Year in Review....

May 30:  Red Lake County Central Graduation was held on Friday, May 25th at the High School in Oklee. The ceremony began at 5:30 p.m. Twenty-five seniors received their diplomas during the graduation ceremony.

Speakers were the top three students of the Class of 2018. They were Hannah Kolstoe, Katie Olson, and Matthew Vettleson.

The new temporary County Highway Engineer, Jerilyn Swenson was introduced to the board and reported that she started last Monday and will be here 2 days a week.

Kurt Casavan, Environmental Engineer, who was requesting a resolution from the County Commissioner board on the 10-year solid waste plan. Public comments were requested and none were received. The board made a motion of resolution to accept the 10 year plan

A retirement party will be  held for Essentia Health Dr. Winjum in Fosston on June 4th.

A gun safety class was held  on May 5th with instructors and students spending a  field day at Plummer range. 23 kids were on hand to go the 7 hr course, after doing a online class. There were 9 Department of Natural Resources Certified instructors from the Red Lake Falls and Plummer area to put on the class plus another 8 volunteers helping. 

Harold Sweno, a postal mail carrier out of the Gonvick Post office, was selected to represent the USPS at the Civil Servant of the Year Public Service Recognition Program. Jeremy Bergerson, another postal carrier out of the Gonvick Post Office nominated him for the honor. Harold’s award read, “While performing his route, Harold came to the aid of one of his elderly customers while making a package delivery to her door stop in November 2017. Where he had found that she had slipped and fallen next to her car. He voice was weak and couldn’t recall how long she had been there in the below freezing temps. He dialed 911, covered her with a blanket and comforted her until the ambulance arrived.

A new display has been delivered to the Oklee Historical Society this past week from the Minnesota Historic Northwest group. A grant was applied for a number of displays to be at MN Historic NW member museums. They will be rotated three times a year.

June 6: Mr. Mike Swenson is retiring from Red Lake County Central this year. He has been teaching at Oklee Public School which became RLCC for 44 years beginning in 1974. He attended Northland Community College in Thief River Falls and Bemidji State University a Bachelor’s of Science degree in English and Mass Communications along with a variety of other courses from various colleges. He did his student teaching in Thief River Falls where his mentor Everett Marshall “made teaching so much fun.”

Gunner Sandeen and Noah Hanson played echo Taps at the Memorial Day Program. Noah played the initial notes and Gunner followed with the echo making it sound respectively solemn for the ending of the program. The two boys did a fine job as this is their first year and  hope to see them in the following years to come.

Allison Aakhus sang a patriotic song at the American Legion Memorial Day Program held on May 28 at RLCC.

The Plummer Memorial Day program was held in the Park at 10:30 a.m. Commander Roy Holmes gave the short talk and that was followed by Girl Stater Sydney Melby and Jayden Fore. They gave a talk on the highlights of going to the capitol last year and learning about government. 

We are in the summer season, though yesterday it was rather chilly. For sure you needed a jacket in the morning but the afternoon was very nice. Today it promises to be in the 80’s.

June 13: Ms. Shelley Steva retired from Red Lake County Central at the end of the 2018 season. She has been one of the science teachers at the high school in Oklee. Ms. Steva attended the University of Iowa from 1970-1973, the University of Minnesota from 1973 to 1975 for her Bachelor of Science in Zoology, then to Bemidji State University from 1997-1998 for her Bachelor of Science degree in Science. She chose to teach because of her love for science and students.

A Retirement Open house was being planned for Vincent Lunden after 40 years with the Oklee Elevator/CHS Northland Grain.

Fourteen athletes and one manager received letter awards and twenty five athletes and three managers were recognized with participation certificates. The following were the letter winners Madison Derosier, Megan LaCrosse, Shayla Lallier, Julia Bernstein, Zoe Russillo, MaKenzie Williams, Connor Lambert, AJ Jones, Chris Longtin, Clara Girdler, Hollie Knott, Brock Tvedt, Carter Williams, Kjerstin Nelson, and Trent Goulet (Manager). 

RLCC Oklee hosted a blood drive with United Blood Services on Tuesday, May 22 at the Oklee Community Hall which helped collect a total of 35 units of blood for patients in need. Twenty-eight individuals volunteered to donate blood and 27 individuals were able to donate at the United Blood Services blood drive. A total of nine donors also came forward to donate Power Red Cells (2RBC), which collects two units of red blood cells while returning platelets, plasma and saline solution back to the donor. Eleven people volunteered for the first time.

It’s a beautiful day with the sun shining. Thursday night we had lots of weather reports coming over the TV. Oklee did get almost an inch of rain with thundering and some wind. We needed rain as it was getting quite dry.

Watch for more Year in Review next week...