Local News Headlines – Friday, October 2nd

A NEW MONTH HAS ARRIVED.  LET’S CHECK THE CALENDAR FOR SPECIAL EVENTS IN OCTOBER.   SOME EVENTS WILL NOT BE HELD DUE TO COVID-19.   THE HAUNTED SCHOOL HOUSE IS NOT BEING HELD THIS YEAR IN WINDOM.  LOOKING AT EVENTS THAT WILL TAKE PLACE:  MT LAKE PUBLIC SCHOOL IS HOLDING ITS HOMECOMING CORONATION THIS SATURDAY.  WINDOM WILL HOLD THE ‘NIGHT TO UNITE’ ON MONDAY, OCTOBER 5TH.  THE TAMMY HALL MEMORIAL FUND WILL HOST THE BREAST HEALTH WALK ON OCTOBER 10TH.  A FREE FOOD DISTRIBUTION PROGRAM WILL BE HELD ON OCTOBER 21ST AT THE COTTONWOOD COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS IN WINDOM.   
 
STUDENTS AT THE MT LAKE PUBLIC SCHOOL ARE PREPARING FOR HOMECOMING.  THE CANDIDATES HAVE BEEN ANNOUNCED.  THIS YEAR’S QUEEN CANDIDATES ARE ANIKA FAST, SABRINA HANSON, DELAINEY JANZEN AND CARLY OSLAND.  THE KING CANDIDATES ARE DANIEL GARDINER, MACE HERRIG, ETHAN NICKLE AND SEBASTIAN REHNELT.  THE HOMECOMING CORONATION CEREMONY WILL TAKE PLACE ON SATURDAY AT 7:00PM IN THE HIGH SCHOOL AUDITORIUM.  ATTENDANCE WILL BE LIMITED DUE TO COVID-19.   THE MT LAKE HOMECOMING CORONATION WILL BE LIVE-STREAMED ON THE MT LAKE PUBLIC SCHOOL FACEBOOK PAGE. 
 
A SPECIAL MEETING OF THE RED ROCK CENTRAL SCHOOL BOARD WAS HELD THIS WEEK.   THE BOARD HELD A WORK-SESSION WITH THE “INGENSA” CONSULTING GROUP.  INGENSA HAS BEEN WORKING WITH THE DISTRICT ON ITS PLANS FOR A NEW K-12 SCHOOL BUILDING.  A BULDING REFERENDUM WILL BE ON THE BALLOT IN NOVEMBER FOR A BOND SALE OF $42-MILLION.  IF THE REFERENDUM IS APPROVED, A TIMELINE FOR THE PROJECT CALLS FOR DESIGN WORK TO BEGIN THIS FALL.  THE PROJECT WOULD POTENTIALLY GO OUT FOR BIDS NEXT SPRING, AND CONSTRUCTON COULD BEGIN IN THE SUMMER OF 2021.  THE NEW BUILDING WOULD TAKE ABOUT 18 MONTHS TO COMPLETE, SO THE DISTRICT COULD POSSIBILY MOVE INTO THE NEW SCHOOL BUILDING BEFORE THE END OF 2022.   
 
THE MONTHLY WEATHER STATISTICS HAVE BEEN REPORTED FOR THE CITY OF WINDOM IN SEPTEMBER.  TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH CAME TO .66” WITH MEASUREABLE PRECIP ON 7 DAYS.   FOR THE YEAR TO DATE, WINDOM HAS RECEIVED 21.14” OF PRECIPITATION.  AT THE SAME TIME LAST YEAR, WINDOM HAD RECEIVED 33.8” OF PRECIPITATION.  SO FAR, 2020 IS THE DRIEST YEAR SINCE 2009.   THE HIGH TEMPERATURE FOR THE MONTH WAS 87-DEGREES ON SEPTEMBER 3RD, WITH AN AVERAGE DAILY HIGH TEMP OF 73.8-DEGREES.   THE LOW TEMPERATURE IN SEPTEMBER WAS 41-DEGREES ON THE 10TH WITH AN AVERAGE DAILY LOW TEMP OF 51.1-DEGREES.   
 
THE COTTONWOOD COUNTY BOARD HELD A SPECIAL MEETING THIS WEEK.  THE COUNTY REVIEWED PLANS FOR THE USE OF FEDERAL FUNDING PROVIDED THROUGH THE ‘CARES’ ACT.  IT WAS DETERMINED THAT GRANTS WOULD BE MADE TO 78 SMALL BUSINESSES IN THE COUNTY, TOTALLING ROUGHLY 4470-THOUSAND.  40 NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS WILL RECEIVE ASSISTANCE, TOTALLING $200-THOUSAND.  THE COUNTY WILL STILL HAVE ROUGHLY $240-THOUSAND AVAILABLE TO DISTRIBUTE.  THE BOARD DISCUSSED THE POSSIBILITY OF PROVIDING SOME FUNDING TO AREA SCHOOL DISTRICTS.  THE MATTER WILL BE CONSIDERED AT A FUTURE BOARD MEETING.  
 
THE MURRAY COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY IS OFFERING A CEMETERY TOUR THIS FALL.    THREE CEMETERIES WILL BE FEATURED DURING THE EVENT WHICH WILL RUN FROM OCTOBER 2ND THROUGH THE 12TH.   SELF-GUIDED TOURS WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR HISTORIC GRAVESTONES AT THE BETHANY LUTHERAN CEMETERY IN THE SHETEK AREA, THE SLAYTON NORTH CEMETERY, AND THE ST. COLUMBIA CEMETERY IN IONA.  INTERACTIVE SIGNS WILL BE PLACED NEAR SELECTED GRAVESTONES, WITH INFORMATION ABOUT THE PEOPLE WHO ARE BURIED THERE.  MAPS WILL BE AVAILABLE ON THE WEBSITE OF THE MURRAY COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY AND AT THE COUNTY MUSEUM.