Rachel Anne Morris, age 34, of Morristown, died Monday, March 2, 2020 at Abbott Northwestern Hospital, Minneapolis.
Funeral services will be held at Peace United Methodist Church, Morristown on Monday, March 9, 2020 at 10:30 a.m. with the Reverend Elden Eklund officiating. Interment will be at Riverside Cemetery, Morristown.
Visitation will be held at Boldt Funeral Home, Faribault on Sunday, March 8, 2020 from 3 – 7 p.m. and for one hour prior to the service at the church on Monday.
Rachel’s family requests casual attire at her visitation and funeral service.

Margaret passed away on Monday, February 10, 2020, in her Minneapolis home at the age of 87 with her loving family at her side. She was preceded in death by her husband Jerry in 2007 and her son, Keith in 2004.
Margaret was the daughter of Marion and Eva (Hagel) Burke, born and raised in Waterville and graduated from the Waterville school system. She was a dedicated class reunion attendee at her reunions and so enjoyed getting together with her classmates/ friends.

Rachel Anne Morris, age 34, of Morristown, died Monday, March 2, 2020 at Abbott Northwestern Hospital, Minneapolis.
Funeral services will be held at Peace United Methodist Church, Morristown on Monday, March 9, 2020 at 10:30 a.m. with the Reverend Elden Eklund officiating. Interment will be at Riverside Cemetery, Morristown.
Visitation will be held at Boldt Funeral Home, Faribault on Sunday, March 8, 2020 from 3 – 7 p.m. and for one hour prior to the service at the church on Monday.
Rachel’s family requests casual attire at her visitation and funeral service.

A Las Vegas homicide suspect is in police custody after being located in Rice County.
Mark Doocy, 60, of Blooming Prairie, was arrested on March 4 at the Flying J Truck Stop at I-35 and Highway 19. According to Rice County Sheriff Troy Dunn, Doocy was arrested and forced to leave his vehicle after he refused to cooperate with officials.

The Le Sueur County Board cruised through a very light agenda Tuesday, March 3.
The regular meeting lasted approximately 40 minutes, but was followed by a special road and bridge work session.
A number of items which were dealt with during the regular meeting involved the highway department.
A couple of final payments were approved for work done this past year.
Crane Creek Asphalt received final payments of $148,200.72 for the CSAH 15 project from CSAH 22 to CSAH 26, and a payment of $69,056.47 for the CSAH project near Heidelberg.

The WEM girls’ basketball team played one of its best defensive games of the season Monday, March 2 in the South Sub-Section Championship.
All year long the Buccaneers have been a very good defensive team. In their biggest game of the season, their defense again was superb.
WEM limited Springfield to 18 first half points and 44 in the game. a game in which the Bucs won 57-44.
The championship was the first in school history after losing five other times in the Sub-Section title games.

Spring Load Restrictions on Rice, Le Sueur and Scott County State Aid Highways and County roadways will go in to effect at 12:01 a.m., Friday, March 6, 2020.
The Minnesota Department of Transportation has issued a notice that Spring Load Restrictions on the state highway system in the south, southeast and metro frost zones go in to effect on Friday, March 6, 2020.
Ending dates for spring load restrictions are variable and based on how weather is affecting roadway strength.
The Spring Load Restriction map is posted on the MNDOT website at mndot.gov/loadlimits.

Merle Warner is retiring after working over 38 years with the US Postal Service as a Rural Carrier.
Warner delivered Route 1 which includes addresses south and west of Waterville as well as all rural Elysian addresses.

The WEM boys basketball team finished its 2019-20 regular season with three games last week.
Each one of these games were completely different in nature. The Bucs won two of the three.
The week started Tuesday, Feb. 18 with a 72-70 loss to Class AA No. 7 rated Minnesota Valley Lutheran. There were 12 lead changes, eight ties, and the winning basket was scored with 1.5 seconds remaining. Mason Cox scored the winning basket.

Minnesota will join Super Tuesday this year — and 13 other states, including Texas and California, in perhaps the most consequential day of the presidential primary season.
It’s new in Minnesota. It’s our first presidential primary since 1992 and only the fourth in state history. Here are some rules.

The water was cold. They jumped in because of their warm, generous hearts.
Approximately 80 people-- including 44 new plungers-- participated in Camp Omega's 2020 Plunge event that was held on Saturday, Feb. 22 behind the Morristown Community Center.
The third annual event raised funds to build a new adult and family retreat center at Camp Omega, a Christian camp located on Horseshoe Lake in rural Waterville. The future facility will offer higher comfort with 25 hotel- style rooms, personal bathrooms, and a large group gathering space.

ALLEN LEROY HRDLICKA, age 83 of Mankato died on Monday, February 17, 2020 at Mayo Clinic Health System in Mankato.

The Le Sueur/Rice County Drug Task Force was very busy in 2019.
Le Sueur County Chief Deputy Nick Greenig presented information about the work completed by the drug task force within the county during the Elysian City Council meeting Feb. 11.
Last year there were 64 cases opened, 55 search warrants were issued, and there were 61 arrests made.
A total of $18,020 in cash was seized as were nine firearms.
More than 3.4 million dollars in street value worth of controlled substances were seized.

Waterville’s little Heart Warrior is breathing easier this Valentine’s Day.
Three-year-old Alex Ahlbrecht, son of Craig and Stephanie Ahlbrecht, recently returned from a three-week stay at Standford’s Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital in Palo Alto, California, where he underwent an intricate open-heart surgery to repair his heart and expand 20 small vessels in hopes of increasing the blood flow to his lungs.
Thankfully, the 20-hour surgery was successful.

A Waterville man faces a second-degree felony assault charge for allegedly driving on a sidewalk, nearly striking a pedestrian.
Clint Weston Sellers, 24, was charged in Le Sueur County Court for the alleged assault that occurred near the Corner Bar in Waterville, early Monday morning, Feb. 3.
Police responded to the scene and took a report from a 26-year-old man, the alleged victim, who said he was walking from Bullheads to the Corner Bar when he saw Sellers speeding toward him in a pickup.
The victim said when he...

The Gopher Conference girls basketball title will go down to the final game this season.
WEM, Medford, and Blooming Prairie will be fighting for the title.
Medford defeated the Bucs 57-43 Friday, Feb. 7 to force a three-way tie for the top spot in the conference with a 10-2 record.
WEM played Blooming Prairie Tuesday, Feb. 11 and Blooming Prairie and Medford play Friday, Feb. 14. WEM will face USC Friday.
The Bucs defeated the Tigers earlier this season and also defeated Blooming Prairie.