Very serious Highway 55/Highway 71 accident east of Belgrade (VIDEO, UPDATES)

The icy roads appear to be a major factor in a serious accident between a flat-nosed Cintas uniform truck and a semi tractor and trailer east of Belgrade. The accident took place shortly after 8 a.m. on Tuesday, February 24. For approximately a half hour leading up to the accident, rain fell across the area while ambient temperatures hovered around 23-24 degrees.

Click over to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website to see video from the accident scene and read additional details: Highway71Belgradeaccident.

The roads are awful right now! Not to mention sidewalks plus in-town streets and intersections. Please travel lightly. Your odds of being in an accident are considerably higher than normal right now at 9 a.m.

Here's a second video recorded at the accident scene this morning:


Please pray for the safety of our emergency responders.

BREAKING news on Tuesday afternoon: the game against A-C-GC tonight has been cancelled. This is due to an error on A-C-GC's part with their regular season schedule. That's what I know. The game will not be made up. So please spread the word: there's no home game tonight in Brooten. It's now an "off" night.

Christmas caroling on Main Street...and the weather! (VIDEO, UPDATES*)

B-B-E schools dismissed classes and let students out at 11:15 a.m. today. Two separate bands of snowfall wreaked havoc across the area, the latter hitting us between 3 and 5 p.m. No evening activities are taking place.

Here's a Christmas caroling video from last Friday at the Belgrade Bakery:


The B-B-E 6th grade Class of 2032 students had a shopping excursion last Friday afternoon. The gifts, purchased by donated funds, are being gathered for local families in need. Additional coverage is coming in the Bonanza Valley Voice.

Time to get back to the newspaper.

Tuesday night updates:
B-B-E schools has announced that school will start 2 hours late on Wednesday, December 10.

The River Lakes Stars girls' hockey team earned a 3-1 win on Saturday in Cloquet against the co-op team of Cloquet/Esko/Carlton. The Stars are 5-3 overall (2-0 Central Lakes College) and host the St. Cloud Crush (5-2) on Thursday this week in Paynesville at 7 p.m.

Tonight's boys' basketball game that was supposed to be at Long Prairie has been rescheduled to January 26.

Digging out! (VIDEO)

We just had another interesting weekend in the Bonanza Valley...as you either experienced in person or heard from other sources...last Friday night, the Bonanza Valley area received over 6 inches of wet, heavy snow. This created many headaches the next morning for anyone who had to get anywhere (our family had to get to Junior Olympics volleyball in Sauk Centre)...

Below, city staff in Brooten are shown clearing snow from main street on Saturday morning:


Time to get back to writing. The next newspaper issue will be published in the next 24 hours.

The weather bites down...and big wrestling news!

In a nutshell...
All after school activities are cancelled for today at B-B-E schools. This includes any varsity events, of course...the boys' basketball game with Royalton (home) is moved to THIS Saturday, February 25. The girls' basketball game at Osakis that was to be held tonight is also postponed, although I do not have official word yet on that...and it is likely that the game will not be made up. This is all very unfortunate!!!

The snow started to fall in sporadic patterns after 1 p.m. today. It will only get worse...

I just saw that the wrestling team earned the No. 3 seed for the state tournament. This is awesome!!! This is HUGE!!!! They open with unseeded Medford in the quarterfinals on March 2 at Xcel Energy Center at 9 a.m. Right now the newspaper is eating up all my energy...we have to run with just 12 pages this week. I've got 3 pages of wrestling coverage!!

Snow fall

The snow fall predictions have fallen a little short...roughly half of what they predicted has fallen today. I'd say we'll end up with four to five inches of snow...of course, I could be wrong.

(It happens)

Regardless, stay safe out there! The wind is just nasty.

Late start for school

B-B-E schools will have a two hour late start on Wednesday, November 27th.

Just got word at 21:00 tonight. It's snowing and blowing outside...has been since about halftime of the basketball game. Winds are from the north and northeast at about 20 miles per hour.

The wind will get worse as the night progresses. The forecast calls for four to seven inches of snow for the Bonanza Valley area across the next 24 to 36 hours - stretching into Thanksgiving day.

Storm has calmed down

By early evening hours on Thursday, the snow storm has momentarily subsided. Right now there's a great deal of ice and snow on the roads, even state highways.

I haven't peeked at the forecast to see what's coming next..

On another note!
You can see that I woke up this morning in a bad mood. Now that I've calmed down and caught my breath, I want to make a call to everyone that we "be good to each other" in the coming days and weeks. It's pretty good advice to live by all the time, in good times and bad. We all need to be afforded the freedom of assembly and the freedom to go about our business and live our daily lives. Also, we are all due and all deserve due process! Media players also need free reign to do our jobs as long as we "stay in our own lanes"

I encounter so many people across any given part of a year - honest, hard-working people mostly living paycheck to paycheck - who are sick of the ruling class looking down at them. We're sick of shady characters. We're sick of a lot of things - much of which is out of our hands. When things come up that look and smell rotten, we definitely stand up and let it be known that the hair on the back of our necks is standing up.

But let's set that aside and catch our breath and at least do our best to be good to each other. This isn't a third-world country, and by and large we all have it pretty good!!

Don't

Do not threaten me or my family. I am very good at operating with eyes in the back of my head. You could say it's one of my special skills.

I'll see you coming from a mile away.

Did some of you forget about the deranged Internet stalker I stared down in the winter of 2014-2015? Do you remember how hard he came after the police chief we had at the time, Derrick Bjork?

I wasn't scared of that stalker, and I'm certainly not scared of veiled threats delivered to me in public telling me to be careful what I say.

On a different topic...
The roads are pretty bad out there! I hope it doesn't take reading this sports blog to learn that. Multiple transportation jurisdictions in Minnesota have given "no travel" advisories.

Please be careful out there! And pray for the safety of anyone who has to drive, especially truckers.

Also, the Belgrade Public Library is closed today. They asked media for help on getting that word out. Honestly, so many businesses are closed today or closing early that I don't have a ghost of a chance of keeping up and listing them all.

And late in the day...
I'll be posting again tonight on a new blog post.

Snow

So it snowed across Jaguar Country today! In case you haven't heard.

It has made a total mess, and I mean TOTAL mess out of the news and sports departments at the Bonanza Valley Voice. For weeks I've been looking forward to being involved in the soup and sandwich supper that will be held on Wednesday night, March 13 prior to Lenten services at West Lake Johanna Lutheran church. That enthusiasm was not dampened one bit by having to miss Ash Wednesday service last week by shifting my full attention and efforts at covering robotics in Duluth...but now I've had a douse of cold water thrown on my outlook for the week.

Enter this snow storm, which shifted the boys' basketball playoffs. Now next week I'll simply have to go "day by day" with my scheduling. Right now we will root and cheer and hope for the very best for our B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team on Monday night when they face Upsala in the sub-section semifinals. That game will have a 7:45 p.m. tip-off at Foley high school.

Robotics update from Duluth

The last item on my Friday night agenda...to post this! This is terrific news!

The B-B-E Resistance Robotics team won their last two matches of Friday's competition round. Their overall record is 4-3-1, and they've climbed to 25th place out of 63 teams. This is really phenomenal considering that this is by far the youngest, greenest robotics team that B-B-E has sent to Duluth since the team was founded in 2012.

I hope things go well in the morning. They are having a fantastic showing at the Lake Superior Regional.

**Update, urgent - please spread this message on Saturday morning!!!... the boys' basketball game against Upsala will NOT take place on Saturday. It will now be held on Monday, March 11 at 7:45 p.m. at Foley high school. Please spread the word!!!

More to come in the morning.

• Here's a copy/paste of winter weather information from the National Weather Service:

A Winter Storm Warning remains in effect north of a line from 
St. James to Faribault to Eau Claire, and a Winter Weather 
Advisory continues for the rest of southern Minnesota today into 
early Sunday. 

Snow will move into western and southern Minnesota on Saturday 
morning, reach eastern Minnesota around midday, and spread across 
western Wisconsin during the afternoon and evening. Some rain, 
sleet, or freezing rain will mix with the snow at times today 
south of a line from Redwood Falls to the Twin Cities and Eau 
Claire. Snow rates of 1 to 2 inches per hour are expected from 
west central into central Minnesota through early evening before 
easing tonight. The snow is expected to end by early morning 
Sunday. Snowfall totals of 6 to 12 inches are likely in the 
warning area, with the highest amounts over west central 
Minnesota. Snow totals of 2 to 4 inches along with light ice 
accumulations are expected in the advisory area across southern 
Minnesota where a longer duration of a wintry mix is possible. 
Strong northwest winds will develop tonight and Sunday morning 
with gusts of 40 mph possible across southern and western 
Minnesota. This will lead to areas of blowing and drifting snow, 
but widespread blizzard conditions are not currently expected. 
The Winter Storm Warning continues through Sunday morning across 
western and portions of southern Minnesota due to the potential 
for blowing snow. 
 
...WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 9 AM CST THIS 
MORNING TO 1 PM CDT SUNDAY... 
 
* WHAT...Heavy snow expected. Total snow accumulations of 8 to 12 
inches expected. Winds gusting as high as 35 mph. 
 
* WHERE...Portions of central and west central Minnesota. 
 
* WHEN...From 9 AM CST this morning to 1 PM CDT Sunday. 
 
* ADDITIONAL DETAILS...Travel could be very difficult. Patchy 
blowing snow could significantly reduce visibility.

##ConquerEveryDay

Late start...and wrestling

B-B-E schools will start two hours late on Monday, February 25.

Further wrestling coverage will be posted here tonight. Video from yesterday's section tournament is being uploaded right now.

**Below, video from Canon Swanson's championship match:


The Minnesota individual state wrestling tournament will begin on Friday, March 1 at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. Action continues on Saturday with wrestlers still alive in the tournament. I haven't studied the brackets yet or even the schedule. The B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team will have five student-athletes in action for the opening round. Coaches, student managers and fans will be quite busy!

I'm currently in the process of lining up business advertising to pay for state wrestling coverage. The goal is to get enough businesses on board to pay for at least a trip to Xcel on Friday.

Tonight I'm still dealing with the misery that winter is dishing out today! More to come.

THANK YOU to Coop's Corner of Belgrade for being one of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper's super loyal business sponsors of B-B-E Jaguars sports coverage!!!

School closed

School is closed today, Wednesday, Feb. 20.

A fair amount of snow is on its way.

*By 13:00, the B-B-E area has received at least seven inches of snow since around 3 a.m. when the snow started coming down.

If you have some down time amidst this snow storm, feel free to take in part of the February 10 worship service at West Lake Johanna Lutheran church!


May you have a blessed and safe day - I worry about loved ones who are out and about in this winter weather.

Good grief!

Just after 11 a.m. today, and all hell just broke loose out on the prairie across the Bonanza Valley area...and it's not much better in town! The wind speed is currently around 20 miles an hour. It is expected to climb towards 25 mph. this afternoon and possibly higher. The good news: the snow should taper off within the hour. That could make the afternoon "not so terrible" - we'll see!

The hourly forecast says the strong winds won't start to subside until after 19:00 tonight. The newspaper's news and sports departments have been beaten into a stand still at this point. It has been challenging to keep websites updated, keep regular business operations going and handle the home front. (We're not "special" for this, because it's what all business owners are experiencing right now.) I do hope to get Sno-Daze coronation video posted later today.

Here's more at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper's website (video): https://bit.ly/2InTzWO.

My gut says for the school to "Wait it out, the kids are in school now and safe" and the snow is not gonna last much longer...I am glad I don't have to make those decisions. My nerves have been rattled enough just worrying about my own immediate family!!

As I have said before, this is a challenging time for educators to get the job done. We need cooperation, patience and understanding from parents, students and the general community while we collectively navigate through this winter!

*And remember: this is just winter, a regular winter - winters like we had back in the 1980s and prior! So we don't need to get our panties in a bundle. We will get through it.

On another note, here's great Valentine's-related entertainment for Saturday night! At Central Square and Civic Center in Glenwood...This was on page four of the February 7 issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice and also on page four of the January 31 issue. https://bit.ly/2GNM214. We are very grateful and appreciate of the support of Central Square in Glenwood to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.

##ConquerEveryDay

Early dismissal

There you have it, folks! Another school day interrupted or disrupted by the weather!

Due to oncoming poor travel conditions later today, B-B-E schools will be dismissed at 1 p.m. today.

This is the message from Superintendent Walsh:
B-B-E Schools will dismiss at 1 p.m. today due to inclement weather. All activities for this evening are postponed. The varsity boys' basketball game at Howard Lake will be postponed to Saturday, February 16 at noon. The Section 5A wrestling contest with Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg will be held Wednesday, February 13 at 7 p.m. at the high school. The junior high boys' basketball game with Paynesville has been cancelled.

The week started off smoothly with a regular school day yesterday. It has developed into a bizarre week by now, and it's just Tuesday!

Tonight Pierz beat Holdingford 74-58 in boys' basketball action. I'll hopefully post some other scores later tonight after I put the paper to bed.

##ConquerEveryDay

Make-up days

Spread the word for B-B-E parents...the make-up days will be Monday, February 11 and Monday, February 25 for the two missed school days last week.

Late start

B-B-E will start three hours late on Friday, February 8. This was announced shortly before 4 p.m. today.

We are in a challenging period for educators to get the job done. It's important for kids to be in school. However, safety trumps that notion when the weather is as it is. I believe that education should be able to continue at home. There are many ways kids can learn. It can happen from a book or from real-world experiences.

Parents need to encourage kids to learn and to better themselves as a student, whether they're in school or not.

With that said, stay home tonight!!!

Dance meet

Good luck to the B-B-E/Paynesville Pirouettes dance team, as they head to New London-Spicer tonight for their last regular season competition. This was originally scheduled for last Monday, January 28.

And another cold front is chewing us up again in the Bonanza Valley. Just shy of 23:00 on Monday night and the temperature is at seven below zero. Wind chill at 24 below zero. Ouch! And it could get worse as we get into the week. Measurable snow in the forecast on Wednesday/Thursday.

In boys' basketball news...our B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team has climbed into the No. 1 ranking in Sub-Section 5A-South. On the QRF scale, they have surpassed defending champion Hinckley-Finlayson. B-B-E is No. 24 overall in Class 1A, while H-F is No. 28.

Still, a ton of regular season games are still on the table before playoffs roll around in March.

Area boys' basketball scores on February 4:
Royalton 62, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 47
Ortonville 69, Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 60
Pierz 65, Pillager 49
Pine City 76, Isle 58
Osakis 66, Browerville 43
Benson 63, Lakeview 54

On the heels of New England winning another Super Bowl title, I wanted to share this web article from the University of Minnesota-Morris. I knew Monte Ossenfort very well at UMM and graduated with him in 2000.
https://news.morris.umn.edu/news/ossenfort-2017

More to come.

Late start at B-B-E

On Thursday, January 31, B-B-E schools will start three hours late due to the polar vortex-related cold.

City-related information was announced on Thursday morning at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website: https://bit.ly/2G1OOR0.

By the time kids were streaming through the doors of the B-B-E elementary and high school, actual air temperatures were between 16 and 18 below zero. The low last night was in the neighborhood of 35 below zero.

Today, we are expected to climb to five degrees below zero. A heat wave!!!

West Central Sanitation/business updates

From Jeff Bertram, sent this morning - he is the CEO of West Central Sanitation; they service local routes across the Bonanza Valley area.

Please be aware that for the safety of our Drivers, and the public, we are not going to be servicing any routes on Wednesday, January 30th. All routes will be serviced one day later as follows: Wednesday to Thursday, Thursday to Friday, Friday to Saturday! We are using a variety of means in informing the public, including letting you know! 

ALSO:Bonanza Valley State Bank, as well as the Brooten Bakery, are both closed today due to the cold. No one else has notified me of changes in operation. 

Also closed for the day: Coop's Corner's kitchen (C-store open until 10), the Belgrade Library, the Belgrade Bakery. That's all I know for sure.

Also: Kensington Bank's drive-up window is closing at 4 p.m. instead of the regular time of 4:30 p.m.

Wind chill!

At 11:42 this morning, we are looking at a wind chill of 42 degrees below zero out on the prairie.

At 15:21 in Brooten, the air temperature is 20 degrees below zero. The winds are out of the northwest at 26 miles per hour. The wind chill is 52 degrees below zero!!!

Hang on for the ride, it's gonna be bad!

*By 21:00 tonight, the wind has gotten absolutely nasty and violent. And I am not using the word violent lightly either. We now have 60 below wind chill readings. Holy cow!!!! I've ran my '98 Buick every couple of hours since mid-afternoon just to keep things going and make my errands around town by car and not by foot.

I generally enjoy walking a few blocks here and there in town, but today has not been a day for that.

**Below, video from the Paynesville win last week:


I hope you are all staying warm and staying safe!