As the clock inches closer to 2015, the Citizen staff has decided to look back at some of 2014's biggest moments from our archives. General News-January Gina Hugo from Sherburne County visited the Clear Lake City Council in January and gave a presentation in hopes the city would back her urban forestry program to prepare for the Emerald Ash Borer infestation.
General News-February
As the Polar Vortex freezing weather continued to crash down on the state of Minnesota in January and February, people who had been relying on propane to heat their homes were getting nailed as supplies dwindled and prices for the gas spiked to unheard of amounts.
Jim Alders, director of regulatory administration for Xcel Energy, told a gathering at Xcel’s offices that it’s likely the Sherco Power Plant’s units 1 and 2 will continue to operate well into the 2040’s, because it is more economical than replacing the units with new power plants. This, despite the fact many environmentalists (and Minnesota’s governor) want the PUC to shut down Xcel or have it converted to natural gas energy.
General News-March
Firefighters from Clear Lake, Becker and Clearwater helped save the Palmer Township home of Virginia Deadrick that was on fire in March. No injuries were reported.
Officers from the Becker Police Dept. apprehended several suspects in alleged drug activities and stolen vehicles and ultimately made five arrests. Kodie Lee Kelash, Melanie Ann Quick, Priscilla Marie Trepanier, Jesse Allan Bodendrier and Shawn Lee Gums were all arrested in March and booked in Sherburne County jail.
General News-April
The Clear Lake City Council announced they would give financial relief to citizens’ April water bills for those who had an increase of 500+ gallons and over due to frozen water pipes.
17-year-old junior Joe Perry produced, wrote and performed a song, “Drifting Away” that made it to iTunes and created a video that had thousands of views from his loyal followers.
Rick Speers, 78, of Becker showcased three original pencil and pastel drawings of area barns that stayed on display at the Sherburne State Bank offices.
Sarah Brunn was hired to be the City of Becker’s new treasurer.
General News-May
Alyssa Haus — a 2013 Becker High School graduate — was named one of 10 finalists for the SuretyBonds.com Small Business Success Student Scholarship Program. She currently is a student at Bethel University in St. Paul studying biokinetics.
Bud Stimmler of Clear Lake recently organized a committee to construct a Clear Lake history book by doing interviews and gathering pertinent maps, photos and keepsakes from residents to try and preserve the history of the Clear Lake area.
General News-June
Council Member Rick Hendrickson suggested the city council organize a golf advisory board that would be responsible with putting together a five-year business plan to get Pebble Creek to the break-even mark or start making money. The advisory board was one of several choices council was weighing including possibly selling the golf course, hiring a management company or reducing the number of holes from 36 down to 18.
Two Becker students, Kyle Buchholz and Tyler Madsen , reeled in the first place prize at the Regional High School Muskie Fishing Tournament just northeast of Cushing.
General News-July
Twenty-one students and four adults from the Becker area traveled to Ensenada, MX to help build a home for a needy family and to share the Gospel. The students are members of a youth group associated with the Becker EV Christian Church in Becker.
Forty-five youths and nine adults from the Mary of the Visitation Catholic Church in Becker and Big Lake left July 5 for seven days serving the community of the Northern Cheyenne people. The missionaries helped the people of the reservation build decks, wheelchair ramps, decks and skirted a few mobile homes.
General News-August
U.S. Marines Maj. Mark Hamilton of Becker was selected to be a C-130 demonstration pilot for the infamous Blue Angels Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron.
Gov. Mark Dayton called for eliminating coal from the future of Minnesota’s energy production. He challenged a group of energy policy and business leaders to figure out a way to get the deed done so that “Minnesota could lead the nation” in doing so, not boding well for Becker’s Sherco power plant.
General News-September
At the Sept. 16 Becker City Council meeting, Mayor Lefty Kleis and Councilmember Adam Oliver exchanged barbs throughout the meeting that centered around the Becker Police Dept., the senior center, the food shelf and codes of conduct. They both made public apologies for their behavior at the following meeting in October.
McDonald’s Meats was honored at the September Clear Lake City Council meeting for their 100 years of business.
61-year-old Brad Braun of Clear Lake lost his life when he was pinned underneath a tractor after it flipped over when he was moving large round hay bales. The accident happened at 8523 State St. while Braun was farming alone and was discovered by his father.
General News-October
Dustin Emholtz of Element Arms helped Becker Police nab three adults after a trailer Emholtz owned was stolen from the Element Arms business in October. Emholtz actually witnessed the crime, then followed the perpetrators while calling 911.
General News-November
Shelly Mattson closed Hunter’s Ridge Restaurant at Pebble Creek following the end of the gold season due to financial difficulties and the physical, mental and emotional toll the business took on her and her family.
Rick Hendrickson and Lori Keller won the two Becker City council seats up for election in November.
SafeWise, a national company out of Utah with over 75 years of experience in the home security industry, recently researched and generated a list of the top 15 safest cities in the state of Minnesota and produced those results in November. Becker made the list at #11.
General News-December
Liberty Paper, Inc. (LPI) contributed $16,000 to the Becker Fire Dept. to pay the entire cost of a LUCAS 2 chest compression device, a machine that senses the size of a patient and delivers standard CPR compression at the press of a button.
The Blandin Foundation announced in December that Sherburne County was successful in their application to become a Blandin Broadband Community, one of only 10 selected in the state. Becker Community Development Coordinator Amanda Outhoudt was instrumental in gaining that achievement for the county and local communities.
Sports-January
Bemidji State University’s Jessie Althoff of Becker was named Beaver Pride Athlete of the Week in January, after averaging 12.0 points and 4.5 rebounds per game.
Olympic gold medal winner and world champion Jordan Burroughs visited the Becker wrestling team after Bulldog freshman Colten Demant won an “I am a Wrestler” national essay contest.
Sports-April
Fourteen-year-old Sidney Boros of Becker ran his first 1/2-marathon April 19 and finished first in his age group and 603rd out of 1,248 runners.
Sports-May
The Becker boys and girls track team held their first home track meet in nine years in May under sunny skies and warm temperatures.
Long-time Becker High School trainer Scott Brake announced his retirement in May, a job he held for the past 17 years.
Sports-June
Hannah Schmidt placed eighth in high jump and 12th in pole vault as she participated in her first MSHSL state meet at Hamline University in early June.
The Becker girls softball team held their annual end-of-the-season banquet and handed out awards for their successful, 21-4 season in which they won their conference as well as their section playoffs.Senior Allison Cieslak was named the St. Cloud Times’ softball player of the year.
Sports-July
Alex Stanz (14-years-old) and his younger brother Zac (11) qualified to play at Pinehurst Golf Club in the U.S. Kids Golf World Championship tournament in late July and early August.
The Becker varsity girls basketball team took home the Breakdown Summer Showcase Tournament Championship by beating Willmar, 47-41 in Sauk Rapids in the Cyclones Division. The team was coached by Paul Lindsay.
Sports-August
The Becker Bulldog VFW Baseball team qualified for the 2014 VFW state tournament in Brainerd with their outstanding performance in the District 6 tournament in which they went 3-1.
Becker Sophomore Jackson Fluck carded at 73 in the final 18 holes of the 45-hole Oakdale Invitational at Oakdale Golf Club to take first place in the Oakdale flight.
Hundreds of people from all around the area gathered at Becker High School in late August to participate in the fourth annual Haitian Hustle 5k Fun Run for Education.
Sports-September
The Becker Bulldog girls swimming and diving teams hosted their first home meet in years as they christened their new state-of-the-art swimming and diving facility in early September.
Becker’s Madi Kealy, a 2014 graduate running for the Jamestown Jimmies as a freshman, finished 45th (21:19) in the Randy Smith Invitational 5k in Glyndon, MN in her first collegiate CC race.
Sports-October
The U12 girls Becker Blaze soccer team was presented with the Minnesota Youth Soccer Association's OATHS (Outstanding Ambassadors of Teams Honoring Sportsmanship) Award that recognizes and honors players, coaches and spectators that exhibit good sportsmanship throughout the season.
CC athlete Luke Lahr placed 15th at the Alexandria Lions Meet of Champions at Arrowwood Resort with a time of 16:37.3 and was rewarded with a trophy.
Sports-November
The Becker Bulldog football team captured their second state title in November, beating DeLaSalle 24-6 at TCF Bank Stadium.
The Becker Bulldog swim and dive team competed in the Section 5A tournament in Duluth in November and a number of girls from Becker achieved personal best times and scores. However, no Bulldogs made it to the state meet being played out at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center.
Senior student-athlete Michael Veldman was named as one of 10 finalists for the 2014 Mr. Football award sponsored by the Minnesota Football Coaches Association (MFCA) and the Minnesota Vikings.
Sports-December
Veldman was named the St. Cloud Times’ all-area football player of the year after leading the Bulldogs to a 12-1 season and a prep bowl championship.
Becker High School grad Andrew Buntrock was instrumental in guiding his University of Minnesota-Duluth Fighting Penguins to back-to-back rugby titles and was named Aircraft Charter Solutions Player of the Week in December.
