The 64th Miss Waterville was crowned Friday, June 10 as part of the annual Waterville Bullhead Days Celebration.
This year’s queen is Kaitlin Rahn, daughter of Jeff and Kim Rahn. Her attendants are Milayna Watzek, daughter of Jared and Lindsey Watzek and Ashley Zimmerman, daughter of Karen Sinclair and Jeff and Laura Zimmerman.
Crowning the new royalty were 2021 Miss Waterville Grace Petersen and Attendant Kiri Kerekes.
The Miss Waterville candidates performed a talent, showed off their casual wear, and were involved in a question and answer session.

After searching for more than 10 years, David Byrne and his son Chris have finally achieved their goal of locating the Waterville Bullhead Days medallion.
“We have been doing this for at least 10 years,” David said. Chris was just a little kid (when we started looking).”
It has been a family affair throughout the years, with many family members, including David’s parents, have searched in past years only to come up empty.
And it hasn’t been because they have been in the general vicinity.

Jaden Lang, daughter of Jeff and Deb Lang, was crowned Miss Morristown 2022 during the Dam Days Queen pageant Wednesday night, June 1.
Her attendants are 1st Princess. Jenessa Baumgarten, daughter of Jason Baumgarten and Kristine Baumgarten, and 2nd Princess Jordan Green, daughter of Kyle and Kristina Green.
Lang was sponsored by the Morristown Sons of American Legion and she performed a dance routine as her talent.
Baumgarten was sponsored by Minnesota Original Brat Dogs and she presented a speech as her talent.

Longtime local business owners Harry “Chip” Beadell, Ron Haslip, and John Scholljegerdes have been named the grand marshals of Waterville’s 2022 Bullhead Days celebration. All three men have recently retired.
Scholljegerdes and his wife, Patricia, owned and operated Feed Store and More in town for 23 years and Sakatah Bay Resort on Lake Sakatah for 15 years. The couple sold the resort in 2020 and the mill property in December 2021 and have since retired, but remain active in the Waterville Lions Club and the Waterville Chamber.

For more than half a century, the second full weekend in June is dedicated to the annual Waterville Bullhead Days celebration.
There are a number of new events this year and some of the regular events have been super-sized for the June 10 thru 12 festival.
One of the new events is the Borderline Pulling Series Tractor Pull. This will be held Saturday, June 11 at 1 p.m. directly south of the city/county shop. There will be five different classes and possibly some local pullers involved.

Le Sueur County Sheriff Brett Mason reports Tuesday, May 24, that the investigators have determined the March 26, 2022, fire at the Funky Munky Bar in Waterville started in the plastic dumpsters, located on the exterior of the south or back side of the building, and spread to a wooden over hang above the dumpsters, and then into the roof/attic area and into the bar building itself.

New Prague City Administrator Josh Tetzlaff, left, and Mayor Duane Jirik visit with Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon on Tuesday, May 24, during the Congressional District 1 Special Primary. New Prague was among six polling locations Secretary of State Simon visited to highlight the work of election judges during the special primary election.

A benefit for Ann (Sutter) Rozanski of Waterville will be held this Saturday, May 14 from noon until 4 p.m. at the Waterville Evangelical United Methodist Church. The event will include a lunch, a bake sale, a soup/chili/cookie sale, and a silent auction.
Rozanski, who works at Walmart in Waseca, was diagnosed with Stage 2 Clear Cell Uterine Cancer in August 2021. Since then, she has completed chemotherapy and radiation.
All proceeds from the benefit will be used to help cover Rozanski’s medical expenses.

The Minnesota State Patrol is investigating the death of a 23-year-old male construction worker who was run over by a skid loader on Highway 99 Tuesday morning.
The incident occurred near the intersection of Highway 99 and 181st Street in Montgomery Township where the Minnesota Valley Electric Company/MVEC was working in the Electrical Power Line System.

The cause of the explosion and fire at 35533 211th Ave. Le Center (Montgomery Township) on February 26, 2022, that killed Kailey Mach, 20, has been determined.
According to Le Sueur Co. Sheriff Brett Mason, a leak in the home’s propane line outside of the residence was the cause. Mason said investigators from his office, the Minnesota State Fire Marshal’s Office and other private Fire Cause and Origin Investigators met at the property on April 21 and conducted an in-depth examination of the scene.

WEM students will be putting on their Sunday best Saturday, April 30 for the 2022 Junior/Senior Prom.
This year’s prom will feature the Grand March at 4:30 p.m. in Waterville. The doors will open at 3:30 p.m.
Following the Grand March, busses will leave at 6 p.m. for the Owatonna Country Club. This is where the attendees will have dinner (chicken parmesan or chicken alfredo), followed by the dance.
Students will return to Waterville around 10:30 p.m. The After Prom Party will be held from 11:30 p.m. until 3 a.m. at the Ahlman’s Lady Luck Event Center.

There is a long list of historical people and events in the City of Waterville.
Local artist and historian Jeff Jarvis will be bringing some of these historic events and people to life with an outdoor historic exhibit which will be featured on the outside walls of the Waterville City hall.

Le Sueur County Historical Society (LCHS) saw little change to it’s nine-person board after an election was held at the organization’s Annual Meeting on April 19.
Of the five board seats on the ballot, four were filled by incumbents. Those re-elected to the board include: Rich Bennett, Bryce Stenzel, Mike Frederick, and George Luskey.
Board member Lois Mack chose not to run for re-election, and Paul Malchow of Ottawa was elected to fill the seat.

The Office of the Le Sueur County Election Administrator announced on Tuesday that absentee ballots are now available to the public for the May 24, 2022, Congressional District 1 Special Primary Election.
The seat became vacant when incumbent Republican Representative Jim Hagedorn died on February 17, 2022, due to kidney cancer.

The Le Sueur County Board of Commissioners, in accordance with Minnesota Statutes Chapter 375, approved redistricting of the county commissioner districts during their Tuesday, April19 meeting.
The Statute establishes the procedure and requires a process for redistricting based on population figures from the 2020 federal census.
The commissioners districts must be redistricted within 80 days of when the legislature has been redistricted or at least 25 weeks before the state primary election, whichever comes first.

Minnesota Towards Zero Deaths (TZD) is the state’s cornerstone traffic safety program, employing an interdisciplinary approach to reducing traffic crashes, injuries, and deaths on Minnesota roads.
The Le Sueur County group was working with the WEM School District and oth-er school districts in the county before prom. Last week they were in Cleveland and at WEM.
There were four demonstrations which the students went through. The stations included distracted driving, a seat belt convincer, impaired driving, and drunk goggle judgement.