Thursday, July 22, 2010

Volume 98; Number 6

www.bladepublishing.net

A community newspaper serving Browerville, MN and surrounding areas. USPS 067-560

EV School Board will ask
voters to decide whether
they want a school
By Rin Porter
At their July 12 meeting at
Clarissa, board members voted 6
to 1 to give the voters one final
chance to decide whether they
want to have a school in their
district.
On November 2, school dis-
trict residents will be asked to
vote “yes” on three ballot ques-
tions: (1) Yes, on a $2.05 million
bond issue to pay for roof
replacements on the two build-
ings, two new elementary class-
rooms at Clarissa, and addition-
al remodeling and maintenance
items at Clarissa; (2) Yes, on an
excess levy request for addition-
al funding for a 10-year period to
put the school district back in
the black; and (3) Yes, on an
excess levy consolidation of the
two existing excess levies.
If either of the first two ques-
tions fails, then the school dis-
trict will not be able to continue.
On July 12, board members
seemed finally ready to face this
dire situation and ask the voters
to decide once and for all. The
school district is in financial
trouble and has no money to fix
its deteriorating buildings or
upgrade its curriculum. Board
members fear that students will
leave the district and enroll at
other schools before a favorable
bond issue vote gives them the
opportunity to repair their build-
ings, move all students to
Clarissa, and sell or lease the
Eagle Bend facility.
Two previous bond issue votes
have failed during the past nine
months. Both of those votes
were for much greater amounts
of money, and were intended to
provide a state-of-the-art school
for K-12 students. The March
2010 bond issue failed by only 17
votes.
There really are no alterna-
tives left for the school board. If
the communities won’t support
the repair and upgrading of the
school buildings, then there
won’t be a school district in
Eagle Valley. The district will
have to negotiate with Bertha
and Browerville districts and the
Minnesota Department of
Education to devise a plan to dis-
solve, consolidate, or pair with
one or more other districts.
Students will enroll at other
schools, and the Eagle Valley
school district will sell its prop-
erty and go out of existence.
During the July 12 meeting,
architect Dan Miller explained
to the board the cost reductions
possible as a result of their June
28 changes to the remodeling
plan. Additional changes were
proposed during the July 12 dis-
cussion. Board member Chris
Notch suggested that a different
style of roof be installed – a
sprayed-on urethane product - at
a lower cost than the present
style of rubber roof and gravel.
Miller agreed that it was possi-
ble, but emphasized that there is
no long-term research available
on the new kind of roof. Miller
told the board that the urethane
roof would have the benefit of
raising the insulation value of
Continued on page 16
75¢
A new face
at the
Browerville
School
Jean May is the new
administrative secretary in
the high school office. For
the last 20 years Jean has
worked at Central Todd
County Care Center and has
lived in the Browerville area
for about 30 years.
Several hundred attend
Tea Party
A Tea Party was
hosted Wednesday
evening, July 14, at
Gail and Wayne
Carstensen’s home east
of Browerville. More
than 350 people from
all over the state of
Minnesota attended the
event. The event fea-
tured many speakers
and political candidates
who put forth their con-
servative views and
opinions. Tea Party organizers Gail Carstensen
Carstensen said the and Nancy Judd

Tragic accident claims life purpose of the event, was with politics as usual and want
to inform people that the country to see changes made in the gov-
is going down the wrong track, erning of our state and country.
of young father/husband and something needs to be done. Organizers of this event were
The number of people that Gail Carstensen and Nancy
turned out for the event indi- Judd.
cates that many are not satisfied

Bertha youth attacked by dog

Scott R. Brown, 41, of Long Prairie, was driving his 2000 Ford Windstar south on Hwy. 71
between Eagle Bend and Clarissa, when he was rear ended by a 1996 Chevrolet Blazer driven On July 13, at approx. 1:32 pm, an eight year old Bertha
by Melissa Titera, of Parkers Prairie. The impact caused Brown’s vehicle to hit a semi-truck, girl suffered a dog bite on the face. She was transported by
driven by Eugene A. Kunstleben, of Avon, head on in the north bound lane. ambulance to Tri-County Hospital in Wadena, where she
Brown was pronounced dead at the scene. Titera and her passengers, Seth (8) and Austin (4) required 18 stitches to close the wound. The dog was trans-
Titera, were transported to Long Prairie Memorial Hospital, where they were treated and ported to the Long Prairie Vet Clinic for testing.
released. Kunstleben suffered no apparent injuries. Photo by Ben Dreher Photo by Zac Rushmyer

WEEKLY WEATHER REPORT

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