Pine City Impresses at Music Listening Contest

A team of three Advanced Music students from Pine City traveled to St. Cloud on Friday and took part in the Region 5 competition of the Minnesota Music Listening Contest (MLC).  Celebrating its 25^th year, Pine City was taking part in the competition for the second time, having won their region in 2008 and advancing to the State Finals.   In this statewide contest, students develop skills in active listening and critical analysis by learning to identify composers, cultures, periods and styles.  The 5-round, 2-hour long listening contest is an exercise challenges students both in advanced aural recognition and academic information about composers and compositions.

This year’s team once again turned in impressive results, placing 4^th out of 15 teams.  Scoring 71 out of a possible 100 points, Pine City stacked up well.   Advancing to State were teams from Montevideo (89 points) and Buffalo (79 points).

Pine City’s team consisted of three juniors who are taking Pine City’s Advanced Music History and Theory course: Alex Frerich, Jacob White, and Adam Martin.  The team was coached by music instructor Bradley Mariska.

Pine City has been named a “Best Community for Music Education in America” by the NAMM Foundation in both 2010 and 2011.

USDA’s local Rural Development Projects

Every quarter, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) releases a listing (found here) of all rural development properties within our region. The construction of these properties is the result of USDA’s support and commitment to low-income rural housing.

The USDA has five direct mortgage programs. They include, Rural Rental Housing, Guaranteed Rental Housing, Housing Preservation Grants, Farm Labor Housing Loans and Grants, and Rental Assistance Programs. Each of these programs provides a source of funding to ensure that these projects are completed and can serves as a improvement to local housing availability.

• The Rental Assistance program is designed to close the gap between the rent that a tenant is required to pay and the amount that is thirty percent of adjusted income. For this program, a tenant that falls into the low-income to very low-income category is qualified for this particular program. If they are accepted, then the tenant pays their portion of rent, up to 30% of their monthly income and the remaining rent is subsidized by the USDA.
• The Housing Preservation Grants program provides grants to sponsoring organizations to repair or rehabilitate low income housing that is located in areas with a high concentration of need. The funds must also be used in a community with less than 20,000 individuals.
• The Farm Labor Housing loans and grants provides loans to farmers, associations or farmers, family-farm corporations, Native American Tribes, non-profits and public agencies. These loans are offered, often when applicants cannot get a line of credit elsewhere.
• The final program is the guaranteed rental housing program. The program aims to increase moderately-priced housing in rural areas by partnering with major lending institutions, finance agencies, and bond issuers to provide loans to housing projects. This is very similar to their Rural Rental Housing loans. Through that program USDA directly gives loans to individuals or groups looking to build apartments for very-low to moderate income families.

 Lastly, all of this information including specific qualification and application instructions can be found online by clicking here.

One-Act Play Begins Series of Contests, Performances

-Traveled to St. Cloud on Monday; Public Performances Jan. 26 and 27

Pine City High School’s One-Act Play, “slasreveR neveS,” took part in its first festival at St. Cloud State University on Monday, performing alongside outstanding competition from as far away as Eveleth-Gilbert, Eden Valley-Watkins, Delano, and Sauk Rapids-Rice.  Pine City’s unusual comedy stood up well at this early invitational but demonstrated that work still needs to be done before Sub-Section Festival on Saturday, January 28.

“The play we have selected this year is extremely challenging to both the actors and audience, but it has also been a really fun process,” says director Brad Mariska.  “The students are really stretching themselves as actors and technicians.  We’re not quite there yet, but I look forward to sharing this with the community on January 26 and 27.”

The play, which spells “Seven Reversals” when read backwards, is a creative comedy penned by Alan Haehnel in 2005 and attempts to lampoon theatrical convention – and convention in general – through a series of seven short scenes that reverse common assumptions of language, emotion, and plot.  The cast consists of 17 students and two crew members.

Pine City will also compete at a festival in Cambridge on Friday and host an exchange with Mora on Tuesday before their public performances for Pine City audiences on January 26 and 27 at 7pm.   Admission to the play is only $2, which will be donated to the Pine Community Food Shelf.

Pine City looks to qualify for the Section Finals for the fifth year running.  The local thespians have been one of the area’s most successful programs since 2008, with critically lauded productions of “A Thousand Cranes,” “All in the Timing,” “The Exonerated,” and “The Arkansaw Bear.”

46th Annual Ice Fishing Derby

The 46th Annual Ice Fishing Derby, sponsored by the Snake River Valley Conservation Club, will take place after all.   Despite warmer-than-usual temps so far this winter, organizers say there is enough ice to make for a successful event on the south side of Pokegama Lake this weekend, by Muffie’s on the Lake, which is located at 13646 Muffies Lane.

The event takes place Sunday, Jan. 15, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. and is open to anyone.  Door prizes consist of cash prizes.  See you on the ice!  Here’s a scene from the 40th annual derby…  Enjoy!

Mark your 2012 calendars

Major Pine City Area Events for 2012

• (Ice) Fishing Derby, Pokegama Lake – January 15, 2012 (43rd Annual)
• East Central Minnesota Pride- June 2, 2012 (8th Annual)
  

  A recent Freedom Fest street dance.

• Freedom Fest - June 29-30, and July 1, 2012
• Art Fest in Robinson Park – July 21, 2012 (35th Annual)
• Pine County Fair – August 1-5, 2012 (120th Annual)
• Czech Booya Festival, at Sokol Camp – August 19, 2012 (81st Annual)
• Pine City PRCA Championship Rodeo, Labor Day Weekend, 2012 (6th Annual)
• Northwest Co. Fur Post’s “Rendezvous” Fall Gathering - September 15-16, 2012 (34th Annual)
• Holiday Madness and lighted parade – November 30, 2012

A recent Fall Gathering at the fort.

Besides hosting one of the state’s largest flea markets, an ever-expanding farmers’ market, a fun run, health fair, and a lifestyles show, Pine City hosts a number of other annual festivals and events, as mentioned above. There is truly something for everyone.  Be sure to send your favorite photos of the events you attend in 2012 to info@pinecitychamber.com.  Happy New Year!

Pine City in the midst of comprehensive plan update

A look at Pine City’s comprehensive planning journey thus far

April 2010, work groups formed and met over the next six months to discuss Pine City’s future.

Nathan Johnson, Pine City’s city planner, wanted to involve community clubs, organizations, and City workgroups for several months to collect their input for what the Pine City of the next 20-30 years should look and feel like.  They displayed their goals at an open house a year ago, October.  Over the past year, their work has been melded into a draft of the next comprehensive plan, which is sure to receive a fair amount of scrutiny in the coming months.  The Planning Commission has been discussing some of the goals at several of their most recent meetings in late 2011.

Stay tuned here, in the Pioneer and on the radio for the status of the plan and for how you can offer input before its consideration by the City.  Questions can be posed to Pine City’s Building, Planning & Zoning office at 315 Main Street S., Suite 100.

The following was posted with permission of the author, Lisa Krahn:

Tenants of Mrs. Broad's Tavern

Gentle reader, enjoy the new kitten pics and please forward to potential adoptive parents in your circles.

The next installment of the “NWCo Fur Post kittens” saga begins with the two Lady tenants of Mrs. Broad’s Tavern (our home garage) returned mortified from their excursion to the local physician, Friday last, their age having been determined to be seven months.  But the Ladies are in fine health, sassy with string, climb ladders with ease and love elevation, peep-holes, and the game of Under. (Knotted string drug slowly under a towel — irresistible for pouncing.) Today’s reward today was pork roast scraps; greatly preferable to kibble.

Lady Blackwell

Lady Whitechapel has a certain confidence in her social skills and an easy manner, so that she tends to monopolize all human attention, perhaps jealously.  The first inclination of thoughtful Lady Blackwood is to retreat from society, but with some patience and light teasing, she flowers into her own and can be silly with abandon like her sister.

My first communication suggested the two should be adopted together, but I now amend that observation to suggest that a good separation would allow them each to develop a personality more focused on & suitable to their particular new human family.  So we’re looking for two willing families in the New Year…

Lady Whitechapel

Have you fallen in love yet?? Which one will you be inclined to choose when you visit rural Pine County, Minnesota?  Did I mention Lady Whitechapel strolls on a leash?  That both have the softest, most extravagant fur??

Both Ladies have a date with Dr. Webster on the 30th of December for a final round of shots and “the surgeon’s visit.”  By five in the evening that day, both will be recovering Teletubbies, and will look forward with some urgency to their eventual relocation to a home in the New Year — yours??  We could deliver, if needed…

City begins to review 2010 Census data to mount challenge

Volunteer Jules Atangana, a Master's student at the Humphrey School for Public Affairs, is helping with Pine City's Census challenge.

Earlier this year, the City of Pine City decided it wanted to challenge its population number that the Census Bureau came back with, 3,123.   The Census Bureau’s Count Question Resolution (CQR) program allows State, local and Tribal area elected officials to challenge their jurisdiction’s Census counts.

They began accepting 2010 Census challenge submissions on June 1, 2011 and will accept them through June 1, 2013.  Jules Atangana, in his Master of Urban and Regional Planning at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs (University of Minnesota) is offering his help to City Planner Nathan Johnson, to look over the data and verify any possible inaccuracies.  Atangana is originally from Cameroon and lives in Northfield, Minn.

Prior to the 2010 Census count being taken, the Pine City Council passed a resolution partnering with state, local and tribal governments across the nation to help ensure a complete and accurate count.  According to the Census Bureau’s Web site, the Bureau’s goal was to count everyone once, only once, and in the right place.

“There are historically a small percentage of cases where a wrong geographic boundary or coding of a housing unit was used to produce the official census population and housing counts for a local area,” the site says.  “There may also be processing errors.”

If a challenge results in a change, the Census Bureau will issue official revised counts to City officials.  These changes can be used  for future programs that require official 2010 Census data.  They would then also be used to calculate subsequent population estimates for Pine City.  The current list of jurisdictions that have submitted a 2010 CQR Challenge stands at over 100, with the majority listed in “pending status”, four that have changed, and seven with no change.

Gov. Dayton heads north to proclaim Pine City an official Yellow Ribbon city

After doing some early Christmas shopping in Pine City (for a Christmas tree to adorn the lawn of his residence, and for a new dog named Itasca) Gov. Mark Dayton came to Duluth, Minn., yesterday to proclaim the city an official Yellow Ribbon city.

On his drive through Pine County, toward Duluth, the fog increased as he traveled north past the “Finlayson/Askov” Banning Junction exit.  Ironically, Askov Finlayson is the name of his sons’ (Eric’s and Andrew’s) new men’s clothing store in Minneapolis.  Growing up, the boys traveled past the sign on their way home from Lake Vermillion, where the family has a cabin.

At the Depot in Duluth, the Pine City community had the majority of people in attendance, twice as many as Hibbing, Chisholm and Grand Rapids, larger towns also being recognized that are about equal distance from the Twin Ports.  The depot is where the proposed Northern Lights Express passenger rail line would likely terminate.  The Master of Ceremonies was a familiar face to those involved in the NLX meetings.

Links to news coverage of the event:

• Minnesota Honors City…
• Three Cities, One Company…
• Gov. Dayton Recognizes…
• Pine City Officially Proclaimed…

Others in attendance included Pine City Mayor Jane Robbins and Duluth City Council Member Jeff Anderson, who is one of four people running for Congress in Congressional District 8 (the district Pine City is in).   The current congressman, Chip Cravaack, had a representative there in his place.

After the ceremony, Gov. Dayton, Commander-In-Chief of the Minnesota National Guard, posed for a photo with the Pine City Yellow Ribbon’ers.  He then showed Mayor Robbins photos of his three dogs, and she requested his attendance at the welcome home celebration for the troops of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 34th Red Bull Infantry Division, sent off last spring.  Details of the celebration have not yet been finalized.

House Passes legislation honoring MSGT Fedder

According to an E-newsletter sent out today by U.S. Representative Chip Cravaack (MN-8), the House unanimously passed H.R.   3220 (351-0) last night.  The legislation was introduced by Rep. Cravaack to designate the facility of the  United States Postal Service located at 170 Evergreen Square SW in Pine City as the “Master Sergeant Daniel L. Fedder Post Office.” Master Sgt. Fedder died last year at the age of 34.  He was a 16-year veteran of the Marine Corps., with completed combat  deployments to Iraq in 2004 and 2006, and an overseas deployment with the  11th Marine Expeditionary Unit in 2007.  He was on his first combat tour  in Afghanistan when he was lost in combat operations.  Master Sgt. Fedder was assigned to the 7th Engineer Support Battalion, 1st Marine  Logistics Group, I Marine Expeditionary Force out of Camp Pendleton, Calif. His military awards and decorations include the Purple Heart,  Navy-Marine Corps Commendation Medal, Joint Service Achievement Medal,  Navy-Marine Corps Achievement Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Combat Action  Ribbon, Joint Meritorious Unit Award, Navy Unit Commendation, Marine Corps  Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Afghanistan Campaign  Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal,  Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Humanitarian Service Medal, Sea  Service Deployment Ribbon, Navy-Marine Corps Overseas Service Ribbon, Marine  Security Guard Ribbon, and the NATO Medal. Master Sgt. Fedder grew up in Pine City and he is survived  by his parents, Robert and Jackie McKellar, who still reside in the  area.  Master Sgt. Fedder is further survived by his wife, Diana Fedder,  former spouse Susan Fedder; and their two children, daughter Danielle, and  son Strom. The legislation now moves to the Senate for their consideration.