“I know SNAP has been the highlight of discussion for many, many weeks” Le Sueur County Director of Human Services Jamie Hayes said at the Le Sueur County Board of Commissioners regular meeting on Nov. 18.

Hayes was before the board for the payment authorization of an elevator project, but had time left in her segment to talk about the ongoing federal issues with the SNAP program.

As we gather around our tables to greet one another for Thanksgiving, whether if it is for family or you having a ‘Friendsgiving,’ we inevitably have people of opposing thoughts. Despite what many brush off as a ‘difference of politics,’most often it is a difference of morals, a lack of ingesting credible information, or simply not putting in the effort to really know and instead relying on feelings and hunches to make decisions.

Avoidance of such subjects is not okay.

Montgomery VFW Post #5340 in partnership with Le Center VFW #1803 and each post’s auxiliaries, announced their winners for this year’s Voice of Democracy and Patriot’s Pen contests, and their Teacher-of-the-Year awards.

Voice of Democracy

High school students, three from each community of Montgomery and Le Center, had the opportunity to express themselves about freedom and democracy in this audio-essay contest.

Montgomery Chamber of Commerce held their annual meeting at Montgomery National Golf Course’s newly built club building on Thursday, Nov. 13. Roughly 45 business owners and their employees attended the event.

The evening was started with a social period with heavy appetizers and live music downstairs. Attendees moved upstairs for a formal presentation from the chamber.

The chamber increased its membership by 14, with 80 members in 2025.

Milo Benjamin Kaisersatt, age 93, of Montgomery, died on the morning of Wednesday, September 24, 2025, at Central Healthcare in Le Center.

We are happy to announce this year’s Torchlight Parade & Fireworks grand marshals, Axel Goettl, 8, and Alice Cemensky, 7.

These two second grader friends are both from Le Center. This will also be their first time partaking in the parade and fireworks for Torchlight. When we told them that there would be fireworks, Goettl’s eyes got real big in excitement. Both of them said they were nervous as the days have gotten closer to this year’s event.

earance at the Minnesota State High School League’s State Girls Swimming and Diving Class A Tournament on Saturday in Minneapolis. She came home from the University of Minnesota’s Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center with a 4th place finish in the 50 yard freestyle and 7th place in the 100 yard freestyle.

The outstanding swimming career of Tri-City United (TCU) senior Ella Schmiesing has come to an end with more positive performances for the school’s top swimmer of all-time.

For the eighth time Schmiesing advanced to the finals at the Class A State Swimming and Diving Meet Friday, Nov. 14 and Saturday, Nov. 16.

She competed at State for the fifth time in the 100-yard freestyle and for the fourth time in the 50-yard freestyle, advancing to the finals in both events.

The $39.99 million bond for Tri-City United Schools was rejected by voters in the Nov. 4 election despite $7,982,004 being covered by the state Ag2School Tax Credit.

Tax impact on a $400,000 residential property would have been between $10.12-$10.66  a month, generally replacing a couple bonds that would be falling off over the next few years and not raising the current amount people were being taxed by much.

Two downtown Montgomery businesses had cause for celebration recently — Quilter’s Dream changed ownership and held a grand re-opening, and a new business went in called Grandma’s Garage.

Quilter’s Dream

About 40 people gathered for the grand re-opening of Quilter’s Dream, 116 1st St S, on Friday, Nov. 7.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is seeking public input on the potential installation of an aeration system on Cody Lake between Lonsdale and Montgomery within Wheatland Township in Rice County. This would essentially be a reinstating of aeration that had been turned off a number of years ago operated by Wheatland Twin Lakes Sportsmen Club (WTLSC).

WTLSC, working under new leadership this year, has been doing a number of improvements to the Cody Lake public access site area that resides between Cody Lake and Phelps Lake.

Diane (Cookie) Rae Reimer, age 78, went home to be with her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, on November 12, 2025, with her family by her side. 

The start of November brought about the shutdown of funds for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP because of the government shutdown and the contingency funds not being used as they were meant to be for such an event. This left many people in the nation with a gap in essential food sources, even in our own backyard.

Caitlin Huiras teamed up with the Montgomery Public Library to try and provide those needs for anyone who might need them.

Lloyd Krocak, age 92, of Prior Lake, formerly of Montgomery, died peacefully on Tuesday, November 11, 2025, at Abbott Northwestern Hospital.  Lloyd was born on the family farm in Lanesburgh Township on June 17, 1933, to Vladamir and Ludmilla (Bicek) Krocak.  He graduated from Montgomery High School and went on to complete his degree in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Minnesota.  It was there that he caught the eye of a beautiful nursing major and discovered that they had grown

As a young teenager in 2020, Ella Schmiesing got her first taste of varsity swimming.

Now a Tri-City United (TCU) senior, she will be making her last appearance in a pool as a Titan at the Class A State Swimming and Diving Meet Friday, Nov. 14 at 10:30 a.m. and Saturday, Nov. 15 at Noon at the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center at the University of Minnesota.

Preliminaries will be held Friday and finals on Saturday.

This will be Schmiesings’ fifth State Tournament appearance after winning two Section 1A Championships last weekend.

JoAnn Marie Petricka, age 81.

With deep sadness, we announce the passing of our beloved mother, JoAnn Marie Petricka, on Saturday, October 18, 2025. She leaves us with a life of love, charity, selflessness and world famous recipes.

Born on February 24, 1944, to Mary Ann and John Clarence Pomije in New Prague, MN, JoAnn was the second youngest of four sisters, Marion, Dorothy, Janet and Grace.