5 Years Ago

January 14, 2016 FIRE Sprinklers saved industrial building from fire Dump truck inside caught fire, no other damage reported Faith (Pastor’s Corner) Don’t waste your life—you only have one (reflection by Josh Bernau of Hope Lutheran Church)

20 Years Ago HASTINGS STAR-GAZETTE

October 5, 2000 Police chief pushes for more officers The city was notified earlier this week that it will not receive grant money for another police officer, at least for now.

By Jane Lightbourn, Star-Gazette staff writer When Hastings Police Chief Mike McMenomy discusses his department’s 2001 budget requests with city staff this week, he will continue to push for one additional patrol officer position. It is even more important in light of the notification on Monday that the city will not receive a COPS Universal Hiring Program grant through the Department of Justice.

The grant would have subsidized the position for a three-year period, beginning Jan. 1. “We are still eligible for a grant if there are additional funding allocations made in the program,” McMenomy said (story continues).

Holmes learned meaning of respect, freedom firsthand Local veteran played a role in preserving country’s freedom as a soldier in the Korean War By Jeff Mores, Star-Gazette staff writer When it comes to respect and freedom, 71-year-old Hastings resident Jim Holmes has some strong feelings. And he’s pretty straightforward about them.

“Life is not a computer game,” Holmes said. “You don’t turn on a switch in the morning and it’s automatically a new life. Some very significant responsibilities go along with having freedom in America. We must educate the young on the truth as to why we have freedom in America. Our veterans deserve respect. Freedom is precious.”

Holmes is well-versed in the responsibilities that go along with freedom, and he has played a large role in working to preserve freedom in the United States over the course of his life. Holmes enlisted in the United States Army in 1946, at the tender age of 17 (story continues).

50 Years Ago THE HASTINGS GAZETTE January 21, 1971 Military Funeral Was Accorded Raymond J. Radke At Prescott A military funeral was accorded Raymond J. Radke, 45, of Prescott, Wisconsin, in the United Church of Christ at Prescott, Jan. 14, at 2:00 p.m. with Rev. Nelson Baxter officiating. A visitation was held at the Prock Funeral home on Wednesday….Dan Christianson, past commander of the American Legion presented the flag to the widow, and Dick Ahlgren, sounded taps.

Mr. Radke, a son of the late John and Agnes Miles Radke, was born Feb. 28, 1925 in Hastings, where he attended school and grew to manhood. He joined the Army and served in Korea during World War II and was wounded.

Aug. 19, 1940, he was married to June Leseman in Hudson, Wis., the young couple establishing their home in Hastings, where he was self-employed as a dealer in automobile parts.

In 1950 they moved to Prescott, where they have resided since. Born to them were two sons, Robert and Richard, both of Prescott. Mr. Radke passed away at the Miller hospital, St. Paul on Monday, Jan. 12.

(Mr. Radke is listed as buried at Pine Glen Cemetery in Prescott on findagrave.com. His widow June survived to August 18, 1988, and is buried with him at Pine Glen).

105 Years Ago CANNON FALLS BEACON April 7, 1916 The unexpected has happened again. Hastings went dry on Tuesday. And now the dry army moves upon the enemy’s works at Red Wing.

Some men say they want saloons so as to draw the farmer trade, and then when the town goes dry they say it was the votes of farmers who moved to town that did it. How is this?

NICARAGUA AND HER PROSPECTS AS VIEWED BY EMIL J. HOLMES, PRESIDENT OF THE CANNON VALLEY PLANTERS COMPANY Company’s land best tract Main Drawback now is shipping facilities which will be rectified at close of war Representing the Cannon Valley Planters Company I recently made a trip to the Pearl Lagoon district, Nicaragua, for the purpose of investigating conditions and letting of contract for clearing and planting a part of the land owned by our company.

I found the land and the general conditions fully as good, if not better than Attorney P.S. Aslakson stated in his report, given last October. I consider the holdings of the Cannon Valley Planters Company to be the best tract of land I saw, considering the natural advantages. We have water transportation and will soon have railroad transportation too. The railroad as a rule keeps as far from the rivers as possible without interfering with its general direction in order to tap as much country as it can. The railroad people expect to utilize the power at Bosenian Falls and a townsite company has already platted a tract of five hundred acres into a townsite. The Cannon Valley Planters Company’s land joins the townsite, consequently we well derive the benefit of being on a railroad and also being close to a town.

The land is well drained which I consider a great advantage in a country where there is such abundant rainfall. I found a number of valuable trees on the land such as mahogany, ebony, lignum, vitae, rosewood, and rubber trees. I asked the guide to point out the rubber trees as we went along and he showed me a good many although we could see only about twenty feet on each side of the trail, owing to the density of the jungle. The soil is a vegetable loan, well adapted for the raising of bananas, chocolate, grapefruit, sugar cane and pineapple. Other fruits and vegetables, such as oranges, limes, mangoes, pears, castor beans, cassava, etc. grows abundantly, but the first mentioned products I consider of greater commercial value at the present time. As far as labor I do not anticipate any trouble in getting the work done. Several of the natives offered to work for me for sixty cents per day. They would build their little homes on the plantations and stay there as long as they wanted. As harvest comes every week in that country you need about the same amount of help the year around. In this country harvest comes practically over the whole Northwest at the same time, and the farmers often experience difficulty in securing the necessary help, even at exorbitant wages. The people of Nicaragua appear to be a very friendly people. They seem to be very good workers and will endure a lot of hardship without complaining.

The main drawback to Nicaragua, today, is the lack of shipping facilities. The Hamburg-American line is laid up on account of the war. A number of Norwegian boats have gone over to Europe to haul munitions of war for the belligerents over there, consequently the steamship lines that are doing business in Central American countries are exacting higher rates than they should. As soon as the war is over, which we hope will be soon, all those conditions will be rectified, and there will be plenty of boats, some of them will go begging for cargoes.

With its equitable climate, fertile soil and abundant rainfall there is no reason why Nicaragua should not be, as Major Gillette says, “The Garden Spot of the World.”

(Laguna de Perlas or “Pearl Lagoon” is on the Gulf coast of Nicaragua, upon a map consultation. It is little visited by t ourists and reportedly boasts an English- speaking population from colonial days). 135 Years Ago ECHO DE L’OUEST (Western Echo) Motto: Fais Ce Que Dois, Advienne Que Pourra April 8, 1885 Deces. (Death Notice).

In this city, last Monday, at the age of 26 years, M. David Kertson.

The funeral rites took place this morning at the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes.

NOCES D’OR De MGR. LAROCQUE The celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the priesthood of Mgr. (gr.) Joseph Larocque took place with the greatest solemnity…

Hastings in the Civil War 157 Years Ago HASTINGS CONSERVER April 12, 1864 War Correspondence: From the Seventh Regiment.

ST. LOUIS. MO., April 2d, 1864.

Editor Conserver: I have been thinking for a day or two that your paper was shamefully neglected by young men given to wielding the pen in our company, for but once have I seen a communication arise from us since our good old Uncle Samuel rigged us out in such very new clothes in August, 1862. Perhaps it is because our adventures by field and flood have been considered unworthy of being handed down to posterity through your columns, that is, the boys feel that soldiering has been without those terrible scenes of carnage and destruction that has told so fearfully upon those glorious regimes that preceded us in organization, and who have so gallantly made the reputation of Minnesota troops. At any rate the reason is not because our boys do not know how to write, for let it be known, that every man in Company F can write his name, and whatever our desire to make a mark, we have no inclination to see it upon our company books or pay rolls.

We are pleasantly located in the city, doing guard duty, quartered at Schofield Barracks No. 2, a set of contrivances that do but very little credit to their projector, general—well, I won’t mention names—but he parts his hair in the middle, and like several other respectable gentlemen has a ‘hankering’ after the White House.

We are in ‘daily receipt,’ as the fresh oyster advertisers say, of new recruits, and being inducted into the mysteries of drill six hours a day, will soon become proficient in their duties. As a class we like their appearance, but please don’t send us any more of those chaps that enlist to escape the tender mercies dispensed at Esq. Hartshorn’s office. If it is necessary that they should leave the city for its good, send them into Hatch’s battalion, or Congress… but I have written too much already, so good bye. Ever Yours, SEVENTH.