Today’s the day! It’s the day we, the staff of the Dodge County Independent, move to our new location at 301 South Mantorville Ave. Suite 200, a.k.a. the old Shopko building.
We chose the location right next to Clem’s Cups & Cones for obvious reasons. (I know, no one was thinking of an ice cream cone last week when we were invaded by a Polar Vortex. But, summer’s coming!)

Dorothy Eloise Jetson Norman, 87, of Excelsior, formerly of Byron, passed away on Monday, Feb. 22, 2021 at Trouvaille Memory Care and Suites in Excelsior. 

Carl Ludwig Zimmerman, 78, of Kasson, a former farmer and milk hauler, passed away Feb. 10, 2021 in Rochester.
Carl was born on Feb. 12, 1942, to Ludwig and Alice (Wegman) Zimmerman.

Audrey Gillard, 92, of Dodge Center, passed away on Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021 at Fairview Care Center in Dodge Center. 
Audrey was born on July 2, 1928, in Ironwood, Michigan to Nils A. Wiberg and Alberta (Stensrud) Wiberg. She graduated in 1945 from Luther L. Wright High School. She attended the University of Minnesota for two years.

The KoMet wrestling team picked up four dominating wins this past week.On Thursday night, the KoMets celebrated Parent's Night and hosted a triangular with Triton and Goodhue.KM rolled past Triton, 80-0 and then Goodhue, 49-15."Jamie is having us focus more on the fundamentals." said Freshman Joey Kennedy. Saturday, the KoMets headed to Caledonia for another triangular with Caledonia and Austin.

Dodge County Wildcats boys hockey team had no problem last Tuesday, Feb. 16, when they traveled to Faribault and defeated the Falcons by a 7-0 score.
Gavin Giesler scored once in the first period with assists from Isaac Rogne and Charlie Blaisdell.

Jerry Reker was the Kasson-Mantorville High School principal for 17 years and has been retired for six years. He has been involved with education for 40 years and was a principal for 33 years at different schools.

After a year of distance and hybrid learning, area students in all grades are heading back to the classroom.
State officials recently announced that getting all Minnesota students back into the classroom is a priority, provided district follow guidelines from the Minnesota Department of Health.

It’s all about the kids, say a trio of local volunteers who broadcast Kasson-Mantorville sports games and get them put up on YouTube.
Family and friends who otherwise couldn’t watch games are able to because of the efforts of Todd Halverson, Steve Alvarado and Joel McCall.