Fall is a busy time for many recognition weeks of various groups and organizations. There is Clergy Appreciation Month, Newspaper Week, Fire Prevention Week, Manufacturer’s Week, Education Week and the list goes on.
But there is one that is especially meaningful to me and many youth around the country. It’s National 4-H Week, which begins Sunday and runs through Oct. 12.

Louise Ann Welch nee Gillen of West Concord, born May 20, 1941, died Sept. 20, 2019, age 78 after succumbing quickly, quietly, and painlessly to cancer.

Hilda Lorraine Howard, 74, of Dodge Center passed away on Sept. 22, 2019, at Squaw Lake, Itasca, Minn.
Hilda was born on Oct. 4, 1944, the daughter of Rudolph and Leona (Kober) Dietrich in Owatonna. Hilda was united in marriage to Donald Trahan on Jan. 31, 1967, and they were later divorced. In June 1978, she married Myron Howard and he passed away in 1986.

The Hayfield cross country team headed to Zumbrota last week for their second to last regular meet of the season. 
Head Coach Kellie Baker said the cross country season is really winding down and it’s crazy how fast this season overall has gone. 
“Everyone continues to improve during practice and lots of the junior high boys improved at this meet from a year ago,” she said.

Thursday saw the Byron Boys Soccer team suffer a narrow 2-1 loss at Winona against the Winhawks. 
Coming off an emotional and historic win against Lourdes on Tuesday night, Bahr said the team came out a little flat and Winona came out hard charging.
“They seemed to interrupt every possession attempt by Byron and put tremendous pressure on the goal,” he said.

After being upset by Triton in last year’s playoffs, the St. Charles Saints used that extra motivation to fuel their 12-point comeback and eventually beat the Cobras 22-19 on Friday, Sept. 27.
            Triton got the scoring started when running back Parker Boe ran it in from 10 yards out. A successful extra point by Adrian Martinez gave the Cobras a 7-0 lead.

The game started out as a defensive battle, but after that it was all Kasson-Mantorville as they scored three third quarter touchdowns to beat Byron 31-12 on Friday, Sept. 27.
            The KoMets got the scoring started when Aaron Winkle drilled a 28-yard field goal attempt in the middle of the first quarter.

I guess you could say Dodge Center was, is and always will be an important part of my life.
I lived there from age birth to 2 years old, but those two years were not my whole history in that small, quaint town. My mother, Vivian (Cottrell) Kraemer met my father, Richard Kraemer in Dodge Center.

The Triton community celebrated Homecoming last week with a variety of activities.
The week got underway Monday night with the crowning of Jay Yankowiak and Samantha Hallaway as King and Queen. Throughout the week there were a variety of dress up days at the elementary, middle and high school levels as well as soccer and volleyball competition.