Year in Review continued

May 3, 2017

A dance recital was held at the RLCC elementary school on Sunday, April 23rd. 105 students danced. Dance instructor was Krista Bernstein.

Darrell Tougas, City of Oklee Maintenance, updated the council on the plan to move sludge from the pond. Minnesota Rural Water will be helping with this. A pontoon would also be useful to help with the moving of sludge, but Tougas hasn’t found one yet to borrow.

The Plummer Fire Department recently held the Spring Regional meeting for Fire Departments in Region Two of Minnesota. Region Two includes eleven counties in the Northwest part of the state. There were twenty-six departments represented at the meeting.

American Legion Auxiliary Post #159 Ginny Stoneouse, Barb Melby, Janel Walstad and Mary Lynn Bachand along with many other Auxiliary members, will have Poppy’s available to honor our nation’s fallen heros and benefit living veterans and their families.

Oklee Post Office is joining in the National Food Drive on May 13th. Anything collected will go to Inter-County Community Council’s Food Shelf. Items needed are non-perishable items as well as household items such as paper towels, toilet paper, toothpaste, tooth brushes, etc.

The Red Lake County Central baseball team played a double header in Warroad on Friday, April 21. The first game, RLC lsot 5 - 10 to the Warroad Ponies in seven innings. The second game, Warroad defeated RLC 18 - 7.

May 10, 2017

Twenty two students will be graduating Friday, May 26 from Red Lake County Central High School. Graduation will be held at 5:30 pm in the gymnasium in Oklee.

The 4-H “Make It and Take It” Project Night was held on May 2, 2017 at the Community Hall in Red Lake Falls. Participants were able to do all three projects that were being offered. The projects included: “Butterfly Craft Project, Bath Bombs Project, and Ice-Cream in a Bag Project. The 4-H Club Volunteers, 4-H Ambassadors, and parents helped out at each of the sessions.

On May 2nd, Cornerstone Veterinary Services from Gonvick came over to the Oklee Fire Hall for the Annual Dog & Cat Clinic. Many dogs and cats from Oklee and the surrounding area came for their annual shots, heartworm and tick treatments which are usually on sale.

Red Lake County Central sophomores Lacey Pendleton and Marie Johnson competed at the Instrumental Solos and Ensembles Competition at East Grand Forks High School on April 12th.

The Red Lake County Rebels boys’ baseball played Monday, May 1 at the Red Lake Falls baseball field winning 10-0 against the Sacred Heart Eagles. The Rebels scored four runs in the first inning, and six in the second inning ending the game with a ten run rule after five innings.

For the second year in a row, an Envirothon team from Red Lake County Central High School will advance to the State Envirothon to be held Monday, May 15 at Ironwood Springs Christian Ranch near Stewartville. The team of Taylor Bushelle, Sydney Melby, Hannah Kolstoe, Jayden Fore, and Nick Pahlen came in third place at the 2017 Regional Envirothon held at Rydell National Wildlife Refuge near Mentor.

“Good hand hygiene is really being aware that we can transmit infectious germs on our hands and that we carry them around with us,” says Dr. Kevin Stephan, an infectious disease specialist at Essentia Health. “There are several ways to do that, including an alcoholbased handwashing rub or old-fashioned soap and water. The key is to do it properly and to do it at the proper times.”

May 17, 2017

On April 26, 2017, the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR) approved the Red Lake River Comprehensive Watershed Management Plan. The plan was completed through the BWSR’s One Watershed, One Plan Pilot program.

Taylor Bushelle of Plummer has been selected to receive a $2,000.00 scholarship for the 2017-2018 academic year from the Minnesota Telecom Alliance Foundation, according to Tim Brinkman, CEO/General Manager, Garden Valley Telephone Company.

Sophomore Zoe Russillo was awarded the Most Valuable Player for Girls Running Events at the Pine-to-Prairie Conference Meet. The meet was held Thursday, May 11 at Ada.

RLCC Education Association VP Andrea Eskeli honored Alice Jobe with the Elementary Friends of Education award. RLCC EA President Shelly Steva presented Suzie Gunderson with the High School Friends of Education award.

May 24, 2017

The Huot Hustlers 4-H Club received a check for $500.00 from the DuPont Pioneer Giving Program to help with the costs and maintenance for the Red Lake Falls Area Community Swimming Pool.

The idea of having a wall of honor started with Oklee’s Post Office gal, Mae Mero. She started asking for military photos to display on a wall. Everyone loved the idea and the Oklee American Legion took it one step farther. After talking to Mae Mero and Teresa Benson, of the Oklee Cafe, both agreed to allow the display to be moved from the post office to the cafe and the display has been growing ever since.

Both School Readiness programs at Red Lake County Central (Plummer and Oklee) recently had the honor of being awarded a Four-Star Rating for incorporating practices that best prepare children for kindergarten.

A book of history involving the Oklee-Trail area has just been published. It centers on the lives of Oscar and Helen Flateland and their extended families going all the way back to the 1500s and 1600s in Setesdal, Norway, and western Germany; it also includes something of how life was lived in the “old days.”

May 31, 2017

The end of the 2016-2017 school year brings a significant change at Red Lake County Central Elementary School in Plummer. Five teachers with a total of 183 years of teaching experience will retire including Nancy Bray, Dan Brustad, Melody Brustad, Mary Fore, and Sue Hagge. All five have spent their entire teaching careers at RLCC, Oklee, and Plummer school districts!

RLC Rebels relay team of Zoe Russillo, MaKenzie Williams, Julia Bernstein, and AJ Jones set a new Sub-section as well as a new team record in the 4x100 Meter Relay with a time of 51.62 at the Sub-Section 31 Track Meet in Roseau.

A concession stand/storage shed for softball has been built by the RLCC shop class.