5 years ago

Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2021

The New York Mills Eagles defeated the Breckenridge Cowboys in the Section 6A championship game on Friday night by a score of 32-0. With the win, the Eagles qualified for their first state football tournament since 2006.

The New York Mills School Drama Department will be putting three showings of their play during November. Entitled “The Play That Goes Wrong,” cast members, Ariel Arno, Elijah Geiser, Alexa Graphenteen, Charlotte Holmstroem, Jessica Lenz, Simon Lucero-Moran, and Jane Gudmundson, will be regaling the audience with a comedic play within a play. “It’s named “The Play That Goes Wrong” for a reason,” says director, Leif Ronning. “Anything that could go wrong, does.” 

Children from across the globe will receive a special touch from New York Mills this Christmas season. Church and community members have been busy filling hundreds of boxes with everything from a toy to a message about God as part of the Operation Christmas Child. The project is a mission of the Women’s Ministry Team at Trinity Lutheran Church. This year the group is planning to fill 244 boxes as part of the project, which is quite similar to years past. The most boxes the church has donated was 281 in 2019, while they donated 249 last year.

35 years ago

Wednesday, Nov. 14, 1991

Lindy looks at life on the road. Prairie Spy by Alan Linda. My keyboards are stored safely away once again, snug in the place where I keep them during the week, with piles of various amplifiers and speaker cabinets and boxes of wiring around them. Those things are, of course, the tools of the modern musician, be he full time, or as I am, part time. They’ll stay there until next weekend, when I load everything up to play again Saturday night, something I’ve been doing pretty steadily for a long, long time. I was 18 in 1962 when I played my first “gig.” I beat an old upright piano until my fingernails shredded and my hands bled, trying to keep up with an electric guitar and drums and bass. The sound of surfing music like “Walk Don’t Run, and “Pipeline” are still captured within my memory of the magical night in that old American Legion dance hall. Like ghosts, I’m sure that those sounds, so new to America back then are stuck somehow there yet in that old hall, ever so faintly resonating below our level of consciousness. After that night, I was hooked. When they gave me the 13 fifty cent pieces, that was my share of the gate, I was really hooked. After all, being a part of the magic and then getting paid for  it as well…. To a farm boy used to baling hay for his money….that was magic of an ultimate sort.

  Area ice fishing lovers may have the itch to angle, but a less than quality lake freeze has created dangerous safety conditions, say local and state officials from the Department of Natural Resources. Old Man Winter’s early appearance has created a Catch-22 situation of sorts for area outdoor enthusiasts, especially those die-hard ice anglers who can’t wait to start a new winter fishing season. Ice sheets have formed on many lakes, but the average thickness and type of ice that has formed is highly suspect, prompting caution. Depending on temperature and other weather conditions in the next several weeks, an early ice fishing opener might be in the offing- a highly unusual occurrence, considering the fact that deer hunting season is still going full bore.

Volunteers are needed  by the Otter Tail Wadena Tax Aide Program to help Low Income Seniors and others with their income tax returns. Tax Assistance is provided free of charge at sites such as City Halls, Libraries, Senior Centers, etc. Volunteers are given training by the IRS and State Department of Revenue in one week sessions during December and January. Volunteers are reimbursed for all of their mileage and out of pocket expenses.  

50 years ago

Thursday, Nov. 11, 1976

If you’ve been complaining about your food bill lately, consider that it could be worse. To pay for a weekly food basket for four people, a breadwinner in Washington D.C. works 17.2  hours. In Moscow it would take 64.6 hours and in  London 28.2 hours. A small car requires 6.9 months of work in the U.S. 11.1 months in London and 3.1 years in Moscow. A color TV set means 3.9 weeks of work for the average American manufacturing employee, 5.5 weeks in London, 19.5 weeks in Moscow. A pair of men’s shoes take 6.7 hours of work in the U.S., 7.7 hours in London and 36 hours in Moscow.   

Big Ole, our Norske friend from Good Hope, has come up with a new drink. He mixes 7-Up and prune juice. You know what he calls it??— “Hurry Up.”

Remember the days when you said that you were from a one stop light town. Well—they are gone!  As of last Friday, you no longer will have to be frustrated by slow red lights, or faulty signals. The stop lights that have served the community for the past 20 some years were laid to rest as sign crews replaced the machines with “more modern signs.” The intersection of Front street and Main Ave will now be served by a 4 way stop. With the heavy traffic from U.S. 10 no longer a problem on Front Street the new four way stop is designed to control the traffic flow, but yet allow for quick passage through the intersection as there will be no long red light to hold cars. With the departure of the stop light, one can no longer claim that New York Mills is a one stop light town!    

75 years ago

Wednesday, Nov. 15, 1951

Carl J. Selander of the Mills Motors Co, announces that his firm will display the new 1952 DeSoto at a special showing this Saturday Nov. 17th. Many new features make the new DeSoto one of the smartest appearing cars on the road, he states. Not only is it styled to appeal to the eye, but its low upkeep, trouble-free performance, and nominal cost price, make it a “budget-wise” automobile to operate. Mr Selander invites the public to drop in at Mills Motors, located on the western edge of the town on Highway 10, this Saturday to inspect this fine automobile.

New York Mills High School was represented at a Park Region Conference  meeting on Tuesday night by Supt. W.H. Dittes, George Keprios, William Johnson and Clarence Molstad. The conference voted to play eight man football starting next fall. The rules are very similar to the other six man game, which has been played for several years. There are three backfield but five linemen instead of three. The field is the same size as used in the six man game and fifteen yards must be gained of each series of downs.

Ray Cook states that the clearance sale on dry goods and clothing at the Corner Store is still continuing. He reports that business has been brisk and that everything is moving on a “first come first served” basis. All merchandise in this line will be sold during the sale, Many of the items will make fine Christmas gifts he states.