Tag: Sargent Central High School

Rutland Ramblings – Jan. 19, 2023

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This community was shocked and plunged into sadness on Sunday, December 24, 2023, when word was received here that Rutland native Shelly (Pherson) Fink had died suddenly and unexpectedly at the age of 33 years 4 months and 1 day. 

Shelly Jean Pherson was born on August 23, 1990, in Breckenridge MN to Dennis and Ione (Benson) Pherson of Rutland, ND. She grew up on the Pherson family’s farmstead on the north edge of Rutland.  She learned how to ride a horse almost before she knew how to walk.  Shelly was baptized and confirmed in the Christian faith at Nordland Lutheran Church in Rutland.  As a child, Shelly loved animals as much as she loved making people laugh. She was active in the 4-H horse program, Children’s Summer Theater, Rutland Community Theater, gymnastics, high school basketball and all things creative, including art. She shared her creative talents in countless ways throughout her life.  Shelly could always inspire smiles and laughs with her quick quips, one-liners and comebacks in any situation.

Shelly attended Elementary and High School at Sargent Central, graduating from high school in 2009. During her high school years, Shelly excelled in athletics, speech, Envirothon, served as a 4-H State Ambassador, and as Miss Sargent County 2007. She spent one summer learning to train horses and earned a spunky filly she named Oakley.

After graduating from high school, Shelly joined the North Dakota Air National Guard. She was proud to be one of North Dakota’s “Happy Hooligans”. After completing Air Force Basic Training, she enrolled at NDSU in Fargo, studying Ag Education. She joined the LineBenders Improv Comedy Group, fostered animals from the local shelter and helped them find homes, and shared her acting ability with police officers in Crisis Intervention Training. Airman Pherson served her country as an Air Transportation Specialist during Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. Shelly became a recruiter for the North Dakota Air National Guard in 2014 and educated all ages about the military – reading to classrooms, doing workshops with high school and college students, organizing activities in veterans’ homes, and helping young airmen get the most out of their military experience. Shelly was a proud member of Bergman-Evenson Post #215 of the American Legion in her hometown of Rutland.

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Rutland Ramblings – Nov. 17, 2023

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Rutland was well represented at the Sargent Central School Veterans Day program on Thursday, November 9. The American Legion Bergman-Evenson Post #215 was the Color Guard, with Commander Larry Christensen, Tom Manley and Roger McLaen.  Many Rutland residents attended to help honor our Veterans from the area. The school youth put on a wonderful program which had a record attendance from parents, relatives, and veterans. The Teller is covering the event with photos so be sure to check out that news as well.

On Monday, November 13th, the Rutland Seniors celebrated the birthday “kids” of the month – Mark Wyum and Phyllis Wyum. Mark stopped in for the birthday photo opp and then headed out to the field for harvest work. Phyllis is such a busy lady that she was unable to attend and partake in the delicious and festive birthday cake.

The District 28 Dem-NPL Party will meet on Monday, November 20th, at Rutland City Hall at 7 p.m. with a social gathering before the monthly Zoom meeting. They will discuss last year’s legislative changes, upcoming events, and updates to the 28for28 Club for District fundraising. Feel free to attend the social and stay for the meeting.

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The Rooster Crows – Sept. 8, 2023

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By Bill Anderson

“Heat wave!” “Sweltering Heat!” Searing Heat!” “Hotter than the Sheriff’s pistol in a Roy Rogers movie!” “Hotter than the hinges of Hades!” All of the preceding descriptive phrases could have been used to describe the weather conditions that accompanied the first 4 days of September. The heat was accompanied by oppressive humidity that made conditions even more uncomfortable. According to Alexa, the little know-it-all who lives in the Echo Dot, between June 1 and September 4, Rutland & vicinity experienced 31 days with a temperature of 90 or above, and 4 days of 100 degree temperatures. That was not a record, however. There were 54 days with the temperature over 90 degrees back in 1988. Well, according to the weather experts on TV, we’re not done with hot weather, yet, but it is unlikely that we will experience any more days above 90 in 2023. Unlikely, but not impossible. Stand by!

Between 6:00 p.m. on Monday, September 4, and 6:00 a.m. on Wednesday, September 6, there was a 40 degree drop in the temperature reading. From summer’s heat to autumn’s cool in only 36 short hours. If you don’t like the weather right now, just wait a minute, it’ll change.

The following report on preparations for Uff-Da Day XXXVIII, coming up on Sunday, October 1, has been received from Rutland Community Club President Katie McLaen. “Looking for help for the following: Lefse making dates on September 12th 9am & at 6pm; and, on September 18th 9am & 6pm. Goodie dates: Sandkaker on September 25th at 9am and 1pm; Krumkakke on September 29th.  A Community Club meeting is scheduled for Monday, the 11th of September, at 5:30 pm at the Rutland Town Hall. Some Uffda Day events to look forward to: Authentic Scandinavian Hall Meal, tractor pull, nickel scramble, parade, car show, lariat bar drink specials, bounce houses, 30+ vendors, and more.” Thanks to Katie McLaen and the Rutland Community Club for the information about Uff-Da Day XXXVIII, coming up on Sunday, October 1, in Rutland ND. 

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The Rooster Crows – May 19, 2023

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By Bill Anderson

Last week’s thunder, lightning and rain knocked out most of the remaining frost pockets and settled the soil for Spring planting. Here in Rutland, the combined rainfall total from the Friday afternoon downpour and Saturday’s day long drizzle amounted to .7 of an inch but other areas of Sargent County were drenched with considerably more precipitation. Mark Bopp, who farms northeast of Cogswell, reports 2.5” of total precipitation from the Friday-Saturday double whammy. Sunshine, temperatures in the 70’s & 80’s, and light winds from Sunday through Wednesday, May 14-17, helped to get fields in shape to hold machinery, but more rain is being predicted for Thursday & Friday of this week.

Despite the gray, hazy appearance of the sky, and the reddish-orange appearance of the Sun at daybreak, local weather experts have been telling us that there are no clouds and that the sky is perfectly clear. So, what’s going on. Is this the new, “artificial intelligence,” technology at work, telling us to believe what they say, not what we see? Well, not exactly. The gray, hazy appearance of the sky is actually the result of an old-fashioned natural process, wildfires burning in the Canadian Provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan, producing smoke that is carried across North America by upper-level air currents. The smoke is so high, the experts say, that we can’t smell it right now, but an approaching cold front is expected to bring the smoke down to Earth to torment creatures, including us, here below. So, that’s the weather story for North Dakota. Always something to look forward to.

Mark Wyum, who is helping his son, Rob, get the 2023 crop planted, reports that the hilltops are in good shape, but the slough edges and low spots are marginal, at best. Rob is planting some spring wheat this year, the first wheat in the Wyum Farm’s crop rotation in 30 years, just to see how it goes. He expects to have his planned total of 600 acres planted to wheat before day’s end on “Syttende Mai,” May 17. Other crews were just getting started on corn and beans, and hope to be hitting it hard by next week.

It is finally Spring, and that means that it’s also time for the Rutland Cemetery Association’s annual meeting. Association President Roger Pearson had scheduled the meeting to be held at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, May 10, in the Community Room of Stock Growers Bank’s Rutland Station. The meeting was called to order by Vice-President Paul Anderson. The big items of business were: approval of a budget for normal 2023 operating expenses; approval of the appropriation of approximately $7,000 from the Perpetual Care Fund for straightening and repairing a number of larger tombstones in the cemetery; and, election of a new Director to replace Norbert Kulzer on the Cemetery Association’s Board. Norbert said that, by his estimate, he had been a member of the board for at least the past 152 years, but Secretary Casee Carlson said that she could only find records to indicate that Norbert had been serving as a board member since the early 1980’s. Jerry Woytassek was elected to the board for a 4-year term. Members of the Rutland Cemetery Association Board are now: Roger Pearson; Paul Anderson; Casee Carlson; Chuck Sundlie; and Jerry Woytassek. Greg Donaldson serves as the Cemetery’s Sexton. The next meeting of the Rutland Cemetery Association’s membership is tentatively scheduled for the 2nd Wednesday in May 2024. The members of the Association expressed their congratulations and thanks to Norbert Kulzer for his 4, or 15 decades of faithful service on the Cemetery Board.

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The Rooster Crows – May 12, 2023

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By Bill Anderson

Bergman-Evenson Post #215 of The American Legion provided the honor guard, and Mother Nature provided the tears, in the form of a day long drizzle & rain, for the funeral of Virgil Hoistad Sr. on Saturday, May 6. As had been reported here, earlier, Virgil’s funeral would be held at his home church, Nordland Lutheran Church, in Rutland, with burial at the home church of his late wife, Donetta (Gulsvig) Hoistad, at Pleasant Valley Lutheran Church near Kidder SD. All in all, the service, the ceremony, and the weather combined to provide a fitting tribute for our late friend and neighbor, Virgil Hoistad Sr. 

Roger Pearson reported that, as of Monday, May 8, he had measured 1.2 inch of rain in his gauge at 409 Gay Street since the 1st of May, including 1 full inch on Saturday, May 6. Roger’s next door neighbor, Norbert Kulzer, whose rain gauge at 415 Gay Street is only a few feet east of Roger’s gauge, reported 1.1 inch of precipitation from the May 6 rain event. Jesse Brakke said that the electronic gauge at his farm in Section 15 of Ransom Township indicated that he had received 1 full inch of rain on Saturday, May 6, although he is unsure of the effect that the dehydrated spider he found in the gauge would have on the reading. Ione Lunneborg reported 1.7 inch of rain at the Jim & Ione Lunneborg farm in Shuman Township, and Rick Bosse stated that the Brampton area had received somewhere between 2 and 3 inches of rain during the May 6 event. 

Raccoons can be cute little fellows, in the right place and at the right time, but one place in which they are not cute is in a commercial building on Rutland’s Main Street. Many have seen the Facebook photo of 2 raccoons posing in the window of the former Rutland Post Office at 113 First Street. They looked cute, posing as if they were the new Postmaster and Clerk at the Rutland Post Office. Unfortunately, they are also extremely destructive, going through walls, floors and ceilings to get where they want to go. They do not restrict themselves to their original place of abode, either. Like a band of drunken hooligans, raccoons are perfectly willing to trash any location to which they have access. The City of Rutland had previously notified the absentee owner of the building, Dr. Hamilton that the raccoons, and other vermin, were to be removed as soon as possible. A response from Dr. Hamilton was due by Tuesday, May 2. Rutland’s City Attorney, LeeAnn Even, reports that the demand letter sent to the registered agent of Hamilton Enterprises, LLC and to Hamilton Enterprises, LLC required removal of the raccoons within 7 days of receipt of the letter, or, at least, steps such as contracting with a pest removal company for dealing with the raccoons and notifying the city of the estimated timeframe to deal with the raccoons must have been taken. The letter also informed Hamilton Enterprises that failure to deal with the issue would result in the City having the raccoons removed and billing Hamilton for the costs, including attorney’s fees. Well, we suppose that the raccoons, once apprehended, could be charged with impersonating officials of the U.S. Postal Service and sentenced to 10 or 20 years in the Federal Penitentiary. That would keep them off the street, and out of our attics, for a while.

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The Rooster Crows – Apr. 21, 2023

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By Bill Anderson

April, it seems, has become the new March up here on the northern plains, at least during 2023. Weather conditions have been swinging back & forth, like the pendulum on a Grandfather’s clock, between winter and spring. Mother Nature has become an exotic dancer, enticing observers by removing one layer of ice & snow at a time, turning up the heat and turning it down to serve her purpose, her preference, and her passion. The thermometer registered fifty-one degrees above Zero on Wednesday, April 12, while those with memories recalled that a week earlier Rutland was in the midst of a great blizzard that hammered the region with high winds, heavy snow and frigid temperatures. Spring will arrive in its own good time. Meanwhile, though, we might as well relax and enjoy the show. Mother Nature is bound to regain her usual modesty one of these days.

Rutland and vicinity were rocked by a wild thunderstorm at about 3:00 a.m. on Wednesday, April 19. The thunder wasn’t the first we have heard so far this spring, but it certainly was the most emphatic. Lightning, wind and heavy rain provided accompaniment for nature’s symphony of thunder. In what was most likely a “first” in broadcast history, WDAY News, which began broadcasting on the radio back in 1922, 101 years ago, reported the rainfall amounts from both Rutland and Brampton in the same report, .62 of an inch at Rutland and .5 of an inch at Brampton on Wednesday, April 19. Congratulations folks, we’ve finally made the big time!

The combined effects of thunder, lightning, wind and rain also knocked out the supply of electricity from Otter Tail Power Co. to homes and businesses in Rutland on Wednesday morning. The power went off right after the storm hit, but Otter Tail’s repair crews had the power restored shortly before 6:30 a.m., in time to make breakfast for the kids before sending them off to school. The Rutland community extends thanks to the Otter Tail service technicians who went out into the storm to make the needed repairs. There is an old saying that, “We don’t miss the water until the well runs dry,” and we could add that we don’t miss the electricity until the lights don’t work and the coffee maker quits.

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