Looking Back: 1987: Thirteen students hurt in school bus accident

One year ago

Snow showers on Sunday, and the likelihood of more snow in the region in the coming days, did not bode well for spring flood forecasts. The region was already looking at an 80 percent chance of moderate flooding and a 20 percent chance of major flooding, according to Tom Kresko, area hydrologist with the Dept. of Natural Resources in Windom.

Despite circulating rumors, Heron Lake BioEnergy had not filed for bankruptcy and had no intention of doing so, according to HLBE General Manager and board president Bob Ferguson. The company had recently signed an agreement with its lender to extend the maturity date on a revolving line of credit, which was due March 1.

Sibley-Ocheyedan High School juniors Josh Earll and Peter Meyer were among eight Iowa students selected to perform in the 2011 American Choral Directors Association National Conference in Chicago.

If plans continued as expected, construction on the new fire station for the Worthington Fire Department could begin by September 2011, with the fire fighters moving into the new facility by September 2012, according to a proposed construction schedule.

Five years ago

Freezing rain followed by a few inches of snowfall made for perilous road and sidewalk conditions in the area. A Worthington Regional Hospital spokesperson said the facility's emergency room had been busy over the past few days treating patients with injuries resulting from falls on ice.

Windom's American Lutheran Church dedicated its rebuilt building after a fire on Jan. 4, 2006, had caused extensive damage to the facility.

A potent blast of winter weather shut down major roads across the region Thursday, and the blizzard left about 60 households in four Nobles County townships without electricity.

Land and Home Services Unlimited and Dan Pike Auction Co. had purchased a five-acre complex (a commercial property across from Hage Oil Company on Minnesota 86 in Lakefield) with more than 20,000 square feet to make hosting large-scale events easier.

Dr. Christian Morgan, a family practice physician at Sanford Clinic Worthington, was honored as the Sanford Clinic Physician of the Year.

10 years ago

Tom Griffin, Windom, was to appear on the Comedy Central show "BattleBots."

Lori and Doug Nau, Worthington, purchased Janet's Java (on Worthington's Oxford Street) from Janet Olhausen, who was retiring.

Mari Radtke of Sutherland, Iowa, was named the executive director of the Sheldon, Iowa, Chamber and Development Corporation.

Following caucuses this week, the Nobles County Republicans chose Brian Sullivan over Tim Pawlenty in a straw poll taken at the local caucus, with 40 votes cast for Sullivan and 18 for Pawlenty. Statewide, Sullivan received 51 percent of the votes to Pawlenty's 37 percent.

Freezing rain blanketed area highways with a sheet of ice Thursday afternoon, sending vehicles into ditches and each others.

Work on the new Prairie Justice Center in Worthington progressed, with a public open house tentatively scheduled at the facility on June 15-16.

25 years ago

Thirteen students received injuries when the driver of a Chandler-Lake Wilson school bus lost control on a snowy, slush- and ice-covered road south of Adrian Saturday evening. The bus was taking speech teams home to Ellsworth, Adrian, Chandler and Lake Wilson after a speech meet in Luverne. Three students were taken by ambulance to Arnold Memorial Hospital in Adrian, four to Worthington Regional Hospital and four to Luverne Community Hospital. Two other students were taken to area hospitals by car.

Worthington was to be included on the 1987-88 "Explore Minnesota Official State Highway Map." New to this year's map were inset maps of all cities with a population greater than 10,000 -- which included Worthington, with a population of 10,243. Worthington was then one of 23 cities outside the metro area included on inset maps on the state map.

Pete Jansky started work as Lakefield's police chief last week. He planned to help local schools educate youths with CPR, first aid and drug abuse programs.

Three of the 19 seniors at Faith Christian School were named National Merit Scholars. They were Todd and Scott Greenfield, twins from Harris, Iowa, and Bigelow resident Cindy Dykstra.

50 years ago

Every record for snowfall at Worthington was broken Saturday and Sunday when eight inches of new snow poured out and drifted in front of winds which gusted to 35 miles per hour. The official total snowfall for Worthington for the current winter reached 67.2 inches. With "big snows" falling and high winds blowing nearly continuously since Feb. 25, many rural roads were blocked by towering drifts and farmers were reporting running low on fuel and livestock feed.

Susan Hanson and Karyl Sanford received the Homemaker of Tomorrow awards at Heron Lake and Ellsworth High Schools, respectively.

Verlin Tolk and Connie Hansberger, Worthington High School juniors, were selected to represent the Calvin-Knuth Post of the American Legion and its Auxiliary at the 1962 Boys State and Girls State at St. Paul in June.

The total of the low bids for the new Nobles County Library was $213,565, which officials said was low and well within the allotted budget of $250,000. When completed, the structure was to be known as the Nobles County War Memorial Building and was to house both the county library as well as the historical museum and art center.

75 years ago

J. M. McDowell, Worthington, a truck driver for the Wilson Transportation company of Sioux Falls, S.D., escaped serious injury when his truck was struck by a Great Northern passenger train at Manley, Minn. McDowell sustained only light injury to one shoulder.

Competing at the Pipestone district declamatory contest, Payson Wolff, first-place winner in oratorical at the recent sub-district, placed second. Adrian Bodelson of Fulda finished first place in humorous.

Peter Greenhoff, prominent Fulda-area farmer, was the guest speaker at the meeting of the Reading club Monday evening. Greenhoff spent August and September of 1936 in Germany, and his talk was on conditions there under the Hitler regime. During his two-month sojourn there, Greenhoff found that 85 percent of the people were "satisfied with conditions as they are, and they approve of Hitler's methods of bringing Germany back to her place among the nations, and enjoy the demonstrations, parades and pageantry to instill patriotic zeal in the people."