From the archives of the Dodge County Independent
10 years ago
March 27, 2013
Randy Carlsen, Publisher
Each year the K-M FFA and Intro to Ag class hosts a petting zoo outside of and in the community education multi-purpose room. As usual they had a variety of animals, from a llama and donkey to the more traditional like a cow, pig, chickens and rabbits. There were 150 young people who came to see the animals at the petting zoo. Pictured are Madison Edgar, Shelby Kiltinen, Steven Berge and Brieanna Westrom, all FFAers, made a poster to tell about the llama they had at the petting zoo.
20 years ago
March 26, 2003
Randy Carlsen, Publisher
Dodge County
Youth Hockey
hosts championship games
The Dodge County Youth Hockey Program was recently host to the District 8, Squirt B, District Championship Games held at the Four Seasons Ice Arena in Kasson. This event was coordinated by the generous support of numerous volunteers from Dodge County Youth Hockey. Teams from Woodbury, Winona, Rochester, Lakeville, River Falls, Dodge County, West St. Paul, Farmington and Rosemount competed for the District 8 Championship Title. The Dodge County Youth Hockey, Squirt B team, took 2nd place in the Championship Game. This is the highest ranking a team from Dodge County has ever placed in the 6 years of building the youth hockey program at the Four Seasons Arena. The team’s over all record is, 23 wins, 7 losses and 4 ties. The team took 1st place in the LaCrosse Tournament, took 2nd place at the Shoot Out in Dodge Tournament held in Kasson, and took fourth place in the White Bear Lake Tournament. Together with strong defense the team’s goalie, Isaac Hoehn, had 9 shut out games. Congratulations to the players.
30 years ago
March 24, 1993
Randy Carlsen, Publisher
Main Street fire damages Pete’s Cheers
Three years ago Kasson had one of the most devastating fires ever on Main Street, leaving a “hole” in the business section that has not yet been filled. Sunday evening Pete’s Cheers on Main Street was victimized by fire around 8 p.m. This time the fire was discovered in time, before the blaze could spread to adjoining buildings. According to Kasson Fire Chief Randy Fjerstad the fire reportedly started in the back, where the kitchen is located. A preliminary report by the State Fire Marshall indicates the fire may have been started by an appliance malfunction, specifically the microwave. As firemen walked from the front of the business to the back it was evident the fire became more “heated.” Glass bottles were melted in the bar area. Fjerstad said when the fire department arrived there was fire in the kitchen area. The building was also filled with smoke. Although the building is not expected to be a total loss, Fjerstad said there was quite a bit of smoke and water damage, in addition to the fire damage in the kitchen. The Kasson Police were notified someone had seen smoke coming from the building around 7:45. After investigating, the fire department was called to the scene. Firement had the fire under control by 8:30 p.m. Owner Pete Galuska had been at the business until 4:30 p.m. Sunday, doing routine cleanup. In August of 1992 Pete and his wife Chris purchased the business from Burt Jr. and Enner Fjerstad of Kasson. Galuska did some immediate remodeling before opening under the new names of “Pete’s Cheers.” No damage estimate was available as this edition went to press.
50 years ago
March 28, 1973
Folmer Carlsen, Publisher
Construction
of Highway 14
To Be Delayed
This is a joint news release by Senator Harold Krieger, Senator Mel Frederick, Representative John Biersdorf and Representative Darrell Miller. We have just received news of a delay in construction of Highway 14 from Byron to Kasson. The environmental impact statement for this project has been in Washington for some time waiting for their approval. We were just notified that the Washington office of the Department of Transportation is returning the statement for further documentation. The cause of the problem is that the road goes through a small parcel of park land in Kasson, and they want further documents before they will approve the environmental impact statement necessary on all highway construction. This will mean a delay in the construction and, naturally, completion of this segment. The Minnesota Highway Department cannot purchase this land until this statement is approved. The state still has hopes of being able to purchase this land yet this year, but in fairness to the farmers, who until the time of the actual purchase are still the owners of this land, they must be allowed to use this crop land until the state actually purchases it. Therefore, unless this land is able to be purchased before the farmer has actually gone through the work of planting and cultivating the land, he should be allowed to harvest the fruits of his labor. Due to this administrative delay in obtaining the necessary federal approval, it becomes apparent there is no hope of contruction actually starting on this segment this season as was originally projected and planned. This is an unfortunate setback to those of us in the area who have worked for and anticipated the utilization of this road for so many years. This is the type of news we wish we did not have to release, but we thought you would appreciate being kept informed of all information concerning this road regardless of whether it is good or bad.