Year in Review....

January 3: Red Lake County Sheriff’s Office teamed up to provide a pharmaceutical waste collection site at the Courthouse in Red Lake Falls... A nice donation of money to the Oklee Senior Site from two little girls was received. It was Emma and Natalie Hendrickson. They wanted to give something to the Site and made and sold  rubber band bracelets... The weather has been horribly cold. However, Wednesday, it got up to 0 degrees. Then dropped like a rock with one half inch of snow overnight.

January 10: Tom Dondelinger presented a check from the Dondelinger Foundation to RLCC Elementary Principal, Andrew Fougner for the purchase of Chrome Books... Corey Olson of Fargo was one of 690 students named to Minnesota State Community and Technical College President’s List for the 2017 Fall Semester... The Red Lake County Central Music Department is excited to have a great new item to improve sound at performances. “The sound shell will provide a better environment for sound while performing in the gym.”... Once again the wind woke up and this Saturday it is cranking up pretty high. It never is fun going out into the wind, but the wind chill today seems particularly harsh. It bites like a snake. 

January 17: A major business in Plummer has decided to dissolve the cooperative after 127 years in business. But not all is lost in this small community. The next door neighbor, Red River Ag, purchased the business and took possession of the business in the beginning of 2018... Shane Wilkins of Goodridge was the winner of the Zippel Bay Resort Sleeper Ice House Package that the Oklee Lutheran Youth Group raffled off... Red Lake County Central sent 16 students in fifth through eighth grades to the Creativity Festival planned by the Red Lake County Central... The Red Hats gathered at Carol’s Cozy Bar on Wednesday of last week. Ten of us had a great time touching base once again. The quarter pot was won by Karen Tvedt.

January 24: Chris and Valerie Shulstad, Red Lake Falls are Red Lake County’s representatives in the Red River Valley Emerging Leadership Program... RLCC’s one cat play this year is a serious play called “Freak” by Angela Hill, a newer playwright from Fargo, North Dakota... These kids completed the Oklee Moonlighter’s snowmobile safety course on January 14th. Eva Qualey, Hannah Bassage, Antonio Steele, Cory Franson, Kya Morinville, Keira Morinville, Jamie Flatgard, Ella Moen, Maverick Nelson, Cameron King, and Kassidi Qualey... There is no joy left in Muddville. The mighty Vikings have struck out. The joy and excitement in the area was palpable this past week it grew as game time came nearer... The weather finally rallied on Wednesday. The wind stayed cold, but today was beautiful. It was 30 at 2 p.m... Red Lake County Central is now broadcasting their home games on television. The broadcasting system is run by Garden Valley Telephone Company.

January 31: Sydney Melby, of Oklee, MN, was awarded the Benedictine Scholarship. Melby is the daughter of Isaac and Marcella Melby. Melby has been accepted for enrollment at St. Scholastica in Fall 2018.... The RLCC Junior and Senior High Choirs performed at Digi-Key before Christmas.... Colder weather is starting to set in. It was nice to have a brief respite for the past week and a half. I guess that was our January thaw.

February 7: On Saturday night the night before the Super Bowl, the Oklee Hall was packed to capacity to enjoy a delicious deep fried walleye meal, participate in numerous raffles of slabs of bacon, hams and pork loins. There were the gun raffles with decks of cards, a silent auction with some awesome items to bid on, a punch out game, wine pull game and other items you bought tickets for and placed in a bowl and the winner was drawn. For entertainment, Tim Eggebraaten was the emcee and as usual did a great job. And he has been part of Oklee’s events for so many years that he knows enough people by name that it is like a big family affair.... December Student of the Month was awarded by Mr. Kory Baril and Mr. Mike Swenson to Leah Peterson and Andrew Fish.... Red Lake County Central welcomes new student Ivan Bren. Bren is 13 years old and in the eighth grade. Bren lives in Oklee and previously attended Cherry School in Iron, MN.... Clyde Bendickson, Lavina, Montana, said this is the biggest cat he has ever caught. It weighed about 50 pounds. Clyde also said he is going to be 80 soon so he better quit trapping. The pelt brought in about $500.00. Clyde is formally from Oklee.... Postal Rates Increase - If you don’t mail out letters or postcards you probably didn’t notice the rates have increased as of January 2018.

February 14: A celebration was held at St. Francis Xavier on December 9, 2017. This was a historic event in the life of St. Francis Xavier - One hundred years ago, the church and rectory were rolled across the frozen field on logs from Lambert town to Oklee. A special Mass was held and it was followed by a short program.  

Watch for more Year in Review next week...