B-B-E track and field season begins

Here's a glimpse of the boys' 1600-meter run today at the Belgrade Lions track and field invitational:

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Jaguar baseball splits with Eden Valley-Watkins, Jaguar girls' golf is 4th in CMC opener

At Eden Valley-Watkins for the season opener, the Jaguars baseball team won 13-4 and lost 4-1 in a Central Minnesota Conference double-header. It marked the coaching debut of first-year head coach Pat Illies. Congratulations!

In their first Central Minnesota Conference meet of the season, the Jaguars girls' golf team took fourth place. Defending champion Osakis hosted the meet at the Lynx National Golf Course in Sauk Centre. The Jaguars were led by Peyton Miller, who carded an outstanding score of 45 to take 8th individually. Not far off was Jordan Gruendemann with a 48 and Jaden Gossen with a 49.

Don't miss out on the home varsity track meet tomorrow at the high school athletic complex. It's the first action of the season for the Jaguars track and field teams.

Area baseball scores on April 29:
Maple Lake 9, Kimball Area 3
Maple Lake 7, Kimball Area 4
Upsala/Swanville Area 5, St. John's Prep 0
Paynesville Area 2, Melrose Area 1


More will follow later.

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Venue change for B-B-E Youth Baseball

A note from the B-B-E Baseball Association:

Since Spring has sprung, we will have spring training at Quisberg Field (next to golf course) in Brooten on Monday, Apirl 29. The 3rd and 4th graders at 6:00 with 5th and 6th Graders to follow at 7:00. Please spread the word. Keep the warm weather coming.

Reminder to all parents, we will be playing a full baseball game on Monday. Since kids may need to slide, please make sure they wear appropriate clothing. Looks like a baseball pant or sweat pants and tee shirt evening. We may need to bring sweatshirts on Wednesday.

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Saints edge Chargers in amateur opener

In the season opener for both teams, the Elrosa Saints defeated host Spring Hill 3-2 in 10 innings in Stearns County League North division action today. After taking a 2-0 lead, Elrosa fell into a 2-2 tie when the Chargers scored two runs in the eighth inning. In the top of the 10th, Ethan Vogt scored the game-winning run on a base hit by Jonathan Olmscheid.

The Saints used three pitchers: Ethan Vogt, Matt Middendorf and Kevin Kuefler.

Up next: the Saints travel to Meire Grove next Sunday (1:30pm) to face the Grovers in another SCL-North game.

This Elrosa Saints amateur baseball update is brought to you by:

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Nicest weather in over 10 years for B-B-E's Prom

B-B-E is definitely truck country!!!

What a gorgeous day it was for the annual B-B-E Prom celebration at the high school.

Grand March was held at 3:30 this afternoon.

The Prom theme was "Forever for Tonight"

Kinlee Swanson and Austin Kollman.

Let's hope and pray everyone stays safe tonight!

And some video from the tail end of the Grand March's outdoor part:


I just heard that B-B-E's 7th grade boys' and girls' basketball teams both won local tournaments and advance to a Region tournament coming this June.

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Hats off to B-B-E's top four graduating seniors

From the B-B-E School Facebook page:

Click to enlarge the graphic.

Great job!

Gathering after practice last night at the high school gymnasium.

I am pleased to report that we're getting closer to finally having our spring sports teams actually getting outside! The 5th/6th grade and 3rd/4th grade youth baseball teams opened up "Spring Training" at the high school gymnasiums last night.

Here was the view of Elrosa's Saints Field as of last Wednesday, April 17...the outfield is buried under 2 or more feet of snow...along the right field fence, the snow drift approaches the top. Crazy!

The varsity baseball Jaguars are scheduled to start the 2013 season at Eden Valley-Watkins next Monday for a 4:00pm double-header.

Play ball!

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B-B-E's Prom is this Saturday!

Here's the schedule...click to enlarge:

Just saw this:
http://www.wctrib.com/content/acgc-school-district-west-central-minnesota-may-have-go-voters-fall

B-B-E is very lucky to have passed a 10-year levy renewal in 2010 at $837 per pupil. With a little luck and continued hard work by everyone in the district (parents, students, community members, staff, administration) the district should get by without having to ask for another increase to local property taxes.

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Child care is a huge, huge issue for rural Minnesota and small towns

Senator Lyle Koenen (DFL, District 17) - he represents the northern tier of Kandiyohi County that includes a good chunk of the southern section of the Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa school district. He is one of two Minnesota Senate Majority "Whips".

I probably pushed the envelope below, but when you're passionate about an issue you have to pull out all the stops. This is an e-mail I sent to Senator Lyle Koenen while CCing it to a few other Minnesota senators.


Lyle,

Have you heard lately how that issue sits in the Minnesota Senate? Majority Leader Tom Bakk appears to be saying that the issue may be dying in the Senate. I sure hope so. It is political suicide for rural DFLers to support HF 950 and SF 978 when both bills do not call for an election that includes all licensed child care providers. I am not kidding when I say that all licensed providers want to vote on this issue and have a voice on what happens with the potential AFSCME-driven union election.

My wife was on child care assistance as a single mom earlier in the 2000s. If child care businesses denied her from getting day care services simply because she was enrolled in the CCAP program it would have been a huge burden in her life and probably caused her to drop out of college and out of the work force altogether.

I am deeply passionate about stopping AFSCME from doing this to the child care business industry.

I am not kidding when I say that I will rain unfavorable political fury on the DFL party and DFL members who support this in rural Minnesota. I will work tirelessly at raising this issue in the 2014 elections and - in 2016 in Senate races if necessary. It would be in the DFL's best interest if they do not goad me into working to defeat rural DFL candidates across central Minnesota. Do not underestimate my ability and willingness to fight on this issue.

Thank you for your attention to this matter,

Randy Olson

CC to other Minnesota Senators:  Kent Eken, Torrey Westrom, Branden Petersen, Dave Thompson, Tony Lourey

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Wisdom by Ben Franklin

"We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid."

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Looking for 70 degrees!

It's supposedly coming this Saturday. Fingers crossed!!!

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Youth baseball cancelled for tonight

The first night of Spring League baseball training for 3rd-6th graders will be on Wednesday this week.

Keep spreading the word for more 5th/6th grade baseball players! For that matter, might as well try recruiting more 3rd/4th graders too.

Girls are welcome to join as well!

E-mail any questions to the following: bbeyouthbaseball@gmail.com

Phone contacts are Paul Weller and Nate Hagen.

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Needed! More 5th/6th grade baseball players

At tonight's baseball association meeting, it was announced that everything is shaping up to make for a good season for B-B-E youth athletes.

There's a need for a few more 5th/6th grade players, though. Currently for the Minor League season, they have 19 players signed up. They need at least 22 in order to field 2 teams this summer.

Spread the word!!!

I'll post more later.

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State Speech! Knutson medals

Carl Knutson is shown competing in the finals round of Discussion at the state speech meet. PHOTO SUBMITTED

Carl Knutson, the architect of the 2013 B-B-E Speech team video that rocked the internet world back in late January/early February, ended his fine speech career with a 5th-place finish in Discussion at the Class A state meet today in Blaine.

Great job, Carl!

More coverage will follow on Sunday.

BTW, keep rooting for SPRING! It's coming...some day...hopefully?

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B-B-E schools are closed today

Wow. It's gotta be bad out there. Some area schools remain 2 hours late, but I noticed Sauk Centre and Melrose are both closed for today. Be thankful, B-B-E students, that you're (still) not going to school in June!!

I haven't gotten half way down our driveway yet with the blower. So sick of this snow.

A little humor.

Here's an interesting article, pointed out to me by D-Mac at Smooth Magic 107:
http://www.wday.com/event/article/id/78845/group/Sports 

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2 hours late

B-B-E is 2 hours late for Friday, April 19.

Just saw this: Minnesota State University Moorhead senior Heidi Lensing of Belgrade has received the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Honor Student-Athlete Award, announced this week by the conference office.

Lensing surpassed 1,000 career kills as a senior after 306 this past fall, second-highest total on the Dragons. She also supplied 231 digs, 18 service ages, 12 assists and 49 blocks (9 solo). She tallied 356 kills as a freshman in 2009 during her prolific career following an illustrious prep career at Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa, which included three state appearances and a school record 1,070 kills.

The business administration major was named to the NSIC Fall All-Academic Team. She also received the Honor Student-Athlete Award her junior year.

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It's starting to pile up out there, B-B-E is closing at 1 today

A north-bound snow plow on County Road 26 north of Brooten - photo taken at noon today.

The buses will load students at both the B-B-E elementary and high school at 1:00pm today. I traveled on Highway 71 near Elrosa at around 11:30 today, and it was already getting a little hairy. On a south-bound trip on county roads north of Brooten, it got progressively worse around noon.

We just might get the 3-5 inches of snow that I've heard on the forecasts. Yuck!

Remember to be careful out there and also to look out for your neighbors if they have young children going home without a parent available right away. That's what community is all about!

By the way, the make up school day for the snow day last week (Thurs, April 11) will be on Monday, April 29. The last day of school at B-B-E is still Friday, May 31...hopefully it can remain that day!!!!

I also heard that Minnewaska Area schools are closing early as well. Their elementary is closing at 1:30pm, with their 5-12 grade high school closing at 1:45pm.

Also closing early: Sauk Centre at 1:40pm and Long Prairie-Grey Eagle at 1:30pm. I bet most schools will be released early today.

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Budget cuts, more news

On Monday night this week, the Benson School Board voted to trim $635,909 from their 2013-14 budget. Their Family and Consumer Science program has been eliminated. The school has a K-12 enrollment of just around 800 students, which compares to about 950 enrolled at Sauk Centre Public Schools.

Last night in Sauk Centre, during a five-hour long school board meeting that went past midnight, cuts totaling $289,584 were approved. One result of that meeting and what transpired is that I'm operating on 2 hours of sleep. (I'm getting too old for this.)

The negativity running across the Sauk Centre district is about as corrosive as I've ever heard in any community I've lived or worked in. I hope we never see that at B-B-E. It would be incredibly unfortunate.

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Traffic fatality in Sauk Centre today

Click to read more:
http://www.saukherald.com/main.asp?SectionID=12&SubSectionID=48&ArticleID=15067

On the topic of safety:

Words to live by!! I have family and friends who ride motorcycles. It's a wonderful past time to be involved with but of course always has some element of danger.

 Take it easy out there, folks.

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This weather

After a look at the extended forecast, I predict the first local high school baseball game will be on April 23 (Tuesday) or later. That's the first day the forecast calls for high temperatures 50 degrees or warmer!

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Section 5A speech meet update: three advance to state!

The B-B-E Speech team has 11 members who've advanced to the section finals round at the Section 5A meet today at New London-Spicer.

**Update: three B-B-E Jaguars advance to the state meet. Click on the link to read more details at the Sauk Centre Herald website:
 http://www.saukherald.com/main.asp?SectionID=12&SubSectionID=49&ArticleID=15066

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No updates until (possibly) Sunday

I am buried under a mountain of work with the school budget cut process taking place in Sauk Centre.

Just last night the Sauk Centre school board conducted a four-hour long "work session" where I recorded a 4,500-word document of notes.

As I've said before, they are cutting $300,000 from their budget to balance the books for 2013-14. It's not pretty. One board member even floated the idea of cutting cross country and wrestling from the list of offered athletic activities.

Is the four-day week model wonderful for everyone at B-B-E? To answer that honestly I'd have to say "no" (my family personally thinks it is fantastic) - but at least we're not considering the litany of cuts that Sauk Centre is facing.

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**JKC is closed today

No JKC at B-B-E today. It's not good out there. Try out this B-B-E Speech team video to warm you up at home while the blizzard rages outside:
http://saukherald.com/main.asp?SectionID=94&SubSectionID=381&NewsVideoID=183
My favorite part of the clip starts at the 1:10 mark...sorry kids, your dancing just doesn't come close to the moves that Coach Julie Lloyd has!!

Check this out, plucked from Facebook and posted at 07:45 today:

Wow! STMA Schools should be ashamed of themselves. They canceled school at 7:30, AFTER children have been dropped off. They have a terrible track record of doing this after children have left for school or with little notice. We've known that Thursday was going to be the bad day since Monday, why did they wait?! They were telling parents as they dropped off their children. And, to make things worse, they instructed the bus drivers to return all bus children to their bus stops! Um, most parents leave for work after their child leaves for school. I feel terrible for all of those parents. Monday, April 15...School Board Meeting at 7 p.m. Gonna be fun!

******The following is from D-Mac at Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood:

got word from the Pope County (MN) Sheriff's Office, advising NO TRAVEL across the county until further notice, because of heavy snow accumulation and blowing snow. Driving conditions are steadily deteriorating across the western and west central parts of Minnesota. Even I-94 east of Alexandria is getting difficult to navigate on (according to the MnDOT web site). Please stay safe! Go slow, or stay home!

  ...and an accident was just reported on I-94 near the New Munich exit. I also have unconfirmed reports that I-94 west of the Freeport area is CLOSED until further notice. *Just heard that there were four vehicles involved in the accident by New Munich. Another unconfirmed report said that a five-semi, three-car pile up took place on I-94 near Freeport.

...AND heard this around 8:30am...a multi-car pile up accident took place between St. Cloud and St. Augusta on I-94. No word yet on injuries.

Now confirmed: I-94 from Freeport to Alexandria is closed. 

I heard from a person in Sauk Centre whose husband works in St. Cloud that there were "too many semis in the ditch to count" along I-94. Crazy. I've read enough. Stay in town folks, it's not worth it to go out in the country. 

Today is going to be interesting.

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Winter is dishing out a solid 1-2 punch, B-B-E is closed today

Winter literally came out of nowhere in the past four hours and is hitting central Minnesota with a vengeance. At 2:30am, it was calm and hardly any snow was falling...fast forward to 6:00am and it's a completely different story.

**At 06:33, I am hearing reports of white-out conditions across western Stearns County. It sounds like a person should not be traveling in rural areas for any reason. It is tough that we don't have school today - it really makes a mess of things - but I'd rather report that versus reporting on an accident or death relating to one of us at B-B-E! It makes me think back to April 2008 when we had 2 days like this, the first was on April 12 and I think the other one was a couple weeks later. Snow shut down everything on one of those 2 days five years ago.

Here's what the B-B-E Facebook page posted about 10 minutes ago:

B-B-E Schools will be closed on Thursday, April 11th due to weather. The FCCLA trip to Bloomington is canceled for today. Mrs. Hagemeyer will be in contact with students if FCCLA is going tomorrow. No extra-curricular or evening activities. 

 

Blast from the past...an archived photo from the date shown. It was taken in the heart of Belgrade that morning - just a day before the B-B-E Prom was scheduled to take place. On the evening of Friday, April 25, the B-B-E area picked up 4 to 5 inches of snow. Prom actually went off without a hitch on April 26! Another severe show storm hit the B-B-E area on April 11 that year and shut everything down. (Just confirmed that with my notes from 5 years ago)

Something in the range of 10 inches or more of snow fell on the B-B-E area on the evening of April 10 and then the morning of April 11. This photo was taken on Main Street in Belgrade in front of the Post Office at 6:00am, Friday, April 11, 2008. Whew!

**Click on this link to see a video that should warm you up a little bit...the B-B-E Speech team's promotional video that was released in January:  http://saukherald.com/main.asp?SectionID=94&SubSectionID=381&NewsVideoID=183 

*Just saw this on the Sauk Centre Herald Facebook wall from a gentleman who was attempting to drive to work in St. Cloud:

Weather is not good. Tried "beating" the storm to get to work in St Cloud since only flurries here when I left a little after 5. By the time I got to Melrose it was complete white out. I turned around and came back home-slowly and blindly. The wind makes visibility zero-I wouldn't recommend driving any distance this morning-be safe.

 

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Huge, huge props to the B-B-E Speech team and coaches

What an absolute gem of a program we have at B-B-E. We are so blessed.

At their special night of performances at Classic Co. Dinner Theater last night, Speech coach Lucy Lloyd reported that 

Here's the school website page dedicated to B-B-E Speech:
http://www.bbe.k12.mn.us/page/2674

Not to mention the many other truly terrific Fine Arts programs at B-B-E, including FCCLA, Knowledge Bowl, Industrial Technology like the Birch Coulee program and also the Robotics team. Hats off to all the coaches and parent volunteers who make it possible and the many fine B-B-E area businesses who support them.

Here's the B-B-E Robotics Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/BBERobotics?fref=ts

And here's the very-often updated B-B-E School Facebook page. It's a great tool to stay connected to what's happening:
https://www.facebook.com/bbe.k12.mn.us?fref=ts

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Dugouts are being built!

Here is a photo taken on April 3. As of right now the snow cover is much less than in this picture, but that could change tonight with 7 to 8 inches of snow predicted to come our way. Yikes!

A newly-renovated fastpitch softball diamond is taking shape at the B-B-E elementary school campus. Fenceline, scoreboard and the outfield were installed last fall, and now dugouts are being built.

On top of hosting junior high or varsity-level fastpitch softball, this diamond will also host Belgrade/Brooten youth baseball games this summer.

**In other news...I just read in the Swift County Monitor-News that Benson public schools will seriously consider a four-day week model. They had a public meeting on April 2 with about 80 members of the public in attendance and gave an overview of over $650,000 in budget cuts for the 2013-14 year. I can't speak largely enough to how difficult of a situation their school district is in right now.

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Just crazy: armed robbery takes place in Cyrus, MN

Breaking news at the Sauk Centre Herald website:

http://saukherald.com/main.asp?SectionID=12&SubSectionID=48&ArticleID=15048


Test ad revision:

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A neat story from the Osakis Review

I'm not sure when it closed, probably about 2 years ago, but when Jim's Quality Foods closed their doors in Osakis it was a big loss for their communiy.

I just read in the Osakis Review that they are getting their grocery store back. A family who operates and owns a grocery store in Frazee has bought the old grocery store in Osakis and will reopen it in May.

See more here:
http://www.theosakisreview.com/event/article/id/10594

I can't emphasize enough how lucky Brooten and Belgrade are to have small town grocery stores still open for business today. If you ever get a chance to talk to the owners of those stores, please thank them for all they do for our B-B-E community.

On another note, I have been buried under school board-related news in Sauk Centre in the past two weeks that has eaten heavily into my blogging time. Their school is facing $300,000 in cuts to balance their budget for 2013-14. It's not pretty.

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B-B-E 7th grade registration held (for 2013-14)

Superintendent/Principal Matt Bullard is shown speaking to a crowd of parents of this year's sixth graders.

Seventh-grade registration for the B-B-E Class of 2019 was held tonight in the elementary cafeteria. The students got a brief overview of the process that will take place to get them prepared for the transition from the elementary to the high school next August.

What I found fascinating was the new faces in the group of students in that class who were at registration tonight.. It appears new students in that class are either moving into the district or open-enrolling in for 2013-14.

Cool!

Just saw this: an assistant wrestling coach at Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg was awarded a huge honor today. Click here to read about it:
http://www.wctrib.com/content/longtime-kms-assistant-wrestling-coach-honored

Yes, K-M-S is an athletic rival, but you have to tip your hat to any neighbor who gets such a prestigious award. Kudos to the K-M-S wrestling program.

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Whew, a snow storm is heading our way

Shortly after 1:00pm today, I heard that Yellow Medicine East schools is one of a few in southwestern Minnesota that is closing early today. They lined up the buses to get students back home at 12:30pm.

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Special B-B-E Speech team performance is Tuesday night

From Facebook.

The B-B-E Speech team competes in the Central Minnesota Conference meet today at the high school. Best of luck!

(Actually the CMC meet was a week ago!)

The BBE Speech Team will be presenting a Showcase of Speeches on Tuesday, April 9th beginning at 6:30PM at Classic Company! This is also parents' night. The public is invited to hear speeches that inform and entertain. No meal purchase is required, but reservations are appreciated if you will be eating or just coming to hear the speeches. 320-346-2323

 Here's some news I'm not so fond of right now: the National Weather Service predicts that this area will get 6 to 10 inches of snow in the next couple of days. Ouch! Not appreciated.

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Get them while they're hot! (B-B-E Speech DVDs from tomorrow night)

GET THEM WHILE THEY'RE HOT!!!

DVD from “Parent's Night” of the BBE Speech Team presenting their individual speeches LIVE on the lighted stage of the Classic Company Dinner Theater. **Also as an added bonus..included on the DVD is the BBE Speech Team's music video.
$5.00 /DVD
(Proceeds go to the BBE Speech Team)

Order now by calling Debbie Reller at 320-905-1799 or you may place your order the night of the performance  ( 6:30,Tuesday, April 9^th)

DVD's will be ready for pick up at BBE High School's main office April  22^nd  

**Don't forget grandma/grandpa, cousins, Mother's Day, graduation, etc.***

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(Video) from today's Pope County Expo - Ron Shara and Raven

From a program early in the afternoon at Minnewaska Area High School:


By the way, seniors Tyler Tensen and Patrick Rooney are wrestling at Nationals this week. I'll post more information on that on Sunday.

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B-B-E Speech team earns a Sub-Section playoff trophy

At Melrose tonight, the B-B-E Speech Team earned a runner-up finish in the Sub-Section 5A-North meet. Coach Lucy Lloyd reported that 20 members of the team advance to next weekend's Section 5A meet.

W2G!

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Agriculture: the backbone of our community

Here's a video clip from the Wiener dairy/goat farm in rural Elrosa. A story on their farm was printed in the February issue of Country Acres, a publication spearheaded by the Sauk Centre Herald.


Never a dull moment on a farm!

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Exciting news: B-B-E forms baseball association

A planning meeting to jump start a new B-B-E Jaguar baseball association will be on Sunday night, April 21 at Classic Co. Dinner Theater.

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Rite of spring: Red Onion opens for the season

Open for the 2013 season - their first day was Monday this week.

There's just not much to report on spring sports - some have been able to get outside and practice in school parking lots. Beyond that, it will still be awhile before they get into competition. We need some heat!

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Link for WCCO story on Maple Syrup factory at St. John's

The B-B-E kindergarten class toured there last week.

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2013/03/30/best-of-minnesota-maple-syrup

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