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The Water Rises, but no Major Flooding  Mild
weather and rainfall over the last week swelled the rivers and prompted
area officials to set up their sand bagger octopuses in anticipation of
severe water problems. While some homes in the Warroad Estates
area needed to be sandbagged, the rain turned to snow and the mercury
plunged to near zero by Thursday, slowing the water flow. The Roseau
river crested at over 20 feet above flood stage in Roseau within hours
of the predictions, then fell slowly, while still remaining at high
flood levels. Water rose up over several area roads as the roads served
their secondary use as dikes to slow the rush of water to the rivers.
Other areas of Roseau County are experiencing high waters. To the
southwest, Fargo and Moorhead are facing record flood levels but, for
now, Roseau and Warroad have escaped major flooding.
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Southwest Angleby Rob Crowe
One
can almost believe that in its past, this area was part of a lake. As
Management says, in the spring, the roads here are like causeways. For
the un-initiated, causeways are the roads that connect the mainland
with the outer barrier islands along coastlines, Its
been a tough week on many in the area. We mourn the passing of Jack
Marvin, Allen Ellenson, Wayne Windahl and Jeremy Windahl. Friends
speak of Jack Marvin as one who helped out many who worked in the
woods, advancing them money to buy equipment and buying their pulp. Allen Ellenson is a former Warroad resident who, co-incidentally, worked Jack’s
farm west of Warroad in years past before moving to the Northwest
Angle. He was driving a dump truck on the lake and went through the ice
on a pressure crack. Wayne
and Jeremy Windahl were snowmobiling near Cyclone Island with a friend
and went through the ice. The friend tried to get back to help them,
but got in trouble himself. He did manage to get back to good ice and
went for help, but by the time help arrived, the two had gone under. Our
regards go out to the friends and relatives of the four. They will be
missed. If you are on the lake, be careful. While most of the lake has
nearly three feet of ice, some areas are always suspect due to the
natural currents. It could happen to any of us who travel the lake. For
those who are keeping track of this publication, I’d like to
report that some of the newspapers are printed with a color laser
printer that Heatmor gave us a while back. They were phasing out a HP
1600 so Ms Toyota made arrangements for me to pick it up along with
several toner cartridges. Its been very beneficial. I still print out
many copies with food coloring but the laser printer is much faster.
Thanks, Heatmor. This
edition is a little late, partially because I had to do some needed
maintenance on Dick’s old Buick. I replaced the front brakes last
week and rotated the tires. The car also had a nasty shimmy. I found
the left front tire was badly worn; a bad ball joint was the culprit. I
had bought a new ball joint a while back, so decided the job had to be
done. Naturally, nothing seemed to co-operate so the job ended up being
a two-dayer. Management was without wheels Wednesday night, but
didn’t need the car since the storm caused many cancellations. I
figure the old Buick is increasing in value with all the new
parts… Danny
Dybedahl stopped by my work station at the Blue Star the other night
and said he was looking for a one row potato planter. He claims to be
the best vegetable farmer in...Malung, anyway. He wanted to get the
word out about needing a potato planter. Danny also says he raises the
best tasting corn. If you think yours is better, let me know. I think I
see the starting of a major corn tasting contest… I
spent last Sunday on the big lake on my annual ice fishing outing. I
did get a lot of ice, but no fish. The two little girls I had along
really enjoyed their day. I had forgotten my sunglasses, so we stopped
at the Warroad Dollar Savers store and all three of us bought $2.00
sunglasses. They looked cool on the girls and worked great. Katelyn
even tried to take hers to school the next day. A
trip on the lake is always an experience with the wide variety of fish
house types and transportation means that will be seen. Another week in the Great North, see you next week!
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The
annual 25 cent breakfast in Badger, sponsored by CHS and the Border
State Bank, is a can’t miss affair. Parking is scarce, but for a
full ham and eggs breakfast with a muffin and coffee or other beverage,
a small price to pay in more ways than one. The
Community Center was nearly full with folks from all over the county on
Tuesday, March 17 for this year’s event. For those who want to
know, the 25 cent price represents the farmer's share of the breakfast
based on the commodity prices in past years.
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Area Up and Comers
Here are some
pictures of a fourth grade girl’s team from Roseau that traveled
to Crookston on a recent Saturday to play in their tournament. The team
placed third in the tournament. |
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Track Results Little Amik Indoor Track Meet (Warroad results submitted by Rick McBride) Overall Girls Results (17 schools)
Warroad Results
55 Meter Dash Deidre Hahn 3rd 8.03 Overall Boys Results Warroad Boys Results (from Bemidji State Amik Results) Girl’s: Roseau Team placed 6th - 53.5 800 Meter : 2nd Pahlen, Janae 2:29.67 1600 Meter: 3rd Smebak, Leslie 6:06.17 3200 Meter: 5th Smebak, Leslie 14:09.52 7th Nygren, Renee' 15:10.47 4x400 Meter Relay: 4th Roseau 'A' 4:43.78 Pole Vault:: 3rd Mlodzik, Kristin 7-06.00 Long Jump: 6th Gracza, Rose 14-05.00 Triple Jump: 4th Erickson, Katie 29-11.25 5th Kelly, Hayley 29-10.50 Boy’s Results : Roseau Team placed 1st. 200 Meter Dash: 5th Hebel, Tylor 25.39 400 Meter Dash: 1st Nelson, Kodi 55.50 6th Kriel, Gannon 56.37 8th Hagen, Cory 57.65 3200 meter: 6th Stein, Jesse 11:54.49 55 Meter Hurdles: 3rd Vatnsdal, Eric 9.05 4 x 200 relay: 4th Roseau 'A' 1:44.14 High Jump: 7th Fevold, Jordan 5-04.00 Pole Vault: 3rd Gross, Sam 10-06.00 Long Jump: 4th Robinson, Zach 17-04.00 7th VanDeWege, Caleb 16-10.00 Triple Jump: 2nd Hebel, Tylor 36-09.25 Shot Put: 1st Heinen, John 47-00.00 2nd Timmersman, Jordan 45-03.00 |
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Warroad Flood Fighting Efforts
Warroad Firefighters turned into water-fighters last week. Among other things, an over-abundance of water on the golf course at the Warroad Estates threatened several houses so the fellows took it upon themselves to construct sandbag levees around the threatened homes. One of the homeowners was still away for the winter so it was fortunate that they were looking out for his interests. “The guys were at it until midnight Monday night and back at it early Tuesday morning,” said water-fighter wife Penny Kimble, as she was manning the phones to get volunteers to help sandbag. As a Farmer’s Union Pickup was pulling an empty trailer away from the scene of the sandbagging effort, water-fighter Steve LaDuke mentioned, “We loaded that trailer up last night and kept it inside for the job this morning. We’re done for now…” Whatever the case, one knows they’ll be ready for whatever comes...
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Lake of the Woods Scene
The major excitement of the day was provided when the occupants of a canvas house stepped out for some fresh air and conversation only to see the wind cartwheel their shelter a hundred yards or so across the ice. The kids happily chased it down and hauled it back. It was also a day that many of the fish houses were being towed off the lake. Snowmobiles, tracked SUV’s, pickups, Suburbans, all were on the move towing loads of divers sorts off the big lake. Now, wait for the ice to melt so the boating season can start...
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Picture of the Week
 This old farmstead has seen its share of rising water. Where is it? Many people immediately recognized that last week’s picture was taken from the top of Bemis Hill, looking northwest... |
More Southwest Angle ColumnsWarroad Winter Sports Schedules and RostersWarroad Fall Sports Schedules and Rosters |
A
late season ice fishing trip with the Shooting Sports 4-H Club out on
the Lake of the Woods is always interesting. The snow is melting and
re-freezing into ice, so pickups and SUV’s could travel almost
everywhere, as did almost every other type of conveyance including a
motorcycle. The ice measured about three feet thick and the fishing,
well, it could have been better. Several small fish were caught
only to be sent back to the depths to grow some more. Three little
walleye for eight fishermen were kept, but, aside from the wind, it was
a great day to be out.