From the Mascot files

100 Years Ago
(March 24, 1922

Minneota farm family
home destroyed by fire
The house on the Struthers' farm, occupied by the family of Emil VanAssche, was completely destroyed by fire last Friday. Only the contents of the house belonged to the VanAssche family, but those were all destroyed, too. There was a small insurance policy on the home, but not on any of the contents. The cause of the fire was not determined. No one was home at the time of the fire.

Benjaminsson injured in
while fall repairing eaves
Jon Benjaminsson of Swede Prairie fell and severely injured his right leg and thigh on Wednesday. Benjaminsson was repairing some eave troughs on his shanty and was standing on a keg to reach them. He fell off the keg and sustained severe bruises and the injury was very painful, he said. A doctor was summoned.

Bernard Bang watches
all 16 tourney games
Bernard Bang retuned from Northfield last Saturday after attending the state basketball tournament. There were 16 games played and Mr. Bang attended every one of them. Bang was one of the local team's players this year.

75 Years Ago
(March 28, 1947)

MBA members hold
lively meeting here
Members of the Minneota Businessmen's Association discussed Scouting, baseball, progress of the hospital project, and youth problems at a lively meeting held at the public school on Tuesday. The meeting was presided over by Harry W. Tillemans, the association president Since the resignations in January of Dr. C.E. Eastwold and K.E. Jones, scoutmaster and assistant, no Scout leaders have been appointed and Scout work here has been at a standstill. Committee members also discussed what's been done so far in forming a baseball league, as well as securing suits for players, repairing the grandstand, and getting the diamond in shape. Members of the hospital committee praised farmers for contributions they are making to the hospital building fund. A five-man board committee was formed to study youth problems here and make recommendations.

Minneota celebrates
Girl Scouts' 17th year
Members of the Minneota Girl Scout troop and their mothers were guests at a birthday party at the Legion Hall last Tuesday evening, the 17th birthday of the local organization. The Girl Scouts here are sponsored by the American Legion Auxiliary and Mrs. Carl Christianson, who is retiring as an Auxiliary committee member, was also honored. Lunch was served at the conclusion of the evening's entertainment.

Hospital donations jump
10,000 during last week
Donations and pledges to the hospital project here jumped $10,000 during the past week, H.J. Tillemans, newly named general chairman of the financial drive, reported this week. Residents of Minneota and the surrounding communities have now donated and pledged a total of $45,000 for building a hospital here. The committee plans to work harder than every and push the drive to a successful completion after Easter, Tillemans said. The goal is to reach $80,000.

50 Years Ago
(March 23, 1972)

Girl, Boy Staters,
alternates named
Heidi Johnson, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Johnson, was chosen as the Girl State delegate by the Legion Auxiliary. The alternate is Linda Larson, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Wendell Larson. Tom Traen, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Anton Traen, was chosen as the Boys State delegate. Joseph Bottelberghe, the son of Mrs. and Mrs. Raymond Bottelberghe, has been selected as the alternate.

Parking crackdown
to begin here today
Minneota auto and truck drivers are being warned this week of an impending crackdown on parking violators with the first stage of the campaign to begin with the issuing of "courtesy tags" by local police Thursday morning. Violators to be issued official notices on April 1. The following is a listing of the violations of charges that will be $1: Overtime parking, prohibited parking, double parking, blocking a driveway, no parking zone, parking to close to a fire hydrant, blocking an alley, parking in an alley. Snowbird parking will cost violators $2.

Boulton re-elected
to Lincoln board
John Boulton of Porter and the Alta Vista Township, was re-elected to a six-year term on the Lincoln Soil and Water Conservation District board of supervisors at the township elected on March 14. Boulton polled a total of 63 votes while his opponent, Elwood Bakke, received 45 votes. The supervisors manage the affairs of the district and set priorities for conservation work such as tree planting and terracing.

25 Years Ago
(March 26, 1997)

Speech team first
at sub-section meet
The Minneota High School speech team brought home a handsome trophy for the school's trophy case when they captured first-place honors at the sub-section speech tournament at Granite Falls on March 22. The top four places in each category now prepare for the region tournament set for April 12. Earning first place individually was Brad Heggeseth in Discussion, Kayla Ahern in Extemporaneous Speaking, Ami Tillemans in Great Speeches, Sarah Schreier in Original Oratory, and Mandy Gawarecki in Storytelling.

Academic Challenge team
tops Marshall, loses to MCC
The Minneota Academic Challenge team defeated Marshall to advance to the finals of the Southwest State University meet om March 21. They were then defeated by Murray County Central. MCC qualified to face Minnewaska Area, with the winner of that match earning a trip to Washington in June. Members of the Minneota team were Kayla Ahern, Paul DeCock, Ross Eischens, Joel Hagen, Sara VanMoorlehem and Jacob Murray.

SPIN volunteers to
make playground safer
At the recent school board meeting, the board was made aware of the unsafe condition of the Minneota Public School playground. They immediately began looking at the equipment, repairing some, removing some, and looking to the future. A committee of volunteers have been meeting and came up with a name for their group, SPIN (Safer Playground is Needed) as they work to continue improving the playground and the equipment. SPIN has met with three different playground companies to talk about the updated standards of playground equipment.