NEW YEAR REVIEW

MEN'S HOCKEY: Raised by hockey on the Iron Range, Tom Serratore never left the game he loves

Christian Babcock — Wed, 05 Oct 2022 20:34:57 GMT

BEMIDJI — Tom Serratore was bred by hockey.

Born in Deer River but raised in Coleraine, Serratore grew up during a booming period on the Iron Range, when the success of the surrounding area elevated the profile of its athletic prowess – and hockey was at center ice of all of it.

“My interest in hockey is probably very unique,” said Serratore, now the head coach of the Bemidji State men’s hockey team. “We didn't have hockey (in Deer River), and we moved to Coleraine, 20 miles away, in 1969. So I was 5 years old. My brothers were a little older. And what happened is I moved into probably one of the craziest hockey communities in the state of Minnesota at that particular time. Hockey was everything on the Iron Range.”

Hockey may have featured prominently in the region, but it was partially a result of the economic achievement the region found itself enjoying.

“The mining companies were flourishing, the paper mill in Grand Rapids there, everybody was working on the Iron Range,” Serratore said. “The enrollment in the schools was high. But hockey was the fabric and hockey was the culture of all those communities. And that's where hockey was really born in the state of Minnesota, on the Iron Range.”

It was with that industrial backdrop that a young Serratore established a love for the game that would eventually become his livelihood.

“I grew up one block from the Caseys,” Serratore said. “Jon Casey played in the National Hockey League. He's played the most games in the NHL of any Minnesota goalie ever. So they got me involved in hockey. I started hockey in second grade, but all of it was because of the community that we moved to. It's part of the fabric and culture of those areas.”

Onward and outward

Eventually, Serratore matriculated at Minnesota State, joining the Mavericks hockey program. But while he was passionate about the sport growing up, playing in college was never a long-term goal of his.

“All you ever wanted to do is make the high school team and play for your school,” Serratore said. “That was kind of like the pinnacle of what you thought about. You worried about those other things when you got there, but I never once ever heard anyone talk about college hockey, for example. We never did that.”

Yet, by virtue of playing in a heavily recruited area of Minnesota, Serratore made his way to MSU, where his worldview – limited while growing up – began to expand.

“The world was smaller back then,” Serratore said. “The first time I was on an airplane was my freshman year in college. The only other state I was ever in until I went on that airplane trip to Colorado to play Air Force was Wisconsin, and it was Superior, 75 miles away. You just didn't travel.

“The big road trip was going to Roseau or Warroad or International Falls. I remember going to International Falls thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, I'm going to a different state.’ It was an hour and 45 minutes away. But that was what your perception was of a long ways away. That was our world.”

After two seasons with Minnesota State, Serratore decided to transfer to Bemidji State. Perhaps the biggest reason for the change was his desire to learn the trade of coaching from legendary head coach Bob Peters, but Serratore also admired the school’s education pedigree that dated back to its days as Bemidji State Teachers College, where his mother earned her teaching degree.

“I came here because I wanted to be a coach,” Serratore said. “I wanted to coach and I wanted to teach. There was no better person to do that than with coach Peters. So I came to Bemidji State, and the culture here, probably half of our team, maybe even more than half of our team was in education.”

Dues and dividends

When it came time to advance past playing college hockey, Serratore’s experience at BSU had set him up for success.

“The main reason I got a teaching job out of college was because I played at Bemidji State and I played for Bob Peters,” Serratore said. “That got me in the door.”

Serratore commenced his coaching career as an assistant at Brainerd High �� in 1987, then moved to Mendota Heights in 1991 and took the reins as head coach of Henry Sibley High, now known as Two Rivers High ��.

A few years into that endeavor, an opportunity to return to the collegiate ranks became available and altered the trajectory of Serratore’s life.

“I worked hockey schools at St. Cloud State,” Serratore said. “(St. Cloud State head coach) Craig Dahl had an opening, and for whatever reason, (he asked me). It was called the restricted earnings job. The NCAA, back in the early ‘90s, you only could have one full-time assistant coach. The other one was called a restricted earnings coach. You only could make $12,000.”

That was enough for Serratore, who realized the opportunity he had at hand.

“The only reason he offered me the job, nobody else probably wanted it,” Serratore said. “And I wanted that opportunity. So I took the job. I got paid $12,000 being an assistant coach, and then I got paid $12,000 to work in the admissions department.”

Called back to the Beavers

Before long, Serratore was promoted to the full-time assistant role after current Minnesota State head coach Mike Hastings left to coach the Omaha Lancers of the USHL. And after five years serving as recruiting coordinator for the Huskies, a familiar voice came calling from back in Bemidji.

“We were doing very well at St. Cloud State,” Serratore said. “And coach (Peters) called me. He just said, ‘Tom, we're going to go Division I in hockey. I'd like to hire you and let's do this together.’ I said, ‘I'm all in.’”

He certainly was. Starting in 1999, Serratore helped transition the program into a higher level of competition in two years as Peters’ assistant, then took the helm of the Beavers as the heir apparent – Serratore’s words – in 2001.

He’s remained at Bemidji State since, shepherding BSU fully into its Division I era and building it into a program that can go toe-to-toe with the nation’s elite.

“You realize where you were at in 1999,” Serratore said. “And then in 2005, you take the national champion Denver Pioneers to overtime. And then you start going to more NCAA Tournaments. Well, then seven years into my head coaching career, we go to the Frozen Four. Who would have ever thought that?”

Now entering his 22nd season in charge of the Beavers and 30th overall coaching college hockey, what does the future look like for Serratore? A lot like the past.

“I got no expiration date,” he asserted. “Right now, I'm in great health. I still got fire in me, I still have jam. I'm young at heart. My motivation is high. I enjoy coming to work. It's part of who I am.”

For this Iron Ranger, there’s plenty of ore left to mine.

“Some people, you talk to them and they can't wait for retirement,” Serratore said. “I don't even think of that. Right now, I believe that I'm in my 40s. That's for sure.”

]]>

30 years later, Bemidji’s Joe Prokop reflects on appearing in ‘The Mighty Ducks’

Christian Babcock — Sat, 01 Oct 2022 13:00:00 GMT

BEMIDJI — A lot goes into making a major movie production.

The execution of the beloved 1992 Disney hockey feature film “The Mighty Ducks” was no exception. In addition to the stars of the show, Disney required several hockey-playing extras to facilitate the gameplay shown in the movie, as well as the fans in the arena stands.

Released on Oct. 2 of that year and set in Minneapolis, the story chronicles Gordon Bombay, a hotshot lawyer and former youth hockey star, who finds himself coaching a down-and-out Peewee squad as penance for a recent drunk driving arrest.

For Joe Prokop, a Minneapolis native – and current Bemidji youth hockey coach and referee – the opportunity to join the project came at the perfect time.

“I was going to middle school at the time,” Prokop said. “Our middle school was right behind the Basilica of St. Mary down in Minneapolis. We walked over to Parade Ice Garden, a handful of us, and we did (some) skating. There were some people upstairs, and they were kind of looking in our direction.”

Those observers turned out to be looking for extras to appear in a film under the working title “Bombay,” and Prokop was scouted as a potential candidate for the project.

“They asked me some questions, asked me if I played hockey,” Prokop said. “I looked at them and I said, ‘I’m from Minnesota, everybody plays hockey.’ They asked me if I was good. I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m good.’ … Then I went on my way back to school and got a phone call. They said, ‘Hey, do you want to be a part of the movie? We're doing some filming downtown. We need some extras.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, sure.’”

Over the course of a few winter months, Prokop got a front-row seat to big-time filmmaking. Though not a part of the movie’s core cast, he spent plenty of time around the stars.

At times, he was in the stands as part of the crowd during competition scenes. Other times, he was out on the ice, helping comprise the teams the Mighty Ducks faced off against.

His most notable moments included doubling for Fulton – the Mighty Duck with a shot no goalie would dare attempt to stop – and, fittingly, as the Cardinals forward who dented Ducks defenseman Karp’s cage with a slap shot.

“That's me skating down with the puck, and it's actually a foam puck that I had to hit him in the head with,” Prokop said. “(The director) said, ‘I want you to hit him right on this side.’ I said, ‘OK.’ We come down, boom, I hit him first shot. He forgot to fall down. So let's just say two and a half hours and a lunch break later, we finally got it close enough.”

Off the ice, Prokop did manage to snag a photo with star Emilio Estevez, who portrayed Bombay, the Ducks’ coach.

“He's short,” Prokop noted. “That's one of the pictures I have in my (scrapbook), where I got my arm around him. In seventh grade, I'm taller than him. And I wasn't that tall back then.”

Prokop compiled a bound composition of all the keepsakes he accumulated from his time working on the production, including diary entries of each day’s events and photos from the set. It features many of the main characters – Ducks team members Charlie, Fulton, Banks, Hall, Goldberg and of course Bombay are included, plus a shot of Prokop wearing a wig and Ducks uniform while doubling for Fulton.

When the film finally came out, Prokop and his family couldn’t see it soon enough.

“I was in it. And then my mom brought me (to the set) every day,” Prokop said. “So my mom was actually an extra every day I was there, too. I have a sister that's a year younger, and she would come with sometimes when they wanted more (people). I have twin brothers who are five years younger than me, and they got to participate and be an extra now and again. So it was kind of a big family (thing). And we made sure we saw it opening weekend.”

]]>

Meet Nick Hagen: The Minnesota farmer behind Molly Yeh and 'Girl Meets Farm'

Ann Bailey — Mon, 19 Sep 2022 10:30:00 GMT

EAST GRAND FORKS, Minn. — If farmer hadn’t met girl, there would be no “Girl Meets Farm.”

Nick Hagen, a fifth-generation Minnesota farmer, met Molly Yeh at The Juilliard �� in New York City. Yeh now is a Food Network star on "Girl Meets Farm," cookbook author and owner of a soon-to-be-opened East Grand Forks restaurant. But when they met, they were two musicians deciding how they wanted to lead their lives.

Hagen grew up doing typical chores, such as lawn mowing when “he was old enough to reach the pedals,” and swathing wheat fields as a teenager. In his early youth, he had thought about being a farmer.

“I loved being involved. I loved the idea of being a farmer, as a kid,” he said.

But as Hagen became more involved in music in high school, playing his trombone in the jazz band, pep band and marching band at East Grand Forks (Minnesota) Senior High, he began to set his sights on a musical career, eventually applying to The Juilliard ��.

It didn’t occur to him that attempting to get into a world-renowned fine arts college should be intimidating, because he thought that’s just what students who wanted to be musicians did.

"I give credit to the fact that I grew up on this farm, in this place. I think I didn't understand how difficult it could be. It's almost like if nobody tells you, you can't do it, that increases your chances of doing it," Hagen said. “In hindsight, it seems like it was a crazy, far-fetched goal, but at the time I really had no perspective.”

His experience attending a small high school where it took “an all-hands-on-deck” to support the various music activities it offered gave Hagen a well-rounded experience and not to be a one-dimension musician, he said.

Hagen had an incredible music talent that was unmatched by any student in the 34 years that Herb Thomson taught band at East Grand Forks Senior High ��.

“He’s one of a career. He had that something, that intangible thing,” said Thomson. “He was world class. In all my years of teaching, I don’t think there was a kid that went to Juilliard from this area. "

Still, Hagen was overwhelmed when he was walking to the audition on the Juilliard campus and saw the world-famous buildings and it hit him that he would be performing in front of his musical heroes.

Hagen drew on the harsh, New York City early spring weather for a psychological advantage.

“I remember walking to the audition, and it was March, and it was cold and windy in New York and I remember thinking, 'This is like my home field advantage. I do this everyday when I go to school,'" Hagen recalled. "I was thinking, 'This is my day. I can do this. This is not unlike any other day for me.’”

He was one of two auditionees that were accepted into Juilliard.

In his junior year at Juilliard, he began to contemplate whether music or farming would be his career. A year later, after his 2009 graduation from Juilliard, Hagen decided to give farming a go and returned to work for his father, Roger Hagen.

In 2011, Hagen still wasn’t sure about which career to choose and got the “New York itch,” he said.

“There was just something, I felt, like I had unfinished business,” Hagen said.

He and Yeh reconnected during his second time living in New York — they were acquaintances when he attended college there. She was a rising junior playing percussion instruments when he graduated from Julliard in 2009.

After a couple of years of dating, Hagen and Yeh realized that they were spending their free time together on weekends staying inside and ordering out, rather than hitting the streets and checking what the city was offering.

“We’re thinking, 'New York is being wasted on us. Why are we paying New York rent to be homebodies?'" Hagen said.

A train ride that took them out of New York City to the countryside convinced Hagen and Yeh that they needed to permanently leave the urban area.

“We kind of looked at each other and said ‘Should we move?'" Hagen said.

The answer for both of them was “yes.”

A desire not only for the rural lifestyle but also for the opportunity to carry on the family farming legacy influenced Hagen’s decision to farm. Hagen’s great-grandfather emigrated from Norway in 1876 to found the farm near East Grand Forks. His grandfather later farmed the land where he and his father now raise sugarbeets and wheat. The two men also rent out their land to a farmer who incorporates navy beans into their crops rotation.

Hagen also believes that not having parental pressure to farm factored into deciding to return. He left it because he wanted to pursue a career in music and returned because he wanted to farm, not because he felt like he had to do it out of a sense of duty.

"He seemed to have so much luck musically, I didn't want to stand in his way,” Roger Hagen said. Meanwhile, his mother, Roxanne, a former East Grand Forks elementary music teacher, supported her son by accompanying him on the piano in the living room of their family farm home while he played trombone.

When their son left home to go to The Juilliard �� his parents thought it would be a permanent move.

“When in 2013 he came back, we were walking 6 inches off of the ground. It’s a dream come true. What could be better than working with your son — and your daughter?” Roger Hagen said.

Nick Hagen enjoys working with his dad in the field of agriculture.

“I love farming,” he said.

Hagen and Yeh moved to Grand Forks, North Dakota, across the Red River and down the road a few miles from where they live now, in the fall of 2013, and a few years later to the family farm near East Grand Forks.

“It took me moving back to New York to solidify my feelings about wanting to farm, and that confirmed for me my feelings about wanting to farm and that really confirmed for me that I wasn’t going to be wondering ‘What if?' or ‘Did I make the right decision?’” Hagen said.

In 2015 the couple were married in the building on the farm they call their “old shop” and their reception was in the newer farm shop.

“It was really special that Molly would get married on this farm and make her life here,” Hagen said. “Almost 10 years — I guess we can call her a local now.”

During the past decade, Yeh has created a career for herself that includes being a cookbook author, recipe developer, culinary show star and now, restaurant owner. She and Hagen also have two daughters, Bernie, 3 and Ira, 7 months.

Yeh's fondness for and admiration of the rural community in which she lives and the people who live there are reflected in the food she makes. For example, “Bernie’s,” the restaurant she and Hagen plan to open in late September includes on its menu regional favorites such as tater tot hotdish, cookie salad and lefse.

Hagen has been farming full time with his father since 2014.

“You know, you come for a reason, and you stay for a reason. I came for the legacy, and I stayed because I enjoy it. You’re not going to live this life — and kind of go through everything farming throws at you — if you don’t enjoy it,” Hagen said.

Although, to outsiders, it may look like he abandoned a career that offered him an opportunity to exercise great creativity for one that is more mundane, he views it the opposite way.

“The thing I like about farming is that it is so multifaceted,” he said. “I think about music and the sort of path you take to achieve success in music. It’s about being regimented and disciplined and consistent and very focused.”

Farming, on the other hand, is associated with things like heavy machinery, dirt and grease.

“It’s a far cry from the world of music,” Hagen said. “But the world of music was focused on perfection. It was such a controlled environment. It was just you, your instrument, and can you execute?

“Once I began farming, I realized it’s pure creativity. Mother Nature is throwing something new at you every day. You’re thinking on your feet.”

Hagen also embraces the variety of farming challenges he’s faced with daily. In that way, farming has something in common with music.

“It always seems like there is something you can do better," Hagen said. "I feel like there’s always a way to improve, and that tapped into my mentality with the trombone.”

Hagen still enjoys music, but he lays down his trombone during the farming season and defers offers to play the instrument until the off-season.

“I say ‘When you see snow, give me a call,’” he said.

He’s comfortable making trombone playing secondary to rural Minnesota farm life.

“I definitely feel at home,” Hagen said.

His former East Grand Forks Senior High teacher applauds Hagen's decision to pursue a career in agriculture.

"I grew up on a farm. I think it's wonderful," Thomson said.

]]>

Brigid's bounces back: Irish pub reopens after nearly 5-month closure

Fri, 02 Sep 2022 17:48:11 GMT

BEMIDJI — When a St. Patrick’s Day fire damaged an apartment above Brigid’s Pub, it first appeared the popular downtown Bemidji bar and restaurant would only be closed for a short time.

But three weeks later, as repair work was taking place upstairs, a water pipe froze and burst, causing major damage to Brigid’s and forcing a nearly five-month closure.

The pub, located at 317 Beltrami Ave. NW, reopened on Aug. 3 with a new floor both behind the bar and in the dining area and a new bar top.

“Luckily enough I was in the building and caught (the water leak) early,” said Brigid’s co-owner Travis Glass. “It really could have been a lot worse.”

Glass and Jake Robinson purchased the business in 2017. In addition to the pub, they bought the building next door which houses Two Hearts Designs bridal and formal wear shop, along with five upstairs apartments and The Hair Affair beauty salon.

March 17 was a typical bustling St. Patrick’s Day in downtown Bemidji. Both Brigid’s Pub and its across-the-street neighbor, Keg N’ Cork, were filled with customers. Spectators watched the annual World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade from one pub to the other on Beltrami Avenue.

But at 7:27 that evening, the Bemidji Fire Department responded to the report of a fire in an apartment above Brigid’s. Firefighters found smoke billowing from a second-story window. They located and quickly extinguished the flames.

Firefighters were on the scene for six hours. The apartment and its contents sustained extensive damage. An investigation conducted by the Bemidji Fire Department and the Minnesota State Fire Marshal’s Office determined that the cause of the apartment fire was related to an e-cigarette.

“Damage from the fire was total loss to the source apartment, with very little smoke damage to the other apartments,” Glass said.

On March 18, Brigid’s posted this on Facebook:

“Yesterday there was a small fire in an apartment above Brigid’s. Thankfully, nobody was hurt and the Bemidji Fire Department did an excellent job of containing the damage. While there is some work to do on the adjacent properties, Brigid’s Pub was not impacted. We will be closed today to let the clean-up crew do their job.”

That optimism waned in early April when the pipe break sent water cascading into the bar area of Brigid’s. That led to several weeks of remodeling and lots of elbow grease for the owners, who had already been through pandemic-induced challenges. It was closed during most of the busy summer months, which this year also included Bemidji’s All �� Reunion.

“I was in for day-to-day operations,” Glass said. “Lots of cleaning, organizing, making sure bills were still getting paid.”

Glass and Robinson were buoyed through the closure by customers who showed their support.

“Our regular customers and always the new customers as well are the greatest,” Glass said. “We have a great community around us of the most supportive and generous people. We’ve had some hardships the last two years, and that loyal community really helps out as much as they can.”

Meanwhile, the owner of Two Hearts Design is waiting for repairs to be completed so she can move back into her shop.

“Right now I can’t do anything until my spot is available in that building,” said Govinder Davgun, who has owned Two Hearts since 1998. She is temporarily working out of the Freeberg and Grund building at 321 Beltrami Ave. NW.

“I don’t have much stock,” Davgun said. “I’m still in business. I do have some dresses, just not all of them yet.”

Now that Brigid’s Pub has reopened, it’s hosting the popular Monday night trivia contest, the Tuesday Irish music jam and live music, beginning Saturday, Sept. 3 with The Occasionals on stage for a reopening party from 6 to 9 p.m.

“Brigid's has always supported local Bemidji music and culture,” shared Eric Carlson, the band’s leader. “Let's show them how happy we are to have them back.”

Glass said he hopes the pub can bring back open mic nights on Thursdays in the near future, and he’s happy for the return of live music.

“It’s great to get that facet of the pub back in motion,” Glass said. “It’s a huge part of who we are and what makes Brigid’s the special place it is.”

]]>

Labor is so tight that $30 an hour offer couldn't pull in truck drivers at South Dakota cooperative

Mikkel Pates — Mon, 08 Aug 2022 10:30:00 GMT

ROSHOLT, S.D. — It’s getting harder and harder to find labor for agriculture in rural communities, and 2022 was an eye-opener in Roberts County, South Dakota.

One co-op was trying to hire truck fertilizer “tender” drivers for the spring harvest and ended up hiring independent truck firms. Although grateful for the independent companies, it tripled the costs and the co-op’s semi-tractors stood idle.

Brad Tangen is general manager of the Farmers Cooperative Elevator Co. Inc., of Rosholt, South Dakota. The co-op, founded in 1914, serves 200 patrons and handles 9 million to 10 million bushels of grain each year. Patrons come from multiple counties in three states — Richland, in North Dakota; Traverse and Big Stone in Minnesota; Roberts and Marshall in South Dakota.

They offer full-service agronomy, with custom application of crop fertilizers and chemicals, as well as seed and seed treatment.

Availability of labor is getting tighter in the state.

South Dakota's June 2022 labor force of 477,300 increased compared to the June 2021 level of 468,600. The level of employed increased by 13,100 (2.9%); the level of unemployed decreased by 4,400 persons (28.9%). The unemployment rate decreased 0.9% to 2.3%. The lowest unemployment rate is 1.6% in Jerauld County. Roberts County has 3.5% unemployed.

The state’s annual average of quarterly job vacancies in the past three years was the highest it had been since the agency had begun measuring job vacancies in 2001. Since 2005, the number of job vacancies had doubled in every region of the state — the highest in the northwest.

Rosholt is about 8 miles from the Minnesota state line.

The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, the state’s principal economic development agency, in September 2021 said “finding help” was the biggest challenge facing businesses, and that problem is greatest in rural parts of the state. There was some impact from the pandemic, but the more “systemic reasons for workforce shortages are years of economic growth, an aging workforce heading toward retirement, and fewer young people to replace them."

Access to ‘town’

Rosholt has about 430 residents and the town is about 34 miles from the larger towns of Wahpeton, North Dakota, and 25 miles to Sisseton, South Dakota.

“It’s becoming increasingly difficult to recruit young people to come and work in areas like this,” Tangen said. They focus on things they can control, like training and benefits.

“There are more opportunities elsewhere, but we try to make it an attractive enough environment that they want to stay here.” Sometimes it hinges on a partner or spouse having a job.

The one-site co-op has 20 full-time employees. They usually hire eight to 10 part-time employees, seasonally, usually hauling grain in the fall or fertilizer in the spring — typically April to the end of May.

They start advertising for spring positions early in February and March.

“We just didn’t have any applicants, other than — thank goodness — the people from town here that have worked for us in the past, the folks that have retired from their other jobs and have the time to do it,” he said. “Thank goodness we had them. But to find new people to come in, it’s just getting increasingly difficult.”

Often, they can find people who have construction jobs in the summer, but can start at the co-op before the construction season. Historically, many of the temporary employees were retirees, still fully qualified with commercial drivers licenses and endorsements.

Normally, they pay $20 or more.

A $30/hour ad

This year, the co-op advertised “upwards of $30 an hour.” But they just didn’t have any or many applicants from the ads. Their only seasonal employees were four retired townspeople who formerly had worked at the co-op and still had effective CDLs. “To find anybody else was, basically, impossible.”

Despite the eye-popping pay boost, they still only found four of the eight drivers they needed. They had to hire on three trucks from different trucking companies, but still were one truck short of what they needed.

Tangen felt fortunate to have the outside trucking firms to hire, but noted there are limits to that availability, too. One of the companies does hauling materials for large-scale dairies in the area.

CDL barriers

One issue is that new CDL rules require more training to obtain a license. “It’s just getting harder and harder to find people that actually have the license,” Tangen said. “And — you know — you don’t want to just stick anyone in a truck. You want them to be as safe as possible.”

In the past the state required CDL manual knowledge. It costs about $4,000 in educational courses, Tangen said.

Tangen, 50, said he expects this particular labor problem will become more difficult as time goes on. “These small towns, you don’t get a lot of people that stick around and want to work here. They move on to bigger cities. With the aging population in this area, it’s really become a challenge.”

Instead of $30 per hour for a truck driver, the co-op must pay $90 to $100 for the trucking firms, who provide their own tractors but pull co-op trailers.

“The bottom line is we have such a small timeframe to get a lot of work done,” he said. “But I’m very thankful for those people to come in and do it, because the bottom line is, we have a small timeframe to get a lot of work done. Without these people, we wouldn’t be able to get done what we get done.”

Tangen hasn’t tried to take his concerns to policy-makers at the state or federal level.

“I think it’s just something we’re going to have to adapt to going forward,” he said. As the co-op expands, the company will try to hire more full-time people and get them CDL-qualified.

Going bigger

The co-op is shifting away from smaller “tandem” trucks, Tangen said. They’ll consider purchasing more higher-volume semi-trailers so that they don’t have to have as many trucks — and drivers — on the road. Plus, they have more application both for grain and fertilizer.

“But at the same time they’re getting the same amount of work done because they can haul twice as much.”

Jordan Krump, 32, grain merchandiser for the co-op, oversees grain acquisition and sales, dealing with incoming grain and rail transportation.

“It’s all hands on deck, we’ll dump 400 to 500 trucks a day during the heat of harvest,” he said. “Everybody’s busy.” Most people in the ag industry understand there will be extended hours in the spring and fall.

Krump said the full-time crew will be pressed into service in crews, running 7 a.m. until 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. A handful drive 30 miles one-way each day. They are a 110-car unit train shippers on the CP Rail line.

“I think it’s going to be a struggle going forward with everything in the economy inflated. Every business has had to up their wage. You can only up it so far until it starts eating into your cost of business. It’s going to be an issue. A lot of it gets filtered to the end user. You have to make that work, or you’re going to have to shut down," he said.

]]>

19-year-old pulls 49.5-inch muskie while fishing from shore near Alexandria

Eric Morken — Wed, 29 Jun 2022 23:21:17 GMT

ALEXANDRIA — Park Rapids native Tayden George has a passion for walleye fishing, but his greatest fishing story to this point in his life might have come by landing an unexpected muskie near Alexandria on the evening of June 20.

George, a 2021 high school graduate from Park Rapids, is living with Alexandria’s Jeff and Bonnie Brand this summer while he completes an internship as a lineman for Stearns County Electric in St. Joseph. George worked for the Brands for many years at Pine Cone Lodge — a resort that the Brand family operates near Park Rapids between Big Sand Lake and Loon Lake.

George’s days generally start by making the near 45-minute drive to work to arrive by about 6:50 a.m. He gets back to Alexandria a little before 5 p.m. From there, it’s often grabbing a bite to eat before going out fishing somewhere.

On that evening of June 20, George was fishing from shore in about 5-6 feet of water along the channel that connects Lake Ida and Lake Charley just northwest of Alexandria.

“I was going there to catch some largemouth bass, maybe some bluegills,” George said. “I saw a bunch of bass on shore and then a bunch of sunfish. I thought, ‘OK, maybe I can catch a decent bass to pass my time before dark.’”

George had caught his first-ever muskie on the same stretch of water a couple weeks earlier. A small one measuring 20 inches.

He had only been fishing for about 20 minutes on June 20 around 7 p.m. when he noticed another muskie swimming near the culvert where the water flows.

It was not long after that when a group of three other kids showed up on the opposite side of the channel where they were looking at the water.

“I heard them say, ‘This is the biggest northern I’ve ever seen,” George said. “I thought it was the muskie I saw originally, which was probably about 30 inches. All of a sudden, the kids said, ‘Hey, get over here and try to catch this one.’ I go over to where they are, and sure enough that thing is sitting there right by the shoreline. I thought, ‘Oh, that’s a little bigger than I thought.’ It was right before that big storm on Monday, so I think that’s maybe what got it active.”

George was fishing with a white-colored Keitech swimbait tied to 20-pound braided line on a spincast rod-and-reel combo he had just brought from home a week earlier. He lowered the lure into the water and jigged it up and down a few times. The muskie opened his mouth and inhaled the bait before George set the hook.

“I fought him up and down the channel," George said. "Me and one of the other kids threw our stuff off, jumped in the water because I couldn’t fight him anymore because he was going down stream. I jumped in and fought him up to my hands and grabbed him. Right when I pulled him up, the hook fell out of his mouth.”

None of them had a scale to weigh the fish, but one did have a tape measure in their vehicle. They measured the muskie at 49.5 inches before taking a few photos and then releasing it back into the water.

“I think it was a spawned-out female. It was really skinny,” George said. “Usually a muskie that size would have the big gut, but I think it was all spawned out.”

Muskies moving from Miltona

This is not the first time a big muskie has been caught around Alexandria in waters not specifically stocked for the trophy fish.

Ben Saarion and Jon Kuznia landed a 50-inch muskie out of Lake Charley through the ice on Jan. 16, 2021 after the muskie grabbed hold of the transducer on the Vexilar sonar unit they were fishing with.

Alexandria’s Casey Hammerback caught a 48-inch muskie while fishing in the summer of 2019 on Lake Ida. This was another case where the fish was never actually hooked after it grabbed hold of a smaller northern pike on the line and wouldn’t let go.

Both Charley and Ida are not stocked for muskies by the Minnesota DNR, but they connect to one of the top muskie fisheries in the Alexandria area on Lake Miltona.

Lake Miltona, about five miles north of Lake Charley, is one of three lakes within the Glenwood Department of Natural Resources’ work area that is stocked with muskies, along with Lobster and Oscar.

A channel connects Lake Ida with Lake Miltona on the northeast corner of Ida. Glenwood DNR fisheries supervisor Dean Beck, who is now retired, was not surprised to see Hammerback’s muskie caught on Lake Ida, saying the fish likely made its way through the channel from Lake Miltona.

Lake Charley is southeast of Ida, but fish can make the trip from Lake Miltona, into Ida and through the channel on the southeast corner of Ida that connects to Charley.

Once in a lifetime

George fell in love with fishing early on, with his dad, Kevin George, igniting that passion in him by taking Tayden with at a young age.

Walleyes have become his favorite target. Within a week a couple of winters ago, Tayden caught a 28-incher through the ice that weighed 9.5 pounds before a 30.25-incher that weighed just over 11 pounds.

Landing what might be a once-in-a-lifetime muskie won’t necessarily have George casting hours on end trying to find another one, but he knew exactly who he wanted to share his story with immediately after the moment was over.

“I sent that picture to my dad back in Park Rapids right when I caught it,” Tayden said. “All I got back was a, ‘Huh?’ Then I got a phone call and he was like, ‘What is that? Did you Photoshop that into your hands?’ I sent him another picture of me holding it. He said, ‘That is a once-in-a-lifetime fish there, Tayden. I can’t say I’ve ever seen that caught off of a river.’”

]]>

Alexandria man unveils new way to roast marshmallows

Travis Gulbrandson — Wed, 04 May 2022 12:45:00 GMT

ALEXANDRIA — It's taken about 12 years — and more than 1,200 files on his computer — but Jeff Roste's idea has come to fruition.

It all started when he was roasting marshmallows around a campfire with his family, and one of his son's marshmallows kept falling into the fire.

"My son goes, 'Dad, you've got to come up with a better way to roast a marshmallow,'" Roste said. "That's kind of how it started."

Roste, who owns an advertising agency, worked on the idea off and on for a few years, but things really picked up steam around 2018 once his kids were all at college.

A friend helped with the computer-aided design drawings after Roste sketched out what he wanted, and once they were complete, he got it sent off to find out what the costs would be.

It was put on hold again because of COVID-19, but then Roste started working on it again about a year ago.

"I got some local investors, put in an order, and here we are," he said.

Today, Roste has 35,000 Marshmallow Mitts in a warehouse, and 35,000 Hot Dog Mitts coming in July.

"Initially it was because my kid's marshmallow dropped in the fire, but then it became much more than that," Roste said. "It became safety. It's safe for kids because you don't have that sharp stick that you give your kid. …

"I thought, 'Let's make it safe for kids, not just convenient for people not losing their marshmallows,'" he said.

The Marshmallow Mitt and the Hot Dog Mitt are made of high temperature food-safe silicone, with a telescoping rod that extends 40 inches, providing a safe roasting distance from the campfire.

The Marshmallow Mitt works by using a five-finger mitt design at its tip which holds the marshmallow in place and prevents it from dropping into the fire. A device called the EZ Server helps to remove the marshmallow from the mitt.

"(That) was kind of an afterthought after COVID," Roste said. "When COVID hit and everybody was worried about germs and touching stuff, I thought, 'Why not make it an easy way for them to get the marshmallow out versus having to (use) their fingers, or tip it upside down and have it fall out.' This made it a lot easier to remove it."

The Hot Dog Mitt uses a finger clasp design to hold the hot dog at both ends.

Waiting to finish work on his invention actually paid off in terms of the high temperature silicone, Roste said.

"That technology really didn't exist 10 years ago when my kid dropped his marshmallow in the fire," he said.

While the silicone does get hot in the fire, it does not get hot enough to burn, he said.

"It's not going to singe your fingers like a hot metal poker stick," Roste said. "As time goes on, silicone dissipates heat faster than metal does. So after 30 seconds, it's not as hot as when you got it out of the fire."

The Marshmallow Mitt is Roste's first invention.

"A lot of people have great ideas, but taking a great idea, finding money to make it happen, and then having the resources to get it produced and back, it takes more work than most people think, and that's probably why a lot of them don't make it," he said. "You've got a great idea, but a lot of people get a prototype, and then they're done.

"Being in the graphics world, it was a lot easier because I could create the graphics, the advertisements, the promotional materials, the logos — all the stuff that goes with creating a product. That was kind of nice to have that ability to do that," he said.

Now Roste is working on marketing his devices, primarily through his website, but also through direct mailings to campgrounds, lake property owners and grandparents.

"You've got to remember, it's seasonal for us here," he said. "When we're roasting marshmallows, it's too hot in Arizona, but when it's freezing cold here, Arizona's roasting marshmallows. So, somewhere in the United States there's a temperature zone that's always roasting marshmallows. You've just got to know where those zones are to be able to know where you should be pushing the marketing at that time."

Roste said the response has been positive so far.

"I have not talked to one person that said they would not want one, just because it's something new, it's never been seen before, it's safe for kids and kids love something fun and new," he said. "I haven't gotten any negative feedback at all. I've had a lot of excitement and enthusiasm about the product."

The Marshmallow Mitt is currently for sale at Elden's Fresh Foods and Ace Hardware in Alexandria and MECO7 and Tom's Food Market in Glenwood.

It is also available at Roste's website, www.marshmallowmitt.com.

Hot Dog Mitts will be available in July.

]]>

South Dakota angler lands 31-inch walleye to take lead of National Walleye Tour in Chamberlain

Sam Fosness — Fri, 29 Apr 2022 01:36:51 GMT

CHAMBERLAIN-OACOMA — As a longtime South Dakota angler who calls Lake Francis Case his “home body of water,” Austin Earley knows how to catch big walleye in the Missouri River system.

On Thursday in Chamberlain-Oacoma, it showed. The Brookings, South Dakota, native fished his way to the top of the leader board of the National Walleye Tour on Thursday in Chamberlain-Oacoma by reeling in five walleye — including a 31-incher — that had a combined weight of a little over 18 pounds.

“It was a good day on the river. We mixed it up a bit today,” Earley said of the fishing tactics that he and his co-angler, Danny Swenson, used to take the lead of the Chamberlain-Oacoma tournament. “I love spring walleye fishing on Lake Francis Case, and I’ve been doing it for a long time.”

After a slow start to the day, Earley and Swenson started catching walleye mid-afternoon by pitching jigs with live bait.

Earley’s biggest fish he landed came later in the day a few hours before 3 p.m. weigh-ins at the Cedar Shore Resort in Oacoma, when the South Dakota pro angler reeled in a 31-inch walleye that weighed a little over 11 pounds.

Swenson, the North Dakota co-angler who was paired up to fish with Earley on the opening day of the two-day tournament, was more than impressed with Earley’s angling skills on the Missouri River.

“He’s a hell of a fisherman,” Swenson said of Earley, who has competed in walleye tournaments on the Missouri River for more than two decades.

As part of the tournament rules, anglers are allowed to keep two walleye over 20 inches long, while the rest must be smaller in length. Each boat can weigh up to five walleye.

While the sporadic spring weather that the Chamberlain-Oacoma area experienced in recent weeks made it difficult for anglers to figure out the patterns of the walleye, Earley said the calmer, warm weather this week made way for some "great fishing" on Thursday.

“It’s been one of the worst springs on record, but we finally caught a break this week and today,” Earley said of the recent weather patterns.

Leading up to the tournament opener, the Chamberlain area saw wind gusts up to around 50 mph and temperature swings hovering from 40 to 90 degrees, causing parts of the river to pool up with mud. Avoiding muddy waters was a decision that paid off for Earley and Swenson.

“They won’t bite in that muddy water. But we found some nice spots today,” Earley said.

As anglers gear up for the final day of the Chamberlain-Oacoma tournament on Friday, they will likely have to battle some rain and potential thunderstorms. Friday’s forecast is calling for a high of 60 degrees with about an 80% chance of rain and possible thunderstorms in the afternoon.

GALLERY: 2022 National Walleye Tour at Cedar Shores

Highlights from the 2022 National Walleye Tour on the Missouri River near Chamberlain on April 28, 2022.

The rain doesn’t have Earley concerned for a good day of walleye fishing on Friday, but the potential for lightning and thunder is what he’s leery of.

“The rain won’t hurt too bad at all, but any lightning will make it really tough tomorrow,” he said.

Earley and Swenson are heading into the final day of the tournament with a tight lead among a field of 143 pro anglers and co-anglers. North Dakota pro angler Cody Northrup’s 17-pound bag of walleye has him in a close second behind Earley, setting the stage for a dramatic finale of the Chamberlain National Walleye Tour stop.

The pro angler who catches the heaviest weight of walleye combined over the two days of fishing will take home over $100,000 and a new Ranger fishing boat.

“I’m feeling good about tomorrow with the water clearing up a bit, but we will see what the weather brings,” Earley said.

]]>

Bemidji couple to open Union Station Thrift in former restaurant building

Dennis Doeden — Sat, 16 Apr 2022 12:15:00 GMT

BEMIDJI — Rabecca and Mark Wilkowski were having lunch at Giovanni’s last summer when they took notice of the “For Sale” sign at the old Union Station down the street.

Eight months later, they’re preparing to open Union Station Thrift in the building which has created nostalgic memories for many folks in the community. Pending a final inspection, the thrift store, located at 128 First St. W, will open at 9 a.m. on Monday, April 18.

“It all happened in about three days,” Rabecca said. “We walked by and said that’s a neat building. This is not something that we’ve planned for years. It just kind of came over the course of a weekend.”

More than 200 Bemidji residents were on hand in late July 1911 when the first train pulled into the newly built Union Station. It served as a passenger depot until June 1968 and continued for a short time as a freight station before closing.

In 1976, Al and Sue Snider purchased the building and opened the Union Station Restaurant, described in a Pioneer story as an upscale eatery. It was a popular venue for wedding parties, retirements and other celebrations for nearly 30 years until it closed in 2005.

The building sat empty until 2008 when Denis Villella purchased it and a relative opened a sports bar called Bada Bing. Three other restaurants followed: Blue Ox Bar and Grill, The Depot on 1st and Señor Peron’s, a Mexican restaurant whose owners painted a majority of the building's exterior a bright yellow.

In recent years, a sign indicated that a Japanese restaurant was coming to the site, but that never materialized.

Renovating the space

The Wilkowskis purchased the building from an investment group in August 2021 and immediately began extensive cleanup and restoration work in preparation for their thrift store.

A grass fire had damaged the back side of the building, and firefighters had to rip off some of the siding. So the new owners had to replace insulation and Sheetrock in addition to covering up broken windows and adding steel siding.

They removed brush and garbage from around the building, including in an adjacent boxcar. They scrubbed off graffiti, had to replace a leaky roof over the former kitchen, painted the front of the building and had a sign installed.

Inside, the remodeling project has been extensive to create about 5,000 square feet of retail space.

“There’s not really much we haven’t had to do,” Rabecca said. “We had to gut the kitchen, paint walls and clean. We’ve scrubbed the floors in there for so many hours, my knees hate me.

"The amount of garbage we hauled off this property from it being vacant for so many years, between the homeless population that had moved in and the pigeons, was pretty bad. I don’t think we ever really knew the extent of work it was going to be.”

Blasts from the past

Visitors to the new store will notice a few hints from the past. There’s a large hand with a finger pointing to the restrooms, a Union Station Restaurant sign, a wall made out of wine corks and little mouse scenes along the baseboard.

“A lot of people love this building,” said Mark Wilkowski, who owns and operates Books N More at 221 Third St. NW. “A lot of memories. People met their spouses here, they had an engagement party here, a wedding party here.”

Rabecca added, “We’ve heard a lot of stories like that. So because of that we’ve tried to save a few things in the building that are things people remember.”

Mark and Rabecca met as students at Bemidji State University and now have three daughters. Mark, 36, grew up in Aitkin, Minn., and Rabecca, 37, is from Holt, Minn.

The thrift store will feature clothing, household items and furniture, all donated. They plan to pass on 10% of gross sales before expenses every month to a chosen charity or nonprofit organization.

For April and May, the Beltrami County Historical Society will be the beneficiary.

“So far the community has been amazing,” Rabecca said. “The stuff we’re getting is just really cool.”

The store will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

]]>

The case of the $489,000 air ambulance ride

Julie Appleby / Kaiser Health News — Sun, 27 Mar 2022 14:55:00 GMT

Sean Deines and his wife, Rebekah, were road-tripping after he lost his job as a bartender when the pandemic hit. But while visiting his grandfather in a remote part of Wyoming, Sean started to feel very ill.

Rebekah insisted he go to an urgent care center in Laramie.

“‘Your white blood count is through the roof. You need to get to an ER right now,’” Deines, 32, recalls a staffer saying. The North Carolina couple initially drove to a hospital in Casper but were quickly airlifted to the University of Colorado Hospital near Denver, where he was admitted on Nov. 28, 2020.

There, specialists confirmed his diagnosis: acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a fast-growing blood cancer.

“Literally within 12 hours, I needed to figure out what to do with the next step of my life,” said Deines.

So, after he was started on intravenous treatments, including steroids and antibiotics, in Colorado to stabilize him, the couple decided it was prudent to return to North Carolina, where they could get help from his mother and mother-in-law. They selected Duke University Medical Center in Durham, which was in his insurance network.

His family called Angel MedFlight, part of Aviation West Charters of Scottsdale, Arizona, which told Rebekah Deines that it would accept whatever the couple’s insurer would pay and that they would not be held responsible for any remaining balance.

Sean Deines was flown to North Carolina on Dec. 1, 2020, and taken by ground ambulance to Duke, where he spent the next 28 days as an inpatient.

By his discharge, he felt better and things were looking up.

Then the bills came.

The Patient: Sean Deines, 32, who purchased coverage through the Affordable Care Act marketplace with Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina.

Medical Service: A 1,468-mile air ambulance flight from Colorado to North Carolina, along with ground transportation between the hospitals and airports.

Service Provider: Aviation West Charters, doing business as Angel MedFlight, a medical transport company.

Total Bill: $489,000, most of which was for the flight from Denver, with approximately $70,000 for the ground ambulance service to and from the Denver and Raleigh-Durham airports.

What Gives: Insurers generally get to decide what care is “medically necessary” and therefore covered. And that is often in the eye of the beholder. In this case, the debate revolved first around whether Deines was stable enough to safely take a three-plus-hour commercial flight to North Carolina during a pandemic or required the intensive care the air ambulance provided. Second, there was the question of whether Deines should have stayed in Denver for his 28-day treatment to get him into remission. Insurers tend not to consider patient stress or family convenience in their decisions.

Also, both air and ground ambulance services have been center stage in the national fight over huge surprise bills, since the for-profit companies that run them frequently do not participate in insurance networks.

Angel MedFlight, which was not in Deines’ insurance network, sought prior authorization from Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina. The request was dated Nov. 30, but the insurer said the fax arrived in the predawn hours the same day as the flight, Dec. 1, 2020.

On that day, Angel MedFlight flew Deines to North Carolina in an airplane, along with a nurse to oversee his IV medications and oxygen levels.

Angel MedFlight spokesperson Kimberly Halloran did not answer a specific written question from KHN about why the flight went ahead without prior approval; often medical interventions are postponed until it has been obtained. But in an emailed statement, she said the company “satisfied each step in the health insurance process and transported Sean to his long-term health care providers in good faith.”

According to the review of the case done months later by an independent evaluator, Blue Cross on Dec. 3 denied coverage for the air ambulance services because medical records did not support that it was an emergency and Deines was already in an appropriate medical facility.

At the end of December, an appeal was filed against that decision on behalf of Deines by Angel MedFlight.

Then, in March 2021, Blue Cross sent Deines a check for $72,000 to cover part of the $489,000 bill, which he forwarded to the air ambulance company. The explanation of benefits showed the majority of the charges were ruled “not medically necessary.”

Angel MedFlight, through a revenue management firm it hires called MedHealth Partners, continued to appeal to Blue Cross to overturn the denial of the flight portion of the bill.

Then, three months after Blue Cross sent the check that Deines then sent on to Angel MedFlight, the insurer demanded Deines pay back the $72,000.

“The initial thought was ‘I can’t believe this is happening,’” said Deines.

Medical necessity criteria are set by insurers, with North Carolina Blue Cross covering air ambulances in “exceptional circumstances,” such as when needed treatment isn’t available locally.

When Deines, who was still unemployed and undergoing treatment, couldn’t pay, the debt was sent to collections.

In late June, Deines’ representatives at Angel MedFlight took the next step allowed under the Affordable Care Act, appealing the insurer’s internal determination that the flight wasn’t medically necessary to an independent third party through the state.

On July 29, the evaluator ruled in favor of Blue Cross.

Normally, such a flight would be appropriate because the patient was “medically unfit to travel via commercial airflight,” the review noted. But, it went on to say, there was actually no need to travel, as the University of Colorado Hospital — a member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network — could have managed Deines’ treatment.

His health plan “clearly stipulates their indications for medical flight coverage and, unfortunately, this case does not meet that criteria,” the review concluded.

Resolution: The bill disappeared only after the press got involved. Shortly after a KHN reporter contacted the communications representatives for both the insurer and Angel MedFlight, Deines heard from both of them.

The $72,000 payment was made in error, said Blue Cross spokesperson Jami Sowers.

“We apologize for putting the member in the middle of this complicated situation,” she said in an email that also noted “the air ambulance company billed more than $70,000 just for ground transportation to and from the airport — more than 30 times the average cost of medical ground transport.”

Such a situation would “typically” be flagged by internal systems but for some reason was not, Sowers said.

“I have never heard of a ground transport that costs that much. That’s shocking,” said Erin Fuse Brown, director of the Center for Law, Health & Society at Georgia State University College of Law, who studies patient billing and air ambulance costs.

Still, there’s good news for Deines: Both the insurer and the air ambulance company told KHN he will not be held responsible for any of the charges. (None of the charges stemmed from his first air ambulance flight from Casper to Denver, which was covered by the insurer.)

“Once North Carolina Blue engages in our formal inquiries about its refund request, the status of the funds will be resolved,” the ambulance spokesperson wrote in her email. “One thing is certain, Sean will not have to pay for North Carolina’s wavering coverage decision.”

In an email, Sowers said Blue Cross had “ceased all recoupment efforts” related to Sean’s case.

The Takeaway: If the flight had happened this year, the couple might have received more price information before they took the flight.

A law called the No Surprises Act took effect Jan. 1. Its main thrust is to protect insured patients from “balance bills” for the difference between what their insurance pays and what an out-of-network provider charges in emergencies.

It also covers nonemergency situations in which an insured patient is treated in an in-network facility by an out-of-network provider. In those cases, the patient would pay only what they would owe had the service been fully in-network.

Another part of the law, called a good faith estimate, might have provided Deines with more transparency into the costs.

That portion says medical providers, including air ambulances, must give upfront cost estimates in nonemergency situations to patients. Had the law been in effect, Deines might have learned before the flight that it could be billed at $489,000.

Insured patients in similar situations today should always check first with their insurer, if they are able, to see if an air transport would be covered, experts said.

Even if the law had been in effect, it likely would not have helped with the big hang-up in Deines’ case: the disagreement over “medical necessity.” Insurers still have leeway to define it.

For his part, Deines said he’s glad he took the flight to be closer to home and family, despite the later financial shock.

“I would not change it, because it provided support for myself and my wife, who needed to take care of me; she was keeping my sanity,” he said.

This story is part of the "Bill of the Month" series, a crowdsourced investigation by

KHN

and

NPR

that dissects and explains medical bills. Do you have an interesting medical bill you want to share?

Tell us about it

!]]>