Column - 1999: Bayerl wins Water Planner of the Year award

Talk about it

The following is a collection of stories and other items that were included in Alexandria newspapers over the years.

100 YEARS AGO

July 1909

Participants in the annual Fourth of July Industrial Parade created some great floats this year. Lady of the Lake Cigar Company had a cow hitched to a cart that held a young man dressed as a lady, while another float had women dressed as men. The liquor industry had a large dray with 12 barrels of beer decorated with the national flag and emblems. Cowing Robards got out their manure spreader. Anderson Furniture transformed a large flat dray into two rooms – one a dining room, the other a parlor in which a lady played the piano. The Temperance Law and Order League placed an Indian lad in a canoe with a priest in his robe… The cornerstone for the new Swedish Church has been laid.

50 YEARS AGO

July 1959

The largest organ ever to be installed in this area is now being pieced together in Calvary Lutheran Church. The $29,000, 1,900-piece instrument will take two months to construct. The largest pipe is the 16-foot C pipe, the smallest is the size of a lead pencil… A huge flying boxcar Air Force plane en route to Grand Forks Air Force Base was forced to land in Alexandria when one of its two engines went dead about 15 minutes away from here… Mayor Lee Hewett has declared August 14 as “Russ Rolandson Day,” honoring the man who devoted many years to the development of youth activities… The Harry Hoberg family, now living near London, England, has vacationed at Royal Oaks Resort on Lake Ida for 35 years.

25 YEARS AGO

July 1984

Box Car Willie and Janie Fricke performed for a huge crowd at Runestone Center during the Viking Days Celebration… The Miltona State Bank has moved into its newly-constructed building adjacent to the industrial park on the edge of town… Members and friends of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church will break ground for a new church on North Highway 29… Monday’s meeting of the Alexandria City Council was the shortest one in two years. Mayor Paul Nelson claimed nine of the 17-minute session for a discussion on annexation… A resolution allowing for the expansion of Douglas County Hospital was approved and calls for the appointment of four more board members… The Supreme Court ruled 7-0 that women cannot be denied full-fledged membership in the Jaycees, overruling the national policy set in 1873.

10 YEARS AGO

July 1999

Douglas County authorities assisted in the surveillance leading to the arrest of Donald Blom, who had been camping in this area just hours before his arrest in June. He is the prime suspect in the kidnapping of Katie Poirer… After being a nurse for 17 years, Marilyn Bayerl opted to make a career change into marine biology. Now, three years later as Douglas County’s lone water planner, she has won the state’s Water Planner of the Year award… A cooperative effort to create a pedestrian/bike path to Lake L’Homme Dieu Beach has earned the 1999 Governor’s Commendation from Partnership Minnesota Award… District 206 approved the annexation by the city of Alexandria of Discovery School property… The Lakes Area Humane Society’s new building on Nevada Street has opened.

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Marge Van Gorp of Alexandria is a regular contributing columnist to the Echo Press Opinion page.

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