Chatfield News

Disaster relief money coming to SE Minnesota

Published by tlittle@bluffco... on Thu, 10/17/2019 - 11:31am

Gov. Tim Walz authorized on Oct. 1 the use of Minnesota’s Disaster Assistance Contingency Account to help pay for damage caused by severe winds, rainfall, and flooding in mid-July.

State Rep. Greg Davids (R-Preston) said this is welcome news for a number of communities in southeastern Minnesota.

“These storms devastated a number of areas in our district, and I have been urging the Walz administration to direct relief funding here as soon as possible,” Davids said. “I’m pleased that the aid is arriving soon.”

Co-op hosts mini session for legislators

Published by tlittle@bluffco... on Thu, 10/17/2019 - 11:29am

MiEnergy highlights disaster relief, broadband and battery storage technology

 

MiEnergy Cooperative hosted two field hearings in Rushford on Oct. 3 as part of the Minnesota House of Representatives three-day mini session in southeastern Minnesota.

The cooperative provided testimony on disaster relief and broadband funding for the Greater Minnesota Jobs and Economic Development Hearing. The group of nine representatives also heard testimony from the co-op on energy policy and initiatives for the Energy and Climate Finance and Policy Hearing.

Lunch and Learn series features ‘heartland noir’ stories

Published by tlittle@bluffco... on Tue, 10/15/2019 - 1:56pm

Chatfield News item from

1950s inspired one of her

murder mystery novels

 

“I had an accounting job for 16 years, and when I did that, I wrote while I was on my lunch hour at my desk, but now, I write full-time as a career, and my writing time is when I put my kids on the bus and spend the afternoon in my head, killing people,” said Minnesota author Mindy Mejia, making a confession before a crowd of people at Good Earth Village last Thursday afternoon.

New STEM wing preparing students for workplace

Published by tlittle@bluffco... on Tue, 10/15/2019 - 1:53pm

Tim Willette’s kids play with lasers in class.

Willette, Chatfield’s industrial tech instructor, approves of that type of play, though, as his class now has a laser engraver in the clean room, which is separate from sawdust and fumes, in the high school’s new STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) wing. He and ag instructor Stacy Fritz relocated their classes to the wing on the school’s north end at the beginning of the 2018-2019 school year. Willette offers laser engraving during flex time.

New wastewater plant operator excited to work at Chatfield facility

Published by tlittle@bluffco... on Tue, 10/15/2019 - 1:51pm

Steven Schlichter officially joined the Chatfield city crew as wastewater treatment plant operator on Sept. 23, and the experienced operator is looking forward to working in the Chatfield plant because, he noted, the city has kept it running in tiptop shape. 

Letter: Questions about city levy increase, other concerns

Published by tlittle@bluffco... on Tue, 10/15/2019 - 1:46pm

I have a few questions for City of Chatfield.

Did the City of Chatfield:

• Dismiss a loan to a local business years ago?

• Provide money to a car dealership by Subway and then suddenly it closed?

• Pay to bring Dollar General to town? If so, how much?

Recently in the Chatfield News, it was stated ambulance service had a $300,000 debt (later corrected to $50,000 to $60,000 deficit). Why did this happen? Were our City Council members aware or ignoring this?

Should the City of Chatfield have fewer employees? Fewer employees more responsibilities?

Girls take fourth, boys sixth at PEM meet

Published by tlittle@bluffco... on Tue, 10/15/2019 - 1:40pm

At the Jodi Rahman Cross-country Invitational meet hosted by Plainview-Elgin-Millville, the Chatfield girls finished in fourth (101) place and the boys were sixth (118). 

There were nine teams competing in the girls’ race and 11 teams in the boys’ division.  PEM (48) won the girls race and Lewiston-Altura/Rushford-Peterson (58) came out on top in the boys’ race.

Gophers nip Saints as regular season winds down

Published by tlittle@bluffco... on Tue, 10/15/2019 - 1:36pm

Junior Ben Roline got his most extensive action of the season, 22 carries, and took full advantage of the opportunity, as he rushed for 148 yards in the Gophers’ win over St. Charles 7-0 Friday.

And with the win, Chatfield maintained possession of the Armistice Day trophy, a symbol of the rivalry between the two schools that dates back to the 1940s.  And with the snow falling several times during the playing of this year’s game, fans were even reminded of the Armistice Day blizzard of 1940. 

Volleyball team drops two as regular season nearing end

Published by tlittle@bluffco... on Tue, 10/15/2019 - 1:32pm

The Lady Gophers volleyball team lost a pair of Three Rivers Conference matches this past week to Fillmore Central (0-3: 20-25, 14-25, 21-25) and St. Charles (2-3: 25-9, 25-18, 21-25, 11-25, 11-15).  With the two losses the gals are now 4-6 in TRC play and 9-12, overall.

Tuesday the team was scheduled to travel to state-ranked Caledonia and Friday and Saturday they will participate in the Rochester Exchange Club tournament at the National Volleyball Center, Century High School in Rochester. Section tournament action begins next week.

David Phillips: Marathoners of all types can provide inspiration

Published by tlittle@bluffco... on Tue, 10/15/2019 - 1:26pm

Eliud Kipchoge broke the two-hour marathon barrier, covering a 26.2-mile course in Vienna, Austria, in 1:59:40 last weekend. It’s an impressive breakthrough, but the feat won’t count as a world record, which he already holds, because the event was created specifically for him with the goal of breaking the barrier; he got help from scheduling during ideal weather, mapping out a perfectly flat course, drafting from various pacers who ran with him for stretches and implementing other aids that enabled his quest in this solo marathon.