Water and Ice

Winter, summer recreation tops Pelican city agenda

HOT: New swimpool gets warm reception

By Louis Hoglund

A new pool, complete with water slides and other modern features, may be in the future for Pelican Rapids families.
Leaking and outdated, the present 35-year-old pool has been a challenge for city crews for the past several years. Parks and streets superintendent Brian Olson estimates that the pool leaks at a rate of about 1,000 gallons a day during the swimming season.
Options for replacing the pool have been explored by a special task force, assigned by the Pelican Rapids  read entire story. . . .

COLD: Idea of moving winter skating rink to old location rejected

By Louis Hoglund

Hot and cold.
That was reaction of Pelican Rapids city officials to two separate parks and recreation topics, at the June 11 council meeting.
While reaction to a plan for a new warm-weather swimming pool was hot...response to a request to move a sheet of ice from the upper parking area back to the lower elementary school grounds was cold.  read entire story. . . .

Pelican native  Dave Johnson helps prepare youth for future

Transition from foster lives to adulthood a challenging one for disadvantated youth

By Tom Hintgen
Otter Tail County Correspondent

Dave Johnson, a 1971 graduate of Pelican Rapids High School who has an extensive background with Otter Tail County Human Services, says that most people don’t understand the complexity of issues related to youths who are in foster care.
It’s especially challenging, he said, when those children make the transition from foster care to  read entire story. . . .

Rainy days drive folks indoors–to the Pelican library–as patron numbers on rise for 2013

By Louis Hoglund

Rainy days mean high traffic at the Pelican Rapids Public Library.
The cool early summer weather has translated into increased use–up more than 500 during the first ten days of June.
The library recorded 1,004 visitations from June 1 to 10 in 2012.  During the same period for 2013, there  read entire story. . . .

Fifty years of memories for friends of Vergas loon

By Tom Hintgen
Otter Tail County Correspondent

Brian Feldt of Frazee is happy to include the Vergas loon with his birthday celebration this year. That’s because they both have turned 50. Feldt had his half-century celebration on May 31. He said that the world’s largest loon was positioned in Vergas on May 20, 1963.
“Brian is probably correct with his date of May 20 from 50 years ago,” said Vergas historian Rodney Hanson.  read entire story. . . .

Volunteers picking up trash  along highways save state  $6 million annually

Volunteers helping with the Adopt a Highway program pick up 26,000 tons of litter per year, saving the state an estimated $6 million annually, according to the Minnesota Department of Transportation.                                                                                       The Adopt a Highway program currently is staffed by more than 49,000 volunteers from the public who are helping to clean up 11,000 miles of Minnesota’s highways.
 “They volunteer because they want to keep Minnesota highways beautiful and they take pride in what they  read entire story. . . .

Norwegian immigration is focus of new exhibit at Otter Tail Museum

The Otter Tail County Historical Society is pleased to host the Western Norway Emigration Center traveling exhibition, Between Coasts. During the fall of 2012, the Center conducted fieldwork in New York and Minnesota where stories from Norwegian-American emigrants and their descendants have been documented.  read entire story. . . .

More vehicle-deer accidents reported around Otter Tail County

The Sheriff’s Office reported three deer-vehicle accidents over the June 14 weekend. No serious injuries to drivers were reported, but alcohol played a factor in one of the accidents.

A driver swerved to avoid hitting a deer, along County Highway 1. The mishap took place at 2:53 a.m. Saturday, June 15. The driver stuck a utility pole which later was repaired by a crew from Pelican Rapids-based Lake Region Electric Cooperative (LREC).
 read entire story. . . .