by Frank Lee
operations@thenewsleaders.com
Jacob Wetterling’s remains were recovered earlier this year after his killer confessed to the crime almost three decades after the 11-year-old boy was abducted at gunpoint from St. Joseph.
The Lake Wobegon Trails Association is making sure his memory is kept alive by honoring the boy with new signs along the 46-mile-long trail urging trail users to practice the traits Jacob valued.
“They have the 11 traits the Wetterling family has put out there as Jacob’s values,” said Cliff Borgerding, a Lake Wobegon Trails Association board member and past president. “The signs will be up there forever – at least that’s the plan, anyways.”
The signs were attached to each mile marker on Oct. 7 from the St. Joseph trailhead at mile marker 82 through Avon to the Schwinghammer Lake Bridge at mile marker 94 east of Albany.
“If you are going from St. (Joseph) out to mile marker 94, you will see all the traits listed that way,” Borgerding said of the new signs featuring white lettering on a blue background. “And if you turn around and go back to St. (Joseph), you’re going to see them repeated on the back side.”
Commemorating Jacob
The signs were the brainchild of Lisa and Dewey Klaphake of Avon, one of the small towns along the Lake Wobegon Trail, which opened on Sept. 30, 1998. The married couple called Borgerding in late September of this year with their idea to commemorate Jacob Wetterling.
“They were willing to take on the project, including funding it and putting up the signs themselves,” Borgerding recalled. “The Klaphakes actually purchased the metal, the material, that was needed for the signs.”
Lake Wobegon has come to represent small-town America, and the values and personalities that help make America great, said Borgerding, who lives in Avon, which is one of the cities located along the 10-foot wide, bituminous-surfaced hike-and-bike pathway.
“Garrison Keillor’s ‘The News from Lake Wobegon’ stories reminded us every week for over 40 years what life in America is about,” Borgerding said. “Here’s a great real-life example of those values and the people (who) go with that experience.
“It’s about the efforts of two people who use the trail regularly who had an idea and followed through on it and created a lasting memory they hope will make people pause and think about how they live their lives,” Bergerding added.
A community memorial service was held Sept. 25 for Wetterling at the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, and countless numbers of people attended the public service and joined the Wetterling family for “an ecumenical prayer service of remembrance, hope and healing.”
“Jerry and Patty (Wetterling) had sent me a note saying they had been out several times on the trail and had seen the signs, and they really liked seeing the signs out there,” Borgerding said of Jacob Wetterling’s parents.
Wetterling case
Wetterling was abducted in 1989 in a case that drew national attention. His remains were located on a Paynesville farm after Danny Heinrich, 53, of Annandale, was arrested last summer for possessing child pornography. As part of a plea agreement, he led investigators to the remains.
“I haven’t heard any negative comments at all,” Borgerding said about the signs. “We had checked with the (Jacob) Wetterling foundation (for the prevention of the exploitation of children) just to let them know we were doing it.”
About the time of the Wetterling’s disappearance, a man in the Paynesville area had molested several boys during a period of years, but it was only recently Heinrich confessed to sexually assaulting and killing Wetterling as he pleaded guilty to child pornography charges on Sept. 6.
“While the Minnesota Department of Transportation generally frowns on signage along the trail, we felt this was an exception that could be accommodated,” Borgerding said.
Gov. Mark Dayton, who attended the Jacob Wetterling Memorial Service on Sept. 25, stated in an official state proclamation that Oct. 22, 2016 was to be “Jacob Wetterling Day” – 27 years to the date after Wetterling was abducted in 1989.
“Dewey Klaphake had lived in the neighborhood where the Wetterlings lived when Jacob was taken, and so the couple mentioned to me they were thinking about making this donation (for the signs),” Borgerding said. “They just felt it was something really important to them.”
Dayton mentioned in his proclamation how the boy’s abduction profoundly affected the lives of Minnesotans and that Wetterling’s parents dedicated their lives to children’s safety by helping to create the Jacob Wetterling Act of 1994, the start of a state registry to help keep children safe.
The governor urged all in Minnesota to commit their lives to fairness, kindness and compassion – all qualities Jacob and his family always held dear.
Lasting legacy
Lisa Klaphake works for Sentra-Sota Sheet Metal Inc., which is owned by Jeff Bechtold and Jeff Popp. And when she told them about her idea, they agreed to donate the labor for the signs, and one of her co-workers, Mike Witte, cut the signs into the proper shape, Borgerding said.
Lisa Klaphake then took the blank signs to North Star Signs & Engraving Inc., which is owned by Craig and Josh Laudenbach. Upon hearing about the project, they offered to do the lettering free of charge.
“The weather may have been a little chilly and windy, but it warmed my heart to see what people can do to touch the lives of their friends, neighbors and complete strangers . . . and what one person can do to make the world a better place for all of us,” Borgerding said the day the signs went up.
Borgerding said he was friends with the Wetterling family when he lived in St. Joseph from 1973 to 1988, and he was part of the St. Joseph Jaycees. Borgerding and Lisa Klaphake had worked together many decades ago at Merrill May Printing in St. Cloud.
“With each mile and with each sign, we are inspired to incorporate Jacob’s traits into our own life’s journey and to remember the life of a young boy who believed in the good in others,” Borgerding said.
The No. 11 was Wetterling’s favorite number and his jersey number. In early September, the Minnesota Twins wore the No. 11 and red jerseys in the boy’s honor after his remains were recovered.
The #11forJacob movement is an effort “to remember and honor Jacob Wetterling’s hope for our world,” according to the Jacob Wetterling Resource Center in Minneapolis, and the movement centers around these 11 simple traits he valued:
- Be fair
- Be kind
- Be understanding
- Be honest
- Be thankful
- Be a good sport
- Be a good friend
- Be joyful
- Be generous
- Be gentle with others
- Be positive
Lisa Klaphake (left) of Avon, Patty Wetterling (center) of St. Joseph and mother of the late Jacob Wetterling, and Dewey Klaphake (right), who is Lisa’s husband, stand next to a new sign they helped fund and can be found along the Lake Wobegon Trail that encourages trail users to practice the traits Wetterling valued, such as “Be positive.”
Lisa and Dewey Klaphake pose for a photo next to one of the many new signs along the Lake Wobegon Trail honoring the 11 traits that the late Jacob Wetterling of St. Joseph valued. The signs were the brainchild of the husband and wife from Avon, and were attached to each mile marker on Oct. 7 from the St. Joseph trailhead at mile marker 82 through Avon to the Schwinghammer Lake Bridge at mile marker 94 east of Albany.
