Direct Hitts by Shari Hittesdorf

I knew not investing in education in our community would have its effects, ignorance now appears to be running rampant among residents as proven by the following which was written in a Comment thread from the New Ulm  Journal’s story that reported the referendum failing.

I think the reason alot of people voted no is because, from what I hear in the coffee shops is that your community is sick of paying for the extra’s the hispanic students take away from the english speaking students. Higher costs for people who are not paying taxes, need special help etc. This is just the talk at the coffee table. They also speak ill of the superintendent who thinks he should run the school in the mirror image of the school his wife is supt. at. Getting rid of the food service program and hiring Taher and this new food service director who seems to know squat, they feel he can run the school, he can find the funds to do it. Also heard around the coffee table is that your citizens are mad about developing the Snow farm acres… for what? Who with strings attached to the city needed some extra cash? I am just repeating …which I know is not always accurate but you have to listen to a group of 15 men sitting around talking…they can’t all be wrong…can they  (This was copied and pasted exactly as written)

(READ THE STORY / VIEW THE COMMENT THREAD)

You know, I actually heard that the folks who voted NO are people who go to church regularly, they call themselves good Christians and stellar supporter of the community. They also own new homes, cool cars and lots of “toys” They have come up with the above mentioned excuses because the extra tax they may incur could cut into their “fun” And of course, they ALL send their kids to St. Mary’s……Yep, this is what I heard when I was out-and-about in the community. Hey, must be true after all, so many people saying it…?

OK, OK, OK, enough with the sarcasm…actually enough with all the inaccuracies….

Let me now offer you a lesson about our local school and community:

• First of all, what some choose to call Hispanics – I call community members – most offering the labor force and financial support necessary to prevent us from becoming a ghost town. (many of these same people, by the way, have longstanding roots in Sleepy Eye.)
• The more students in a school system, the more dollars received from the state in aid. Take away, as you call them, the Hispanic population and you take away a lot of jobs in the school which in turn deprives our community of revenue.
• Special services are offered to all students in need, including my own. It’s the law. And with some of these services, comes additional funding to the school system. And just for the record: Many students who would otherwise attend St. Mary’s School, come to Sleepy Eye School in order to get these necessary services, to help them receive the best possible education based on their needs.
• Property taxes are paid by almost everyone. And if you are a renter, you pay them indirectly, through a landlord.
• As for our superintendent….John Cselovszki has a passion for education and he wears that out on his sleeve. He definitely is enthusiastic but I promise you, he fights for what HE believes is best for the kids. One tidbit I’d like to point out….last year he trekked to Marshall on a Friday night to attend St. Mary’s State Football game. He had no reason to be there other than show his support for the community and the kids involved. That game came just days after the second attempt to pass a Sleepy Eye Schools Referendum failed. And if Mr. C would have believed all that “coffee shop” talk, he would have been led to believe that referendum didn’t pass because EVERYONE from St. Mary’s voted NO.
• Food Service: Sleepy Eye Schools, along with all other schools in the nation were forced to adopt new federal lunch program guidelines starting this year. Taher was hired because they could offer a professional service with trained chefs to manage the local school lunch program. The previous lunch staff remains intact and are now employed by Taher.
• There is no connection between the Sleepy Eye School Board / Administration and the City of Sleepy Eye Council / Administration, other than they occasionally work together for what’s best for the community. The goal with the Snow Farm property is to develop property so the community can grow; the job of the school is to develop minds which might, in fact, bring new businesses to that development.

Instead of listening to all the coffee shop talk that speculates on the reasons why the referendum hasn’t passed, I challenge those that voted NO to stand up for what you believe in. Make your statements in a public forum so the community knows where you stand and more importantly why you feel that way. Our kids deserve to know the truth as to why this district keeps saying NO to financial support for our schools.

As for the headline of this blog….well, I’m sure it won’t take long for my feelings to turn back in a positive direction….there are a lot of great things about Sleepy Eye too…and especially a lot of special people…..

 This column brought to you because of the quality education I received from Sleepy Eye High School – in a time when the community actually understood and appreciated the value of a good education. And in a time when we treated every resident with the respect each deserved!!!

I’m usually not much into voicing my opinion publicly on politics but yesterday I listened to my children discuss the Marriage Amendment on this year’s ballot.  Often times I just shake my head at their thought process but on this  issue I was very proud of their view.

They expressed their belief that no one has the right to decide what makes someone else happy and that they didn’t care who anyone chose to spend their time with. They were also upset that there was so much money being spent on an issue that, in their minds, was so irrelevant.

They hold, with great confidence, the belief same-sex marriage will be legal across the nation in their lifetime.

Somewhere along the road they actually did listen….everyone is different, no one is superior….everyone deserves to be treated with respect. #proudmom!

As for some of the other issues voters will decide:

• Two of my boys are still in school – they deserve the best education possible, not some cut rate experience because our community is too cheap and too ignorant to understand the importance of a strong school system. It’s time to wake up Sleepy Eye, vote yes on the referendum.
• Vote no on the voter ID. It’s not that I don’t believe voter fraud exists but I just don’t think this state can afford the financial implications that go with the change.
• As for the politicians running for office…..I have faith the right people will be voted into office. I would, however, like you to consider that this country was in huge disarray long before Obama took office. Wouldn’t  it be nice to allow a budget plan, any budget  plan, to play out. We are a nation of instant gratification, this is one area that’s just gonna take some time to get back on track. No politician is going to “quick fix” anything!

Congrats to the St. Mary’s Knights on their first-ever Southern Minnesota A Football Conference title with a 7-0 record.

This is their first football conference title of any kind since 1975 (DeSmet). Can you name the players on that squad?

I can….well, with some help from my husband who was a senior on that squad. I bet you recognize several of these names:

Row 1: Steve Schmidt, Mike Schumacher, Jeff Cook, Jim Ganske, Brian Berdan, Row 2: PJ Hittesdorf, Neil Mangen, Joe Sellner, Ron Haala, Tom Hansen, Rick Wintheiser, Dave Rubey, Mike Ladd, Jeff Mages, Scott Tauer. Row 3 Coach Jeff Conway, Tom Schroepfer, Pat Bruggeman, Jeff Helget, Pete Schumacher, S. Guldan, Denny Lux, Kevin Broich, Dan Tauer, Mitch Maurer. Row 4: Coach Ralph Zwaschka, Mike “Benji” Groebner, Tom Callahan, Billy Fischer, Tim Weicherding, Steve Pelzel, Dave Berdan, Les Hittesdorf, Greg Gangelhoff, Wayne Pelzel (head coach) Row5: Lowell Mathiowetz, Chuck Schmidt, Pat Ladd, Kevin Witt, Jerry Ganske, Tom Schmidt, Pat Bohnen.

There are a couple of names PJ couldn’t remember – let us know if recognize them or if we got any of these listed incorrectly. 

*PJ remembers Jeff Cook, who was a stellar athlete in high school, missing most of the season due to an injury. Let us know any other memories from that season.

news@sleepyeyeonline.com

I am here to admit I have wasted many hours watching championship sporting events. (No Doreen Tyler, I am not implying, in any manner, that sports are a big waste of time!) What I’m talking about is all the time I spent watching a blank screen when I thought I was watching a big game. If I could only have those hours back, I certainly would have put them to better use!

OK, OK, let me clarify that I really don’t sit and stare at the television screen.

My revelation about lost time came to me last weekend when I was watching USC play Hawaii in college football. The game announcer said USC has had six Heisman Trophy winners.

“Hold the phone Mr. Announcer…my encyclopedia sports mind knows they have had seven. Ha, got ya!”

Oh wait, guess the TV dude really was right. Reggie Buch’s stellar 2005 season never happened. Erased from the books.

And USC’s Orange Bowl win over Oklahoma to win the National Championship in 2004…never took place. Both titles were stripped due to rules infractions.

Remember how we cheered the Gophers men’s basketball team to a final four in 1997….nope, academic scandal. How many games did I sit on the edge of my seat watching that run!?!

Lance Armstrong was recently stripped of his seven Tour de France titles. So much for my time and energy, day after day, cheering him on…

And all those years of following Joe Paterno and Penn State, 111 wins since 1998, purely a waste of my precious time. According to the record books, the contests never happened.

Remember in 2008 when, now Chicago Bulls superstar, Derrick Rose led Memphis to the NCAA championship game…Kansas actually took the court and won an overtime game…against no one. Apparently someone else took Rose’s college entry ACT test.

Marion Jones and her five-medal performance at the 2000 Sydney Games also never happened. Jones was erased from the Olympic records courtesy of steroids.

And do you recall when the Saint went on to win the SuperBowl in 2010 after “Bounty Gate.” They hunted Viking quarterback Brett Favre until they nearly broke his ankle……OH WAIT,  that game, UNFORTUNATLEY, remains in the records book…despite four players, two coaches and the general manager being suspended for playing a role in trying to intentionally hurt  players. Nope, we’re forced to continue to feel that pain. The Saint get to keep their trophy there which makes it a double whammy for me, as I was a huge Colts, Peyton Manning fan too. (New Orleans beat Colts in the SuperBowl)

Anyway, I think you get my point. I can’t help but wonder why I should spend time watching any sporting event these days when down the road it might be declared never to have happened. Fact is, as I get older I’m having more and more trouble recalling all those great moments embedded in my brain. So now I’m supposed to filter out what actually materialized and what never transpired, despite my emotional involvement in everyone of those big time events.

Considering all the frivilous lawsuits filed these days, I’m thinking I actually have a chance to sue the sports world in an attempt reclaim all those hours wasted.

Might even give me enough time back to actually be caught up with things for once up in my life. NOT!

Sleepy Eye ONLINE loves receiving emails and news submission. We RELY on submissions to keep us informed about what is going on in this busy community.

This week I received an anonymous submission about the Sleepy Eye Legion baseball team. The person who emailed the info was informative but upset that nothing has been published with us or the local newspaper about game results. There were a few other issued adderessed in the email that I would like to respond to. So her goes:

• Sleepy Eye is loaded with boys and girls teams of all ages, participating in summer ball. It would be impossible to “cover” every team at every level. We invite coaches to submit results – just like we do during the school year with the high school teams. No submission, no publication. I know there are still a few of you out there that feels boys teams are more important than girls; Sleepy Eye ONLINE believes every team at ever level is important and we do our best to acknowledge this when submissions are made. (We have made a huge effort to provide photo galleries from most of our local team – check out our Varsity Sports, Youth Sports and Archives Pages)
• This person stated “the last time Sleepy Eye went this far in Legion was in 1981 went David Helget team made it to state tournament”  If my memory serves me well, Post 7 won Districts and participated in the state tournament in 2004 at Dundas. I was there covering the event!  I believe there was a team in the mid-nineties (1996?) that also advanced.
• There were at least seven local teams actually participating in state tournaments this summer.
• This submission went on to break down the number of players who were on the team from each local high school. During the summer months, the kids represent Sleepy Eye, Leavenworth, Stark and Essig, not their particular school. I thoroughly enjoy seeing our local kids “play” together, without that school rivalry thing.
• Any player born on or after January 1, 1993 is eligible to play Legion Ball. The email referenced New Ulm as having “college” players on their team while Sleepy Eye does not. Currently Legion ball teams, just like ASA, youth hockey, and many other organized sports are determined by age, not grade level. (Beginning with the 2015 season, age eligible players who have graduated from high school will not be eligible to participate.)
• The email referenced one Sleepy Eye player not being allowed to play because he participated in the district VFW Tournament which was played at the same time. The Legion Rule states “Any player who is absent, without permission from the District Director for hardship reasons, shall not be allowed to play or otherwise participate. Subsequently, any player who leaves the tournament, or is otherwise unavailable to participate, without permission from the District Director for hardship reasons, shall also lose eligibility for ongoing participation.”

Again we appreciate the community keeping us in tune with what is going on in Sleepy Eye. Please continue to send us updates, but please include your name / email so that we can contact you should the need arise.