By Deborah Banish

Margot Ganske of Park City UT arrived in Rutland early in the morning of Thursday, October 4, after arriving in Fargo on the 11:00 p.m. flight from Minneapolis. Mrs. Ganske is an Uffda Day volunteer, and, as she is the identical twin sister of Uffda Day Chairperson Marcia Brakke, her presence enabled Marcia to be in two places at one time.

It takes planning, timing and coordination to make a family trip these days. Ross & Miranda Kulzer, accompanied by 7-year-old Lilah and 5-year-old Cohn, arrived in Rutland early in the afternoon of Friday, October 5, at the end of a journey that had Ross starting out from San Jose CA on Thursday afternoon, and Miranda, Liah and Cohn commencing their trip at Kalispell MT that same afternoon. The family was reunited in the Minneapolis Airport and arrived at Hector Airport in Fargo at 11:00 at night. After a night in a Fargo hotel, they made the remainder of the trip to Rutland via automobile. Both Ross and Miranda are employed by an electronics manufacturing company that markets its products all over the world and requires a lot of travel of its employees, so they know how to make the transportation system work for them.

A crew of potato peelers met in the kitchen of the Rutland Town Hall at 8:00 in the morning on Saturday, October 6, and made short work of 275 pounds of spuds. The potatoes were to be sliced and combined with real ham and real cream to create Rutland’s signature Uffda Day Scalloped Potatoes for the Uffda Day dinner in the Town Hall on Sunday, October 7. Members of the Potato Peeling Crew were: Paul Anderson; Norbert Kulzer; Miranda Kulzer; Richard Lysne; Delores Lysne; Roger Pearson; Vern Liest; Cameron Gulleson; Jenny Gulleson; Dylan Gulleson; Rob Wyum; Liam Gillespie; and, Ron Narum. After completing their kitchen task, several members of the Potato Peeling Crew walked across the street to become members of the Uffda Day Tent Raising Crew, erecting a large tent for use on Uffda Day between the Sargent County Bank Building and U-STOR IT OF RUTLAND. The Tent Raising Crew consisted of Rob Wyum; Jenny Gulleson; Cameron Gulleson; Liam Gillespie; Cody Gulleson; Ron Narum; and, Paul Anderson. The Potato Peeling and Tent Raising Crews received the thanks of the community and the satisfaction of a job well done as compensation for their efforts.

Rutland native John T. Hoflen arrived in Rutland on the evening of Friday, October 5, prepared to enjoy the Uffda Day weekend in his old home town. John and his wife, Sharon, make their home in Bismarck. Mr. Hoflen headquartered at the home of his younger brother, Rob Hoflen, during his visit in his old home town. John is a 1962 graduate of Rutland High School and reminds all RHS Alums of the Rutland School Reunion that is coming up on the weekend of July 5, 6 & 7, 2019, in Rutland.

Cathy (Kulzer) Kriegelstein of Appleton WI and Karen (Kulzer) Buisker of Aberdeen SD arrived in Rutland on the afternoon of Saturday, October 6. Cathy had flown to Aberdeen to join up with Karen, and the 2 sisters then drove to Rutland. A third sister, Diane (Kulzer) Davis, and her husband, Rick, also arrived in Rutland on Saturday afternoon. The 3 girls are all Rutland natives, the sisters of Norbert Kulzer and David Kulzer, and daughters of the late Roman Kulzer and the late Myrtle (Aus) Kulzer. Cathy & Karen resided in The Bagley House at 301 First Street during their stay in their old home town, and the Davises bunked in at The Bunkhouse, at 205 First Street, during their time in Rutland.

Despite the cool but dry Sunday, October 7, Rutland’s population grew significantly for Uffda Day. The Scandinavian meal at the Town Hall served more than 775 people, the Uffda Tacos and Brats were busy, people were eating freshly-rolled lefse and homemade Rommegrot at the Senior Center. The kiddie train maneuvered through town starting early before the rush for dinner and the kids stayed warm using the bounce houses. National news reporters and election candidates participated in the parade and they made the kids even happier with the candy that was tossed their way. The culmination of the day was the new Norse-Ski event, organized by Sam Gillespie. Several team and many spectators gathered on Gay and Bagley in the afternoon. Several preliminary races provided a few laughs but when it was all over the winners were declared. The team of Marcia Brakke, Margo Ganske, Vaughn Rohrbach and Jerry Sapa took home the gift certificates for The Lariat Bar and Grill of Rutland and to the Black Pelican in Wyndmere. For a good laugh, check out the Uffda Day Facebook page for videos of the competition. Congratulations to the winning team and to Uffda Day Chairperson Marcia Brakke for another successful Uffda Day. Everyone looks forward to the 35^th Uffda Day on Sunday, October 6, 2019. Mark your calendars!

Rutland North Dakota made the front page of the October 8^th issue of the New York Times which covered the political race between Senator Heidi Heitkamp and Congressman Kevin Cramer who is also running for the Senate seat. Both Senate candidates and several County candidates participated in the parade with large contingents marching along. Reporters from several national publications took advantage of the candidate’s parade appearance to speak to them and cover the heated North Dakota Senate race.

Leonard Heinen, father of Marcia Brakke of this community, Margot Ganske of Park City UT and Christine Tauer of Elk River MN, celebrated his 98^th birthday with family and friends at Four Seasons Healthcare Center in Forman on Monday, October 8. Leonard, a veteran of WW II, is a member of Bergman-Evenson Post #215 of The American Legion in Rutland, of the Rutland Senior Citizens Club and of St. Mary’s Catholic church in Forman. He had resided in Rutland Housing’s 4-Plex at 207 First Street for several years until moving to Four Seasons this past Summer. Leonard was a dairy farmer near Big Stone SD and Cyrus MN for much of his life and remembers the tough times of drought and depression in the 1920’s & 30’s with vivid clarity. He states that he started out with hard times, and that life has been pretty good to him since then. He is especially proud of his girls and of his grandchildren. The Rutland Community extends a “Happy Birthday” to Lenny, and Best Wishes for many more.

Sargent County Auditor Pam Maloney of this community was one of seven Sargent County officials who participated in the annual conference of the North Dakota Association of Counties held at the Civic Center in Bismarck from the afternoon of Sunday, October 7, to Tuesday, October 9. Also attending the conference were: County Treasurer/Recorder/Clerk of Court Alison Toepke of Forman; County Director of Tax Equalization Denise Ferderer of Milnor; County Commissioner Mike Walstead of Forman; County Commissioner Sherry Hosford of Forman; County Commissioner Dave Jacobson of Forman; and County Commissioner Bill Anderson of Rutland. During the conference the County officials took in several continuing education classes on such topics as: funding for infrastructure construction, improvement & maintenance; upcoming changes in local property tax assessments; dealing with marijuana in the workplace; changes in the criminal justice system; Human Relations; responding to violence & threats in the workplace; and, many more. During the conference Commissioner Hosford was recognized for her years of service as Sargent County’s Auditor, Sargent County Commissioner and as a member of the Board of Directors of the North Dakota County Commissioners Association. Commissioner Anderson received a certificate for completing 100 hours of continuing education through the Institute of Local Government. On Tuesday morning the County Commissioners, County Auditor and County Engineer Damon Devillers of Interstate Engineering, Wahpeton, met with officials of the North Dakota Department of Transportation to discuss the County’s future road and bridge projects that are currently on the schedule. During that meeting they were informed that the County’s allocation of Federal matching funds for upcoming projects has been increased by 50%, from $206,000 to $309,000. That amount of money will only pay for .6 of a mile of paved County road, but that’s better than .4 of a mile. The conference concluded at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, October 9. Newly elected and veteran county officials will gather again in Bismarck in March of 2019, during the 56th session of the North Dakota State Legislature, for the County Officials Academy.

Mother Nature decided to play nasty on Wednesday, October 10. She covered the ground with wet slushy snow causing several power outages in the Sargent County area and to the west. The wet snow downed many trees and covered the soybean and corn fields with over two-inches by noon with more wet snow anticipated throughout the day. Crop harvest has already been delayed by the rainfall over the past few weeks, so it appears that harvest will continue well into November and Thanksgiving. Avoid the farmers because none of them will be in a good mood for quite a while.

Thanks to Bill Anderson for all the updates for this week’s column!