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By Rin Porter

The Eagle Valley School

oard held a special meeting on

une 24 to handle a variety of

ressing business, and to bid

arewell to Interim Supt. Tom

mes. Ames served the dis-

rict for just a few weeks, but

was tremendously effective in

athering and analyzing infor-

mation for the school board and

he administrative team to use.His service to Eagle Valley ended

une 30.

Ames is superintendent of two

ther small districts Parkers

rairie and Truman. During his

more than 30 years as a superin-

endent in many districts, he

eveloped a computerized school

istrict budgeting program that

presents users with a way to see

how changes in funding, number

of students, levy amounts, etc.,

would affect other aspects of the

district.

Ames shared this program

with the Eagle Valley School

Board on June 24, explaining

how several different scenarios

of student numbers, teacher pay,

and levy amounts would affect

the district. He showed examplesof changes at Parkers Prairie,

using his software program and

compared the two districts and

their needs.

Board Chair Sharon Notch

said, Youve done so much for us

in such a short time. Thank

you.

Ames replied, Its been my

honor.

Board members and staff

present saluted Ames with a

round of applause. Everyone

seemed grateful to Ames for his

professionalism, knowledge, and

work ethic. He came to Eagle

Valley during a time of crisis in

May after the sudden resigna-

tion of the previous interim

superintendent. He helped dis-

trict administrators prepare abudget for 2013-2014, and a pro-

jected budget for 2014-2015.

Also during the special meet-

ing, board members heard the

recommendation of Principal

Barry Johnson to hire Jessica

Fenlason for the ag/shop teach-

ing position. After hearing

Tue. July 2

Mostly Sunny

80/59

Wed. July 3

Partly Cloudy

81/60

Thur. July 4

Mostly Sunny

81/63

Fri. July 5

Partly Cloudy

85/66

Sat. July 6

T-Storms

85/66

Sun. July 7

T-Storms

82/65

WEEKLY WEATHER REPORT

A community newspaper serving Browerville, MN and surrounding areas. USPS 067-560

Thursday, July 4, 2013

Volume 98; Number 1

www.bladepublishing.net

staff@bladepublishing.net

75

Eagle Valley School Board bidsarewell to Interim Supt. Tom Ames

By Rin Porter

The late spring and excessive

rain have wrecked most farmers

hopes for a good year in 2013.

Planting took place late, if at all.

Spraying of ag chemicals and

applying fertilizer have been

delayed. Cattle are eating more

feed than usual and developing

foot problems from standing on

wet ground. It seems like just

about everything is going wrong

for Central Minnesota farm

operations in 2013.

Farmers Co-op Feed Store

manager Jerome Koehn

explained, Farmers arent get-

ting their corn in. Two guys

brought all their seed back.

Theyre going to let the grass

grow and run cattle in it. June

10 was the cut-off date for plant-

ing, but some are still planting

corn for silage.

Dave at Pro-Ag in Clarissa

said, The fields are so wet were

having trouble spraying. Weeds

are getting the fertilizer instead

of the corn, and with the wind

today, we cant spray at all. We

cant get in the fields, and its too

wet for top dressing fertilizer in

fields. Theres a lot of idle acres

that never got planted. Some of

the guys will plant no crop at all

this year. Were having trouble

getting hay. Its too wet to bale.

Brenda Ganz at Farm Service

Agency in Long Prairie told us

that according to figures she

received, about 30% to 40% of

the crop acres in Todd County

are unplanted at this point.

More soybeans are unplanted

than corn, she said, and corn

that was planted during the

warm days in mid-May are now

drowned in wet fields.

Ganz said haying is reported-ly going OK, but farm equip-

ment is making tracks and ruts

in the fields, killing off the

plants.

Howard Tyrrell and his fami-

ly, who farm in Ward Township,

told us, We got our crops in on

our sandy land, but were a full

month behind. If we dont have

perfect weather and a late fall,

weve got a disaster in the mak-

ing.

He said, Its no different now

than it was in the 1930s.

Tyrrell was a teenager during

the Depression, and remembers

the weather extremes that farm-

ers experienced then.

As far as hay is concerned,

Tyrrell said, If we dont get

warmer and dryer weather, two

cuttings is all therell be. This is

the only area that has hay. We

wont have to buy feed because

we raise more crops than we

sell, but other farmers may

have to.

Jim Lunemanns Beef

Roundup newsletter advised

beef cattle owners, The grass is

growing fast which is good, but

the ground was so wet we are

now seeing foot problems on the

cows and the calves are consum-

ing so much in wet feed (milk

and pasture) they are actually

scouring [getting diarrhea] from

a lack of fiber!

The June 24 USDA Crops and

Weather Report for Minnesota

stated, Wet conditions contin-

ued to delay crop progress

behind the five-year average for

Minnesota farmers during the

week ending June 23, 2013.

The report also said, Corn

planting is nearly finished at 96

percent complete. And

despite the wet conditions, soy-

bean planting advanced 10 per-

centage points to 94 percent

complete.

And they

celebratedVisitors to Browerville

ays 2013 found something

r all ages. Above: The

Ring of Fear held during

he bull riding and mutton

usting on Saturday after-

oon was a big hit with

oth spectators and partici-ants alike.

Right: Antique tractors

ere many of the attractions

n the Saturday evening

rand Parade.

Many more photos inside.

Area farmers struggle with

weather woes

Continued on page 16.