A change of pace: Games Lake Park worship service (VIDEO)

This was a nice change of pace from the hectic running involved with spring sports and school year-end activities. The video below was recorded yesterday at Games Lake park at the start of the Norway Lake Lutheran parish's park worship.

VIDEO:


The wind was ferocious. Even though I had my tripod weighed down, the wind still almost took it down twice. During Pastor John Clementson's sermon, the wind grabbed a couple pages of his sermon notes and gave them a ride. Yikes! (They were retrieved and brought back to him mid-sermon.) It was a challenging environment for outdoor worship, but roughly 100 people were in attendance - and it was worth the hassle of fighting the wind!

In the music processional, Joyce Rudningen was one of the adults who created music with the handheld instruments. Joyce is a Brooten high school graduate, and B-B-E's athletic teams have done battle against many of her grandchildren in recent years who play for the K-M-S Fighting Saints. She was Community Education director at B-B-E for many years before retiring in 2007.

On another topic...this came to me earlier this morning and I wanted to share it right away. This organization is seeking donations for a very worthy cause. Click to read about it: https://www.classy.org/fundraiser/5581238. The team raising the funds is led by Tony Hofmann, who was a 1984 Brooten high school graduate. Another team member is Gary Geer, a 1985 BHS graduate and a father of Nate Geer. Nate Geer was a sophomore on this past year's varsity football and track and field teams.

Coming tonight: B-B-E's school board meets
The school board has an ambitious agenda that has a lengthy list of what I'd refer to as smaller items. I predict we just may go past the usual one hour that these meetings usually take. I like the flow of our school board meetings. It is nice for a newspaper owner whose time is measured by the minute! The biggest news I see is the resignation of four full-time licensed teachers, ranging from two elementary classroom teachers plus two specialized teachers. If I can pull off what I hope to pull off, you can read more in this week's Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.

In another resignation, the elementary is losing one of its janitors. I learned a little more here, and he's been a great asset to the school and has always been pleasant to interact with...Adam Tauber is heading to significantly greener pastures for income in the neighborhood of $30 an hour. I am not sure exactly where janitor pay is at B-B-E, but I know it's not competitive with what local industries are paying for manual skill jobs. I don't say that to criticize the school, but I'm saying it as a matter of fact. For the sake of informing the public, I'll get the figure for starting pay for a custodian position at B-B-E for the newspaper.

Another resignation is from Mike Brower as JV boys' basketball coach. I know it was a tough decision for him, but he has the pull of his own children coming up in the ranks as the driver for stepping down from the No. 2 position in the program. He will be dearly missed!