By Bill Anderson

The rain keeps on coming, a little here, a little there, and the next thing you know, we’re talking real water. Roger Pearson’s rain gauge registered .8 of an inch after the rain stopped on Wednesday, October 20, and held another .55” after the rain on the afternoon of Sunday, October 24, while Norbert Kulzer’s gauge registered nothing from either event, as he had taken his gauge in so it doesn’t freeze up when the hard freeze does finally arrive. Mike Banish reported that the gauge out at the Banish farm, 2 miles south of town, held .88” on the 20^th, and .55” on the 24^th; and Chuck Anderson said that the gauge at his farm in Weber Township measured .79” from the 20^th and .42” on the 24^th. As of this writing, on the morning of Wednesday, October 27, it is raining again, and Chuck Anderson reported that .4” had fallen at his place by 9:00 a.m. Tune in next week for the complete report.

Sargent County Public Health District’s nurses are scheduled to be at the Rutland Senior Citizens’ Center from 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on Monday, November 1, to administer covid-19 booster shots. These boosters are the Moderna brand. There is no charge, so stop by and get boosted. Sargent County Public Health District Administrator Brenda Peterson reports that Health District nurses have also been delivering the Pfizer booster. According to Ms. Peterson, those seeking a booster for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine are being referred to the Forman Drug for assistance. Ms. Peterson also reported that there are still some folks who are coming in for their first vaccination shots. For information about covid-19 vaccinations and boosters, call: Sargent County Public Health at 724-3725; Forman Drug at 724-6222; or Sanford Clinic at 742-3267. In Sargent County, the vaccinations are not only administered with efficiency, but those getting a shot will also receive a big smile, free of charge. A new staff member, Tracie Ruch, has recently joined the Sargent County Public Health District team. Her position is funded by a grant, according to Ms. Peterson. The grant is good to 2023 and will have to be reapplied for at that time.

The Rutland Community Club met at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 20, in the Rutland Town Hall. President Katie McLaen reports that the first topic of discussion was a review of Uff-Da Day XXXVI that was held on Sunday, October 3. All agreed that the event was a big success, and planning for next year’s Uff-Da Day, scheduled for Sunday, October 2, 2022, has begun. There will be some tweaking of the formula, with some new Uff-Da Day events and activities in the development stage. The preliminary financial report indicates that the 2021 version of Uff-Da Day resulted in net income of approximately $13,000 for the Community Club. In other business, club members present approved the purchase of new Christmas decorations and banners for Rutland’s Main Street. Santa Claus has accepted Rutland’s invitation to make his 76^th annual pre-Christmas visit to Rutland since the end of World War II travel restrictions. Santa Claus Day in Rutland will be on Saturday, December 11, this year, with Santa scheduled to make his appearance at the Rutland Town Hall from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Mark it on your calendar: Santa Claus Day in Rutland on Saturday, December 11.

Ads are out promoting a business opportunity on Main Street in Rutland. The Rutland General Store and Rutland Café buildings are now for sale. Premium Realty, Lacey Ferderer, agent, is handling the property for the family of the late Gretchen Vann. If interested, give Lacey a call at 701-427-5210.

Dan Carlyle of Otter Tail Lake MN; Dan Kuffler of Phoenix AZ; and Dillon Carlyle of West Fargo ND were in Rutland from Friday, October 22, to Monday, October 25, pursuing the wily Chinese Ringneck pheasant. They stayed at “The Bird’s Nest,” the rental house managed by Ione Pherson, during their visit. The trio visited old friends Bill Anderson and Jesse Brakke during their stay and managed to bag a few pheasants on Jesse’s Ransom Township farm. Dan Carlyle and Bill Anderson became friends while both were attending law school at the University of North Dakota from 1985 to 1988. After 30 years in a private law practice, Dan shifted gears 3 years ago, and now serves as CEO of a large rural electric cooperative in northwestern Minnesota. Mr. Carlyle has been hunting pheasants in the Rutland area since the late 1980’s and plans to keep on as long as there are pheasants to pursue and places to hunt. Two companions who have usually accompanied him, John Nelson and Bill Spears, both of Wadena MN, did not make the trip this year, at least not yet.

No word, yet, from anyone in the U.S. Postal Service, or from the North Dakota Congressional delegation, about the future of the Rutland Post Office. As of Thursday, October 28, it will be 4 weeks since the door on the Post Office was locked “for a few days.” A team from the Postal Service inspected the building back on October 8, but nothing has been heard about those findings, either. Rutland Postal Patrons are urged to write to North Dakota Senators Hoeven and Cramer, and to Congressman Armstrong, requesting action to restore postal services in Rutland.

There was some excitement on Main Street early in the Evening of Monday, October 25 when a mini-van drove through the front wall of The Lariat Bar. The van belonged to Joe Malstrom of this community but was not being driven by him at the time of the collision. Big Joe had been at The Lariat for the usual Monday evening conference of The Assembled Wise Men and had decided to go home a little after 7:00 p.m. When he got outside, though, he found that someone had parked their vehicle so close to the driver’s side of his van that he could not get the door open to get in. Joe is a big guy, 4 score years of age, and would have difficulty crawling over and through the seats in the mini-van to get into the driver’s seat, so a friend, Vaughan Rohrbach, several sizes smaller than Joe, volunteered to get into the van and maneuver it away from the offending vehicle so Joe could get behind the wheel and drive home. Joe has a bad right foot, and the foot controls on his mini-van have been modified to allow him to drive more easily by just using his left foot. The accelerator and the brake pedal have been moved so the accelerator pedal is to the left of the brake pedal, the reverse of the standard arrangement. Vaughan got in and backed the vehicle up with no problem. When he pulled back up to the curb, however, he put his left foot down to apply the brake, but his foot was on the accelerator pedal, not the brake. The wheels spun, the van jumped the curb and hit the wall of The Lariat at the front door, taking out the door and pushing the wall in for several feet on either side. Joe was standing on the sidewalk and watched his van go by. Vaughan was surprised, to say the least. According to Roger Pearson, who was still involved in conversation at the bar, the van hit a table that was just inside the door and pushed it back to the “conversation” bar. Roger was seated on one of the high barstools and said that he lifted up his feet to avoid being hit by the table. Shortly before the collision, several hunters from Missouri had been sitting at that table, Roger said, but they had completed their supper and had left the premises just a few minutes before the crash. No one was injured, except the van and The Lariat Bar building. Volunteers jumped into action and shoved the van back out onto the street and started pushing the wall of the building back into place. Proprietor Pete Denault, with the capable assistance of Rodney Erickson and Ray Ohm, along with the good advice of several sidewalk superintendents, soon had made emergency repairs to the hole in the wall. Rodney had a couple of 4’ X 8’ sheets of exterior plywood on hand that had once been used as signs at Uff-Da Day a few years ago, and they were used to keep the weather out. Appropriately, the wording on the 2 sheets of plywood reads, “WELCOME TO RUTLAND, PRIDE OF THE PRAIRIE.” For the time being, until permanent repairs are completed, the door on the northwest corner of The Lariat will be used as the primary entrance. At this point in time, Pete & Michelle have no plans to develop a “drive through” business on the premises. Years from now, this incident will be a good story to tell, but for now everyone is just relieved that no one was injured. The extent of damages to Big Joe’s van has not yet been determined.

Meanwhile, on the national scene, the Democrats say that they are close to an agreement on the President’s infrastructure plan. That’s good news, but it’s where they were 3 months ago. Can they get the details worked out in the next few days? Well, they are Democrats, after all.

That’s the news from Rutland for this week. For additional information about what’s going on in the little city that can, check out the community’s internet web site at www.rutlandnd.com, and take a look at the Rutland Facebook page while you’re at it, too. Don’t forget to patronize your local Post Office and remember to keep the pressure on the U. S. Postal Service and the North Dakota Congressional delegation to SAVE OUR POST OFFICE! Later.