St. Joseph grew in so many positive ways in 2016, with lots of developments and activities in virtually every aspect of life – commercially, socially, culturally, educationally, residentially and governmentally. But the year was also punctuated with some big shocks, horror and sadness.
One sad development last year was the death of legendary rock ‘n’ roller Bobby Vee, who had for many years called the St. Joseph area “home.” Vee, who lived near Cold Spring, had a recording studio in downtown St. Joseph. He and his sons were also instrumental in founding and performing in what became a popular annual tradition, the Joetown Rocks concert as part of the July 4 St. Joseph Parish Festival. Vee announced several years ago he was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, which took his life. Sadly, his wife, after a long struggle with cancer, died months before Vee did. Vee was one of the biggest hit-makers of pop music in the late 1950s and early 1960s, with songs such as Take Good Care of My Baby and Devil or Angel.
The most stunning news, which was an agonizing mixture of tragedy and relief, was the discovery of the body of Jacob Wetterling, a 27-year-old mystery finally solved when his abductor and killer, Danny Heinrich of Annandale, confessed and led authorities to the remains of Jacob, which he had buried on a farm grove near Paynesville. At the time of the boy’s murder, Heinrich lived in Paynesville. Heinrich is now in prison, convicted of possessing child pornography. He could not be charged with Wetterlings’ murder due to a plea agreement that was signed by Jerry and Patty Wetterling, Jacob’s parents. They signed it so Heinrich would confess and reveal where he buried Jacob, who was 11 when he was abducted in 1989 on the way home from a convenience store with his brother and a friend. People far and wide expressed horror at the unspeakable violence that befell Jacob, but they also expressed relief his body had at last been found and his abductor/killer locked up in prison. The Wetterling family, friends, well-wishers and dignitaries, including Gov. Mark Dayton, gathered on the College of St. Benedict campus for a moving memorial ceremony for Jacob Wetterling, who had long been a worldwide icon for missing children and whose cruel fate helped sparked many child-protection laws, thanks to efforts made by Jacob’s family and supporters.
Residents of the City of St. Joseph expressed pride in the momentum gathered for so many long-planned projects. Most notably, residents and the city council came to an agreement on a new Government Center, now under construction by Colts Academy, site of the former Kennedy Elementary School. The nearly $5 million project will connect to what is expected to be a community center created in the school building.
The downtown St. Joseph area continued to grow and thrive with its unique mixture of businesses, arts, music, poetry and the spiritual and academic influences of the downtown church and the adjacent college campus. The Millstream Arts Festival on Minnesota Street downtown was again a big hit with crowds, as was the annual Fourth of July celebrations that included a parade, a bazaar on the church grounds and Joetown Rocks, a music extravaganza that attracts thousands of people from a wide area.
In 2016, there were many new businesses started and lots of growth in housing, including an announcement to build a Woodcrest of Country Manor senior-housing community in the city.
Also last year, there were many, many achievements by students at local schools and in the two colleges. Other aspects of life abounded in the city, including sports, recreation, service-club projects, and good works and food programs started and/or supported by local churches missions.
All in all, despite the shocks and sadnesses, 2017 was a very good year in St. Joseph.
The following are just some of the notable news and feature stories published in the St. Joseph Newsleader last year:
January
The city decided to move forward with a parkway design for Field Street, a new street just south of Graceview Estates. Construction would start in the summer or fall of 2017 and be completed by fall of 2018.
The Stickwork sculpture at St. John’s University was burned down Jan. 6. Stickwork was built in September of 2012. SJU estimates more than 50,000 people had visited the structure since it was built.
What can the general public do to help keep law-enforcement officers safer? Several area police chiefs and sheriffs agreed most of all on two words of advice: Be vigilant! A current trend – vicious attacks from nowhere against officers – is a growing concern, the respondents acknowledged. But, at the same time, there are other sources of danger that happen far more often, such as escalating domestic situations and roadside injuries or deaths.
Ten students, two staff and three professors from CSB and SJU attended the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference held outside of Paris from Nov. 30-Dec. 12.
The county returned Minnesota Street from CR 2 to College Avenue, and College Avenue from Minnesota Street to Hwy 75 to city control on Jan. 1. The two parties agreed to turn back the two road portions for a $95,000 payment to the city. The county board approved the payment at its Dec. 15 meeting.
More than 75 participants bundled up for one of the coldest St. Cloud Ice Bowls in history in St. Joseph. The 25-hole disc-golf tournament at Millstream Park brought together players from all over central Minnesota who raised more than $6,000 for the St. Joseph Food Shelf.
The Army Reserve Center in St. Joseph collected numerous amounts of toys for military families through its Operation Homefront project and when they couldn’t use them all donated the excess to several other children through the St. Joseph Police Department, Catholic Charities St. Cloud, Journey Home (women with children in recovery) and Becky’s Troop Care Packages (adopting military families while soldiers are deployed).
A night of remembrance was held to honor St. Joseph police officer Brian Klinefelter who was killed in the line of duty 20 years ago after stopping a suspected getaway vehicle from an armed robbery in Albany containing three individuals. The night of remembrance was held Jan. 29 at La Playette Bar in St. Joseph, and was hosted by the Brian Klinefelter Foundation.
Bruce Bechtold, the first police officer on the scene when Jacob Wetterling was abducted in October 1989, took over as lead investigator of the 26-year-old Wetterling investigation. Bechtold took the place of Capt. Pam Jensen, who retired after more than 15 years leading the Wetterling investigation.
Dan Pfannenstein, 25, born and raised in St. Joseph, is now a part-time officer for the St. Joseph Police Department.
St. John’s Prep senior Marisa Gaetz recently received the Minnesota State High School League District 20 regional Triple A award, which recognizes high-school seniors who have excelled in the classroom, on the athletic field and in fine arts.
February
When Andy Marso was 15, he heard all about the tragic murder of Brian Klinefelter, a young St. Joseph police officer who was murdered at a road stop on a bitterly cold night 20 years ago. Eighteen years later he wrote a book about that night and its long-time consequences, both bad and good. The book, published Jan. 29 – exactly 20 years after Klinefelter was shot to death – is entitled The Klinefelter Legacy: A Story of Faith, Family and Forgiveness.
A “diversion” was approved for low-level alcohol offenses for underage consumption. Police Chief Joel Klein said the program would only affect those between the ages of 18-20 who are first-time offenders, and who violate the underage drinking law.
Millstream Park was closed immediately and indefinitely after the St. Joseph City Park Board recommendation. The park has had several issues, including the park being used as a homeless shelter, fights, alcohol, drugs, garbage and tent cities. Reopening will depend on what future plans the park board has for Millstream.
Ten fifth- and sixth-grade students at Kennedy Community School participated in a Joetown ski camp Jan. 25-29. Camp instructors are trying to get more students interested in cross-country skiing.
St. Joseph topped the list of safest cities in Minnesota in a new report released Feb. 8. Safewise, a home-security company, released the top 100 safest cities with a population of at least 5,000. St. Joseph, which ranked fourth in last year’s report, moved up to the top spot with zero violent crimes reported in 2014.
A deceased Catholic cleric, Fr. Othmar Hohmann, who was accused of the sexual abuse of a girl more than 50 years ago, is the subject of a lawsuit filed in Stearns County Court. The abuse, according to the lawsuit, occurred multiple times between 1961 and 1966 when Hohmann was a pastor at the Church of St. Joseph. The victim was between the ages of 11-16 when the abuse allegedly happened.
Owners of the Artisan Naan Bakery begin selling wholesale to St. Cloud Lunds and Byerlys and other Twin Cities co-ops. They opened their 400-square-foot bakery business located in the Minnesota Street Market in St. Joseph in November 2014. They make 2,000 to 3,000 loaves a week of fresh naan, which is a leavened, oven-baked flat bread originally made in southern Asia.
St. Joseph resident MaryBeth Munden took her seventh annual polar plunge for Special Olympics Minnesota.
Collegeville Cos. has been working on a new development in town for a number of years now. Bayou Alley Flats, a project which was planned to have both residential and business space, has changed its name to 24 North Lofts on College Avenue.
All Saints Academy of St. Joseph and St. Cloud, as well as many other Catholic schools in the greater St. Cloud area, will soon be included in what will be known as a combined organization called “Catholic Community Schools.” Organizers hope to have CCS operational starting in the 2017-18 academic year.
There was something fishy going on Feb. 20 at Kraemer Lake in St. Joseph. More than 750 people participated in the 23rd annual ice-fishing tournament organized by the St. Joseph Rod and Gun Club.
Darlene Bechtold, a foster grandparent at Kennedy Community School, was chosen as the February Volunteer of the Month for the St. Cloud Area School District 742. Fondly called “Grandma Darlene” by many, Bechtold volunteers as a fourth-grade helper in Shelley Fischer’s classroom.
A recent Friday afternoon saw some busy foot traffic at the new Vintage Market 101 located in downtown St. Joseph owned by Linda Johnson, who opened the business last November.
March
There is a reward of $1,000 for information leading to the arrest of the person or people who viciously shot a yellow Labrador retriever six times at close range with a pellet gun. News of the cruelty has disgusted people throughout Minnesota and beyond, and offers of help have poured into the Tri-County Humane Society where the dog, dubbed Remington by the staff, is recovering.
Many people who stopped to eat at Kay’s Kitchen March 3 were probably surprised to see Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton sitting in the front dining area. Dayton and Erika Helgen, from the Collegeville Institute, were eating dinner before heading to the College of St. Benedict’s Gorecki Center for an “Ask the Governor” question-and-answer session.
“I love to eat at Kay’s,” Helgen said. “I eat here all the time. When Gov. Dayton asked me where the best place to eat in St. Joe was, I told him Kay’s Kitchen.”
Kennedy Community School sixth-grade students recently spent a semester studying automation and robotics with teacher John O’Reilly. Students learned to define problems, brainstorm solutions, prototype various mechanisms to solve the problem and present their solutions building and working with robots.
St. John’s Prep sixth-grade student Matthew Bolton was named the National Geographic State Bee semifinalist by the National Geographic Society.
Boy Scouts in central Minnesota hope to collect up to 25,000 pairs of used, gently-worn shoes, which will be redistributed, via the non-profit Soles4Souls in countries around the world, including the United States.
Catholic Charities recently appointed five new board members, two of whom are St. Joseph residents – Tamara Huesers and Darren Heying. Heying is president and CEO of Sentry Bank. Huesers is an on-call social worker and community volunteer.
Joel Cherrico of St. Joseph set a Guinness World Record this month by making the most clay pots in an hour. He hopes the publicity stunt will bring worldwide attention to his growing business.
A woman was walking her small dog along the shoulder of the Frontage Road in St. Joseph Township when two adult boxers attacked them both. The boxers jumped the fence and attacked the woman’s dog, resulting in its death. They also attacked her as she attempted to pick her dog up from the road. Lingl suffered severe injuries to her legs and multiple lacerations and puncture wounds to her arms, hands, back, head and face, and was taken to St. Cloud Hospital.
Tanya Finken of Kay’s Kitchen in St. Joseph knows what it’s like to be hungry like most people, but she decided to do something about it. The owner and operator of the eating establishment donated three gallons of freshly made beef barley soup to the Empty Bowls fundraiser on March 20 – something she has done before.
St. Joseph Meat Market owner Harvey Pfannenstein said he was shocked to have been chosen to receive the “Outstanding Service Award” at the 76th annual convention of the Minnesota Association of Meat Processors.
April
The St. Joseph City Council and the Economic Development Authority established an economic development district in order to create a proposed government center.
Sebastian Terres saw a littering problem at St. Joseph area parks and decided to do something about it. The 15-year-old started cleaning up Millstream Park last summer and resumed on March 28 collecting garbage he finds at the park located on the northwestern edge of St. Joseph.
Students from the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph made history by volunteering to help out the city of St. Joseph with a day of community service.
After 70 years of business, El Paso Sports Bar & Grill is no more. The building was demolished April 4 to make way for a Kwik Trip gas station.
A groundbreaking ceremony for a new government center in St. Joseph was held March 31. The government center will be located to the west of Colts Academy, which was sold by the St. Cloud School District to the City of St. Joseph in September for more than $2 million.
Thirty-five small businesses based in St. Joseph introduced themselves during the annual Community Showcase, sponsored by the St. Joseph Area Chamber of Commerce. There are currently about 100 chamber members.
For Mary Cheryl Opatz, taking a stroll through the new exhibit, “A Legacy of Learning: Benedictine Sisters in Elementary Schools,” at the Haehn Museum at St. Benedict’s Monastery in St. Joseph was like taking a walk back in time. The exhibit highlights the nuns’ involvement in more than 100 elementary schools in the St. Cloud diocese with photos, artifacts and more.
In an appearance before the planning commission, Country Manor Campus proposed a senior facility campus, which would be located along CR 121, west of Kennedy Community School.
Construction starts on a proposed 18,000-square-foot new government center, which will provide more space for the police department and city administration and may someday be connected to Colts Academy, which is slated to be converted into a community center. The estimated cost to build the new government center, which will include a public community room, is about $4.8 million; it could open as soon as February.
The competition was described later as “fierce,” but the St. John’s Prep School’s Red Team withstood the pressure and did it again – scoring yet another triumph as champion in the Minnesota Knowledge Bowl meet at Cragun’s Resort near Brainerd. The same four team members were also state champs in the 2014 competition.
St. John’s Preparatory School officials recently announced the Collegeville-based institution has found its next principal after a nationwide search. Pamela McCarthy was selected and will start at SJU April 15. McCarthy is the interim assistant division director and dean of students for the Latin School of Chicago.
Collegeville Community Credit Union presented a purchase agreement to buy the historical building that houses St. Joseph’s city hall and police station with plans to turn the building into the credit union’s new headquarters. The project later falls through after CCCU backs out of its agreement in July.
May
Workers from Minnesota Native Landscapes, a full-service ecological restoration company in Otsego, burn the prairie surrounding Kennedy Community School in St. Joseph to maintain the ecosystem as students, teachers and spectators watched from a safe distance.
Parents, students and coaches spent an afternoon sprucing up the baseball and softball fields at Kennedy Community School in St. Joseph in order to stay competitive. Principal Laurie Putnam and Mayor Rick Schultz agreed earlier this spring to revitalize the fields. The school district would pay for the materials and the city would maintain the fields in the summer.
Jaclyn Dinndorf’s first choice for college wasn’t the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, but she was convinced by her mother, a St. Ben’s professor, to give the private school a second look. Fast forward four years and she’s found herself surrounded by friends and family on campus just before the 101st annual commencement ceremony at CSB.
“I chose St. Ben’s because of the community aspect and how we really do feel like a family,” Dinndorf said.
The family of Robert Gambrino accepted the Zapp History Award on his behalf at the Stearns History Museum annual gala at the Gorecki Center at the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph. Keith Maurer was also a recipient of this year’s Zapp History Award. Both Gambrino and Maurer played key roles in helping rejuvenate the Stearns County Historical Society and supervising the museum’s construction.
Central Minnesota Housing Partnership Inc. will make the final exterior renovations to Carlson Crossing Townhomes this spring at the corner of E. Baker Street and Ninth Avenue SE. CMHP first purchased the property, then called Cloverdale Townhomes, in June through the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program. It spans six buildings and 36 units.
Sex trafficking is not just a big-city problem, said St. Joseph Police Chief Joel Klein, but everyone’s problem, including St. Joseph. Klein talked about having the “necessary tools” for attorneys to prosecute such activities and the need for area cities to adopt similar ordinances. “For those who don’t think it’s here, it is here,” Klein said about human trafficking. The ordinance Klein suggested the council adopt is the same ordinance already adopted by Waite Park and includes identifying an area where sexually-oriented businesses would be allowed.
The St. Joseph Area Dollars for Scholars chapter recently awarded scholarships of $250 each to 30 local high school students who intend to continue their education at a college or university. All funds for the scholarships, which total $7,500, were raised through contributions by area businesses and industry, individuals and an annual phone-a-thon.
June
It’s 8 a.m. Already the quilting ladies of the St. Joseph Parish Quilt Group have their large-sized quilting frame set up in Heritage Hall and are hard at work. They have been quilting since 7 a.m. They will continue working until 1:30 p.m. Fischer has been quilting a long time, since 1996, and is the leader of the group by acclamation.
A St. Joseph instructor Matt Beck, also known as “Herr Beck (Mr. Beck in German),” has been named Teacher of the Year by the Minnesota Chapter of the American Association of Teachers of German. Beck has taught at St. John’s Preparatory School in Collegeville for four years and leads its German camp and summer program.
Terra O’Neil of St. Joseph Township helped herself to one of the fresh caramel rolls at the Lake Wobegon Trail Facility in St. Joseph, which was one of the cities bicyclists could visit June 11 as part of the 17th annual Caramel Roll Ride, sponsored by the Lake Wobegon Trail Association.
The St. Joseph Police Department has added a new member to its roster of patrol officers. Celeste Walz became a full-time employee in June and is the only female police officer on staff.
The St. Joseph Lions Club, organized in 1964, has surpassed $1 million in local service contributions.
Tom Stock is leaving his position as St. John’s University athletic director. He has accepted a new position as a senior development officer for St. John’s Office of Institutional Advancement. The local resident will continue as director of athletic marketing, a position he has held for the past 16 years. Bob Alpers, who is the assistant athletic director and head golf coach, will replace Stock as the athletic director. Both will begin their new positions July 1.
Dr. Thomas Newton was chosen to be the grand marshal of the July 4 parade organized by the St. Joseph Lions Club. Lions member Joanne Bechtold said he was selected because he spent so many years in the area serving others. Since Newton is also planning to retire from CentraCare Health on July 2, many members felt it was an appropriate time to honor him.
Anne Buckvold of St. Joseph recently received the endorsement of DFL Central Committee of Minnesota House District 13A in her bid to unseat Rep. Jeff Howe in November.
Musical tributes to Neil Diamond and Queen, along with the bands Maiden Dixie and The Graduates will kick off the free two-day Fourth of July bash in St. Joseph. The 11th annual Joetown Rocks concert will feature music to satisfy just about every taste the evening of Sunday, July 3.
(The second half of the Year in Review will be featured in the Jan. 13 edition of the St Joseph Newsleader. To read any of the above stories in their entirety, visit thenewsleaders.com then click on the Archives button mid-way down the home page.)
