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Munden a top fundraiser in polar plungeby Dennis Dalmannews@thenewsleaders.com

For taking an ice-cold plunge, MaryBeth Munden of St. Joseph raised almost $1,700 for the Minnesota Spe-cial Olympics.

She was one of the two top fundraisers among the 1,000 “plungers” who took an icy dip into a lake at Maple Grove Feb. 2. It was the third of 16 “Polar Bear Plunge” events scheduled for this winter throughout Minnesota. Spon-sored by law-enforcement agencies, the plunge events raise funds, through pledges, for Special Olympics Minne-sota.

This was Munden’s fourth time in a Polar Bear Plunge, which is now in its 16th year.

“It was cold, but it was fun,” Munden said. “The temperature was about 15 de-grees. But we all had a good time. And they had the event set up really well this year so we didn’t stay cold for long. Right after our plunge, we sat in hot tubs for awhile.”

The 1,000 plungers, di-vided into smaller teams, all took their frigid plunge

Rajkowski reacts to sentencing

by Dennis Dalmannews@thenewsleaders.com

Jodi Rajkowski knows all too well the sentencing of the man who caused her husband’s death won’t bring her husband back, but she’s hoping Ron’s death might cause drivers to

contributed photo

Ron Rajkowski was killed Oct. 13, 2011 when a car veered into a construction site along a road in Burnsville. A co-worker, Craig Carlson of Ram-sey, was also killed.

within one hour.Munden had two fellow

team members – her boy-friend, Rick Welch of Sartell; and her long-time friend since childhood, Jill Vonfeldt, who flew to Minnesota from Col-orado for the event. Munden, who is the dispatcher for the St. Joseph Police Department, grew up in Colorado.

So far, the Maple Grove Po-lar Plunge raised $126,231, but those are only online pledges, and more are still coming in.

Plunge • page 5

contributed photo

Holding hands and gritting their teeth, MaryBeth Mun-den of St. Joseph and Rick Welch of Sartell prepare to take the plunge Feb. 2 at a lake in Maple Grove. The cou-ple and their teammate, Jill Vonfeldt of Colorado, raised nearly $1,700 for the Min-nesota Special Olympics for their brave participation in the “Polar Bear Plunge.” The Maple Grove plunge is one of 16 scheduled for this win-ter throughout the state. It’s sponsored by law-enforce-ment agenices throughout Minnesota.

slow down and not drive fool-ishly – especially in work zones.

Last week, a Dakota County judge sentenced Kirk Edward Deamos, 23, to 30 days in jail and 200 hours of community service, as well as a fine of $100. Earlier, Deamos, who is from Raymore, Mo., pleaded guilty to one count of care-less driving, which is a misde-meanor. The stiffest sentence Deamos could have received was up to 90 days in jail, a $1,000 fine and possibly a resti-tution amount.

On Oct. 13, 2011, Deamos was driving on Hwy. 35W in Burnsville when his car veered to the side into a construction site, striking two workmen and killing them. The workers were Ron Rajkowski, 44, of St. Jo-seph; and Craig Carlson, 47, of Ramsey.

According to the prosecutor in the case, Deamos could not be charged with a felony for two reasons: He was not under the influence of drugs or alco-hol at the time of the incident

and he did not flee the scene. Therefore, gross negligence could not be proved.

The widows of Rajkowski and Carlson (Jodi and Deb), who have become friends, agreed jail time would be rather pointless for Deamos. Instead, they urged the attorneys and the judge to require Deamos to do an increased amount of community service and to ei-ther do work with children who have autism or do road work.

“We’d rather have him put in community service by work-ing on roads,” Jodi said. “That might help him understand the dangers those workers (con-struction workers and law en-forcement) have to face every day.”

Rajkowski and Carlson are contacting legislators, urging them to increase penalties for distracted driving, especially in work-zone areas.

“The fines should be dou-bled,” Jodi said. “These kinds of accidents can happen so quickly and so easily. We are

all guilty of sometimes being distracted while driving, but we all have to learn not to do that. These kinds of deadly incidents can happen to any of us – even to someone on the side of the road fixing a tire. We’ve got to realize that.”

Jodi said she firmly believes stricter penalties would have an impact, just as tightened penal-ties have decreased the rate of drunken driving and increased the use of seatbelts.

“There should be an auto-matic $100 fine for hitting a construction person,” she said.

The two widows are also pushing for enhanced safety features at roadway construc-tion sites, such as more barri-ers.

“It’s so sad,” Jodi said. “There’s nothing we can do for Ron or Craig, but at least we can try to get something done before it happens to someone else. Those workers out there are doing their jobs and work-ing on our behalf. We should

Rajkowski • page 4

Council hosts meetingabout community center

City Council representatives will host a meeting to discuss the proposed community center and elements that should be included in a facility at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 12 in the St. Jo-seph City Council Chambers. All residents are welcome.

Pastiche performsPastiche, the faculty cham-

ber music ensemble from the College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University, will present a concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 9 in Escher Auditorium in the Benedicta Arts Center on the campus of the College of St. Benedict. The program will feature a wide variety of mu-sic from Bach, Beethoven and Puccini to David Evan Thomas, Duke Ellington and others. Fea-tured performers include David Arnott (violin), Andrea Fedele (oboe), Carolyn Finley (mezzo-soprano), Marcie Hagen Givens (soprano), Ted Godbout (pia-no), Amy Grinsteiner (piano), Patricia Kent (soprano), Lucia Magney (cello), Bruce Thornton (clarinet and flute) and Edward Turley (piano). 320-363-5777.

Candlelight trails night set Feb. 15

Ski, snowshoe or hike 1.4 miles of trails by candelight from 6-9 p.m. Friday, Feb. 15 in Charles Lindbergh State Park, Little Falls. Afterward, visitors can relax in a 1938 wood-heated log-cabin-style shelter building. Ski rentals are available in Lit-tle Falls. Snowshoe rentals and vehicle permits are available at the park office. In case of bad weather call 320-616-2525. The park is located at 1615 Lind-bergh Drive S., on the southwest side of Little Falls. For more in-formation, visit www.thenews-leaders.com and click on Criers.

Volunteers sought for reading, math support

St. Cloud Area School District 742 needs volunteers to assist students with their reading flu-ency and comprehension as well as their basic math skills. Volun-teers should know basic math as well as have experience with reading. For more information on this and other United Way volunteer opportunities, visit www.thenewsleaders.com and click on Criers.

Friday, Feb. 8, 2013St. Joseph Newsleader • www.thenewsleaders.com2

Published each Friday by Von Meyer Publishing Inc.

P.O. Box 324 • 32 1st Ave. N.W. • St. Joseph, Minn. 56374Phone (320) 363-7741 • Fax (320) 363-4195 • E-mail address: news@thenewsleaders.comPOSTMASTER: Send address changes to ST. JOSEPH NEWSLEADER, P.O. Box 324, St. Joseph, MN 56374.

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Mark Lauer

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Cori Hilsgen

Publisher/Owner Janelle Von Pinnon

EditorDennis Dalman

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Blotter

M a u r a Cofell, daugh-ter of Mon-ica Cofell of St. Joseph, was recently named to the fall semes-ter principal’s honor roll at St. John’s Preparatory School, Collegeville. She is a seventh-grader at SJP. Students must

achieve a grade-point average of 3.0 to 3.499 to receive this honor.

Caleb Traut, St. Joseph, was recently named to the fall se-mester dean’s list at the Univer-sity of Minnesota-Crookston. He is undecided on his major. To qualify for this honor, stu-dents must maintain a mini-mum 3.66 grade-point average.

People

If any readers have tips concerning crimes, they should call the St. Joseph Police Department at 363-8250 or Tri-County Crime Stoppers at 255-1301 or access its tip site at www.tricountycrimestoppers.org. Crime Stoppers offers rewards up to $1,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for crimes.

Jan. 18:07 a.m. Welfare check. 4th

Avenue NE. Report of improperly dressed male in a long-sleeved

shirt and jeans walking outside improperly dressed in 6-below F. weather. Last seen walking west-bound on County Road 75 from Caseys. He said he was looking for Margeritaville. Checked area with no contact. Also checked Margeri-taville and no male had shown up there.

Jan. 212:53 p.m. Assisted with traffic

control at 10th Avenue S. and 1st Street S., Waite Park due to suicidal male. We cleared once the subject

was secured.

Jan. 313:51 p.m. Expired credit card

declined. Escorted customer from gas station at College Avenue N. to his residence to get a check to pay. All turned out OK.

18:05 p.m. Firefighters had re-ceived a call about a gas smell on Minnesota Street. Stood by until St. Joseph Fire Department arrived.

Jan. 412:53 p.m. Welfare check. 2nd

Avenue NE. Resident stated her phone was off the hook and she would be calling her daughter to let her know she was OK.

Jan. 500:39 a.m. Traffic stop. County

road 121. Transported male to jail because of felony warrants and turned vehicle over to father.

22:37 p.m. Traffic stop. Clearwa-ter road and 22nd street. Stopped a vehicle for speed. Smelled mari-juana coming from the vehicle. After investigation, the right rear passenger admitted he had mari-juana on him and gave it to officer.

Officer asked passenger to step out of the vehicle and he also gave the officer a pipe. Issued a citation for possession of small amount on a person and for possession of drug paraphernalia.

Jan. 615:33 p.m. Landlord inspection.

College Avenue N. Resident called about her landlord removing her items from the property. Advised resident to try to work this out with landlord or with a civil at-torney.

Jan. 82:50 p.m. Suspicious person.

Date Street W. Caller stated she woke up to someone outside of her bedroom yelling in a language she could not understand. Officer checked the area and was unable to locate anyone.

20:10 p.m. Verbal domestic. College Avenue S. Female stated she and her husband have been ar-guing a lot lately. She stated there had been some mutual pushing and shoving but no punches were thrown. She stated they have been getting mixed up in the apartment complex drama and they need to

get out of it because it’s making them fight. Officer advised that sounded like a good idea. She did not wish to press charges and hus-band left to run errands and cool off. She will call if things do not improve.

Jan. 92:16 p.m. Property damage.

Fifth Avenue NW. Responded to a call about an intoxicated male who had caused some property damage to a vehicle in the driveway. Male was arrested for criminal damage to property and disorderly conduct and transported to jail.

Jan. 1014:48 p.m. Dog complaint.

College Avenue S. Complaint of a barking dog in an apartment. Officer heard two dogs barking, Complaint dogs are barking at all hours and have no license. No answer and officer tried to make contact several times. Officer was finally able to make contact and explained a business card means to call back not to just tuck it away. Dog owner will call the of-fice and the city office for a dog license.

St. Benedict’s Monastery hosts Cathedral High School senior retreatby Mark Lauernews@thenewsleaders.com

Sometimes a learning ex-perience can turn out a little different than what was planned. Take the 2013 Se-nior Retreat at St. Cloud Cathedral High School, for instance.

The retreat is an annual event for the senior class at CHS, planned and implemented by the school’s campus ministry. During the past years, Cathedral seniors have met at different locations for the retreat, which is designed to provide them with a chance to bond as a class. It also gives them a chance to begin to say goodbye to one another.

Last year’s retreat was held at St. Benedict’s Monastery on the campus of the College of St. Benedict. The 2012 event was so well received by last year’s seniors this year the class of 2013 decided they wanted the same experience. So on Jan. 9, they boarded a bus, preparing to expe-rience the retreat for themselves.

But what began as their at-

tempt to get to know the nuns better turned out to be a kind of awakening for their hosts, too.

Sister Lois Wedl, OSB, is the director of vocation ministry at St. Benedict, and she was also the overseer of the day’s events. The retreat did provide the Ca-thedral seniors with a first-hand look at what monastery life is like. But they weren’t the only ones who had their eyes opened that day.

The nuns ended up receiving a gift from their guests, too.

“I think the Sisters got just as much out of interacting with the high school students,” Wedl said. “It was refreshing to have those young people come into your life again. It was definitely a mutual situation.”

When the CHS seniors arrived at St. Benedict’s Monastery, there were almost as many visitors on the scene as there were hosts. About 120 seniors made the trip, and there are 135 nuns at St. Benedict. There are an additional 132 nuns from the Benedictine community serving the outlying area in various capacities.

The CHS retreat began with a brief orientation period, and then the seniors split into five groups to take part in the day’s events.

The theme for the senior retreat was “The Journey,” and the time spent at the retreat was meant to be a chance for the students to look at the people who had been important in their lives, in shap-ing who they are and what they have become.

Many of the exercises held during the day’s retreat were focused on quiet reflection and meditation. One was called “Walking the Labyrinth,” which is a slow, quiet walk around a circular path outside the campus Spirituality Center. It’s intended to quiet the mind while thinking about the path that one’s life is taking. It’s a practice that dates back to ancient times.

“It’s a time for contempla-tion,” Sister Lois said.

Students also spent another 45-minute quiet session inside the Eucharistic Chapel in abso-lute quiet. No talking. Quite a contrast to the lives most young people lead during their school day and other social activities.

How often do teens spend 10 minutes without talking to one another?

But Sister Lois is not surprised these young people seemed to embrace the more contemplative lifestyle, if only for a day.

“I believe there is a spiritual hunger out there,” she said. “And I think a lot of young people are looking at the world and won-dering what’s going to feed that hunger.”

The students’ physical hunger was satisfied in other ways. Last year’s seniors came back from the retreat with fond memories of the food they were served at St. Benedict. The cheeseburger soup, homemade buns and Spe-cial K bars were all rated very highly. And from the sound of it, the class of 2013 enjoyed them very much, too.

“Hospitality is one of our Benedictine values, one of our intentional values,” Sister Lois said.

Sister Lois joined the Order of St. Benedict in 1949 and taught classes at CSB until two years ago. She still lives in a residence hall on campus. Wedl said she thoroughly enjoyed those many years of teaching college students from CSB and St. John’s Univer-sity, and she loves being around young people so much she makes it a point to get to as many CSB athletic events as she can.

“I am a huge Blazers fan,” she says, referring to the CSB athletic nickname.

Sister Lois noted with some irony in her voice that many of their visitors from Cathedral, a Catholic high school, had never spent any time with nuns before.

Retreat • page 3

Hours: Monday-Thursday Noon-6 p.m., Friday Noon-8 p.m., Saturday 11 a.m.-5 p.m. & Sunday Noon-5 p.m.

Tri-CountyHumane Society735 8th St. NE • PO Box 701

St. Cloud, MN 56302

252-0896www.tricountyhumanesociety.org

“Helping one animal won’t change the world … but it will change the

world for that one animal!”

Dogs - 12 Cats - 24 Fancy Mice - 3 Puppies - 12 Kittens - 5 Rabbit - 1 Parakeets - 2 Red-eared Slider Turtles - 2Guinea Pig - 1

Reuben is a neutered 4-month-old Black Lab and Doberman mix pup. He loves to play – and tug of war with a rope toy is his favorite. Toss it in the air and he’ll jump up to get it. Reuben exhibits both the friendly qualities of a Lab as well as the intelligent traits of a Doberman. This super student is eager to sit for treats and continue to learn more. Is love in the air or is it Reuben? Maybe it’s a little of both!

Sister Lois Wedl

Friday, Feb. 8, 2013 St. Joseph Newsleader • www.thenewsleaders.com 3

There are no longer any nuns teaching classes at CHS.

“At one time there were more than 1,600 students at Cathedral, and they were primarily taught by the Sisters,” Wedl noted. “They were some of the key people who began the school.”

Cathedral’s current enrollment is 439 in grades 9-12, with an-other 215 in grades 7-8.

“This was a chance for them to get to know the Sisters a little bit, and see what the monastery experience is like,” Sister Wedl said.

And that experience, Wedl

says, was generally perceived as a positive one.

“They (the students) liked be-ing in an environment where spirituality is the norm,” she said.

Before the day’s events were over, before the closing mass at Sacred Heart Chapel, the seniors had one last chance to get to know one another a little better. There were 120 large paper plates set on a table inside the monas-tery Gathering Place. Each plate had the name of a CHS senior written on it. The ‘task’ was to find the plate of someone you knew and write an appropriate message on it. When the retreat was over, each student’s plate would have messages on it from many of his/her classmates. The plates would be delivered back to

the high school to be distributed to their owners, presumably by placing them on the student’s locker. It was a way for the se-niors to connect, like signing a yearbook.

“This was one of the last times they would really be together as a group until graduation,” Sister Lois said. “They have to learn to live with various types of peo-ple, and to get along with other people.”

Wedl thanks the Cathedral class of 2013 for one important gift they left at the monastery that day. That was the gift of them-selves, the gift of youth.

“They were just an exceeding-ly wonderful group of young men and women,” she said. “They gave the Sisters a new hope.”

Retreatfrom page 2

St. John’s Prep hopes to continue its winning traditionby Cori Hilsgennews@thenewsleaders.com

St. John’s Prep High School is in the middle of its Knowledge Bowl season and is hoping to continue its winning tradition of competing for the state champi-onship.

SJP has won the “Class A” state tournament three times in the past seven years, including last year.

At the recent Jan. 26 Elk River Invitational, SJP took first place in the varsity division; Sartell High School took second place; and Buffalo High School took third place.

In the junior varsity division, Buffalo took first, SJP took sec-ond and Sartell took third.

The winning SJP varsity mem-bers included senior Brenden Wichman; junior Alivia Tacheny; sophomore Tom Skahen; and freshman Sam Rogers.

The SJP junior varsity team that placed second included sophomore Eric Magaw and Hannah Moen; and freshmen Nick Haeg and Justin Terhaar.

Wichman was on last year’s state championship team. He has competed for five years.

“I enjoy the chance to en-counter other people of a similar intellectual mindset,” Wichman

said. “The state tournament is a wonderful opportunity to com-pete with the best teams in the state in Knowledge Bowl. This year has been great because I know my teammates this year outside of Knowledge Bowl as well as friends, which I enjoy.

Wichman believes SJP has a chance at continuing its winning tradition.

“I think we have a good chance of getting back to the state tournament this year be-cause we’ve been doing well, have a good spread of knowledge and are getting progressively bet-ter each meet,” Wichman said.

Tacheny has been in Knowl-

edge Bowl since fifth grade.“This is my seventh year,”

Tacheny said. “I participate in Knowledge Bowl because it’s fun. A lot of people think of it as work, or extra school, but it’s actually really enjoyable. You get to spend lots of time with friends, meeting people from other schools with similar inter-ests and winning trophies, with-out any physical activity.”

Beginning in November, team members practice twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, for more than an hour. Practices include different strategies for buzzing in quickly and brushing

up on knowledge that is not always learned in class, such as details about grammar, history and other things.

“In practice, we run through questions from old meets and try out different combinations of people for teams,” Tacheny said.

Competitions are usually all-day events and take place on Saturdays during the months of January and February.

SJP has six teams that com-pete at Knowledge Bowl meets. Most meets consist of 60 to 75 teams of three to five competi-tors. Schools can bring as many

Knowledge Bowl • page 8

Menu: Fried fish, roasted potatoes, beans, coleslaw, bread, desserts and coffee

Take out available. Our dining room is handicap accessible.

Tickets at the door:Adults: $9, Children (ages 5-10): $5

Children under 5: FREE

St. John the Baptist Parish Center, Collegeville

Just west of St. John’s University Campus on Fruit Farm Road

Fridays, Feb. 22 & March 8 4:30-7:30 p.m.

Fish FryFish Fry

Friday, Feb. 8, 2013St. Joseph Newsleader • www.thenewsleaders.com4

FISH FRY FUNDRAISERS at the El Paso Sports BarFeb. 13 - Ash WednesdAyFeb. 15 - stride Academy Feb. 22 - stride Academy March 1 - stride Academy March 8 - st. Joseph saints BaseballMarch 15 - sno Joes March 22 - stride AcademyMarch 29 - st. Joseph Lions GOOd FRIdAy

Serving 5-8 p.m.

some fundraisers will have silent auctions and/or meat raffles.

(320) 363-4345200 2nd Ave. N.W., St. Josephwww.elpasosportsbar.com

Russell Eyecare & Associates15 E. Minnesota St., Suite 107, St. Joseph(320) 433-4326 www.russelleyecare.com Christie Russell-Villnow, O.D.

“Like” us on Facebook for exclusive deals and updates!

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Rajkowskifrom front page

respect that and show it in the way we drive. Those guys shouldn’t have to be afraid to go to work.”

The two women are urging everyone they know and those they meet to contact their state legislators and tell them pen-alties for reckless or distracted driving in work zones should be increased dramatically.

The Rajkowski sons are “do-ing well, overall,” Jodi said. Blake is 9, Chase is 7.

“They’re doing OK,” she said, “but their dad should be here, teaching them things, playing baseball with them, learning things, doing things with them. Ron was our best friend. There was nobody else like him. There are still times when I feel so lost and empty. Ron and I knew each other so well we could finish each other’s sentences. There will never, ever be another Ron.”

contributed photo

Jodi Rajkowski gives her two boys a hug before going out to trick-or-treat last Halloween. Blake is on the right. Chase is on the left.

NOW HIRING!!!Journeyman Electrician

or Experienced Apprentice

New Residential Work Pay depends on experience.

Call 1-888-785-1649 or email resume to:

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Mayor Rick Schultz

Meet, Greet, TalkSaturday, Feb. 16 • 9-10 a.m.

The Local Blend 19 Minnesota St. W. • St. Joseph

The Women’s Center at St. Cloud State University is focused on “Compelling Voices: Decades of Courage and Activism” for the spring schedule of the long-running Women on Wednesday se-ries. All lectures will be held from noon-1 p.m. Wednes-days in the Atwood Memorial Center Theatre. Admission is free and open to the public.

The following topics will be discussed: Feb. 13 – 15

years of V-Day: “Until the Violence Stops;” Feb. 20 – One Woman’s Role in Brown vs. Board of Education: The Life of Dr. Mamie Phipps Clark; Feb. 27 – 40 Years of Title IX: A National Cham-pion’s Story; March 6 – Re-cent Activism through the Occupy Movement Improv-ing Women’s Lives; March 20 – Responding to Clinic Violence: Profiles of Cour-age and the FACE Act; March

27 – Challenging Violence against Women: Local Lead-ers Share their Stories; April 3 – Women’s Safety and Se-curity: What is the Status of Violence Against Women on Campus?; and April 10 – Ush-ering in The Safe Harbor Act: Stopping Sex Trafficking and Prostitution.

For more information, vis-it www.thenewsleaders.com and click on Criers.

SCSU Women on Wednesday sets spring schedule

Friday, Feb. 8, 2013 St. Joseph Newsleader • www.thenewsleaders.com 5

www.jlwchiro.com

St. Joseph Family ChiropracticGet back into the swing of life

Dr. Jerry Wetterling363-4573103 n. College Ave St. Joseph

Walk-ins Welcome

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• Underground Sprinkler Systems• Water Softeners• Water Heaters• Heating Systems• Central Air

Nick Froehle, Owner320-363-7224

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FISH FRY FUNDRAISER!

Sponsored by: St. Joseph Rod and Gun Club

All-you-can-eat

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Friday, Feb. 15 • 4:30-8 p.m. American Legion of St. Joseph

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Robert UlikOwner

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Address: 516 Schnieder Drive, St. JosephEmail: stjoetaxservice@yahoo.comPhone: 320-433-2189

Statewide, the three plunges so far have raised more than $1 million in online pledges. Last year, about 12,000 par-ticipants raised $2.8 million, which is double the amount raised in 2010.

Munden said she would like to thank again all of those who pledged money for

Plungefrom front page

contributed photo

Cold-water shock hits like a hammer as teammates (from left to right) Jill Vonfeldt, Rick Welch and MaryBeth Munden take the plunge into a lake at Maple Grove.

by Dennis Dalmannews@thenewsleaders.com

Two men who were killed at a construc-tion site in Burnsville are being honored by having an award named after them.

Ron Rajkowski of St. Joseph and Craig Carlson of Ramsey were killed on Oct. 13, 2011 while working at a roadside construction project when a car veered out of control and struck the two men. (For more details, see related story in today’s Newsleader.)

Award namedfor Rajkowski, Carlson

Carlson

a good cause.The next polar plunge will

take place in St. Cloud Feb. 16. For more information

or to register, visit the po-lar plunge website at www.plungemn.org.

6th Ave. & DivisionDowntown St. Cloud

251-6604

VALENTINE’S DAYTANNING SPECIAL

Get your tan ready for Valentine’s Day!120 minutes for $30

County Road 75& Northland Drive

St. Joseph

363-8485

Expires: 2/24/13

Tanning package & Lotion Specials!

Enter to win prizes!Feb. 13 & 14

contributed photos

Rajkowski

Now an award has been renamed the “Carlson-Rajkowski Award” in their memory. The award is given by “Minnesota Intelligent Transportation Systems annually to outstanding individuals working on projects related to transportation. The award used to be known as the ITS Professional of the Year Award.

An ITS official described Carlson as an innovative outdoor electrical leader at the Egan Co. (the electrical company for which he and Rajkowski worked). Carlson was an expert in designing signal-priority systems, traffic-signal optimiza-tion and similar traffic-related technologies. Rajkowski was praised for leading field construction and deployment efforts for the Egan Co. and his excellent supervision at projects.

“Both Craig and Ron were committed to building and maintaining an intelligent, safe Minnesota transportation system,” said an ITS spokesperson.

Friday, Feb. 8, 2013St. Joseph Newsleader • www.thenewsleaders.com6

Opinion

Fairness and ethicsNewsleader staff members have the respon-

sibility to report news fairly and accurately and are accountable to the public. Readers who feel we’ve fallen short of these standards are urged to call the Newsleader office at 363-7741.

If matters cannot be resolved locally, readers are encouraged to take complaints to the Min-nesota News Council, an independent agency designed to improve relationships between the public and the media and resolve conflicts. The council office may be reached at 612-341-9357.

Our View

Housing is one of the most important areas of focus for many communities. The City of St. Joseph is no different and within the city of about 7,000 residents its focus has lately been on rental housing.

City officials are considering changes to city ordinances to help rental-property owners in the R1 zoning district. Specifically, the city ordinance requires new rental property to be owner-occupied with the owner residing at the residence, renting out a room. Given the state of the economy, the city has received requests to change that requirement.

The planning commission held a public hearing this week about the proposed change to the law that would allow property owners who have actively tried to sell their homes without success to rent their homes without living in them. The proposal is to allow rental-property owners to rent their homes without living in them for a period not to exceed two years and would require the provision of an interim-use permit.

Changes to rental regulations in St. Joseph are an ongoing issue. One of the first changes in that area came in 2011 when elected of-ficials approved a similar change for those residents serving in the military. At that time, the city council also approved the creation of a rental-housing committee. St. Joseph Mayor Rick Schultz also commissioned an ad hoc committee to do similar work previously. The difference between the two groups is the rental-housing group can make recommenda-tions to the city council.

Last year, city council members approved an exception for deployed military personnel who own rental properties. City law requires owners of residences to live in the property being rented. Residents serving in the military can now apply for an interim-use permit that will be valid only during deployment and ac-tive duty. The permit will be renewed annual-ly with an initial term not to exceed two years.

The move to extend that provision to all rental property owners shows the city is not ignoring the requests of residents for as-sistance during an economic downturn. It also shows it acknowledges those serving in the military need assistance in upholding an ordinance that can be hard to heed in a slow housing market.

The next step for the proposed change was unknown at the time this edition of the St. Jo-seph Newsleader went to press. The results of the hearing and city-council recommendation will be reported in an upcoming edition of the Newsleader.

Proposed law change helps all rental property-owners

The Super Bowl is one of the most viewed events of the year. Watched by millions, who include sports lovers and non-sports lovers alike, people tune in whether their favorite team was lucky enough to make it to the big game or not. That group includes me.

I rooted for San Francisco this year and I’m from Cleveland, Ohio. I guess I’m a little partial to that team since my fiancé is attending the University of San Francisco and as a teen my best friend and I rooted for Deion Sanders when he played for the 49ers. Even though the 49ers got off to a rough start in Super Bowl XLVII, they fought back as hard as they could before their defeat was finalized.

While I am not a sports buff, I en-joyed watching the game and yelling at the television. Who doesn’t do that while viewing sports?

Nevertheless, some of the best parts about watching the Super Bowl have nothing to do with the game. This year was filled with memorable moments. One of those moments was hearing the Sandy Hook Elementary children’s choir perform “America the Beautiful” with award-winning singer/actress Jennifer Hudson. While it’s hard to hear the name of Sandy Hook and not be reminded of the mass school shooting that brought such horror and grief to that city last year, hope was present in the faces of those children singing Sunday. It was touching

to see them as part of the festivities.Another memorable event was the

half-time show featuring Beyoncé and the return of Destiny’s Child, the female R&B group that helped launch the Gram-my-winner’s solo career.

While there is so much that attracts people to watch the Super Bowl, what I liked the most this year were the com-mercials. For some people, that’s the only reason they like watching the football game in the first place. It’s one of the reasons I watch every year other than to see who wins. Some of the commercials didn’t keep my attention, but there was something I noticed this year I missed in year’s past. Several commercials were presented in Spanish. I was glad to see that. Here’s just one example of one of the commercials that had music playing in Spanish as the soundtrack.

One of these many commercials fea-tured a group of residents from a retire-ment home. The start of the commercial for Taco Bell shows a nurse putting a pa-tient to bed and saying, “Goodnight.” The patient says “Goodnight” and then hops out of bed, sneaks out with his friends and hits the town. All are clearly in their

70s and 80s and are partying like they’re in their 20s. It was hilarious. Music as we all know is a powerful thing. Picture the above scene with the following chorus sung in Spanish in the background:

“Tonight,We are youngSo let’s set the world on fireWe can burn brighterThan the sun.”The song is written by a group called

FUN. Well, the seniors in the commer-cial definitely looked like they were having fun. They probably had a lot of fun shooting the video because for that night they were young again. Advertisers could have easily gone mainstream and had the song played in English but the choice to do it Spanish made it better, in my opinion, and showed an embracing of diversity.

More than 108 million people watched the Super Bowl this year. The game actu-ally comes in third place on the list of most-watched television events in U.S. history, according to “Media Reports.” In 2011, 111.3 million viewers tuned in to watch the New York Giants and the New England Patriots battle in the Super Bowl.

With that much attention paid to a single event, it’s important advertising or any presentation be inclusive while being entertaining. I was glad to see that re-flected beyond the football field this year.

Super Bowl is filled with memorable moments

by Jill Iscol and Peter Cookson Jr.With the departure of Hillary Clinton

as Secretary of State, now is the time to reflect on her legacy, not just in the field of diplomacy but her broader vision for the United States as a catalyst for turning idealism into action.

Recently we have seen the rise of a new humanism – the desire of people to do something bigger and more lasting than themselves. Making Good has be-come the ethos of a generation commit-ted to making a more just world.

But how can we mobilize and or-ganize the efforts of individuals and small groups into a sustainable long-term movement?

Secretary Clinton’s work provides an answer. Under her leadership, the State Department created a suite of public/pri-vate initiatives that brought together vi-sionaries from the two sectors in ground-breaking programs.

These coordinated cross-sector ac-tions can accomplish amazing things. They must become an essential part of on-going American foreign policy.

Take the Clean Cookstoves Alliance, for example. Every year, nearly 2 mil-lion women and children die prematurely from the toxic fumes of traditional cook-

stoves and open fires. The Alliance raised more than $160 million in support of the goal of 100 million clean cookstoves by 2020.

This is just one program under Secre-tary Clinton’s ground-breaking umbrella organization, the Global Partnership Ini-tiatives, headed by Kris Bladerston. He has identified four elements that contrib-ute to successful public/private partner-ships. Each of which is worth emulating.

The first is leadership. Without a strong visionary leader, inertia and rou-tine become the enemy of action.

Second, a successful partnership re-quires a platform. Bringing activists to-gether through the convening authority of an influential organization expands the conversation and connects projects and people.

Third, the partnership itself is critical. Mutual support and teamwork isn’t just about money, it’s also about network-ing, shared values and communication. The communication revolution is a vast network for collaboration and combining resources.

Finally, professionalism is key. Sus-

taining long-term change means engag-ing with the issues in a progressively informed and agenda-setting atmosphere. We need professional programs for those who want to make a career of making good.

These four elements are a good place to start building a culture of commitment that is broad and deep. Turning idealism into action is a natural extension of the new humanism; the time has come to build an organizational infrastructure to support this new movement.

We have yet to learn what Secretary Clinton will do in the coming years to extend her work at the State Department. We hope she will continue to advocate for public/private partnerships and re-main a leader in the worldwide move-ment to embrace the power of making good to transform lives.

There is no way forward without risks. But inaction is the greatest risk of all. Ac-tion combined with careful planning is a lesson we have learned from the Clinton State Department; let’s not forget it as we take the next step forward.

Iscol and Cookson are authors of Hearts on Fire: Stories of Today’s Vision-aries Igniting Idealism into Action, pub-lished by Random House January 2013.

Making good last: Hillary Clinton’s contribution

Send your opinions to:The Newsleaders • P.O. Box 324 • St. Joseph, MN 56374

or email us at news@thenewsleaders.com

TaLeizaCalloway

Reporter

Guest Writers

Friday, Feb. 8, 2013 St. Joseph Newsleader • www.thenewsleaders.com 7

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EYECARE

DESKTOP PUBLISHING

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St. Joseph 320-251-8989

Gateway ChurchWorship: 10 a.m. Sunday,

7 p.m. Wednesday, 6 p.m. Saturday

106 2nd Ave. NW St. Joseph (next to the Post Office)

320-282-2262 G Gateway Church St. Joseph

Resurrection Lutheran, ELCASunday Worship 8:30 & 11 a.m.

WoW! (Worship on Wednesday) 6:30 p.m.

610 N. CR 2 St. Joseph320-363-4232 www.rlcstjo.org

St. Joseph Catholic ChurchMasses: Tuesday-Friday 8 a.m.Masses: Tuesday-Friday 8 a.m.

Saturday 5 p.m.Sunday 8 and 10 a.m.

320-363-7505 St. Josephwww.churchstjoseph.org

Metro Plumbing & Heating545 8th Ave. NE

St. Joseph 320-363-7761

Von Meyer Publishing32 1st Ave. NW

St. Joseph 320-363-7741

Russell Eyecare & Associates15 E. Minnesota St., Ste. 107St. Joseph 320-433-4326

Dr. Jerry Wetterling103 N. College Ave.

St. Joseph 320-363-4573

Barbara G. Backes, M.S., LPC, P.A.Marriage, Family & Individual

St. Cloud 320-420-6195

Michael F. Contardo D.D.S.26 2nd Ave. NW

St. Joseph 320-363-4468Drs. Styles, Cotton & Milbert1514 E. Minnesota St., Box 607St. Joseph 320-363-7729

DENTISTRY

COUNSELINGBEAUTY

CHIROPRACTOR

PLUMBING & HEATING

CHURCHES

Mattress Outlet

Sofa and Sectional Sets at Unbeatable Prices!

320-348-9003

Twin Sets from $99Full Pillowtop Sets from $160

Queen Pillowtop Sets from $195 King Pillowtop Sets from $350

Friday, Feb. 8St. Joseph Farmers’ Market, 3-6

p.m., Resurrection Lutheran Church, Fellowship Hall, 610 North Coun-ty Road 2, St. Joseph. www.stjo-sephfarmersmarket.com.

Sue Borgeson benefit, 4:30-7 p.m., Westside Learning Center, 1001 2nd St. S, Sartell. jennifer.fox@isd742.org. Borgeson, a paraprofes-sional at Apollo High School and a Sartell resident, has battled breast cancer for the past year and won, and now has been diagnosed with colon cancer. She had surgery on Jan. 16 and is recovering. Family and friends are trying to aid her family with their medical costs, which will be matched up to $2,000 by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans.

Amadeus Chamber Symphony concert, musicians from Central Min-nesota, 7:30 p.m., Church of St. Au-gustine, 442 2nd S. SE, St. Cloud. www.amadeuschambersymphony.com.

Saturday, Feb. 9League of Women Voters annual

membership luncheon, 11:30 a.m., the Stearns History Museum, 235 33rd Ave. S., St. Cloud, Minn. “Cel-ebrating our successes,” by keynote speaker Sherri Knuth from the state LWV followed with a guided tour of the museum. 320-529-0146.

Sunday, Feb 10Celebration of Commitment,

sponsored by PFLAG of St. Cloud/Central Minnesota, 1:30-4:30 p.m., Unity Spiritual Center, 931 N 5th Ave. Sartell. pflagstcloud@gmail.com.

Monday, Feb. 11Blood drive, from noon-6 p.m.,

St. Cloud Blood Donation Center, 1301 W. St. Germain St., St. Cloud. 1-800-RED CROSS or visit redcross-blood.org.

55+ driver improvement course, eight-hour first-time, 5- 9 p.m., to-day and Feb. 12, Kennedy Commu-

nity School Media Center, 1300 Jade Road, St. Joseph. www.mnsafetycen-ter.org or call 1-888-234-1294.

Tuesday, Feb 12Blood drive, from 10 a.m. to 4

p.m., St. Cloud Blood Donation Cen-ter, 1301 W. St. Germain St., St. Cloud. 1-800-RED CROSS or visit redcrossblood.org.

Dairy Farm Safety Course (Part 1), from 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Midtown Square Mall, Room 218, St. Cloud. 320-255-6169.

Holistic Moms Network, 7-8:30 p.m., Good Earth Co-op, St. Cloud. 320-252-2489.

“The Lesson,” a St. Cloud State University Theater Department pro-duction intended for a mature audi-ence, 7:30 p.m. today-Saturday, Per-forming Arts Center, SCSU. www.stcloudstate.edu/theatrefilmdance/theatre/season or 320-308-4636.

Wednesday, Feb. 13St. Joseph Area Chamber of

Commerce, 11:30 a.m., St. Joseph Community Fire Hall. www.stjo-sephchamber.com.

“The Lesson,” a St. Cloud State University Theater Department pro-duction intended for a mature audi-ence, 7:30 p.m. today-Saturday, Per-forming Arts Center, SCSU. www.stcloudstate.edu/theatrefilmdance/theatre/season or 320-308-4636.

Thursday, Feb. 14Coffee and Conversation, a se-

nior discussion group, 9 a.m., Coun-try Manor, Sartell.

Blood drive, from noon-6 p.m., St. Cloud Blood Donation Center, 1301 W. St. Germain St., St. Cloud.

Blood drive, from 1-7 p.m., Com-munity Church, 204 Avon Ave. N., Avon. 1-800-RED CROSS or visit redcrossblood.org.

“The Lesson,” a St. Cloud State University Theater Department pro-duction intended for a mature audi-ence, 7:30 p.m. today-Saturday, Per-forming Arts Center, SCSU. www.

stcloudstate.edu/theatrefilmdance/theatre/season or 320-308-4636.

Saturday, Feb. 1655+ driver improvement course,

four-hour refresher course, 9:15 a.m.-1:15 p.m., Miller Auto Plaza, 2930 2nd St S, St. Cloud. www.mnsafety-center.org or call 1-(888)-234-1294.

“The Lesson,” a St. Cloud State University Theater Department pro-duction intended for a mature au-dience, 7:30 p.m., Performing Arts Center, SCSU. www.stcloudstate.edu/theatrefilmdance/theatre/season or 320-308-4636.

Community Calendar

Friday, Feb. 8, 2013St. Joseph Newsleader • www.thenewsleaders.com8

FRESH COUNTRY

SAUSAGE$299/lb. $309/lb.

BONELESS

PORK CHOPS

$299/lb.

NEW!!! Vienna Summer Sausage

(320) 363-4913 26 1st Ave. N.W.St. Joseph

Open Daily 6:15 a.m.-6 p.m.Friday 6:15 a.m.-7 p.m., Saturday 6:15 a.m.- 5 p.m. Closed Sunday

Prices effective:Friday, Feb. 8

& Saturday, Feb. 9 only.

$1599/lb.

FROZEN

TENDERLOIN

Friday, Feb. 8 & Saturday, Feb. 9Appreciation Days Hot Dog & Pop

50¢

Look for other IN-STORE specials!

Register to win (1) $50

or (2) $25 steak bags.

www.stjosephmeatmarket.com

Valentine’s Day, Fridays & Saturdays: Feb. 14-16, 22 & 23 Social Hour at 6 p.m. Dinner at 7 p.m. Show at 8 p.m. $35

Sundays, Feb. 16 & 24: Social hour at 1 p.m. Light meal served at 2 p.m. and curtain at 3 p.m. $25

11th Annual Dinner Theater ‘Something’s A foot’

Call 241-4682 (GNTC) for reservations or visit www.gntc1.com and download

a form to be sent or emailed back to gntc9@aol.com.

Starring

St. Joseph resident

Brad Busse.

Where: The Great Blue Heron Supper Club (Hwy. 23, Cold Spring)When: Friday-Sunday, Feb. 15-17, 22-24 and Valentine’s Day Thursday, Feb. 14.

contributed photo

These St. John’s Prep varsity knowledge bowl participants recently took first-place at the recent Elk River invitational. Gathered around a plasma ball are (clockwise, from upper right) junior Alivia Tacheny; senior Brenden Wichman; fresh-man Sam Rogers; and sophomore Tom Skahen.

teams as they choose. Junior varsity teams usually consist of freshmen and sophomore stu-dents; varsity teams are usually made up of juniors and seniors.

Most meets begin with teams competing in a written round of 60 questions, followed by four

Knowlegdefrom page 3

45-question oral rounds cover-ing a wide range of academic subjects.

SJP knowledge bowl is coached by Charles Miller, an SJP physics and astronomy in-structor. Its assistant coach is Jen Daiker, an SJP history instructor. Miller said the school has had a lot of success in Knowledge Bowl.

“SJP has won a spot in the ‘Class A’ state tournament for all

seven years I’ve been at Prep,” Miller said.

The tournament season be-gins in March. Five teams from the region later go on to the state tournament, which is divided into three “Class AA” teams and two “Class A” teams based on enrollment size.

The Minnesota State Knowl-edge Bowl meet is held in April. Due to a measles outbreak the year the tournament was to be held in Thief River Falls, it’s now held in the Brainerd Lakes Area at resorts such as Cragun’s, Mad-den’s and Breezy Point.

“Having the tournament at Cragun’s Resort was a more re-laxed setting than a school build-ing would be,” Wichman said.

It’s a two-day event which is sponsored and governed by the Minnesota Service Cooperatives. On the first day, all teams are introduced at an evening ban-quet. Next, a written round of 60 questions is scored and teams are ranked.

Teams are then grouped by their current standings and are “power-ranked,” or grouped to-gether by their current standing, for five 45-question oral rounds. The team that finishes with the highest total score is the state champion.

The top three winning teams receive trophies and the top six teams receive medals. Any ties among the top six are broken by a 15-question “overtime.” A Heritage Spirit Award is given to one team from each class that demonstrates a positive attitude and sportsmanship, as voted on by the meet readers, coaches, computer operators and other teams.

The winning tradition at SJP was started by two mothers, Sandy Harrison and Karen Lund, who coached a team to their first state championship in 2006.

Miller said 2012 had the best team yet, leading the state tour-nament from start to finish. The

members of that team are cur-rently students at Columbia Uni-versity, Scripps College and the University of Minnesota, plus Wichman, who hasn’t yet de-cided where he will go to school next year.