50 years ago
May 16, 1973
Folmer Carlsen, Publisher
Dedication of Carillon At St. John’s
A Verdin Carillon will be dedicated at St. John’s this Sunday, May 20th. The Carillon bells and chimes play hymns and ring each day at 12 noon and 6 p.m. The Carillon was given to St. John’s, intended also for the benefit of the community, by the families of Mr. and Mrs. Oliver Holtan. The late Mr. and Mrs. Oliver Holtan were longtime residents of the community. Representatives of the Holtan family will be at the service for the dedication.
30 years ago
May 12, 1993
Randy Carlsen, Publisher
Reward offered for arrest of vandals
City property has been the victim of numerous acts of vandalism this spring and local officials are taking steps to apprehend offenders. A $100 reward is being offered by the city for the arrest and conviction of a person or persons vandalizing city property. Anyone who can furnish information regarding vandalism is encouraged to contact the Kasson Police Department in person by calling 634-3991. All information furnished will remain confidential. The local police department and city employees will make concentrated efforts to catch vandals. Local citizens noticing suspicious circumstances are asked to contact the local police department. Veteran’s Memorial Park was vandalized in several areas last week, including damage to the gazebo built by volunteer labor just a couple of years ago. City utilities have also been damaged by vandals this year. Electric meters have been tampered with and large objects have been dropped through manholes into the sewer system. In two of those instances, sewer lines were blocked and sewage backed up into homes.
20 years ago
May 14, 2003
Randy Carlsen, Publisher
City will get a new, clean sweep
The city of Kasson will get a new, clean sweep as the result of the purchase of a new street sweeper. The new machine arrived last week and was put to the test within minutes after arriving. City employee Dan Trapp will be the principal operator of the $120,000 machine that was purchased for $88,000, less the discount and trade-in of the old sweeper. The sweeper traded in was 15 years old. The new vehicle is like a three-in-one machine. In addition to sweeping the street and curbs, it can also clean out water gate valves and suck out debris from catch basins. One nice feature is that the vehicle can travel up to 60 miles an hour. With the city expanding out, the vehicle can travel in town 30 mph from one side to the other and save drive time when doing certain areas, said utilities supervisor Burt Fjerstad. The old machine could not go over 10 mph.
10 years ago
May 15, 2013
Randy Carlsen, Publisher
Another appraisal on former Kasson school property requested
City of Kasson community development director Michael Martin recommended the council receive a professional appraisal of the former school to current condition of the building. The city engineer has been asked to prepare an estimate of the time and cost to prepare an up-to-date analysis of the former school. One of the arguments brought up by the plaintiffs in court last Monday was that the city can’t prove the building poses a threat to the public. Also, the city has said the plaintiffs are unable to come up with a reuse of the building. The city quoted material from the independent Lauber study on the building that claims the building is structurally sound and capable of being rehabilitated into housing or commercial space. That study was done four winters ago. The city community development director believes it is in the best interest of the public to get a professional appraisal of the current condition of the building to include an unbiased estimate of what costs would be involved in bringing the property up to code. He suggested the money for the study could come from the demolition budget. A week ago Monday the city of Kasson and three plaintiffs met in court and gave their arguments before Judge Joseph Wieners. The judge has up to 90 days to make a determination. In another matter the city will be asking for demolition bids to the former Folkestad property. The home will be leveled and the former Folkestad Garage gutted so the garage can be remodeled and divided into spaces for startup businesses. He said there has been a lot of interest. In fact one business would like to be in space by September 1.