All-MRC TigerTown High School Baseball Classic Goes Track Season Ends at State Down to Wire Page 19 Team Page 19 Named Page 18 ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTIETH YEAR BELLE PLAINE, MINNESOTA, JUNE 15, 2011 75¢ SINGLE COPY NUMBER 24 ECHO Group Bringing Food Shelf to Belle Plaine ECHO President Betsy Ollhoff. at St. John Assumption Church Downtown ECHO is the group that spon- in Faxon Township has served sored the 1,000 Random Acts the area for several years. But Location Will of Kindness campaign last year. that facility, which doesn’t have The idea for a food shelf came expansion space, will be phased Open Next from a survey the group con- out by the end of the year, said ducted last year. Fr. Keith Salisbury, pastor at St. Month The food shelf will be located John Assumption. in the Pioneer Building, the for- by John Mueller mer Huber Grocery Store, at ‘Defi nitely A Need’ 149 Meridian Street N. ECHO Organizers say the need ex- Rhonda Walsh, an ECHO has signed a one-year lease with member, believes the food shelf ists. Throw in a building, dona- building owner Ken Meger. tions and volunteers and Belle will help dozens of Belle Plaine It will regularly serve several area families each week. She Plaine’s fi rst in-town food shelf dozen people and families from is headed for an opening next said “a lot” of Belle Plaine fam- Belle Plaine and the surround- ilies use food shelves in neigh- month. ing area each week. The food shelf is a project run boring communities as well as Plans call for the food shelf to the CAP Agency food shelves by Ecumenical Community begin serving people the second Hope Outreach (ECHO), a col- in Chaska or Shakopee. Layoffs weekend of July. It will be open and foreclosures, Walsh said, lection of clergy and citizens regularly Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 1 This year’s German Day queen candidates are, from left, Rachel Wolf, Clarissa Caola, Becky working “to make Belle Plaine p.m. Food Shelf Koepp and Alexandra Hartman. a better place to live,” said A food shelf in the social hall (continued on page 2) German Day Saturday Wrestling Time Moved Up; Street Dance to Start at 8 p.m. A parade, the crowning of a the lineup taking place near ing will be 2010 German Day new German Day queen, pro- the Belle Plaine Clinic at 700 Queen McKay Karl. fessional wrestling and a street Prairie Street West. The route Also during the post-parade dance will again headline this will proceed past The Lutheran program will be the Bar-B-Q Saturday’s Belle Plaine Ger- Home to Main Street and then Days Queen Candidates In- man Day festivities downtown. downtown. Participants are troduction (see list below). Gone from this year’s list of at- asked to check-in at the starting tractions is the mini-tractor pull spot at least 30 minutes prior Local fan favorite Mitch Para- on Main Street. to the start. The grand marshal dise will again headline this year’s Pro Wrestling card. He German Day Committee is Bill Koniarski (see separate story). is scheduled to take on Nate Cottonwood Memorial member Dan Neisen said the Bash. This year’s action in the organization that puts on the The post-parade program ring downtown will start at 4 show was already booked for downtown, which will again be p.m. rather than in the evening. Motorcyclists, car enthusiasts and local music devotees made their way to downtown Belle this year’s German Day date. emceed by Rick Brown of Belle Again, the event is free. Other Plaine Saturday for the inaugural Cottonwood Memorial, an event honoring area residents Plans are to bring back the Plaine, will include the Ger- wrestlers scheduled to appear who have shaped the community before they passed away. Below, event organizer Brian event next year. man Day Queen Coronation. include Johnny Parks, Hor- Kruschke (right) chatted with former Belle Plaine Police Chief Steve Rost and his wife June The fi rst activity is scheduled This year’s candidates are Cla- ace “The Psychopath,” Lenny rissa Caola, daughter of Robert while Brett Kruschke, left, looked on. for 11 a.m. with the Motorcycle Lane, Ariya Davari, Maurice Run that will begin downtown and Michelle Caola; Alexandra LaPointe and Speedy Lorenz. and make stops at several area Hartman, daughter of Matt and Amber Stone is scheduled to communities. There will be Joyce Hartman; Becky Koepp, take on Mystic in the women’s door prizes at each stop. Regis- daughter of Wayne and Ker- tration begins at 10 a.m. ry Koepp; and Rachel Wolf, German Day The Parade of German daughter of Rick and Laurie Wolf. Assisting with the crown- Clans will start at 2 p.m. with (continued on page 4) Bill Koniarski’s Next Ride is Head of German Day Parade by Dan Ruud Since coming from Germany to America on a ship when he was 2 years old, Bill Koniarski of Belle Plaine Township has not only lived the American dream, he’s helped shape it. In the process, he’s grown a lot of crops, met a couple of U.S. presidents, served three decades on the Scott County Board and helped see to it that a vital link between the county and Twin Cities was built. Bill, along with his parents Gustav and Elfriede and sister Hilde, docked at Ellis Island, Council Holds Closed Meeting N.Y., in the shadow of the Stat- ue of Liberty on Sept. 22, 1924. to Discuss Purchasing Building The family’s last place of resi- dence was Schweimke, Germa- by Dan Ruud Last fall, the council approved of the building, Paul Creighton ny. Their fi nal destination was a Why rent a portion of a build- a lease agreement with Valley and Erik Johnson, have indi- farm in rural Belle Plaine. ing if you can own the whole Business Park for rental space. cated that they would consider Nearly 87 years later, Bill is thing? Or why spend the mon- The 5,000-square-foot space is selling the entire facility to the paying tribute to his birthplace ey to own the whole thing when being used for the storage of city. as grand marshal of this Satur- you can just lease a portion of public works equipment. Under Belle Plaine Public Works Su- day’s German Day Parade. it? terms of the agreement, the city perintendent Al Fahey said the Being just 2 years old, Bill Those options involving the is paying $2,500 per month un- building, with only a few minor doesn’t remember the voy- Valley Business Park building til Dec. 31, 2011, with the city alterations, would suit his de- age across the Atlantic on the on Diversifi ed Drive south of having the option to terminate partment for the long-term. Mount Clay, a ship that served the lease with a 30-day notice. Highway 169 were discussed Murphy said that during last the German Imperial Navy dur- behind closed doors between At the time of the lease agree- week’s closed meeting, the ing World War I before being the Belle Plaine City Council ment, one-half of the 20,000- council directed staff to gather seized by the U.S. in 1917. Be- and city staff on June 6. square-foot building was oc- more information on how much fore then, the ship was known The agenda item, discussion cupied by Airborne Athletics it would cost to retrofi t the Val- as the Prinz Eitel Friedrich. of which was closed to the pub- and one-quarter by Countryside ley Business Park building into “I remember my mother talk- lic, was requested by Council Construction. Airborne Athlet- a public works facility. After- ing about how they separated Bill Koniarski was chairman of the Metropolitan 911 Tele- Member Scott Schneider. ics recently moved out and has wards, the next step may be to the children from their parents phone Board, which was responsible for the implementation relocated to Burnsville, leaving obtain an appraisal of the build- when coming off the ship,” said and operation of the seven-county 911 emergency calling sys- the city and Countryside as the tem in 1982. He still has the ceremonial hard hat from the only tenants. City Council Koniarski position and plenty of other memorabilia from his 32 years as City Administrator David a Scott County commissioner. Murphy said that the owners (continued on page 8) (continued on page 7) PAGE TWO BELLE PLAINE HERALD, BELLE PLAINE, MINNESOTA WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15, 2011 Local food drives and donations should help fi lled the shelves at Belle Plaine’s new in-town food shelf. The new facility on North Meridian Street is expected to open next month. ing the opening of a food shelf. donation to help fund a refrig- Food Shelf Boy Scouts are helping to get erator and freezer. the operation up and running, “It’s coming together really (continued from page 1) carrying in donated desks and well,” Walsh said. are signs the group has selected fi le cabinets and donated food. Food for the facility will be a desirable project. Mitch Walsh, a Boy Scout, is raised through food drives, working on the shelving, paint- “There defi nitely is a need,” donations from area grocery ing and fl ooring for his Eagle she said. stores and through monetary Scout project. The Belle Plaine A group of volunteers is fuel- donations. Monetary donations Rotary Club is considering a are important because Second Food Network’s buying power can stretch a $1 donation nine- fold, Smith said.