Year in Review

January 4, 2017

Nominee of Hotrod of the Year was featured in the Oklee Herald. Owner Rick Myrum was raised and attended Oklee High School until 1967. The Hotrod is a 1935 pickup owned by his Grandpa Qualley.

Sue Beaudoin graciously made and donated cooking aprons for the preschool room.

A new arrival at the Paradis family is Titan Jayce Paradis born on December 29th, 2016. Parents are Ryan and Kelsey Paradis.

Garden Valley Telephone Company announced that Minkota Technologies would now be part of Garden Valley Innovations, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Garden Valley Telephone Company.

January 11, 2017

Chuck Simpson and Ron Weiss were re-elected to the Red Lake County Commissioners Board.

City of Oklee raises their rates on sewer, garbage and water for 2017.

Red Lake County Central School Board members Darby Trontvedt, Marcella Melby, Danielle Paradis and Jason Cater are ending their terms of service to RLCC School District 2906. 

An Open House was held at Ultima Bank in Plummer for Elinor Olson’s retirement. 

A retirement party was held in honor of Don Fox from the Plummer Creamery.

On January 9th, Eli Gindele will be assuming duties as the Extension Educator for Clearwater and Polk Counties.

Hunter Houle, a rising star on the cross-county racing scene, suffered fatal injuries in a pre-race crash on Pine Lake Friday, January 6, 2017.

Zach Herfindahl big winner of $10,000 at Gerald Dyrdahl Memorial Pine Lake 200 which is part of the USXC, United States X-County Snowmobile Racing circuit.

January 18, 2017

Passing their snowmobile safety class was Kehan Nelson, Tyler Parsley, Jennifer Johnson, Keatin Goering, Nolan Magnell, Kia Bachand, Arianna Robinette, and Landin Robinette.

The Oklee Moonlighters Snowmobile Club will once again host their Snowmobile Safari, marking the 50th Anniversary.

Sixteen students in grades five through eight from Red Lake County Central attended the 2017 Creativity Festival. It was held at Bemidji State University on Thursday, January 5.

Ryan Trout took first place in the Semi Pro Stock in the Gerald Dyrdahl Memorial Pine Lake 200 races that were held. He was presented a check for $4,750 from Chad Dyrdahl.

Bob Prudhomme of Crookston had been holding onto a $100,000 winning Lottery ticket for almost two months. Prudhomme finally stepped forward on Jan. 9, 2017 to claim a $100,000 prize that he won in the All or Nothing evening drawing on Nov. 15, 2016 by matching all twelve winning numbers drawn.

January 25, 2017

In January the ninth grade physical science class at Red Lake County Central High School designed and raced CO2 cars. They cut a triangular chunk of wood into tapered car shape, then drilled holes for the wheels and painted the cars. A track was set up including a starter box and fishing line connected to the box to race the cars on. At the end of the track there was a foam barrier to stop the cars when they got to the end. RLCC ninth grade physical science class C02 car race winners were Natalia Snegireff and Garret Qualley.

Sylvia Hilgeman was featured in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Sylvia is the daughter of Greg and Gayle (Lundeen) Hilgeman. After college she spent five years working for a consulting firm in Minneapolis before she joined the FBI to investigate bank fraud from New York City. 

Ruth & Evan Fonder have become the new owners of Nords Pharmacy and Gifts, taking over the business from John and Julie Nord.