20 Years Ago HASTINGS STAR-GAZETTE November 9, 2000 Dempsey defeats May for state representative Jerry Dempsey wins by 2 – 1 margin. Incumbent representative easily beats challenger in District 29A. Murphy reelected in Senate 29.

Bush, Grams, Kline popular in Dakota County Dakota County voters bucked the Minnesota trend in three major races and voted Republican.

In the presidential race, George Bush won the county with 87,250 votes, followed by Al Gore with 85,446 votes. Ralph Nader received 7,799 votes. Statewide, Al Gore received Minnesota’s 10 electoral votes. Unofficial results show that Gore received 874,050 votes to Bush’s 805,865 votes. In Hastings, Gore received 4,431 votes to Bush’s 3,929 (Unattributed story continues on)

November 2, 2000 Photo by Randy Robert/Star Gazette ANOTHER CANDIDATE?

No, Abraham Lincoln has not decided to throw his hat in the ring for president, but he did throw a little candy into the bucket of trick-or-treater John Begnaud, 7. Lincoln was portrayed by John Schommer, who lives (in Hastings).

30 Years Ago HASTINGS STAR-GAZETTE November 15, 1990 Troop buildup in Gulf affects local families SUMMARY: The recent troop buildup in the Middle East, and the cancelling of troop rotation for soldiers stationed in Saudi Arabia, has caused speculation that a war may be closer. The Hastings area has traditionally sent a lot of young people into the armed services. Here’s a portrait of some of the statements, concerns, thought and memories of the families affected by this military mobilization half a world away.

(story by Steve Eide, Star-Gazette staff writer) Air medic Camille Lee, a Hastings native, is married to 1st Lt. Eric Lee, whom she met in Hawaii. Camille said she’d heard about the boredom, but her husband’s job helps him avoid that.

“It’s a tense situation,” Lee said. “What my husband does is fly in an do nursing care in anyplace where people need medical attention.

“It’s kind of monotonous,” Camille added. “They’re in a ready position a lot…They worry about their families here.”

Army private Richard and Theresa Zeien’s son, Brien Zeien, is a private first class in the U. S. Army, stationed in Germany for about a year and a half. Earlier this year the soldiers in Brien’s armored division were asked to make out their wills. But the soldiers didn’t know if they would ship out for the Gulf.

“The last few months, it’s been up and down, up and down,” Theresa said. “The hardest thing is that we didn’t know.”

It has indeed been up and down from the stories Theresa relates. During recent weeks Brien has been in the field, training.

“When he got back to the camp, the colonel called a formation and said, ‘You don’t have to worry, you won’t have to go.’” The next day Brien was told that he would be heading for Saudi Arabia.

“So now they had to paint their tanks desert color instead of the army camouflage that they had,” Theresa said…Morale among the German based soldiers is no problem, according to Theresa. Their biggest concern is that the American public won’t support a war if it starts, or that the war’s combat troops would be treated like the Vietnam vets were treated for some time afterwards. As a parent, Theresa worries about this, too.

“The way public opinion is over here could affect them for a lifetime.”

40 Years Ago HASTINGS STAR November 6, 1980 Lu is mayor, Beats Petersen 2 – 1 by AL SHAFFER, staff writer Eight-year incumbent Mayor Walter Petersen lost Tuesday by a nearly 2 -1 margin against his opponent, council members Lu Stoffel. This is the second time a woman has been elected mayor of Hastings, according to information from Hastings City Hall. The first time was in the 1940s when Edith Truax was elected.