A settlement was approved between the City of Waterville and MacQueen Equipment of St. Paul for a purchase made by the city which, once delivered, was not what they had initially ordered.
MacQueen delivered an off-colored fire truck to the Waterville Fire Department last year and the city debated whether they should send the truck back to be repainted or keep the truck since it was not the color they ordered.
City attorney Jason Moran worked on...
To read more on this article, pick up the April 15, 2021 print edition of the LifeEnterprise.

The Rice County Master Gardener volunteers are hosting their annual Arbor Day tree and shrub giveaway on Friday, April 30, at the Rice County Fairgrounds in Faribault. The giveaway will take place from 3:30-5:30 p.m., while supplies last.
The giveaway will take place as a drive-through, minimal contact event. Everyone is welcome to drive through the fairgrounds and select a free tree or shrub seedling. Participants should enter the fairgrounds from Second Avenue NW and there will be signs indicating the flow of traffic.

Two WEM/JWP wrestlers were honored by Gopher Conference coaches following the 2020-21 season.
8th grader Carson Petry was named First Team All-Gopher Conference.
Freshman Gavin Krause received the Sportsmanship Award.
To read more on this article, pick up the April 8, 2021 print edition of the LifeEnterprise.

Take a Mom Fishing Weekend is the weekend before fishing opener
Fishing seasons open for walleye, bass, trout in lakes, and northern pike on Saturday, May 15, with this year’s date taking the prize for the latest possible opener under Minnesota statute.
“We know there is some confusion about this year’s opener date,” said Jon Hansen, fisheries program consultant for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

We missed Easter this year. Well, most of it. My family of four (my husband, John, daughters Anna, age 11, and Ellen, age 9, and myself) recently spent a week in Florida with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law’s family of five. They have three kiddos—ages 7, 5, and 3, and one more on the way. Basically, the Ingebrands invaded Florida.

He should be graduating this year.
He should be walking across that stage that’s set up in the Waterville-Elysian-Morristown High School gymnasium each year to receive his high school diploma in May, but his life was cut short.
Eighteen-year-old Travis Van Houdt, a young man who...
To read more on this article, pick up the April 8, 2021 print edition of the LifeEnterprise.

There will be some changes to this year’s Waterville Bullhead Days.
The most noticeable will be the lack of a carnival. The carnival which had been used is Crescent City Amusements and they are from Louisiana.
With COVID19 restrictions, many of the communities this carnival contracts with have...
To see more about this story, pick up the April 8, 2021 print edition of the LifeEnterprise.

The Le Sueur County Commissioners cast their votes Tuesday, April 6 for their top candidates for the county administrator position.
The board was presented a list of nine candidates by DDA Human Resources Management Consultant Liza M. Donabauer, who has been working on the hiring process for the county.
The position was posted February 17 and four weeks later 30 individuals had applied. 14 of those applicants were selected as semifinalists. Of those, five withdrew their applications.

Knights edge Lady Bucs in Section 2A Championship
The Sleepy Eye-St. Mary’s girls basketball team was one of the highest scoring teams in Class A this season. They averaged nearly 80 points per game.
WEM held the Knights to 21 first half points in the Section 2A Championship game Friday, March 26 at Arlington, but were unable to score enough themselves in a 64-59 loss.

Two local college students will serve as Rice County Dairy Princesses for 2021.
Kelsey Kuball, a WEM graduate who attends the University of Northwestern in St. Paul, and Madelyn Wehe, who attends the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, were named 2021 Dairy Princesses for Rice County.
The Rice County American Dairy Association (ADA) held a candidate dinner Saturday, March 27 at the Morristown American Legion. This event was held in place of the traditional banquet, which was not held due to COVID.
WEM student Ava Quast.....

“Spring has sprung. The grass has riz, I wonder where the birdies is?”…so goes the old saying. Apparently, there are several versions of this as well as a longer poem. Everyone of a certain age seems to know this saying one way or the other, and it is recited as soon as it feels like spring.
It sure has felt like spring here and there over the last few weeks, with the usual snowstorm thrown in, just in case we forget we live in Minnesota. “It must snow on the robin’s tail three times before spring can begin” is another often-quoted tale.

The students at Trinity Lutheran School in North Morristown reenacted Jesus Palm Sunday Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem with palm branches and clothing. They gathered on the church steps with the church doors wide open to praise our heavenly king, Jesus. The week would conclude with Jesus celebrating the Last Supper, Jesus being arrested, crucified, and burried. Fortunately, we know the happy ending when Jesus rises from the dead on Easter, announcing victory over sin, death, and the devil. Because of Jesus great love for us, we, too, will live forever with Him in heaven.

Seven WEM senior basketball players have received State honors following their 2020-21 season.
Brielle Bartelt, Lindsay Condon, Kylie Pittmann, Ellie Ready, Toryn Richards, Allison Rients, and Autumn Taylor were each honored by the Minnesota Girls Basketball Coaches Association.
Bartelt and Richards were named to the Class A All-State Honorable Mention Team for the second straight season.

Lorna Marvel Sexton, passed away at St. Mary’s Hospital in Rochester on the morning of Palm Sunday, March 28, 2021, at the age of 98. She was a long time Waseca resident, spending her last years under the excellent care and friendships at Colony Court in Waseca.

The season has ended for the WEM girls basketball team after a 64-59 loss to Sleepy Eye-St. Mary's in the Section 2A Championship played Thursday, March 25 at Sibley East High School in Arlington. The Bucs finished the season with a 20-4 record, with two of those losses being to the Knights. For more on this game and WEM's win over Martin County West in the South Sub-Section Championship, check out the April 1 edition of the LifeEnterprise. SESM is currently undefeated and will find out Saturday, March 27 when they play in the Class A State Tournament.

I wanted a unicycle.
I was 10 years old and wanted nothing else—just a unicycle.
I begged for one for my birthday. Begged.
I cut a picture of one out of a magazine and dreamed of riding the darn thing around my driveway.
I would have been so cool.
But, instead, I got a pogo stick.
My parents were “concerned” I’d severely injure myself learning how to ride a unicycle, but for some reason… a pogo stick was “just fine” in their minds.
I was not pleased when I unwrapped the pogo stick.