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Forest Lake Times
Sports Briefs- Dec. 28, 2023
The Forest Lake boys hockey team lost a road matchup to the Blaine Bengals on Tuesday, Dec. 19, by a final score of 5-2. The Rangers wouldn’t record their first goal until they were down 4-0 in the second period. Goals were scored by junior Thomas James and senior Caden Speidel. The Rangers tallied 33 shots on goal to the Bengals’ 30. Following the loss, the boys got back on track with a 2-0 shutout win over East Ridge on Thursday, Dec. 21. Junior lefty...
Rangers stomp East Ridge, Tartan
Forest Lake tie Blaine after comeback The Forest Lake girls hockey team has been on a hot streak this week after winning its home battle against East Ridge on Tuesday, Dec. 19, in a 3-1 victory. Scoring was not an issue for the girls as three separate Rangers scored goals in that game. The first score came from senior Sami Pool on the power play, with junior Julia Williams putting...
Rangers lose tough battle to Cougars
Girls basketball has strong first half, shows promise After the Rangers girls basketball team dropped a game against the Stillwater Ponies 73-34 on Tuesday, Dec. 19, the team couldn’t sustain its lead against Centennial two days later, leading the girls to a 2-6 record. The Rangers dropped an early lead to the Centennial Cougars on Thursday, Dec. 21, finishing with a final score of 77-60. After a close first half...
Local Holiday station to get tank upgrade after violations found at other stores
After the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency recently fined Circle K/Holiday gas stations $200,000 for storage tank violations at five locations, the MPCA is requiring the companies to replace underground tank systems at five more locations, including the Holiday gas station on Lake Street in Forest Lake. According to a press release sent by the MPCA, the enforcement investigation found the stations’ ownership (Holiday Station stores, LLC based in Bloomington, was recently purchased by Circle K Stores, Inc. of Charlotte, North Carolina) “failed to properly test,...
Columbus Council approves fractional decrease in levy, 15% tax rate decrease
Council sets $21,000 as maximum for administrator hiring firm The Columbus City Council has kept a flat levy in mind when it worked through the 2024 budget, as its levy will decrease by around $300 at $4,213,336, or a 0.009% decrease from last year’s levy at $4,213,719. “I think this year, we’ve met goals that we’ve set in place over many years,” City Administrator Elizabeth Mursko said. ...
Forest Lake’s code enforcement officer position out, more money toward roads
Council members argue prior under-taxation has lead to 13.91% levy increase A battle over the budget concluded at Forest Lake’s truth-in-taxation meeting on Monday, Dec. 18, with a last-minute elimination of the proposed code enforcement officer position and transferring those funds to go toward road improvements. The council passed the 13.91% levy increase to $14,952,629, but a proposal by council member Blake Roberts led to a discussion over the code...
Sports Briefs: hockey, girls basketball, gymnastics - Dec. 21, 2023
The Forest Lake boys hockey team got back into the win column on Tuesday, Dec. 12, with a dominating 6-1 win over Northern Edge. The Rangers netted three goals in the opening period to give themselves a strong advantage early on. Senior right-hander Riley Middendorf scored his first goal of the season off an assist from junior lefty Blake Jacobson. Junior forward Mason Johnsen and junior Cole Rivard each recorded a goal. Forest Lake kept the pedal to the metal with junior Landen Roberts tallying a pair of goals in the second to give the Rangers a 5-0 lead. Rivard...
Kick team SEC champs
The Forest Lake dance team finished conference competitions at the Suburban East Conference championship meet, held at Irondale High School on Saturday, Dec. 15, with two meet victories in both the kick and jazz divisions. The Rangers captured an average judges point total of 73.4 for jazz and 71.6 for kick, beating rival and second-place Mounds View by a full average point in jazz and an average of 3.2 points in the kick category, claiming a top rank score of 3 for both categories. The Rangers also took home an overall first-place SEC championship in the kick category, beating Mounds View by 2 points and Cretin-Derham Hall by 8 points. But the overall jazz SEC championship went to Mounds View after a tie-breaker. The Viewettes received 1,068 total judges points out of a possible 1,500, while the Rangers received a total of 1,067 points from the judges over the three meets. The Rangers dance team will next compete at Bloomington Kennedy on Jan. 6.
Rangers wrestling caps off busy weekend with success
The Forest Lake boys wrestling team had an eventful weekend full of competition. The squad participated in a quadrangular event on Thursday, Dec. 14, at Spring Lake Park High School and the annual MatBoss Minnesota Christmas Tournament at the University of Minnesota-Rochester in a two-day tournament over Friday and Saturday, Dec. 15-16. The Rangers ultimately placed first out of the four teams with 60 points at the quadrangular against Irondale, Woodbury and Waterville-Elysian-Morristown. Against Waterville-Elysian-Morristown, Forest Lake came close to sweeping the event overall, losing...
Waldoch hits 1,000 points as Rangers roll over Bears
School record set for single-game points by Waldoch, too The Forest Lake boys basketball team picked up a convincing first win of the season in its home opener by a final score of 69-39 on Friday, Dec. 16. The Rangers dominated White Bear Lake all the way until the final buzzer thanks to their stellar defensive performance. ...
Chisago County deputy dies
A Chisago County Sheriff's Office deputy died early this morning at his home in Rush City. Sheriff Brandon Thyen confirmed the death of deputy Chris Henricks, who served in the Chisago County from April 1991 and retired in April 2020, and continued part-time in the Government Center Building in the court security division. Henricks held "a lot of different roles" during his time at the sheriff's office, said Sheriff Brandon Thyen, including fire arms instructor, and "could basically fix anything." ...
Chisago County deputy dies
A Chisago County Sheriff's Office deputy died early this morning at his home in Rush City. Sheriff Brandon Thyen confirmed the death of deputy Chris Henricks, who served in the Chisago County from April 1991 and retired in April 2020, and continued part-time in the Government Center Building in the court security division. Henricks held "a lot of different roles" during his time at the sheriff's office, said Sheriff Brandon Thyen, including fire arms instructor, and "could basically fix anything." ...
Sports preiew: Rangers swim/dive young, bring back key returnees
The Forest Lake boys swim and dive team enters the 2023-2024 regular season with just six swimmers between the sophomore and senior grade levels, while totaling 26 kids on the roster overall. With head coach Dominick Mancini and his Rangers being a very young team this season, they are optimistic for what’s ahead this season. Among the key returnees for the Rangers are returning state diver sophomore Jamison Livermore. “I...
Sports Briefs - Dec. 14, 2023
Girls hockey The Forest Lake girls hockey team now sits at 4-4 on the season after the Rangers took their first loss to Chisago Lakes 2-0 on Tuesday, Nov. 28. Two days later, the Rangers were shutout by Stillwater in a 7-0 loss, but clinched a tight win over White Bear Lake on Saturday, Dec. 2. The Rangers then lost an overtime battle to Mounds View/Irondale on Tuesday, Dec. 5,...
Rangers gymnastics off to best start in nine seasons
The Forest Lake gymnastics team started off its season with a bang on Thursday, Dec. 7, by picking up a win against an conference opponent East Ridge. The Rangers had a number of event specialists compete on the night: a total of 11 varsity members, highlighted by senior Samantha Ernst, senior Anna Philipson, senior captain Amelia Bonnett, junior Ali Thordson, junior Hailey Henry, junior Elly Stamp and freshman Laney Berguson. ...
Forest Lake School Board shifts meeting start times up one hour
The Forest Lake Area School Board approved a change to its board meeting times to start earlier in an effort to accommodate community members. The first meeting of the month will now begin at 6 p.m. following a listening session that begins at 5 p.m.; the second meeting of the month will be held at 7 p.m. following committee meetings at 5 and 6 p.m. This represents a one-hour shift earlier. The change will begin at the Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024, board meeting. Despite there...
Wyoming settles on 6.26% levy increase
Wyoming has approved a 6.26% increase for the 2024 levy during its Tuesday, Dec. 5, meeting, bringing the total tax levy to $5,434,918, an increase of $321,146. With the city’s overall tax capacity increasing — which happens through an increase of property valuations and/or new homes or business buildings established — by 10.41%, Wyoming’s city tax rate dropped once again, this time by 1.48%. In 2018, the city’s tax rate was at 48.69%, and stayed above 40% through 2022, dropping to 39.37% this year before next year’s anticipated 37.89%. ...
St. Croix Chocolate Co. wins global awards
Business sees surge in visitors Robyn Dochterman, co-founder and chocolatier at St. Croix Chocolates in Marine on St. Croix, can officially call herself a global award-winning chocolatier after two of her creations took top placements at the world final event of the International Chocolate Awards. The awards ceremony, which took place in Florence, Italy, on Nov. 28, was attended former SCCC employee Nathan “Fox” Eisinger and Scandia beekeper Cathy Mackiewicz...
Bob Marzolf left significant mark on agriculture education
Longtime Forest Lake ag teacher dies at 75 When Forest Lake agriculture and horticulture teacher Bob Marzolf told high school students that they would pursue careers in agriculture education, the response was typically along the lines of, “Yeah, right, Mr. Marzolf.” “I remember having a conversation with him one time contemplating what I would do, and his comment to me was, ‘Well, you’re an ag teacher; you just don’t know...
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Forest Lake Times has been serving Forest Lake, MN since 1902. Published Thursdays by APG of East Central Minnesota with 24/7 local coverage found online at forestlaketimes.com
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