Column - 2002: 20-pound puffball mushroom found by Webb family

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

OCTOBER 1912

Ole Larson, who lives near Stowe’s Lake, suffered quite a loss this week when fire destroyed his barn with two horses, 60 tons of hay, one and a half sets of harnesses, 40 bushels of hay and a calf in it. The estimated $1,100 loss was covered by a $690 insurance policy… AD: Mary had her hair troubles, Quite a large variety. Then she used some Persian Sage

And is the envy of Society. Available at Holverson Drug… The City Council discussed the recent warehouse building and Arlington Hotel fires that could easily have wiped out all of downtown. They said the only solutions were to deepen the old abandoned well, extend the water main 400 feet further into Lake Agnes or to dig a new well.

50 YEARS AGO

OCTOBER 1962

KXRA has been authorized by the FCC to increase its transmitting power to 1,000 watts… A St. Cloud man and a White Bear Lake man were killed instantly when their light plane crashed three miles from the Leaf Valley store… Mrs. James Pipo was awarded a Bean Pot trophy for being the Eighth District Bean Feed champion at the State Bean Feed. She was seated on the platform with John F. Kennedy, who delivered the main address… The State Fire Marshall notified the city that the old fire hall must be vacated and action started to raze the building by October 15… Alexandria Technical College will receive $400,000 worth of machine tools from the DOD National Industrial Equipment Reserve, the third state school to receive such a bonanza.

25 YEARS AGO

OCTOBER 1987

Pictures taken by Bryan and Mike Hanson of Brandon were among 52 pictures centering on family life in Minnesota being sent to Children’s Palace School in Russia. Bryan captured the peaceful setting around their home and the pioneer heritage of a steam thresher’s reunion. Mike’s portrayals included a sunburst landscape and everyday life in Fourth of July shenanigans by picnickers at Lobster Lake… Josh Mills was chosen winner of the Fire Prevention Week Poster contest. He was given a ride to the newspaper office in a fire truck driven by John Widmark… Randy Tvrdik, an employee of the DNR fisheries in Glenwood, has volunteered to help fight fires in the drought-plagued West Coast… While out photographing autumn color, Steve Harstad spotted a bull moose in a farm yard northeast of Lake Miltona.

10 YEARS AGO

OCTOBER 2002

Jerry Wendtland inserted radio transmitters into the bellies of six walleye on Lake Osakis. They will allow the DNR to track and find out where they spawn and use that information to improve future projects… Little Dianyl-Anne Webb was pictured holding a huge puffball mushroom found near their Spruce Hill home. It measured 20 inches across and weighed 20 pounds and “It was delicious,” the family said… Cliff Knutson was in sixth grade when he began writing The Shifter, a story of an alien who can change shape at will. Being bullied in school, feeling like an outcast and seeing the school counselor influenced him to write more. By the time graduation day arrived at Jefferson, he had completed his first of a 20-book series.

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

Tags: opinion, columns