DigElogROCORI

DRAFT HORSE DAYS... the power of the past

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Draft Horses... no not draft beer... Draft Horses.  Big, towering horses that defined how we now classify our gas engines... horse power.  Take a tour into the past when horses pulled every kind of implement you could imagine... from plows to wagons... from grain elevators to road plows. 

The prize of the day was a team of 9 magnificant black power horses that pulled a 3 blade plow through the dirt like they were moving a red hot knife through melted butter.  This is a 5 minute video that will truly take you back in time.

CLICK ON PHOTO (above) TO SEE MOVIE... be patient... CAN TAKE 4 to 5 MINUTES TO DOWNLOAD

Skateboarding ROCORI Style

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Skateboarding became a more practical activity for young people a few years ago when the Cold Spring City Park Board and a few visionary citizens got together to convert an old tennis court into a skateboard park.  In today's story you'll meet three young ROCORI men who take their sport very seriously and gather at the Cold Spring Skateboard Park after school every day to practice their stuff!

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ROCORI Cross Country

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The sport of Cross Country is made up of a gutsy group of young people who push themselves to the limit daily.  Meet the head coach, the captains and view the team as they practice and participate in the ROCORI Cross Country Invitational held at River Oaks Golf Course in Cold Spring on Thursday, September 22nd.

CLICK ON PHOTO (left) TO SEE MOVIE... be patient... CAN TAKE 3 to 5 MINUTES TO DOWNLOAD

Click on thumbnail photo to see full scale image.

Special Thanks To Nadine Schnettler for her great photos.

Melvin C. Wichelman (Obituary)

Melvin C. 'Mel' Wichelman , 90, of Cold Spring and formerly of Gibbon, died Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2005 at his home.

   Funeral service will be 11 a.m., Friday, Sept. 30, at the Immanuel Lutheran Church in Gibbon with burial in the St. Willibrord's Catholic Cemetery in Gibbon. Pastor Richard J. Kuckhahn will officiate. Full military honors will be conducted at the cemetery by the New Ulm Veterans Organizations.

See complete Memorial at DigElogROCORI MEMORIALS

"Boys On Broadway" ST. JOHN'S BOYS CHOIR

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Central Minnesota has a shining jewel that many of us go about our daily lives without realizing or paying any attention to.  There is a group of 60 boys from ages 8-15 who gather multiple times every week at St. John's University for singing and choral practice.

This internationally recognized group is called the St. John's Boys Choir and it offers young boys a music education and experience second to none in the area.

Each year the St. John's Boys Choir does a fall show for the general public as a fund raiser.  This story is a promotional piece for the choir introducing their upcoming "Boys On Broadway" performances at the Paramount Theater in St. Cloud next week.  This 5 minute video is both entertaining and provides an excellent example of the talent these young performers have. 

CLICK ON PHOTO ABOVE TO SEE MOVIE... be patient... CAN TAKE 3 to 5 MINUTES TO DOWNLOAD

For More Information:
St. John's Boys' Choir Website
[email protected]

CORNER COPY... Cold Spring Record

With this week’s column we’ll be trying something different . . . this will be sent through the magic of email to the DigElog ROCORI website where nearly anyone in the world (anyone who has a computer, that is) will have access to it.

This “small town newspaper” currently reaches over 3,600 homes – using a formula provided by the Minnesota Newspaper Association, the 3,600 homes translates to over 8,200 readers. That in itself is amazing. Now, with the magic of our electronic world, this opinion column has potential to reach millions more – Okay, we’ll be a little more realistic, – perhaps thousands more.

When we purchased this newspaper 20 years ago, we vowed to write this weekly editorial because we felt it was an important part of the newspaper. With very few exceptions, we’ve done just that – that means this column has reached readers somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,000 times. There are too many small community newspapers that don’t have an editor (or any other staff member) dedicated to writing a weekly editorial and in our opinion those papers are missing a very important part of communicating with their communities.

Although we’ve had complaints about things we’ve written in this corner of the newspaper, we’ve also had compliments. Thankfully the compliments have far out-weighed the complaints. We learned a long time ago that what words are printed here will never please everyone. No matter what we write, there will be those who like what’s said, and those who don’t. We also know for a fact that there have been occasions when a reader or two have decided to cancel their subscription because they didn’t agree with our opinion from time to time.

In conversations with many of our readers, we’re flattered to know that this corner of the newspaper is the first section many of you turn to. That’s humbling, to say the least. Maybe even a little frightening. Although we try to be somewhat careful with the thoughts we put in print, there aren’t too many things we’re afraid to write about. We definitely try not to offend too many people, but we’ve always felt it imperative to have our opinion, and express it here for our growing number of readers.

We have full intentions of continuing this weekly column, and reaching more readers through the DigElog site can only be considered an added benefit to this community newspaper. Have A Good Week!

Mike Austreng
Editor/Publisher
Cold Spring Record Newspaper

DigElogROCORI would like to welcome Mike Austreng and the Cold Spring Record as a weekly contributor to the "Stories of ROCORI".  Thanks for your contribution Mike!

Bagel & Brew Hosts OKTOBERFEST!

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This past weekend the Bagel & Brew restaurant in Cold Spring held its first annual Oktoberfest Friday and Saturday.  There was wonderful combination of music, dancing and singing under the "BIG TOP" tent in the Bagel & Brew parking lot.  Hear why owner Tom Jameson felt that OKTOBERFEST in Cold Spring is like Mom and Apple Pie.

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Festival Photos

The Sistine Chapel (ROME ITALY)

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Wednesday, October 3rd, 2001. Vatican City, Rome, Italy. The Cold Spring Maennerchor tour of the Vatican Museum culminates with the majasty of the Sistine Chapel. Something this magnificant could only be created by angels here on earth. From the storys of Moses to Christ conducting judgement day... it's all here down to the smallest detail.

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McLaughlin's Share Their Story (Star Tribune Article)

COLD SPRING, MINN.

With a trembling hand, Mary McLaughlin picked up the silver frame holding two photos of her son Jason and pressed a button to activate a tiny voice recorder inside. A cheerful greeting rang out: "Happy Father's Day, from your favorite child!"

On a cool fall day, just three months after he gave the frame to his dad, John Jason McLaughlin took a .22-caliber pistol to Rocori High School and murdered two students.

Today, two years later, the picture frame sits in a place of honor amid a sea of family snapshots in his parents' bedroom.

Jason McLaughlin Parents Share Publicly

Week In Review 9.24.05

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LOCAL SPORTS

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New Soccer Teams Recruit ROCORI Youth

Did you know there are new soccer teams in the area?  The Chain of Lakes Soccer Club is a brand new edition to the youth sports scene in the ROCORI community.  Check out this video of the girls team and coach Susan Knutson as they rallied agaianst Sartell last week.
Youth Soccer Program Story

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Prep football
It was a night full of turnovers for the Rocori Spartans.  The four fumbles, one interception and the first quarter safety were just too much to overcome when the Spartans hosted St. Cloud Tech here in Cold Spring.  Even with junior running back Alex Jungels 110 yards rushing, the Rocori grid iron fell short in their 28 to 44 loss to St. Cloud Tech.

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Prep Tennis
Fergus Falls 5, Rocori 3

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Prep Volleyball
Buffalo 3, Rocori 2

Cold Spring hosted the volleyball match this week with the Buffalo Bison.  It was a back and forth match that could of easily got the Spartans way but in the end the Bison won the match.  Key player performances were made by Brittany Schlangen who had 11 kills and 23 digs,  Shelly Tippelt had 7 kills and 3 ace blocks and Kaitlin Griffin delivered 7 kills, 9 digs and 2 ace serves.

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Cross Country
The Spartans hosted the Rocori Cross Country Invitational this past Thursday at River Oaks Gollf Course in Cold Spring.  The participating schools included Alexandria, Fargo South, Little Falls, Rocori, Sauk Rapids, St. Cloud Apollo, and St. Cloud Tech.  Fargo South had a strong showing in both the boys and girls races with six runners in the top 9 positions for the boys and places one, two and three in the girls.  The Rocori boys placed 5th among the seven teams and the girls also placed 5th.

One shining Rocori star during the meet was freshman Caitlyn Dingman who placed fourth only one second behind the third place Fargo South runner.

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Swimming
No Report

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Rocori Alumni News

UMC Hall of Fame Inductee... Cory Schreifels
1993 Rocori High School graduate Cory Schreifels was inducted into the University of Minnesota-Crookston Athletic Hall of Fame this past Friday.  Schreifels is a 1998 graduate who played football for UMC.  He holds the single season sack record and was chosen twice on the first team all-conference selection and two times on the first team NAIA All-American team.

Rocori graduate Katie Kremer is a stand out freshman player on the St. Thomas volleyball team.  This past week she had 22 digs  during a meet against the College of St. Benedict.   St. Thomas won the match.

Richmond native Brad Schramel continues to be a stand out athlete now competing in the World & Amputee Games in Brazil.  Schramel is a member of the  USA Wheelchair Rugby Team.  Brad, who suffered a spinal injury in a motorcycle accident in 1991 was paralysed from the midchest down.  For the past 3 years he has played for the Chicago Bears rugby team.  Schramel plays primarily defense on a 14 member team roster.

Three New Members named to RCA Hall of Fame
On Saturday, October 15th, three new members will be inducted into the Rocori Hall Of Fame.  The Coaches Association has chosen Kirby Dahl, John DeLozier and Sandy (Fuchs) Dingman.  The induction ceremonies will be held at River City Grill in Richmond.  Tickets are available in the Rocori High School Activities Office.

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CITY NEWS

TAXES TO BE EQUAL OR LESS THAN LAST YEAR
The Cold Spring City Council adopted their preliminary levy and budget recently.  The equal or less than levy is primarily due to the cities contined growth.

NEW CITY SIGN
The Cold Spring Lions and the city are working cooperatively to replace the present information sign in downtown Cold Spring.  The goal is a new electronic sign that has a sizable budget figure.  To help make the sign a reality, the Lions and City are looking for up to four business sponsors who will share advertising space on the sign for a period of 10 years.  For more information contact City Hall or Mike Weber, Lions President.

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COMMUNITY NEWS

Duane Kuss, Cold Spring, has started DigElogrocori, which is a Web site of vlogs. They are short video stories about the people and happenings around his town.

A vlogger's world...   By Liz Kohman
[email protected]

COLD SPRING - Duane Kuss started a mini-media empire in Central Minnesota this summer.

The Cold Spring resident was goofing around on his computer in May when he came across a video log, a collection of short pieces of video footage that tells a variety of stories. He was intrigued by the technology, and found a Web site that explained how to create a video log - or vlog.

See St. Cloud Times Online Article

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APPLE SEASON IS HERE!
It's time to head out to local orchards and pick up your favorite apple variety.  Take the whole family along for a fun time taste testing different varieties to find the perfect apple for your families Fall enjoyment.

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Two Years Ago Today...

Do you remember where you were on the morning of September 24th, 2003 at exactly 11:35 am?  I do...

Tomorrow it will be two years since the tragedy took place that will forever change how ROCORI High School is perceived in the eyes of the world.  Three young men lost their lives that day, two died and one was sentanced to life in prison.

A Story Of Love, Loss & Grief

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ROCKVILLE FIRE
There was a fire at the Randy Libbesmeier home this past Monday evening at 5 pm.  The fire began in the garage when a car started burning.  Rockville Fire Chief Randy Dingman reported that no one was injured but the damage sustained by the house was enough that it could no longer be inhabited until repairs were made.

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ROCORI ENROLLMENTS CONTINUE TO RISE
It appears the trend of families and students moving out from the St. Cloud school district to other schools continues.  St. Cloud, which has declined in enrollment by almost 2000 students since 1998 again dropped this year for the 8th consecutive year.  The Rocori school district grew near 1 percent again this fall.

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Births
Evens, Guy and Jennifer; Richmond; girl; Friday, Sept. 16, 2005.
Humbert, Nathan and Jennifer; Cold Spring; girl; Saturday, Sept. 17, 2005.
Paulson, Eric and Sara; Cold Spring; girl; Saturday, Sept. 17, 2005.
Callais, LeRoy and Dianna; Richmond; boy; Monday, Sept. 19, 2005.

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Engagements
Jamie Benson, Shalynn Voigt
Michael and Candice Voigt, who reside in Cold Spring, announced the engagement of their daughter, Shalynn, to Jamie Benson, son of Mark Benson of Sartell and Cheryl Benson of St. Cloud.

Shalynn Voigt graduated from Rocori High School in 1998, Cold Spring, and in 2004 graduated from Regency Beauty Academy. She is presently employed by Headlines Salon & Spa in Sartell.

Jamie Benson is a 1999 graduate of Sartell High School and a 2003 graduate of the graphic design and computer animation program at Brown College. He is presently employed by Ink Systems Inc., St. Cloud.

The wedding is planned for  October 8th.