BEMIDJI

Bemidji State opts out of NCAA House settlement; keeping options open

Jared Rubado — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 15:11:30 GMT

BEMIDJI – After months of deliberation, Bemidji State has decided to opt out of the NCAA House settlement.

While schools in bigger conferences – Big Ten, SEC – are required to opt in, smaller and multi-divisional schools like Bemidji State had, and still have, their House settlement fate in their hands.

In February, schools began declaring their House settlement status. The deadline for schools to opt in was pushed back multiple times over several months, culminating in a hard deadline on June 30. As of Tuesday, July 1, opt-in schools can begin paying student-athletes Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) payments directly, while also being able to offer more athletic scholarships.

“We’re opting out for a lot of reasons,” BSU director of athletics Britt Lauritsen told the Pioneer on Tuesday.

“Being a multi-divisional institution and being a multi-conference school, we don’t really know how the House settlement is going to impact schools like us. We have a little bit of time, and I like to frame the next 12 months or so as a viewing period for how this actually looks for the schools that can’t opt out.”

For Bemidji State, one of the biggest roadblocks to opting in was roster limits. Initially, the House settlement capped each Division I sport with specific roster limits, with men’s and women’s hockey set at 26. BSU women’s hockey had 27 players, while men’s hockey had 28 to start their respective 2024-25 seasons.

The House settlement was approved by Judge Claudia Wilken on June 6 with an amendment to grandfather in previous roster limits, emphasizing opt-in schools working toward the new roster limits within five years.

“We know there’s nuance to that now, but for our programs sitting at 27, 28 student-athletes, that helps us,” Lauritsen said. “It gives us depth. Women’s hockey is a great example.”

If the 26-player limit was imposed before the 2024-25 season, BSU women’s hockey would’ve been in a tricky spot.

The Beavers had a 26-player roster, but injuries to goaltenders Eva Filippova and Josie Bothun required head coach Amber Fryklund to add freshman goaltender Lauren Mooney just weeks before the season started.

If roster limits were imposed at 26 players for men’s and women’s hockey, Fryklund would’ve had to cut a player off her team or dress only one healthy goaltender.

“When you have injuries that mount on top of each other, that stuff matters,” Lauritsen said. “If you don’t think there’s a big difference between 26 and 28 players, think about those two other players being goalies. What would we have done?”

There are also financial implications – known and unknown – that Bemidji State was wary of had it opted in. BSU is also under the implication that it can opt in next summer after a year of evaluation.

“As I understand it right now, we’d have the opportunity to explore opting in before an academic year begins,” Lauritsen said. “It’s an area that feels really grey, but that’s my understanding. There’s also the fiscal piece to it, the financial responsibility we have. Opting in, for us, looks different than it does for Minnesota because we’re not in a space to be revenue sharing like they will.”

The House settlement, a landmark deal, will also dish out $2.8 billion for damages to former athletes over the next 10 years. Eligible former student-athletes must have competed any time from 2016 through now for opt-in schools.

The House settlement, which stems from Grant House, a former Arizona State swimmer who sued the defendants (the NCAA and the five largest athletic conferences), ends three separate federal antitrust lawsuits, all of which claimed the NCAA was illegally limiting the earning power of college athletes.

Since 2021, college athletes have been able to profit from NIL deals with third parties. It’s often money that comes from a school’s NIL collective, set up by boosters and other organized groups in conjunction with the respective school.

“When you think about NIL and collectives, everybody wants one on their campus,” Lauritsen said. “There are places to explore there. Where can we expand and what’s the interest in expanding in those areas? It’s still a work in progress in some ways.”

Now, those payments will come from the schools themselves that opt in. Opt-in schools can pay up to $20.5 million to their student-athletes this academic year.

For a non-opt-in school like BSU, Lauritsen still sees beneficial changes from the settlement.

“There’s NIL Go, which is the database for all name, image, likeness deals that all Division-I athletes have to use,” Lauritsen said. “We were required to use that, and I think that’s great. We are going to reap some benefits from the House settlement in terms of structure, even as an opt-out school.”

Because the House settlement largely impacts Division I programs, Bemidji State men’s and women’s hockey is the lone variable right now. Lauritsen expects that to change.

“I foresee in the next 12, 18, 24 months – whatever that looks like – as D-I athletics gets its feet under it as a whole, D-II is going to start looking at different things, too,” Lauritsen said. “We need to figure out what it looks like for our whole department, top to bottom.

“Is D-II going to make some changes? Is there anything coming down the pike that we should have on our radar? We’re being aggressive about observing, is the best way to put it.”

Lauritsen also said there’s a chance aspects from the House settlement, such as roster limits, become mandated throughout collegiate athletics in the future, regardless of opting in or out.

“The NCAA, especially in the last five years, as lawsuits have mounted up, has done a pretty broad-ranging deep dive into the rule books,” Lauritsen said. “For now, we are kind of playing with two different rulebooks. Division I is notorious for adding things to its rulebook, then negating it shortly after if they don’t like it.

“If you think about it, D-I has been playing with multiple rulebooks for a long time. The Power Four has been playing by its own rulebook forever. There’s always going to be a piece of that. It feels like they play by their own rules, because they are.

‘It’s a fault in the system of letting that association grow into the behemoth it’s become. This is just one more thing, one more set of rules. You figure it out, ask a lot of questions and move on.”

One area of focus for opt-out schools is bridging the gap between the benefits of being an opt-in school. Currently, Bemidji State can only offer 18 scholarships for each of its hockey teams. If BSU had opted in, it could’ve offered each player a full scholarship.

While opt-out hockey schools are capped at 18 scholarships this season, schools can make up some of the difference in the form of Alston Awards, also known as Alston money.

In 2014, Shawne Alston, a former West Virginia football running back, filed a lawsuit against the NCAA to challenge the NCAA on its rules involving educational-related benefits.

Judge Wilken ruled in 2019 that the NCAA’s rules violated antitrust law under the Sherman Act. ��s began distributing Alston money in August 2020. Student-athletes can make up to $5,980 per year based on educational thresholds if they attend a school that gives out the awards.

“At the end of the day, you have to figure out what attracts athletes to your institution,” Lauritsen said. “For me, I’m looking at it like this: if you’re a school that can afford to give out 19 scholarships, that’s great. But if that’s your only purpose to opt in, you can probably do that with the 18 scholarships and Alston money.”

For now, Lauritsen and the Beavers are staying put with their operation strategy. She noted that Beaver hockey is “unique” and heavily reliant on its alumni, donors and fan base.

“We need to hold up our end of that relationship and represent them well, and make good use of their dollars and cents,” Lauritsen said. “Beaver hockey is special. The student-athletes we bring in are well-suited to the program. They fit the mold. I think knowing who we are, and I talk with Tom (Serratore) and Amber about this all the time, we have to focus on who we are and do that as well as we can, and expand it. We’re not going to opt in to be flashy.

“We know what we’re working with, we know what the next academic year will bring and how we’re going to recruit with that. We approached it like every other year, and there’s something to be said about having that kind of stability. We know what we needed; we went out and got it.”

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When Bemidji called for help, local and statewide firefighters answered

Jared Rubado — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 13:00:00 GMT

BEMIDJI — Erik Flowers has frequented Bemidji a time or two.

One of Brainerd’s paid on-call firefighters routinely finds himself in Beltrami County each spring for his day job. So when Flowers volunteered for a day-long firefighting shift in Bemidji in the wake of the severe storm on June 21, he was taken aback by the aftermath as he traveled up Highway 371.

“I was up in Bemidji this spring for a work conference; we go up every year. I’m familiar with the area,” Flowers said. “We got to Walker and the power was still out. I kind of thought, ‘This is a lot bigger than we imagined.’ ”

Flowers and the rest of the four-person crew didn’t know what was waiting for them 40 miles north of the halfway point between Bemidji and Brainerd.

“You get into Bemidji and you start seeing the damage from roofs being torn off on so many buildings and the amount of trees on the side of the road,” he continued. “You’re just in awe of how much damage there is.”

Flowers’ shock matched that of roughly 100 traveling firefighters who answered Bemidji’s call for help. At about 8 a.m. on June 21, six hours after Category 3 hurricane winds tore the First City on the Mississippi apart, Bemidji Fire Chief Justin Sherwood sought a lifeline in the form of mutual aid.

“We have 10 mutual aid partners around us — Solway, Blackduck, etc.,” he said. “If they have a structure fire, they can request resources from Bemidji. For this event, we opened up intrastate requests so we could receive aid from everywhere. We had 19 departments come to assist us, all the way down to Bloomington and Little Canada.”

In a matter of hours after the storm dissipated, before any power was reestablished or emergency resource centers were posted, firefighters from Bemidji, the surrounding area and Greater Minnesota got their hands dirty in the early phase of a relief effort that will take weeks, if not months or years, to complete.

From gas leaks to structure fires, from the sense of helplessness to faith restoration, the preparation from statewide departments readied firefighters for the unpreparable.

Acting fast

Sherwood went to bed on Friday, June 20, anticipating being woken up with calls.

“You just get that feeling sometimes,” he said. “When you have a major storm, there’s often a structure fire. At minimum, you’re getting alarms. You just know it’s coming.”

Around 2 a.m. on Saturday, as Sherwood began his trek inside Bemidji’s city limits, he quickly learned that it wasn’t an average storm.

All available firefighters in the existing crew of 57 were paged in. Sherwood also said the department’s communications were down.

“I was really proud of my staff, because they had already coordinated dispatch logs,” he said. “They had all of the calls written down on pieces of paper because the dispatchers were so inundated with calls. They were prioritizing those logs on paper, and Chad Hokuf was dispatching rigs over the radio.”

In the immediate eight hours following the storm, Bemidji firefighters responded to roughly 80 emergency calls. Each rig in the station was deployed to various areas of Bemidji, attending to gas leaks, dangerously fallen power lines and other time-sensitive fixes.

Sherwood was forced to delegate.

On his drive into Bemidji from his home in rural Beltrami County, he called in each city department lead for an emergency meeting at 3 a.m. Sherwood, the emergency city manager, passed off the immediate recovery duties at the fire department to Hokuf.

“It was at that point when we identified the streets that needed to be opened and the injuries and casualties we had,” Sherwood said. “We didn’t have any, thank God. But it was dark, and there wasn’t power, so we didn’t even know what we had to work with.

“When you look at it from an administrator’s point of view, like myself, I was thinking more long-term. I knew we couldn’t sustain this pace, and what if the ‘what ifs’ happen?”

At 8 a.m., one of them happened.

Bat signal

Due to a building explosion on the north side of Bemidji near Sanford, the fire department was suddenly strapped for bodies.

In times of desperation, local fire departments can reach out to their mutual aid partners for help. In extreme cases, like Bemidji’s, requests through the Minnesota Intrastate Mutual Aid Plan are formed.

Chiefs from around the state assess their departments to see if they can send a crew where it’s needed on short notice.

Sherwood also reached out to the Minnesota State Fire Chiefs Association for assistance. Hibbing Chief Erika Jankila; Cross Lake Chief Chip Lohmiller; Pequot Lakes Chief Mike Schwankl; Cross Lake Deputy Chief Jory Danielson; Plymouth Chief Rodger Coppa; Brooklyn Park Chief Tim Walsh; Bloomington Deputy Chief Jay Forster; Little Canada Chief Don Smiley; and Brooklyn Center Chief Todd Berg all provided aid to Bemidji in the days following the storm.

Due to the scale of the destruction, several department authority figures were needed.

“I knew our resources were going to be tapped,” Sherwood said. “We couldn’t sustain what we were doing. We pulled the pin in the mutual aid grenade, if you will, and called Blackduck, Solway and Cass Lake. But I also had to be mindful of what their communities had going on. This became a state event.”

Sherwood came away impressed with how quickly they responded to the call to service in northern Minnesota.

“I made one phone call to a supervisor at the state fire marshal’s office,” he said. “I told him what I needed, and he said, ‘I got you.’ He told me they had six fire departments signed up for three days each, and if I needed anything else, they’d get it for me. That was done within hours.

“It just blows my mind how fast it all came together. How did they get here that fast? How were they even able to pack that fast? It’s hard to understand, but it makes you so proud of what you do. We’re the state of community.”

While stations from around Minnesota boarded their trucks, a crew in Detroit Lakes was short on bodies.

Mike Hansen, the Detroit Lakes fire chief, didn’t have four people to send to Bemidji. He teamed up with Fergus Falls to provide aid.

“When I called their chief, Ryan Muckow, he said they had the manpower but they were down an engine,” Hansen said. “I told him that we had the engine but we didn’t have the manpower. He sent us two guys and we put them on our engine.”

Hansen is familiar with mutual aid and intrastate requests. He understands that rural towns in Greater Minnesota don’t have the infrastructure to survive the aftermath of the June 21 storm alone.

“I don’t even know if there was a reaction,” Hansen said. “All of us are trained. We know when to call for help, and we know when not to call for help. When one of the other chiefs calls for help, you don’t ask questions. You just do it because you know it’s needed, and you might need it, too, at some point.”

Gas leaks

With an influx of emergency calls rolling through the dispatchers — calls that were being documented on pen and paper, as the town was without power — Bemidji firefighters leaned on their mission statement.

“It’s to protect life, then property, then the environment,” Sherwood said. “Life safety is No. 1. That’s how we prioritize calls. In everything that was done, that was the priority. It wasn’t until the daylight came that we started shifting. … For us, a lot of the life safety things were gas leaks, lines down and collapses.”

In a standard June week, gas leak calls are few and far between. In the 10 days following the storm, Sherwood guessed that Bemidji received 50-60 calls about gas leaks.

“We work our way out from the hot zone through our monitoring systems,” Sherwood said. “You have to identify the type of gas — natural gas or propane gas — which have different kinds of gravities. Natural gas is lighter than air and will dissipate, whereas propane gas sinks low. We identify those things and act accordingly.”

Gas leaks can arise from virtually all areas in a community. In the restoration process, more leaks than the original source can be found.

“You think about the amount of wind we had, it moves and shakes things,” Sherwood said. “We had gas leaks on top of Lueken’s and Walmart. That’s where their appliances are. Trees had fallen on power lines, so we took care of those. Then we turn the gas back on and identify more leaks.”

New normal

Since pushing through the immediate recovery phase, Sherwood is turning his department’s attention toward regaining a semblance of regularity.

He is a believer in leading by example. He understands that while some community members will endure an ongoing struggle in the coming months, reestablishing structure in his department is paramount.

“It’s important to say that there are so many community members who weren’t thriving before the storm,” Sherwood said. “They were struggling, whether it be financially or otherwise. At the very least, we need to get people back to a place of familiarity. It’s going to take patience, grace, resiliency, love — a lot of outward stuff.

“From the fire department’s point of view, we’re of the mindset that, right now, we’re in the recovery stage. The recovery items that happen right now don’t involve us unless there’s an injury or something like that. We’re working on recognizing what our new normal is now. … We’re going to continue to support our service organizations here in Bemidji.”

Sherwood has also had time to reflect. In a time where it feels like Bemidji drew the short end of the weather stick, he understands how lucky Bemidjians got with the lack of casualties.

“I think a big part of that is because of the time the storm came,” Sherwood said. “People were at home in their beds or found shelter. The sirens went off and gave people enough of a heads-up to retreat somewhere safe. But when you wake up and see the damage the next morning, you expect multiple casualties, whether that’s injury or death.”

As for the visiting firefighters who volunteered their efforts in the days following the storm, Flowers leaned on the unspoken code among first responders.

“Most firefighters have that deep level of service and a commitment to helping others,” he said. “It’s not constrained to a boundary or a state, or any of that kind of thing. For me, I feel like I was born to serve others.

“Every time I try to branch out in my career that isn’t paid-on-call firefighting, it always leads back to serving others. I believe stuff like this goes so far beyond the boundaries of our own town in Brainerd.”

It isn’t lost on Sherwood that the town-shaping disaster could take an emotional toll on his crew. He called himself “passionate” in his leadership style, and the response of his counterparts in a time of need reaffirmed his enthusiasm for what he does.

“For them to leave their lives and families, to leave what they had damaged and lost from this storm, all to help other people, I couldn’t ask for anything more out of them,” Sherwood said. “We didn’t just see this with emergency staff; we saw it throughout the community. People came out and assisted their neighbors before they helped themselves. That’s why you can drive down these streets today.”

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Bemidji Speedway racers find some sense of normalcy as Sunday races resume

Leo Pomerenke — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 11:00:00 GMT

BEMIDJI - In the eyes of Randy Hayes, co-owner of Bemidji Speedway, only rain was going to stop them from having races on Sunday.

After what the community has gone through since the June 21 storm, they deserved it.

“There was no question about having this race this week,” Hayes said. “Nothing’s going to hold us back. People need to come out here and relax and do all that good stuff.”

From the pits to the packed grandstands, there was some sense of normalcy on Sunday at Bemidji Speedway, one of the first sports to come back to Bemidji after the June 21 storm. Mechanics and drivers were prepping their cars, focusing on the race ahead and nothing else.

It’s much needed. Many fans and drivers received damage to their properties or businesses last week, keeping them busy and offering them little time for themselves.

“It’s been a week,” driver Deryk Weleski said. “I (had) trees in my yard and all of them are gone.”

Jason LaValley, CEO of LaValley Industries, lost three buildings due to the storm. He was at the track on Sunday to help his daughter, CeJay, with her Wissota Midwest Modified.

“The roof on one of (the buildings) caved in on two brand new pickup trucks,” LaValley said.

“Probably a thousand trees came down on our 80-acre lot,” said Karen Puschinsky, who races with her husband Chad and son Brandon. “The work's going to be there for a long time.”

“It's going to take a long time to clean it up properly,” Bemidji Speedway Hall of Fame driver Greg Caspers said. “You never know what life's going to deal you.”

The week has been a turbulent one for many, especially for Devyn Weleski, who races a Wissota Modified. Weleski, who runs an insulation business, didn’t want to race after taking countless calls from people with their roofs gone because of the storm.

“It was overwhelming,” he said.

After some encouragement from his brother, Deryk, he relented.

“I told him, ‘Dude, you got to get out of the house. We got to do what we love,’” Deryk said.

So Devyn showed up at the track with his family, ready to race and to distract his mind a bit. It turns out, his brother was right.

“It's a breath of fresh air,” Devyn said. “It takes your mind off everything else.”

That was the theme in the pits on Sunday. The racetrack offered a well-needed distraction, a break from real-world problems, especially for the drivers.

“It's nice to get back to doing something for fun, not work,” Puschinsky said. “This gets you (away for) a couple hours and forget about it.”

“It’s better than cutting trees,” LaValley said. “This is just a good distraction for everybody.”

“It's good to be back,” said Jason Bush, whose son Cody races a Bemidji Mini Stock. “The track looks pretty good.”

Earlier in the week, there was a question whether or not the races would even be held on Sunday.

The quarter-mile dirt track received little damage due to the storm, but the racetrack was without power for most of the week. The power was restored on Thursday, giving the green light – or a green flag – to race on Sunday.

“We only had power for a couple days,” Hayes said. “But, yeah, we were ready to go. All our workers were good sports. They were like, ‘Let’s race.’ So we did.”

Hayes runs the racetrack with his sister Tonja Stranger. They both knew how important the races are to the community, and wanted to get everything ready once the green flag waved.

“Hopefully, it keeps their mind off a couple of things for three hours,” Hayes said of the fans.

Drivers have been extremely thankful for the track and for racing. In tough times like these, racing can offer a respite, an escape for people who otherwise wouldn’t have one.

“We're fortunate we have something to take our mind off of, you know?” Devyn said. “Not everybody has that.”

“It's just a break from the real world here,” Deryk added. “When I’m strapped in my car, every issue or problem that is going on in life is gone until I come back.”

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Centaurs shed stunning loss to split doubleheader with Perham

Leo Pomerenke — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 03:42:16 GMT

BEMIDJI – To borrow a quote from Yankee legend Yogi Berra, the seventh inning of game two between the Bemidji American Legion baseball team and the Perham Buzz felt “like deja vu all over again.”

Holding a three-run lead in the seventh inning, the Centaurs were hoping not to repeat what happened in game one.

Trailing 3-0 going into the bottom of the seventh inning and down to its last three outs in the first leg of the doubleheader, the Perham bats started to wake up. After getting their first run from a Lyam Schumacher double, the Buzz brought in two more runs, thanks to a single and a sacrifice fly to tie the ballgame at three.

Perham didn’t stop there. In extra innings, the Buzz drove in two more runs after a Bradyn Anderson double and a Bemidji fielding error.

The Centaurs’ bats couldn’t respond in the bottom half of the inning, shockingly losing 5-3.

“The situational hitting was bad,” head coach Otto Grimm said. “Some bad errors in the field and a few mental mistakes that just kind of caught up to us. Just wasn't our best effort.”

Fast forward to game two. Once again, Bemidji held a three-run edge, this time leading 6-3. Yet again, Perham found some clutch hits off of Bemidji pitching. Gavin Griffin beat a throw to first for an RBI bunt, making it 6-4 with runners on the corners and the go-ahead run at the plate.

Perham seemed to call for a double steal, but Griffin got caught in a rundown. A run scored, but the bases were empty with two outs, now in a 6-5 ballgame.

Gunner Ganske closed it out on the mound from there, forcing an infield popup two batters later to close out the win.

“Baseball's got a funny way of keeping you on your toes,” Grimm said of the last inning of game two. “I was confident, though, we had the right guys out there. Had confidence in the pitchers, the fielders. They never seemed to let the moment get too big. Of course, there's nerves, but a lot of confidence that they'd get the job done there.”

The Centaurs sensed they were in a similar position in game two, but they used lessons learned from a few hours earlier to close out the Buzz.

“I mean, after the second time around, we knew what to do,” Bemidji right fielder Max Bahr said. “We knew we needed to just stop, take a minute, just bear down and just get the outs, because that's what we needed to do.”

Bahr had the most impactful hit in game two with the bases loaded and no outs, with Perham holding on to a 3-2 lead. After Colten Vaughn scored on a wild pitch to tie the game, Bahr belted a line drive to left field, a clutch two-RBI double to give the Centaurs a 5-3 lead.

“I was thinking, ‘Don’t strike out,’” Bahr said. “Happy to finally be in the lead, though.”

After the bats went cold in game one, Grimm was glad the Centaurs made adjustments in game two.

“We just said it seems like a lot of guys are trying to do a little bit too much, maybe pressing a little bit, and I just told them to be a little more loose in the box and try to have fun,” Grimm said. “I think they made that adjustment, and it seemed to work out for them.”

Even though Jack Lundquist’s day on the mound didn’t end like he hoped, Bemidji wouldn’t have been leading in the first place if it weren’t for his contributions at the plate.

He brought in all three of Bemidji’s runs in game one, including a bases-clearing, two-run single in the fifth inning. He had a great day on the mound as well, pitching 6 1/3 innings, giving up three runs, only one of them earned, and one walk with seven strikeouts.

Although Ganske gave up the game-winning runs in extra innings in game one, he was given a second chance to close out game two. It was a chance he wouldn’t let get away from him, forcing Perham’s baserunning mistake and popup to pick up the save in the 6-5 win.

“I think we got better today,” Grimm said. “They're a good team, they're a good baseball town. They've always got talented players. You can't really get caught up too much in the wins and losses. The big takeaway today for me was that I think we got better and learned a lot about ourselves and our identity as a team.”

Perham 5, Bemidji 3 (F/8)

PER 000 000 32 – 5-8-3

BEM 100 020 00 – 3-4-4

WP: Schmidt (2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K)

LP: Ganske (1.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K)

Bemidji 6, Perham 5

PER 200 100 2 – 5-9-2

BEM 100 140 X – 6-8-2

WP: Gessner (2.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K)

LP: Blume (2 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 1 K)

S: Ganske (0.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K)

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Bemidji Public Library book sale rescheduled to July 14-17

Sarah Suchoski — Tue, 01 Jul 2025 23:54:04 GMT

BEMIDJI — The Bemidji Public Library’s annual book sale, originally set for June 23-26, has been rescheduled to July 14-17, at the Evangelical Free Church, 115 Carr Lake Rd. SW.

After a successful fundraiser last year, the library, in partnership with Friends of the Library, has estimated that about another 15,000 books will be available for purchase at the sale this year.

“It’s really a book sale for all,” said Sandi Marshall, secretary of the library board. “We get a lot of people who come in for a variety of reasons. There are a lot of children’s books, homeschoolers come in, teachers, parents, and kids pick out their own books.”

Here’s a look at the schedule for the week:

On Monday, July 14, the book sale will be open to Friends of Bemidji Public Library from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. If you are interested in becoming a member, there will be sign-ups at the event and it will cost $5 per person. On June 15 and 16, the book sale will be open to the public from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. On July 17, the book sale will have Bag Day, which is $2 per bag of books. Bags will be provided at the event.

After the event, if there are any books left, nonprofit organizations and the jail will have the opportunity to take leftover books before they are brought to the landfill or destroyed.

All the money raised at the event will be put back into the library, whether that is improvements within the library or programs held there. In the past, the library has used the funds for a puppet station and book browsing stations for the children’s area, book repair machine, and bringing authors in to talk about their books.

Credit cards will not be accepted at the sale, cash or checks only.

For more information about future library events, contact the Bemidji Public Library at (218) 751-3963.

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Racing returns to Bemidji Speedway for the first time after storm

By Dennis Peterson / Special to the Pioneer — Tue, 01 Jul 2025 18:43:47 GMT

BEMIDJI – Bemidji Speedway cancelled the races last Sunday following the devastating Category 3 hurricane force winds and rain with 120 miles-per-hour winds that blasted the Bemidji area.

The Speedway was without power until Thursday. Owner and promoter Tonja Stranger expressed her gratitude to all the men and women working on restoring power to the over 50,000 homes and businesses impacted by the storm.

I was one of them. With more than 30 large trees over my driveway, garage and yard, we were stranded. Midwest Modified driver Skyler Smith along with his wife Jenny came on their own and cleared my long driveway, making it possible for us to get out. Modified driver Lance Schilling and Bruce VonHoldt came later and cleared huge oaks off my garage and around my home. The racing family is special, a huge thank you to all.

Bemidji Speedway drivers and workers were among those helping in their neighborhoods and around the surrounding area, helping anyone in need.

So this night, Meet the Drivers Night, had special meaning and was a chance to set aside the struggles of the past week and relax, enjoy and appreciate all the drivers, crews, workers and the fans who make stockcar racing so special.

Warm and breezy conditions created a challenge for the track workers attempting to keep the dust down and raceable. One hundred and eight cars filled the pits ready for action. Kids 12 years old and under had free admission, with many prizes and treats handed out at intermission when all were invited on the rack. LVI Supply and Roth RV provided cloth drawstring bags for all the kids to collect autograph photos and goodies.

Sunday, July 6 is First Responders/Veterans & Salute to Service Night, and the always popular Michael Fullerton 500. All Police, EMS, Fire and veterans will receive $5 admission with identification. The races start at 5 p.m.

Wissota Pure Stock Feature

Eighteen Wissota Pure Stocks entered the track in turn four for the opening feature of the night, with Austin Carlson and Alex Berg in row one. Berg powered into the lead, with Dustin Puffe charging up into second, followed by Carlson. Making his return to racing after several years in retirement, Hall of Famer Greg Caspers raced up from his fourth row starting position into fifth.

Puffe pulled up side by side with Berg in a tight duel for the lead, with Carlson on their bumpers. A lap later, Carlson slowed in turn one, and the caution flag was waved, creating a restart. Several more spins and cautions slowed the racing. With each restart, Berg held his line and the lead, picking up his first-ever feature win and a clean sweep, as well as picking up the checkered flag in heat one. Puffe, Mason Smith, Josh Bitker and Brandon Puschinsky finished in the top five.

Bemidji Mini Stocks Feature

Cameron Schwinn led the Bemidji Mini Stocks on track in the pole position, with Cody Meyers to his right. The 14-car field raced down the front straight with Cameron Schwinn in the lead, followed by his dad Conrad Schwinn in second. Cody Bush, Nick McCann and Karlie Feda rounded out the top five. Several spins and crashes slowed the racing, but each restart was controlled by Cameron Schwinn. McCann caught and passed Bush for third, and Troy Foster passed Feda for fifth, as Cameron Schwinn picked up his first feature win.

Wissota Super Stocks Feature

Thirteen Wissota Super Stocks were next on track, with Rick Simpson of Thunder Bay, Ontario, on the pole and Dalton Carlson outside. Simpson grabbed the early lead with Carlson, Alexa Sparby (who had earlier just won her first heat race), Doug Koski and Faye Lewis in the top five. Simpson quickly raced out to a five-car-length lead over Carlson, who was putting about the same distance between himself and third-place racer Sparby. Most of the early laps were chasing the leader, with not much movement in position. The last five laps of the 20-lap race were more action-packed, with Justin Barsness moving up from his fifth row starting position into the top five. Barsness and Koski traded positions a couple of times, with Barsness moving and passing Sparby for third. Sparby dropped back several positions as Koski and Cameron LaBelle moved into the top five. The leader, Simpson, was fast and steady, picking up the victory. Carlson, Barsness, Koski and LaBelle finished in the top five.

Wissota Midwest Modifieds Feature

With 22 Wissota Midwest Modifieds in attendance, it was the largest of the classes racing on Sunday. Gary James Nelson and Bret Schmidt led the pack to the green flag. Racing for his injured son, Brennan, who was injured earlier in the season, Schmidt raced to the lead with Nelson, Hunter Weeks, Carter Matthews and Dean Eggebraaten chasing him. Several cautions slowed the race for restarts, with Schmidt controlling the lead each time. After the fourth caution, the restart went single-file. Schmidt again held his line and controlled the race. Due to the time limit, the last caution for a spin created a green and white checkered flag finish. Schmidt raced to his first feature win in years since retiring from racing. Nelson, Weeks, Eggebraaten and Matthews were the top five finishers.

Wissota Mod Four Feature

Sixteen entries of Wissota Mod Fours were led on track by pole starter Connor Bruss from Nelson. Dawson Oelrich was outside the pole for the start. Bruss blasted to the lead with Oelrich, Chad Erlandson, Blake Erickson and Ashton Schwinn in the top five early. Erickson moved up high, and Schwinn raced by into fourth. Remaining on the outside of the track, Ashton Schwinn was racing along the front wall when he tagged it hard, crashing his chances at a high finish. Following the caution, Bruss continued to hold the lead with Oelrich, Erlandson, CJ Roller and Conrad Schwinn chasing him. The Conrad Schwinn raced by Roller for fourth and Oelrich for third. Bruss remained steady to pick up his first-ever feature win. Erlandson, Schwinn, Roller and Thomas Burgard finished in the top five.

Wissota Hornets Feature

The 2024 season points champion Chad Reller was on the pole for the start of the Wissota Hornet feature race, with Brady Fosso to his right. At the green flag, Reller moved to the lead, with Fosso, Ryker Larson, Russell Kiker Jr. and Jada Lore close behind. Reller moved up high as Fosso raced low into the lead. Racing up from his fourth row starting spot, Travis Olafson raced into the top five with high side passes in turns three and four. Once Fosso had the lead position, he wasn’t about to give it up to pick up another feature win for the Hibbing native. Reller, Olafson, Kiker and Larson followed the leader across the finish line.

Wissota Modified Feature

The final race of the long night was led on track by Jeff Reed and Alan Olafson, veterans and many time champions at Bemidji Speedway. Olafson on the outside blasted into the lead coming out of turn four. Reed, Devyn Weleski, Lance Schilliing and Adam Johnson were top five. Following a caution, Weleski raced up side by side with Reed for second. That duel resulted in Schilliing charging up and taking third as Olafson built a three-car-length lead over Reed. Another caution created a restart, creating the opportunity for Canadian racer Tanner Williamson to race up from his fourth row start into fourth. Weleski and Johnson raced side by side for fifth, but later, Weleski slowed into the infield out of the race. Olafson hasn’t had the best of luck on the track in 2025, but nothing was stopping the No. 77 from reaching victory lane. Olafson picked up his first win of the year, with Reed and Schilling on his bumper. Williamson and Johnson rounded out the top five ending an incredible fun night of racing at Bemidji Speedway.

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Bemidji Business Rebuild Program launched in wake of storm

Pioneer Staff Report — Tue, 01 Jul 2025 15:41:31 GMT

BEMIDJI — In response to the devastating storms that swept through the Bemidji region on June 21, local economic development partners have launched the Bemidji Business Rebuild Program.

The program is a rapid-response loan initiative designed to help small businesses recover, rebuild, and remain open.

Greater Bemidji, the Northwest Minnesota Foundation (NMF), the Headwaters Regional Development Commission (HRDC), the Bemidji Area Chamber of Commerce and the City of Bemidji collectively have created the initiative.

The program provides 0% interest loans up to $10,000 with no payments required in the first year, a release noted.

These funds are intended to cover urgent needs such as insurance payments, cleanup, inventory replacement, temporary relocation, and equipment costs not covered by insurance.

Businesses with greater financial needs may be eligible for larger funding amounts through related programs, the release said.

"This is about helping our local businesses bridge the gap between insurance claims and real recovery," Dave Hengel, Executive Director at Greater Bemidji, said in the release. "We want businesses to know: you're not alone — we're here to help you get back on your feet.

"I am especially grateful to our partners at the City, NWMF, HRDC and the Chamber for their rapid response in supporting our local businesses."

Businesses interested in applying should contact Greater Bemidji at (218) 444-5757, or by email at dhengel@greaterbemidji.com.

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City garbage pick-up date change for Independence Day

Pioneer Staff Report — Tue, 01 Jul 2025 14:18:35 GMT

BEMIDJI — City of Bemidji residential refuse customers who are normally picked up on Friday, July 4, will be picked up on Monday, July 7, because of the Independence Day holiday.

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Centaurs sweep Perham tournament in efficient fashion

Pioneer Staff Report — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 23:30:43 GMT

PERHAM – The Bemidji American Legion baseball team had a fruitful weekend in Perham.

The Centaurs went 3-0 to sweep their tournament slate, beating Aitkin 4-0, Perham 4-1 and Ashby 14-2 in five innings.

On Sunday, Post 14 scored eight runs in the first inning against Ashby before cruising to a 12-run, mercy-rule win. Lawson Berg went 3 for 4 with a double and two RBIs. Hayden Smith and Eli Kringen each notched a pair of hits, while Fisher Ganske, Stonewall Gessner, Jack Lundquist and Reece Dokken each recorded one hit.

Dylan Lundin pitched three innings to pick up the win. He struck out six batters and allowed two earned runs.

On Saturday, Bemidji shut out Aitkin behind Max Bahr’s standout pitching performance. He threw all seven innings, allowing just three hits with 10 strikeouts.

Berg had another multi-hit game, going 2 for 3 with a pair of singles. Gessner also went 2 for 3 with two RBIs.

Against Perham, Ganske and Berg each went 2 for 3 with at least one RBI and a run scored, accounting for four of the Centaurs' six total hits.

Peyton Neadeau picked up the win on the mound in five innings. He allowed five hits, one unearned run and two walks with five strikeouts. Lundquist notched a six-out save with a pair of strikeouts.

Bemidji 4, Aitkin 0

ATK 000 000 0 – 0-3-0

BEM 022 000 X – 4-9-1

WP: Bahr (7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 10 K)

Bemidji 4, Perham 1

BEM 000 110 2 – 4-6-3

PER 000 100 0 – 1-6-0

WP: Neadeau (5 IP, 2 H, 1 4R 0 ER, 5 K)

LP: Schmetlz (4.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 1 K)

S: Lundquist (2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K)

Bemidji 14, Ashby 2 (F/5)

ASH 002 00 – 2-6-2

BEM 823 1X – 14-11-2

WP: Lundin (3 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 6 K)

LP: Bennett (1 IP, 7 H, 8 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 0 K)

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U11 boys take home title as Bemidji Youth Soccer invades Tri City Summer Classic

Pioneer Staff Report — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 23:11:49 GMT

GRAND FORKS, N.D. – Fifteen teams from Bemidji Youth Soccer attended the Tri City Summer Classic Tournament over the weekend.

The U11 boys, coached by Mike Ceballos, followed up their championship victory in Blaine two weeks ago with a championship in Grand Forks, North Dakota, earning a 3-2 victory over MC Legends from Minot. North Dakota.

In regular time, goals were scored by River Ceballos and Silas Meyer. Weston Holte put away the game-winning goal with a left-foot drive into the net during the first overtime period. The team was able to hang on to its lead during the second overtime period to clinch the victory. The U11 boys went 4-0 on the weekend and outscored their opponents 22-7.

Four boys teams and two girls teams played in a Jamboree format in the U9 and U10 age group, with no championships determined. Of the remaining nine teams, three of them made the championship, with team team taking home the hardware. Bemidji U19 boys, coached by Logan Mitchell, advanced to the championship match before falling to Jamestown 3-2. The team ended their final tournament of the season 3-1.

The U11 girls, coached by Seth Freundschuh and Harper Toward, won their first two matches of the weekend, earning them a spot in the semifinals. A tightly contested match against Dakota Fusion out of Fargo resulted in an overtime victory to move on to the finals, where they fell to the Magic from Bismarck, North Dakota. The team went 3-1 on the weekend.

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