Maria A. Garcia, 69, of Crookston, passed away Saturday evening February 25, 2023, peacefully at home with loving family by her side.
Maria was born in Laredo, Tx. On April 08, 1953, the daughter of Sabas and Aurora (Valero) Garcia. She grew up in Laredo and attended Martin School in Laredo, Tx. Maria moved to Crookston with her children in 1994, she built long-lasting friendships with neighbors, coworkers, and transportation services.
Maria kept busy with working early mornings at McDonalds, her day wasn’t complete without spending time with her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and close friends. In her pass times you would find Maria working on crossword puzzles, Lateria (Mexican bingo) and home interior decorating.
Maria is survived by her children, Dianna (Chris) Molina, Dilworth, MN; Juan (Sara) Gonzalez, Laredo, TX; Sylvia Garcia Maxwell, Texas; Cecilia Garcia Trudeau, Crookston, MN; Gerardo Garcia, Crookston, MN; Carlos Garcia, Moorhead, MN; 11 Grandchildren and 7 Great-grandchildren. Sisters Ester Garcia, Laredo, TX; Leticia Lopez, Dilworth, MN; brother’s David (Lourdes) Garcia Laredo, TX; Pablo (Celia) Garcia, Lockhart, TX; Rogelio (Elida) Garcia, Dilworth, MN; and Fernando (Elizabeth) Barrientos, Laredo, TX.
Maria was preceded in death by her parents Sabas and Aurora Garcia, brothers Elifonso, Sabas Jr, Rey, and Antonio Garcia, sisters San Juana Hernandez, and Rene Martinez.
The Family would like to give a special Thank you to Hospice of the Red River Valley, especially Lynn and Cherrie, and also to Tri-Valley Transportation Bus Driver Ray. Every day they made mom’s day a little bit brighter.
The Funeral services for Maria Alberta Garcia will be held at 3:00 pm on Thursday, March 2, 2023, at the Cathedral of Immaculate Conception in Crookston, with Father David Baumgardner, officiating. Visitation with Maria’s family will be for one hour prior to service. To view a live stream of the funeral, go to Maria’s obituary at www.stenshoelhouske.com and click on the prompt to view.
In new filings as part of Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox and its networks, Fox Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch said some anchors of the company’s TV networks endorsed false fraud claims in the months following the 2020 election. Murdoch added that he doubted the claims being aired on Fox News and Fox Business Network.
Murdoch also acknowledged that Fox’s TV hosts endorsed the false election fraud claims. During Murdoch’s deposition, when asked if he was “now aware that Fox endorsed at times this false notion of a stolen election,” Murdoch responded, “Not Fox, no. Not Fox. But maybe Lou Dobbs, maybe Maria [Bartiromo] as commentators … Some of our commentators were endorsing it. They endorsed.”
Dominion sued Fox, Fox News and Fox Business, arguing the networks and its on-air personalities made false claims that its voting machines rigged the results of the 2020 election. Fox News has consistently denied that it knowingly made false claims about the election, and has said “the core of this case remains about freedom of the press and freedom of speech.” Fox said in earlier court documents that the past year of discovery has shown the company played “no role in the creation and publication of the challenged statements — all of which aired on either Fox Business Network or Fox News Channel.”
The lawsuit is being closely monitored by First Amendment watchdogs and experts. A status conference in the case is slated for next week, with the trial scheduled to begin mid-April.
On Monday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen made a surprise visit to Ukraine, solidifying the United State’s commitment to financial support for Kyiv in its fight against Russia, as the second year of the war begins. According to The New York Times, Yellen announced the transfer of $1.25 billion in aid to Ukraine in her meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday. Zelensky shared a video of Yellen arriving to meet him on his Telegram channel.
Yellen said that the United States cannot allow Ukraine to lose the war for “economic reasons” while it is succeeding on the battlefield, adding: “I’m in Kyiv to reaffirm our unwavering support of the Ukrainian people … Mr. Putin is counting on our global coalition’s resolve to wane, which he thinks will give him the upper hand in the war. But he is wrong. As President Biden said here last week, America will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes.”
Zelensky posted: “The United States has been powerfully supporting us since the first days of this war not only with weapons, but also on the financial front. We really appreciate it. Thank you for systematic steps to increase sanctions pressure on the aggressor state. It is necessary to further strengthen sanctions to deprive Russia of the ability to finance the war.”
Yellen’s visit comes a week after President Joe Biden made a surprise trip to Ukraine, marking the first time in modern history that a U.S. president entered a war zone without any U.S. military presence. The Wall Street Journal stated that it is also rare for a Treasury secretary to visit a war zone.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania led the domestic box office with a $32.2 million, despite suffering one of the worst second-week declines in recent years with a 70% drop from its stellar $105.5 million opening weekend. The Marvel film fell behind every other comparable in its second-weekend performance: 2015’s Ant-Man dropped 56% in its sophomore week, while 2018’s Ant-Man and the Wasp fell 62% at the same point.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania fell further behind in its second frame than other Marvel titles including Thor: Love and Thunder (-68%), Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (-67%), and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (-63%).
Universal’s Cocaine Bear took second place with $23 million from 3,534 screens in its opening weekend. The horror-comedy surpassed expectations thanks to social media buzz created by Universal’s marketing campaign. Lionsgate’s Jesus Revolution brought in $15.52 million from 2,475 sites in its theatrical debut, with the film scoring an A+ CinemaScore rating. Finally Avatar: The Way of Water finished in fourth place with $4.7 million from 2,495 locations in its eleventh weekend in release, brining its total to $664 million domestically . Avatar: The Way of Water is now the third highest-grossing film of all time globally with a worldwide total of $2.26 billion.
The Emmy-winning HBO drama ‘Succession‘ will end with Season 4. Creator and showrunner Jesse Armstrong confirmed that the upcoming fourth season will be its final run on the premium cable network. ‘Succession‘ earned the Emmy Award for best drama series for both its second and third seasons. The cast includes Brian Cox, Jeremy Strong, Nicholas Braun, Kieran Culkin, Matthew Macfadyen and Sarah Snook, who have collected numerous wins among them.
Armstrong told the New Yorker that “there’s a promise in the title of Succession. I’ve never thought this could go on forever. The end has always been kind of present in my mind. From season two, I’ve been trying to think: Is it the next one, or the one after that, or is it the one after that? I got together with a few of my fellow writers before we started the writing of season four, in about November, December, 2021, and I sort of said, ‘Look, I think this maybe should be it. But what do you think?’ And we played out various scenarios: We could do a couple of short seasons, or two more seasons. Or we could go on for ages and turn the show into something rather different, and be a more rangy, freewheeling kind of fun show, where there would be good weeks and bad weeks. Or we could do something a bit more muscular and complete, and go out sort of strong. And that was definitely always my preference.”
Armstrong then added: “I feel deeply conflicted. I quite enjoy this period when we’re editing — where the whole season is there — but we haven’t put it out yet. I like the interregnum. And I also quite liked the period where me and my close collaborators knew that this was probably it, or this was it, but hadn’t had to face up to it in the world. It’s been a difficult decision, because the collaborations — with the cast, with my fellow writers, with Nick Britell and Mark Mylod and the other directors — they’ve just been so good. And I feel like I’ve done the best work I can do, working with them. And HBO has been generous and would probably have done more seasons, and they have been nice about saying, ‘It’s your decision.’ That’s nice, but it’s also a responsibility in the end — it feels quite perverse to stop doing it.”
The Catholic Daughter’s Court St Cecilia #2025 from Red Lake Falls recently sponsored the CDA National Education Contest. The contest was open to area students in Grades 4-12 and Adult CDA members. The contest was open to all Catholics and Non-Catholics. The themes this year were “We walk by faith, not by sight” 2 Corinthians or “When do I have to lean on my faith more than sight.” Prize monies are given to local, statewide, and national winners. The first-place winners from our area go on to compete for State Awards in April at the Minnesota State Convention and National Awards later this summer. Presentations were done recently at St Joseph’s Catholic Church, Red Lake Falls, and Cathedral School, Crookston.
The results and pictures of the contest can be seen below-
Division 1 – Essay Contest
First Place/Minnesota State Entrant Alex Gullingsrud, Red Lake Falls Elementary School
Second Place Esperaza Mello
Third Place Jameson Reese
Honorable Mention Beau Smith
Division II – Essay Contest
First Place/Minnesota State Entrant Emmagail Frantz, Cathedral School
Second Place Ben Gullingsrud
Third Place Jennika Reese
Honorable Mention Catelyn Maruska
Participants Anna Heldstab
Morgan Boll
Kinsley Wangen
Division IV- Adult – Poetry
First Place/Minnesota State Entrant Bev Philion, Ct St Cecelia #2025, Red Lake Falls
Division IV – Adult – Photography
First Place/Minnesota State Entrant Nicole Gullingrud, Ct St Cecelia #2025, Red Lake Falls
Division II – Art
First Place/Minnesota State Entrant Jennika Reese, Cathedral School
The Crookston Area Chamber of Commerce is announcing the retirement of Executive Director Mark Landa. The Chamber wishes Mark the best of luck in retirement.
Mark’s last day will be on March 31, 2023. The Crookston Area Chamber of Commerce office will remain open with normal business hours through the end of March, and a search to fill the vacant position will take place in the upcoming weeks.
The Crookston City Council met on Monday evening for a regular meeting inside the City Hall Council Chambers.
REGULAR AGENDA
The council first approved rescinding a previous enabling resolution for the Crookston Housing & Economic Development Authority (CHEDA) and replaced it with a new one to create the CHEDA board to a seven-member commission, with two of them being members of the City Council for six-year terms with the other five being citizens of Crookston. The council approved the modification.
Crookston Central Park Campground and Redesigned Bathhouse Construction
The council approved a resolution to approve the plans and specifications for the construction of the Crookston Central Park Campground and Redesigned Bathhouse. “In 2018, we came in with a Red River Corridor, and we got a grant for a campground. So, we’re looking at making two bids for a 17-campground campsite with seven drive-thrus so that people can make a big camper with a loop in the road. Then the other bid we’re looking at is for a 29-site campground and then with some space for tenting as well,” Parks and Recs Director Jake Solberg explained. “The bathhouse was originally designed as a storm shelter, but the last bid that came through was about double the price of what material and labor costs were. We then found out that our City Hall qualifies for a storm shelter, and we are within the correct distance from Central Park to get here, so we are going to plan for a non-shelter building. We went over the plans for those today with the council, which has four bathrooms, all ADA compliant, with a storage shed in the back. It’s very open and has good parking and stuff for anyone that wants to use it.”
City Clerk Ashley Rystad has now opened bids for the campground and bathhouse’s construction, with a bid opening scheduled for March 30 at 2:00 p.m. The council approved the plans. The blueprints of the campground and redesigned bathhouse can be seen below-
City Administrator Charles “Corky” Reynolds reported he had met with Jason Carlson about moving into the Fournet building, and Tri-Valley was beginning to move into it. He had also met with Kari to discuss erosion happening near Crescent Avenue. He had also presented the multiuse pathways along Barrette Central and Fisher Ave. for the Transportation Alternative Program grant in McIntosh. He shared his optimism for the grant. He also shared that the Open House for the Child Care Center in Washington Elementary School is on February 28, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m., and she was hoping to open the Center on March 6 with 14 children already registered to join.
Parks and Recs Director Jake Solberg reported that he had contacted Wir3d Electric to install a new software system and SCR on their new compressor, which he heard would be added to the Crookston Sports Center this week. They also held their Mite (7-8 year old) Jamboree hockey tournament on Saturday, which had 19 teams come to the Center. They also would host the 15U A Regional Tournament on Friday afternoon, inviting over 12 teams to participate. They would then have their figure skating show the week after before they would begin removing ice and preparing for the spring.
Public Works Director Brandon Carlson reported he had worked with Highland Principal Chris Trostad with a grant by Safe Kids Grand Forks for pedestrian safety in Highland.
Crookston Police Chief Darin Selzler reported that they had started two officers since the start of the month, and another had accepted the final job offer, with him starting on March 13. They were still in the background phase of the applicant for the last vacancy they needed to fill and hopefully would have a start date within the next few weeks. They had completed repairing their water main leak and would start moving things back to their original places tomorrow.
Several Council members reported they would be attending the League of Minnesota Advanced Training sessions on Thursday, March 2, to learn how they could be better City Council members.
CONSENT AGENDA
The Consent Agenda included the approval of the City Council minutes from their meeting on February 13 and the approval of the City of Crookston Bills and Disbursements of $556,188.90. The council approved the agenda.
WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE
The Crookston Ways & Means Committee met afterward to hear a presentation by Public Works Director Brandon Carlson with the results he had come up with on the 2023 Street Improvement Assessments. The city will use Polk County’s assessor’s database front and side benefit footage of the properties adjacent to the street being improved upon. For the cul-de-sacs, the assessment will be a flat 30% that will be equally distributed to the abutting properties due to the lot’s irregular shape. Carlson gave an example using the City Engineer’s estimate of $200,000 for an 11-parcel cul-de-sac with each lot being 300×300 feet, where each lot would pay 1/11th of the $60,000 assessment for $5,455 per parcel with lots at the end of streets paying a reduced rate. The city would follow a three-year Capital Improvement Plan for the improvements for $1,797,161, with the public funding set at 70%.
“We grab about 4.8% of our annual Local Government Aid (LGA) that we set aside every year for our street improvements, and Crookston gets quite a bit of Local Government Assistance because it is based on the age of the homes and a lot of our homes are pretty old, and some are older additions. So, we’ll grab about 3.8% of that. Then the MnDOT State Aid is sent to us to maintain and improve our State Aid roads, which is about 20% of our roads are designated as that. Any time we improve those roads for about 1 million dollars, we get refunded that full $1 million, and that $350,000 gets reimbursed after we send a request. For the water portion of these projects, Alexander Street and Houston Avenue will have their water mains replaced, so the Water Department will fund half of the road reconstruction,” Carlson explained. “They’re also doing some storm replacement when they’re doing the reconstruction too, so $133,340 is coming from the sewer fund to help fund that, and our 227 fund is our reserve from any time we get reimbursed from the MnDOT State Aid for road reconstruction. That’s already supported by local taxes and the general public, so when I say 70%, that’s where we’re coming up with that, and the 30% is evenly distributed by the abutting property owners depending on how much front edge or side their parcel has. So, if they have 200 feet of the front edge and the total road is 1000 feet, they would get 20% of that 30% percent assessment.”
With the 30-year life expectancy, each of the five assessments for the year could be broken down monthly.
Total Assessments Per Month
$17,600 $48.88
$14,150 $39.31
$10,700 $29.72
$6,900 $19.17
$3,450 $9.58
After much discussion, the committee requested for the City Administration to an analysis of what the results would be if a 30% levy was placed on each property in which street work would be done on the street that runs across the front footage of their property. The assessment can potentially go lower than 30% of the cost to be discussed at the next meeting for that to be assessed or if there would be a deviation. The committee then began discussing how long the assessment payments could be spread.
“Presently, the policy of the city’s maximum is 10 years, but Minnesota Statute provides that you can spread an assessment for up to 30 years,” “Corky” Reynolds explained. “The Ways & Means Committee asked that the City Administration prepare various analyses of if we spread it over 30 years, what’s the payback and interest rate. So, we need to bring back figures for them to review at the next Council meeting.”
The full Street Assessment presentation can be seen below-
The committee also approved the new CHEDA Board members in it’s new seven-member commission. City Council members Dylane Klatt and Tim Menard are rejoining the board, with their terms scheduled to end in 2026. Corky Reynolds and Kari Kirschbaum had recommended other members, including Annette Thompson, Phil Schramm, Nick Nicholas, Morgan Hibma, and Tom Skjei. The complete list of members and their terms can be seen below-
The Crookston School Board met tonight inside the Crookston High School Choir/Orchestra room. The meeting always begins with a time when visitors can share concerns with the school board. Multiple citizens stated their concern to the board about vaping within the Crookston High School. Crookston Public Schools Superintendent Dave Kuehn informed everyone that they are working with the Crookston Police Department to work on the issue. They will begin to write citations to students who are caught, and it will be a misdemeanor. The citation goes all the way to a maximum fine of $300. School Resource Officer Don Rasicot stated they are having issues within the school and bathrooms, and that they will continue to try and fix the issue so that other students do not need to deal with this problem.
FEATURE PROGRAM
After the open forum, the meeting continued with the board receiving an update on the Middle School project taking place at the Crookston High School. Crookston High School Principal Matt Torgerson was supposed to give the report to the board, however, he was out sick, so Superintendent Kuehn stepped in and addressed the board on the update. “Towards the end of January Matt (Torgerson) had a parent meeting where he went through a slideshow that showed pictures of the remodel and talked about the philosophy that we want to have with this new middle school addition,” said Superintendent Kuehn. “He went through what a schedule might look like for them in that new setting, and just different changes that they may have. It’s different from what they are currently doing and that is the point. We want them to be treated as a true middle school student and not as a High School student.”
Kuehn went through the same slideshow that Torgerson showed back in January and took questions from the board or visitors. No action was taken, and the presentation was merely an update on the progress.
CONSENT AGENDA
The Consent Agenda included the following items.
Approval of the January 23 Special Meeting minutes
Approval of the January 23 Regular Meeting minutes
Approval of the February 15 Special Meeting minutes
Approval of Current Bills in the amount of $175,076.91
Accept resignation letter from Danielle Edlund, Paraprofessional at Washington
Accept resignation letter from Katrina Gonzalez, Paraprofessional at Highland
Accept resignation letter from Jenny Slyt, Paraprofessional at CHS
Accept resignation letter from Caitlin Becks, Band Instructor
Accept retirement letter from Jill Carlson, School Psychologist
Approve employment with Jessica Wilson as Paraprofessional at Highland
Approve employment with Bradley Hubred as Science Instructor at CHS
Approve increase in hours for Jessica Holzer, Admin. Asst
Approve Spring Coaches List
Acceptance of Donation in the amount of $1,600 from Ag Country Farm Credit Services for FFA
Acceptance of Donation in the amount of $976.82 from the Crookston Baseball Assn. for Boys’ Basketball program
Acceptance of Donation in the amount of $250 from the Crookston Eagles Auxiliary 873 for the student meal debt
Acceptance of Donation in the amount of $2,973 from the June Shave Endowment for the CHS Drama Club
Acceptance of Donation in the amount of $2,000 from Halstad Telephone Co. for student scholarships
Acceptance of Donation in the amount of $700 from the Crookston Wrestling Club for boy’s Wrestling
Acceptance of Donation in the amount of $9,937 from the June Shaver Endowment for CHS Healthcare Scholarships
Acceptance of an anonymous donation in the amount of $100 for student meal debt
Acceptance of Donation in the amount of $412 from the Methodist and Presbyterian Churches
All Consent Agenda items were approved unanimously, and Superintendent Kuehn wanted to share his thanks to the community for being so generous. “It’s always great to see members of the community giving back to our School District,” said Superintendent Kuehn. “Anytime we get donations from a variety of sources it helps our school and allows us to put more resources towards things.”
MAIN AGENDA
The Main Agenda began with the review and approval of the Safe Learning Plan. “Back when we started the Covid-19 era, each School District was required to put together a Safe Learning Plan,” said Superintendent Kuehn. “It had in person learning, hybrid learning, and all of those things. It’s evolved for the most part to in-person learning and what kind of precautions we have in place now compared to when it was first established and things like that. It really isn’t changing, and this was more of a formality for the board as we are required to review it twice a year and that’s what we did.”
After reviewing the Safe Learning Plan the board approved it unanimously. The next item on the Main Agenda was approving the Achievement and Integration Budget for 2024. “We get money for Achievement and Integration as we are a school that has diversity and qualifies to get about $171,000 in revenue,” said Kuehn. “We use that money to help staffing and programming that all goes back to helping students. It has to get approved by the board so really all we are doing is showing the board what the money is going towards so they can give their stamp of approval on it.”
The majority of money as Kuehn stated is towards staffing such as in Intervention/Success Coaching positions. The board approved the Achievement and Integration Budget unanimously. The following item on the Main Agenda was discussing the 2023/2024 budget and staffing plan. The discussion did not cover specifics but wanted to give the board an idea of what to expect. Superintendent Kuehn stated that they are going with a conservative approach when it comes to staffing as they cannot be sure how much federal funding they will receive. Two Intervention positions over at Highland will need to be lowered to just one for the upcoming year based on the projections. Superintendent Kuehn believes that while this is taking a step back, there are grants and opportunities to subsidize staffing down the road. On the budget side of things, it is a similar cautious and optimistic approach with more specific details to come down the road. With the legislation going until May, there is simply no way to know for sure what the exact numbers will be. The item was discussed, and no action was taken from the board.
An item that was added to the Main Agenda was a resolution approving a quick claim deed on a piece of property out near the Crookston Airport. There is a piece of property near the airport that has the Crookston School District’s name on the deed, and the School Board approved the quick claim deed to take their name off of the deed. There was also another last-minute addition to the Main Agenda by Superintendent Kuehn. He suggested that the board discuss possibly re-opening the search for a new Superintendent. Kuehn believes there is still an opportunity to find a long-term solution and that re-opening the search may not be the worst thing to do.
There have been inquiries from other candidates since the search has been suspended, and Superintendent Kuehn believes these are quality candidates for the opening. After some discussion, the board decided to re-open the search, and the position will be posted for 10 days. It was not a unanimous decision as board member Dave Davidson voted against the re-opening of the search. After that time, they will review applications, and the process to try and find the right hire will begin. The search will be through the Minnesota School Board Association (MSBA) and there will be no extra charge.
The next board meeting will take place Monday, March 27 at 5:00 p.m. inside the Crookston High School Choir/Orchestra Room. Pictures of the middle school addition slideshow are below.
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