and Lois Hem-ming-sen retired from the Commu-nity Histori-cal Society in the fall of 2009, Peterson and her of-ficers were elected to the historical society’s board, which oper-ates a museum with historical artifacts and memorabilia from Alden.

Peterson said the mu-seum was close to being shut down, and in the spring of 2010, the board members began work to spruce up and reorga-nize the building.

A new front display area was constructed on the building, a new back door was installed and the building was cleaned in-depth.

A new sign was also placed on the front of the building, a new storage area was organized in the upper level and the upstairs rooms were wall-papered or painted.

Six new display cases were also made by stu-dents at Alden-Conger School, among other improvements.

The museum contains pieces unique to Alden’s history and its residents.

“I think we’ve surprised the community with what’s in here,” Peterson said. “We have some things even larger muse-ums don’t have.”

Hero: Phyllis Meyer

Secret iden-tity: secretary of

the Commu-nity Historical Society

Base of operations: Alden

Superpowers: learn-ing to compromise, looking for good ways to do things economically, writing

Kryptonite: gets upset when people don’t show their support

Affiliations: 14 chil-dren, 28 grandchildren, 11 great-grandchildren

Origin: Meyer, who got involved with the histori-cal society in the fall of 2009, has always loved history. She said she loves genealogy, too.

She emphasized the society’s mission state-ment: “Preserving the past for the future.”

Hero: Marg ButeSecret identity: treasurer of the Community His-

torical SocietyBase of operations: AldenSuperpowers: balancing the checkbook, paying

bills, taking old things and cleaning them upKryptonite: loves chocolate, sometimes is a little

short on patienceAffiliations: husband, Jim, seven children, 15

grandchildren, two great-grandchildrenOrigin: Bute was elected to the Community Histori-

cal Society in the fall of 2009. “I have always enjoyed history, passing things from

the past onto the younger people,” she said.

Alden’s Keepers

By Sarah [email protected]

By Tim [email protected]

Photo by Sarah StultzCutout by Stacey Bahr

Hero: Jazzlyn JohnsonSecret identity: NRHEG fourth-grade studentBase of operations: Hollandale

Hero: Oakley BakerSecret identity: NRHEG sixth-grade studentBase of operations: Geneva

Hero: Maci SuratSecret identity: NRHEG sixth-grade studentBase of operations: New Richland

Hero: Ben LewerSecret identity: NRHEG fifth-grade studentBase of operations: New Richland

Hero: Olivia ChristophersonSecret identity: NRHEG fourth-grade studentBase of operations: New Richland

Hero: Chris StenzelSecret identity: NRHEG fifth-grade studentBase of operations: New Richland

Hero: Sierra JohnsonSecret identity: NRHEG fourth-grade studentBase of operations: Hollandale

Heroes: All NRHEG Elementary School students

Secret identity: represented on this page by the NRHEG Elementary School Student Council

Superpowers: willing to help people in need; feel heartache for children with leuke-mia and lymphoma

Weaknesses: spaghetti, chocolate or gum

Affiliations: All students at NRHEG El-ementary School are like family.

Origin: They were elected to the Student Council by their classmates at the start of the school year. With these powers in Janu-ary, they collected the money raised from their classmates and give the pennies, nick-els, dimes, quarters and dollars to Principal Doug Anderson.

ELLENDALE — In January, the 500 students at New Rich-land-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva Elementary School pooled their coins and bills in a fundraiser called Pennies for Patients.

The goal of the community service project was to raise $500 with just spare change, and the funds would go toward the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

Each day on the week of Jan. 10, students brought different money:

Monday was pennies.Tuesday was nickels.Wednesday was dimes.Thursday was quarters.Friday was dollars.In the early 1960s, only 1 in 25 children

survived leukemia. Today, more than 8 in 10 with acute lymphocytic leukemia survive. However, leukemia still causes more deaths than any other cancer among children and young adults under the age of 20.

Pennies for Patients

Hero: Kyra PossinSecret iden-tity: NRHEG fifth-grade studentBase of operations: New Richland

Hero: Jeanette LorenzSecret identity: vice president of the Community Historical SocietyBase of operations: AldenSuperpowers: determinationKryptonite: eatingAffiliations: three daughters, 12 grandchildren, two great-grandchildrenOrigin: Lorenz was elected to the Community Historical Society in the fall

of 2009. She has lived in Alden for seven years.

Photos by Tim EngstromCutouts by Stacey Bahr


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While West Free-born Lutheran Church wasn’t hit or damaged at all during the June 17 tornadoes, much of the surrounding area was.

Congregants from the church, like the Chris-tophersons and Millers, wanted to help their neighbors but were un-sure how to do so. After one tornado victim men-tioned needing bathroom facilities, Dale said he’d use his key to open up the church. Just after that church members thought they’d serve a meal on June 18. The few who started the meals had no idea that more than 50 people would eventu-ally help by volunteering and donating money and food.

The church ended up hosting meals each day for 10 days after the tornadoes.

Jane said she liked being able to see tornado victims, their neighbors, talking with each other so they knew they weren’t the only ones struggling.

Dale said the people whose homes were de-stroyed didn’t have any

power to keep food cold, had no electricity and no running water. The church was kept open so they could use the bath-room, wash up and grab some food. He said as soon as word got around about the meals neigh-bors starting pitching in.

“Then the food starting coming in,” Dale said.

Shirley said they had to ask people to stop bringing food at one point, because so much had already been deliv-ered. Dennis said he was amazed the church wasn’t harmed, and glad that people could have a place to come that was clean and had resources they needed.

“We’re so glad the church was still here,” Shirley said.

The Sunday after the tornadoes hit the church had already planned a concert and meal, which they still held. Dennis said he invited everyone to take a break from their hard work cleaning up, to come in informal clothes and have some fellowship after the concert over a meal.

People eventually start-ed donating money to the church, which they didn’t need because people were also donating all the food.

What they didn’t use for supplies they donated equally to the Freeborn County Red Cross and the Salvation Army.

Volunteers said they wanted to help others because they understood

the randomness of the tornadoes, and they know it could happen again someday.

The church also advertised that they

would collect any found photos, which they are still doing. They encour-age anyone to drop off photos they’ve found, and they encourage all

tornado victims to look through the photos they have. They’ve recon-nected many people with photos and would like to continue to do so.

Kelli Lageson/Albert Lea TribuneDale Christopherson, Jane Christopherson, Dennis Frank, Shirley Miller and Curtis Miller pose for a photo in West Free-born Lutheran Church’s kitchen where they served meals for days after the June 17 tornadoes.

Submitted photoPeople visit and eat at West Freeborn Lutheran Church near the end of June after torna-does devastated much of the country surrounding the church.

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Heroes: Curtis and Shirley Miller

Base of opera-tions: near Freeborn

Superpowers: Shirley put together meals, recruited volunteers and helped feed tornado victims at West Freeborn Church last June.

Kryptonite: Shirley described not know-ing who all needed help was a struggle. Curtis said it was hard to know where to start when helping people.

Heroes: Dale and Jane Christopherson

Base of opera-tions: near Freeborn

Superpowers: Dale neglected the cleanup needed at his farm to help neighbors who had been hit worse. Jane helped organize the meals held at West Freeborn Lutheran Church after the tornadoes hit.

Kryptonite: Dale said seeing so much destruction made it overwhelming when trying to help others. Jane said she often didn’t know where to start when trying to help a victim.

Hero: The Rev. Dennis Frank

Base of opera-tions: Hartland

Strengths: Listen-ing, inquiring and find-ing people

Weaknesses: Dennis said it was often hard to find his congregants because they’d stay with fam-ily members and it was hard to ask them questions because they’d talked about the destruction so much.

W. Freeborn Lutheran Church provided meals for tornado victims for 10 days

when they learned the event had raised $23,000.

“We were just shocked. We thought maybe $10,000 if we were lucky, but never dreamed it would be what it was,” Pam said.

The flood-relief fund set up at the State Bank of New Richland has topped $20,000 and continues

to receive donations.To date, the total money raised

exceeds $49,000.Pam said that 116 checks rang-

ing from $115 to $1,000 have been doled out to people and busi-nesses in New Richland. The New Richland Ministerial Association is in charge of divvying up the funds.

Looking back, they remember all of the work involved in getting ev-eryone organized and coordinated.

When asked if they will head up another benefit in the future, Pam and Larry both let out hearty chuckles, in unison.

“If it’s for the right cause, we’d definitely do another one,” said Larry.

Goehrings: Money raised so far exceeds $49,000Continued from Page 1

Hero: Sam HintzSuperpower: volunteer firefighter in Conger; indus-

trial technology teacher at Alden-Conger School

Base of operations: Conger

Superpowers: Hintz said the fire department’s operating procedures helped everything go smoothly after the tornadoes hit in June. He said each fire-fighter was assigned certain roads, and they went to every house in their coverage area within 15 minutes.

Kryptonite: Trees and power lines in the roads made it difficult for the firefighters to get around after the storms on June 17. Hintz also said the power was out in Conger, which meant their radios didn’t work for a period of time.

Origin: Hintz is just one of the group of Conger firefighters who were out checking on people in their coverage area immediately after tornadoes touched down. He said he can’t remember what time he went to bed that night, but the next day they were again working to help people. Hintz installed a generator for a few homes on his block, and firefighters had many odd jobs like rounding up loose cattle.

“We had a crisis center in the fire hall,” Hintz said.Various suppers and lunches were served and

the fire hall served as a place people could come to clean up, use the bathroom and get a meal. Hintz said the community members pulled together to cre-ate a place where anyone could get help.

“It’s pretty amazing the way the community came all together,” Hintz said.

He said even as soon as a few hours after the tor-nadoes hit people were bringing food and supplies to the fire hall to have available for those who might need them.

The Handy Helper Man

Whether teaching shop or helping tornado victims, he is there

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Name that building!By Tim [email protected]

I snapped photos of buildings — some from straight on and some from unexpected angles — in Emmons, Geneva, Glenville, Hayward, Hol-landale and Twin Lakes.

Can you pair names in the list below to the ap-propriate structures?

Emmons__ American Legion Post 317__ Emmons Library__ Emmons Lutheran__ Northern Country Co-op__ Pheasant Links__ Security Bank Minnesota

Geneva__ Broskoff Structures__ Commerce Bank__ Community Lutheran Church__ Geneva Bar & Grill__ Geneva Community Center__ Park Apartments__ Richards Wood Products__ Southern Minnesota Electric__ Tyson

Glenville__ Com-Tec__ First Lutheran Church__ Glenville-Emmons Elementary School

__ Glenville-Emmons High School__ Glenville Grain__ Larry’s 65 Mobile__ Minne-Soy-Ta Nice__ Poet Biorefining__ SoyMor__ The Office

Hayward__ Becker Auto__ Blazing Star Trail restrooms__ Garden Diva__ Hayward Apartments__ Hayward Cooperative__ Hayward Village Center__ Lou-Rich__ Nick’s Country Store__ Shell Rock Ag

Hollandale__ Ag Power Enterprises__ Conservative Con-gregational Church__ Hollandale Chris-tian School__ Hollandale Heritage Huis__ Hollandale Rest Area__ Jones Storage__ Three-In-1

Twin Lakes__ Bauer’s Storage__ Citizens State Bank__ Mattson’s Lawn & Garden__ St. James Catholic Church__ Twin Lakes Substation

See the answers on Page 10 of this section.

E.

G.

K.

L. M.

N.

O.

P.

Q.

R.

S.

T.

U.

V. W.

H.

I.

F.

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Hero: Mike PyzickSecret identity: fire

chiefBase of operations:

Wells Fire DepartmentSuperpowers: orga-

nization, quick thinking, fire scene operations and safety for other firefighters

Kryptonite: the new changes of mandatory training, certification and reports

Affiliations: wife, Car-rie, son, Sam, 15, and daughter, Morgan, 11

Origin: Pyzick first vol-unteered as a firefighter when he was asked in 1993. He later became rescue captain for seven years followed by chief for the past six years.

By Danielle [email protected]

“It’s not a one-man show,” Pyz-ick said.

He credits his fellow officers and 25 other firefighters for their hard work and making his job much easier.

The worst call he has been to was on Jan. 15, 2010. A flashover oc-curred at a home at 500 First Ave. SW, Wells. During the flashover Pyzick along with three fellow

firefighters were involved. He was blown three feet from the north door. The other three hugged the floor in the kitchen while the com-pression passed over them. All four came out safe from the flashover. The initial fire was caused when a poorly thrown cigarette missed a 5-gallon bucket of sand. The flash-over occurred when the firefight-ers put water on the fire, throw-ing sparks into the attic hitting a combination of toxins waiting for ignition.

He said he doesn’t mind the fire calls, but the car collisions are the worst because of the extrication and not knowing what they will come upon.

With openings coming soon at the Wells Fire Department he en-courages residents to apply.

“It does take a lot of time but the rewards are worth it,” Pyzick said.

He said it’s a victory getting to save neighboring homes from damage during a fire, saving lives and helping the community.

The Fire Extinguisher

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Here is the answer key for the “Name that building!” feature on pages 8 and 9.A. Emmons LibraryB. Richards Wood ProductsC. Southern Minnesota ElectricD. Geneva Community CenterE. Emmons Lutheran ChurchF. Hayward CooperativeG. Bauer’s StorageH. The OfficeI. Nick’s Country StoreJ. Hollandale Christian SchoolK. Hayward Village CenterL. Shell Rock AgM. Community Lutheran ChurchN. Geneva Bar & GrillO. Northern Country Co-opP. Hollandale Rest AreaQ. Mattson’s Lawn & GardenR. Twin Lakes SubstationS. Garden DivaT. Com-TecU. Jones’ Storage

V. Glenville-Emmons Elementary SchoolW. Minne-Soy-Ta NiceX. American Legion Post 317Y. Ag Power EnterprisesZ. Hayward ApartmentsAA. Lou-RichBB. Commerce BankCC. Pheasant LinksDD. Larry’s 65 MobileEE. Poet BiorefiningFF. Security Bank MinnesotaGG. SoyMorHH. First Lutheran ChurchII. St. James Catholic ChurchJJ. Hollandale Heritage HuisKK. TysonLL. Blazing Star Trail restroomsMM. Conservative Congregational ChurchNN. Citizens State BankOO. Glenville GrainPP. Park ApartmentsQQ. Becker AutoRR. Three-In-1SS. Broskoff StructuresTT. Glenville-Emmons High School

Brie Cohen/Albert Lea TribuneFirefighters spray water on the house at 500 First Ave SW in Wells from a bucket attached to a fire truck on the afternoon of Jan. 15, 2010.

Wells firefighters battle a blaze on Jan. 15, 2010, that started out as a flashover.

Cold temperatures made water turn to ice fast on Jan. 15, 2010. Neighbors gathered to watch the firefighters.

Photo by Danielle Boss/ Cutout by Stacey Bahr

Answers to the quiz!

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