Susan (Olson) Helms, age 71, of Plymouth, and formerly of West Concord, passed away on Sept. 3, 2018. 
Preceded in death by son, Michael; parents Grant (Doc) and Charlotte Olson. 

Thomas Allen DeZiel, 67, passed away suddenly of heart complications on Sept. 10, 2018 at his residence in Mantorville.
Tom was born on June 1, 1951 in Minneapolis. On June 11, 1977, he married Jaoyce A. Lang of Rice County. 
Devoted and loving Christian, husband, father, brother, and member of the community, Tom's playful spirit and love of music will be missed. 

Francis Arthur Oscar Bungum, 95 plus years, of Hayfield, passed away peacefully on Sept. 11, 2018 in the presence of family at the family home in which he was born in Dodge County.  
He was born Nov. 6, 1922, the son of Oscar and Anne (Mogen) Bungum in rural Hayfield on the farm where he spent his entire life. The farm was homesteaded in 1881, by his grandfather who immigrated from Nomedahl, Norway.  

The Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy (MCEA) recently wrote an editorial in the Minneapolis Star Tribune arguing Minnesota’s titanium, copper, nickel, and platinum deposits are low-grade and economically risky to develop. If these resources were truly valuable, so they argued, the deposits would have been developed decades ago.

A comment from an area teacher caught my attention while I was covering the “Honeycrisp for Harberts” fundraiser at Friday night’s football game in Blooming Prairie and jarred some raw emotions for me. 

For years, the formula for teaching a child the way to act properly has remained the same. Little Jimmy is in the classroom and wants no part of the lesson the teacher is presenting to him. Bored, he tosses his pencil across the room as an act of desperation.
 
“Jimmy,” the teacher scolds. “Don’t throw your pencil across the room! Go pick it up!”
 

Horns were honking and people were excitedly participating in some Paint the Town Pink activities in Blooming Prairie on Saturday morning.
With a sea of pink flags flying in the wind on a beautify, sunshiny day, workers were feverishly putting together some fundraising ideas as a help to the Blooming Prairie Cancer Group.

Maintaining a showcase garden comes as no accident. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication to keeping everything spiffed up around the yard.
Just ask Luverne and Cathy Vangness, this year’s Phantom Garden award winner for Mantorville. The retired couple takes great pride in keeping their garden looking sharp with many colorful flower baskets and other flowers planted throughout the yard. 

Syrlene Williamson, age 85 of Austin, passed away Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018 at Mayo Clinic Health System Albert Lea.  
Syrlene Merlene Ann Turvold was born Jan. 10, 1933 in Northwood, Iowa, the daughter of Helmer and Selma (Midge) Turvold. She attended country schools and Austin High School.