After finishing the 2021 season with seventh place finish in the Gopher Conference Meet, the WEM boys track and field team will return a number of athletes who should help them improve their placing in the conference.
The Bucs scored 49 points in last year’s conference meet, but finished only eight points out of fifth place. First-year head coach Jon McDonough feels his team has a good chance to improve on that mark.

Six members of the Waterville-Elysian- Morristown High School Speech Team will advance to the Sections Speech Tournament after earning high placements at the March 29 Sub-Section competition.
The team placed 5th out of nine teams at Sub-Sections.

Stephen (Steve) Jon Preston, born February 19th, 1939 to Wilbur Arthur and Sarah Hazel (Buchanan) Preston in Marshall County, Iowa, died peacefully with his family by his side on March 30th, 2022 at Colony Court Assisted Living in Waseca, MN from his 2nd fight with lung cancer.

Nancy Joan Lee, age 82, of Duluth formerly of Waterville, died on Sunday, March 27, 2022, at St. Luke’s Hospital in Duluth.

MARTHA “JANE” THOMAS, age 70 of Waterville, passed away at Traditions of Waterville on the morning of Wednesday, March 30, 2022.

Our Beautiful and Charismatic Tony, age 37 of Waterville and formerly of Hampton, Minnesota, blessed us with his presence on August 3, 1984, and went to be with our Lord on March 26, 2022.  It was with heavy hearts to see brain cancer take him too soon, but we rejoice knowing he is home in heaven.

The Waterville Fire Department was called to a fire at The Funky Munkey restaurant in Waterville early Saturday morning, March 26. According to a firefighter at the scene, the call was made at approximately 3 a.m.
People in the nearby apartments were evacuated.
Elysian Fire, Madison Lake Fire, Morristown Fire, Waseca Fire, Janesville Fire, Faribault Fire, Le Center Fire, Kilkenny Fire, and New Richland Fire were called to assist and helped extinguish the fire.
There have been no reports of injury.

The 3rd Annual Hoot Lanes Youth Scholarship Tournament was held Sunday, March 20, with 16 local youth bowlers competing for scholarships and a tournament title.
Every bowler who participated received at least a $25 scholarship. Scholarship dollars locally totaled $1,650. Another $1,000 was donated by Chuck Gardner’s Bowl- 4life Scholarship Foundation.

Four WEM girls basketball players were honored by Gopher Conference coaches following the end of the 2021-22 season.
Sophomore Alayna Atherton was named to the All-Gopher Conference Second Team. Sophomore Claire Bohlen was named to the All-Gopher Conference Third Team. Junior Addy Taylor was named to the All-Gopher Conference honorable Mention Team. Senior Rylee Pelant received the Sportsmanship Award.

Terrie Lee King, age 74, of Waterville, died on Monday, March 21, 2022 at All Saints Senior Living in Shakopee.

Raymond D. Becker, age 83, of Minnesota Lake, MN died Thursday March 17, 2022 at MCHS in Mankato, MN. A public visitation will be held Thursday March 24, 2022 from 4 - 7 p.m. at Nasinec Funeral Home in Wells, MN (789 Business Park Drive Wells, MN). Funeral Services will be held Friday, March 25, 2022 at 2 p.m. at Peace United Church of Christ in Minnesota Lake, MN. Please join the family for a visitation and fellowship (meal) starting at 12:30 p.m. at church. Burial will be in Peace Cemetery in Minnesota Lake, MN with Rev. Brian Fragodt officiating.

The City of Morristown is aligning itself to potentially receive grant money from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to update its Babe Nordmeier Baseball Field.

Every once in a while there is something posted on Facebook which I can’t go without reprinting in my column space.
There was a group of us sitting around talking about the “old days” and when I say that I mean the 1970s and 1980s. Those years don’t seem that long ago, until you actually do the math and realize how far back it really was.
Being in my mid-50s the 70s and 80s were school and college days.

Le Sueur County has a handful of roadway projects scheduled for 2022 which may limit travel to county roads.
In the northern-most portion of the county there will be a resurfacing project on the east side of New Prague.
The project is set to resurface one mile of County State Aide Highway 3 (141st Ave.) between CSAH 20 and State Highway 19. There will be Stabilized Full Depth Reclamation, bituminous paving, and aggregate shouldering.
The project is currently being advertised and the contractor is unknown. The start-up time will be late spring to early summer.

After a very successful high school career, WEM graduate Brielle Bartelt has continued her outstanding play at the next level.
Bartelt, a freshman at Iowa Lakes Community College, was named to the Division II All-Region Third Team, which includes 14 teams.
Sophomores Jaeda Whitner (1st Team), Rachel Puok (2nd Team), and Waseca graduate Rachel Breck (2nd Team) were also honored from the Laker team.
Bartelt played in all 31 games, averaging 10.5 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 2.4 assists. She hit 55 three-pointers added 44 steals, and 12 blocked shots.

Duaine Ellsworth Flanders, 81, of Benson, MN passed away at his home Sunday, March 6, 2022.
Duaine is survived by his wife Peg, children Steph, Sue Ellen, and Bruce, brother Richard Flanders of Devils Lake, ND, and sister Jan (Mack) Evans of Elysian, MN.