June 22, 1988

--Father Gerald Machow, the priest at St. Louis Catholic Church in Foreston from 1982-1987, died at the age of 62. He was the priest at Holy Cross Church in Onamia at the time of his death.
--The annual St. Jude's Bike-a-thon drew 27 participants.

June 22, 1978

--The Milaca Jaycees have completed construction of a bocce court at Recreation Park. Jerry Fulin and Brian Bauerly of the Jaycees spearheaded the project. The City of Milaca has received a set of bocce balls and a rule book from Minnesota Governor Rudy Perpich, an avid bocce participant.
--Boyd Larson, son of Mr. and Mrs. Bob Larson of Milaca, attended the Legion Boys State at St. Olaf College in Northfield. Becky Valo, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Valo of Milaca, attened Legion Girls State at the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul.
--Among the specials at Olson's Super Valu in Milaca this week are and eight pack (16 oz. bottles) of Coca Cola for $1.19, turkey at 69 cents a pound and four 16-ounce cans of Festal vegetables for $1.

June 13, 1968

--Mille Lacs County's 1968 Dairy Princesses are Charlotte Liepitz, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Liepitz of Route 4, Milaca, Mary Billings, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Billings of Route 3, Milaca, and Corrine McKibben, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Wm. McKibben of Route 4, Foley.
--Eleven members from a graduating class of 31 from Milaca High School in 1918 held a 50-year reunion at the Milaca Golf Club. It was the first graduating class from MHS to hold a 50-year reunion. Those who attended included Ed Nelson, Wallace Gray, Harold Hong, Nate Peterson, A.R. Cravens, Mable Mateffy, Catherine Moore, Ruth Engebretsen, Florence Lundsten, Jennie Dahlin and Mrs. Florence Jacobsen.
--Two Foreston cousins, who are students at McKinley School, won honors in the AAA's 24th annual School Traffic Safety Poster Contest. Second-grader John Roehl and his cousin Carol Roehl, a third-grader, won citations for their posters. Their teacher is Mrs. Virgina Lewandowski.

June 19, 1958

--Mille Lacs County Dairy Princesses for 1958 are Barbara Knippling, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Merle Knippling of rural Princeton, Jean Olson, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ed J. Olson of rural Milaca, and Pamela Trunk, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Loren Trunk of rural Princeton.
--Onamia will honor its golden anniversary with a special celebration June 20-21-22.
--Wm. Lines, Milaca attorney has filed for one of the two seats in the Minnesota House of Representatives for the 55th district. Lines is associated with the firm Paulson and Lines.

June 10, 1948

--The Stoney Hill Trading Post, located four miles north of Milaca on Highway 169, opened for business recently. Groceries, ice cream, pop and Pure Oil gasoline and Tiolene motor oil will be sold at the trading post, according to proprietor Milton Schendel. He also expects to open a lunch room at the business.
--Reid Alter of Milaca was awarded the degree of State Farmer at the annual convention of the Minnesota Future Farmers of America. The award is presented to future farmers who have demonstrated through achievement their ability in farming enterprise. He is the first Milaca student to be honored as a State Farmer. He owns 80 acres of land, purchased through his own efforts, and has developed a herd of purebred milking Shorthorns.
--The American Legion Auxiliary Unit of Milaca won first place in child welfare for the 10th district. The Milaca unit sponsored a poppy poster contest in the local school with Joan Kuether winning first place and Bobby Richardson winning second place. Kuether also won first prize out of 52 entries at the district level. In other auxiliary news, Mrs. Tom Ryan has been elected president of the Milaca unit.

Nov. 23, 1988

-Using legal findings by the city attorney, Milaca City Manager John Hill officially hired Vicki Hackett as a fire fighter. Earlier, Hackett's attempt to become a fire fighter had been rejected by the fire department.

Nov. 23, 1978

-Mille Lacs County Deputy Herb Willis' job lasted only two days after he failed to unseat his boss, Sheriff Russ Iverson, in last week's election. Willis was fired for campaigning in uniform, disrupting the sheriff's department and insubordination. Willis said he intends to fight his firing.
-Foreston voters voted by a 104-30 margin to retain their city fire department.
-Loren Schenck of Milaca, LeRoy Mundy of Foreston and Clyde Bye of Onamia received Friends of 4-H awards at the annual 4-H Awards Night Nov. 16 at Milaca High School. Sharon Northway, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Reuben Northway of Foreston, received a Danforth "I Dare You" award.

Nov. 28, 1968

-The Milaca Merchants and Professional Men's Christmas Frolic for cash and merchandise will begin Wednesday, Dec. 11. Frolic awards will also be held Dec. 18. There will be 125 drawings for merchandise and/or cash and 50 prizes will be handed out at the Children's Christmas Party Dec. 7 at the Milaca Armory.

Nov. 27, 1958

-The new bridge over the Rum River one and one-half miles north of Milaca, known as the Big Eddy Bridge, was officially opened Nov. 1. The bridge was built about one-quarter mile north of the old bridge and a new section of road was constructed east to connect County Road 9 to Highway 169 at the top of Big Eddy Hill. The old Big Eddy Bridge, one of the landmarks in the area, will be torn down.

Nov. 18, 1948

-The Milaca Civic Club will undertake the project of installing street signs in Milaca. The club voted to finance the project, starting with the installation of signs in the downtown area.
-Mrs. Fred Buisman has been elected president of the Bock Garden Club. Mrs. Stanley Ekman is vice president, Mrs. Roy Kelly is secretary and Mrs. Bert Bloomquist is treasurer.

Feb. 15, 1989

-Friction continued on the Milaca School Facility Advisory Committee. Although the committee voted 33-2 that the middle school should be abandoned, the dissenting members said the vote did not reflect the feelings of the community.
-A committee will be named to discuss changing the Milaca Schools mascot name of Indians. The district received a letter from the Minnesota Civic Liberties Union objecting to the use of "Indians" as a mascot name.

Feb. 15, 1979

-Candidates in the Milaca Junior Miss Contest this year include Deanna Haeg, Patsy Weckwerth, Cindy Katke, Diane Kiel, Denise Harris, Brenda Berezni, Doreen Hanenburg, Annette Dahlberg, Darlette Jorgenson, Laurie Brown, Julie Miller, Sheila Wilken, Valerie Marsh, Patty Brown, Connie Olifeck and Denise Broschofsky. The program will be held Saturday evening in the Middle School Auditorium. The event is part of Milaca Sno Daze.
-Twenty-one Milaca residents living in the northeast part of the city signed a survey opposing a proposed $560,000 street improvement project for that section of the city. George Panno presented the survey results to the city council.
-Rick Huntzicker has taken over the operation of the Ben Franklin Store in Milaca. The store was previously operated by his brother Neil who has moved to Kansas.

Feb. 13, 1969

-The Mille Lacs County Highway Department recently completed the installation of a $15,200 radio system that enables the county engineer's office to contact plows and trucks anywhere in the county. The new mobile radio system consists of 13 plows and trucks equipped with radios and three main stations, two in the engineer's office building and one in the county garage in Milaca. County Engineer Bill Rice stated the new system should speed up snow plow operation.
-Milaca teachers made a pay increase proposal of 31 percent to the school board which immediately rejected the offer. Superintendent Dahlager called the proposal unrealistic.

Feb. 12, 1959

-Due to numerous complaints the board of health of the village of Milaca met last Sunday regarding the pumping of septic tank wastes on village streets and nearby areas of the village. It was the unanimous decision of the board that such practice constitutes a health hazard in the village and the board asks that all persons involved refrain from the practice in the future. Offenders are punishable by law.

Feb. 17, 1949

-Oscar R. Axell has been re-elected president of the Milaca Farmers Creamery. Axel A. Johnson was elected vice president and Erick Williams was elected secretary-treasurer.
-Ted Nordstrom was elected president of the board of directors of the Farmers Cooperative Creamery at Pease.
-Three trucks containing two caterpillar tractors and two V-shaped snow plows left Milaca last week for Byson, S.D., where they will be used to assist in opening up roads in that state. The equipment is owned by the Bruggeman Construction Company and the transporting trucks are owned by Gerdin Transfer.
-The Ed Hastings garage at Pease was totally destroyed by fire last Thursday. The garage was located south of the Alderink station on Highway 169. Hastings plans to relocate in the Dutch Mill garage until he erects a new cement block building.

Aug. 9, 1989

-The Milaca Police Department arrested four people and the Princeton Police Department made 10 arrests as the result of a year-long joint investigation by the two departments. The suspects were charged with the sale of a controlled substance.
-Futurist Harold Pluimer, who's originally from Pease, received a standing ovation after speaking to the Milaca Chamber of Commerce. Pluimer told the group that the three forces vital to maintaining the strength of the United States are slipping: religion, private enterprise and education. "We have lost our moral compass," said Pluimer. "There is now a ticking time bomb in America."
-Milaca City Manager John Hill has announced that there will be a farmers market located across from Harmony Park. Area residents who have garden produce to sell may reserve space at the market by calling the city office.

Aug. 9, 1979

-D. R. Rudbeck, with help from Morris Bruggeman, Charlie Bruggeman and Jerry Bruggeman, has completed work on a six horse steam engine and a 60 horse steam engine. The engines, along with other antique machinery, will be on display next year at the Bruggeman farm north of Milaca on Highway 169.

Aug. 7, 1969

-Grading work has started on the new Milaca Mills building at the north end of the village across from North Park.
-The Milaca School Board has set salaries for the school's administrators. Superintendent O.S. Dahlager will receive $19,805 this coming school year, High School Principal Jerry Rhode will receive $17,165 and Elementary Principal Harold Kurth will receive $14,525. The school board's two newest members, Dale Siemers and Donald Patnode, were sworn in at the July 14 meeting.

Aug. 13, 1959

-Mrs. Herbert Nyquist of rural Milaca won the sweepstakes title for the third time in the annual Milaca Civic Club Flower Show. She won with a basket of white gladioli.
-From Ab Cravens' AB LIBS Column: For years a Milaca man had been terribly henpecked. One morning at breakfast he said to his wife, "My dear, I had a strange dream last night. I saw another man running off with you." "And, what did you say to him?" asked the wife. "I asked him why he was running," said the husband.

Aug. 11, 1949

-The Mille Lacs County Fair will begin a three-day run Monday at the fairgrounds in Princeton. Tuesday will be "Milaca Day." Acts performing at the grandstand will include the Cycling Waldos, tightrope walker The Great Francisco and the Valors, equilibrists. A huge fireworks display is scheduled Wednesday night.
-Burton Packard, 22, of Milaca, died from injuries he suffered in a fall on a merchant ship. He died in a hospital in Wilmington, Del., Aug. 7.

May 13, 1987

-The Parks and Recreation Commission has written a five-year plan to develop and maintain Milaca's city parks. Commission members include Dave Schenk, Helen Weaver, Cathy Pearson, Karen Reineke, Chuck Gahm, Leslie Anfinson, Tim Poorker, Cliff Narveson and Peg Peterson. The first phase of the plan was the installation of new playground equipment at Harmony Park across from the Milaca Armory.
-The Milaca High School Swing Choir received a star rating at the state contest. Soloists Chris George, Kari Lackman, Shelly Ruis, Karin Soderstrom, Teresa Halgren, Lisa Haedt and Peggy Stewart also earned star ratings.

May 12, 1977

-The Milaca Police Department's headquarters is back in city hall after a two-week stay in the new Mille Lacs County Jail facility. The Mille Lacs County Board ordered the police department out of the county jail following an editorial in the Mille Lacs Messenger which stated the Milaca Police Department should not be given free space in the county jail. Sheriff Russ Iverson had favored the police department's move to the jail. The State Highway Patrol remains at the county jail--rent free.
-The Pease Christian School eighth grade class presented the play "The Lonely Dollmaker." Wendell L. Meyer directed the play and the cast included Sheila Hanenburg, Tim Schreur, Tim Geurkink, Tom Roelofs, Kathy Droogsma, Dale Kragt, Duane Moorlag, Doug Visser, Sarah Kiel, Phyllis Kiel and Curt Hanenburg.
-Mrs. B. P. Allen Sr. was honored for her 26 years as head of the Mille Lacs County Blood Program. Specially decorated cookies and cake made by Karen Reineke were enjoyed during the coffee hour of the meeting.
-William Scherer has announced his resignation as director of the Mille Lacs Cooperative Vocational Center in Milaca. Scherer started the center in Milaca in the fall of 1974, offering six vocational courses to the students of Foley, Isle and Milaca. The cooperative served about 315 students this past school year and added auto body repair as a course after purchasing the former Dahlstrom Body Shop in Milaca.

May 11, 1967

-Bennie Janssen, 64, of Foreston, was killed in an accident at the Mille Lacs Products Co., a meal processing plant just south of the Princeton Golf Course.
-Marcelyn Berglund, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Berglund of Milaca, was awarded second prize of $50 in the student competition of a contest sponsored by the Twin Cities Chapter of the American Guild of Organists.

May 16, 1957

-Arvid Ortquist, 54, died from an apparent heart attack at his home May 7. Ortquist was born in Elfsbacka, Sweden in 1902 and came to the U.S. with his parents a year later. The family settled in the Milaca area. "Ike," as he was called, entered the meat and grocery business with his father after graduating from Milaca High School. Over 1,000 people visited the Peterson-Johnson Funeral Home to pay their respect. The Milaca Baptist Church was filled for the funeral with many mourners seated in the basement parlors where loud speakers were installed. Members of the Milaca Masonic Lodge and the Milaca Fire Department attended the funeral in a body. Pallbearers were Reuben Dahlstrom, Harry Jacobsen, Dave Soderlund, E.S. Hagquist, Louie Gossen and Waldo Allen.
-Susan Schwieger and John Oss were selected to represent Milaca at the annual American Legion and Legion Auxiliary girls and boys camps. Susan is the daughter of Mr. amd Mrs. Arthur Schwieger and John is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Harold Oss.
-Gunars Valentin received the DeKalb Achievement Award at the annual Milaca FFA Banquet. Other award winners included Gayland Ingalls, Daniel Peterson, Jerome Baas and Roland Norman.

March 6, 1947

-Lt. Col. Carl Erickson, a Brainerd attorney and former anti-aircraft artillery officer who served with Gen. Douglas MacArthur's staff in Tokyo, has accepted command of the 194th Tank Battalion. The battalion was turned over to Erickson Feb. 26 by Col. E.B. Miller who commanded it on Bataan in World War II and is now state commander of the American Legion. The battalion will be composed of a headquarters company in Brainerd, medium tank companies in at Aitkin, Milaca and Long Prairie, a light tank company in Princeton and a service company in Crosby. As soon as possible, Erickson will choose a commander for the Milaca unit who will then organize the local company.
-Members of the O'Neil Mothers Club celebrated their 25th anniversary with a luncheon at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Hjalmar Stromberg east of Milaca. The club organized in 1922 with 15 members and now has over 60 active members. Mrs. John Norlander, the club's first president, was among the charter members honored at the luncheon. Mrs. Otto Anderson is current president.
-The Swedish motion picture "Soliga Solberg" ("Sunny Solberg") will be at the Milaca Theater with complete dialogue titles in English. Edvard Persson stars in the film. Short subjects "Arbetsblocket Sverige" and "Sjung Och Le" will also be shown.
-Extensive remodeling at the Alfred Olson Co. store will be completed this week. The new improvements give the interior of the store a very attractive appearance and the grocery department will have twice the floor space it previously had.