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The Maple Lake

Volume 119, Number 7 Wednesday, November 13, 2013 Maple Lake, MN 55358 maplelakemessenger.com $1

New Wright County website coming soon

by John Holler Correspondent

Veterans share their experiences

Anyone who has seen the Wright County website has immediately noticed that it is essentially the same format that it was when Wright County first went online more than 15 years ago. Anyone attempting to find a service or information from the website has often been frustrated. At the Nov. 5 meeting of the Wright County Board of Commissioners, the process of changing that took a big step forward. Information Technology Director Bill Swing came before the board to present the bids from three vendors that were finalists for the website redesign. The board approved the proposal from CivicPlus, a company with experience working with many counties and cities throughout the country, including St. Paul, St. Cloud and Anoka, Washington, Blue Earth and Crow Wing counties in Minnesota. Our evaluation team screened six responses for our proposal and narrowed it down to three, Swing said. Specifications had been sent out to 29 vendors and we got some very strong responses. What pushed CivicPlus over the top was due to its experience with county and city websites, its strong track record of performance and its willingness to make updates and changes to the design of the website as needed in the future. After all was said and done, we approved going into negotiations with CivicPlus. There were several factors involved, but of their many positives, having an imprint in Minnesota with similar counties and cities of our size was an important factor. The expectation is to have the new website design ready to roll out early next year.

Corinna residents talk about shoreland zoning

by Gabe Licht Editor

(Above) Maple Lake High School students thank veterans following a Veterans Day event in the school auditorium. (Below) Mike Yanish (right) shares his experiences in Vietnam as fellow Wat-Kim Valley POW MIA Honorguard members John Bolvine, Allan Dockendorf, Al Brutger, Gary Cauwe and Paul Heibel listen. (Photos by Gabe Licht)
by Gabe Licht Editor

Commissioners
continued on page 3

Vietnam War veteran Mike Yanish lit a candle and saluted. "One of our people who should have been here today that could not is a prisoner of war, was a prisoner of war or is still unaccounted for," Yanish told those gathered at a Veterans Day event Monday in the Maple Lake High School auditorium. "We walk and talk for those who are unaccounted for." Yanish, of the Wat-Kim-Valley POW MIA Honorguard, said the group formed when he and fellow veterans were wondering what it would be like as a family to send a son to war and never know their whereabouts.

Should Corinna Township solely administer shoreland zoning authority? The Wright County Board of Commissioners met as a committee of a whole at a public hearing with about 50 constituents to gather opinions about the issue. Corinna Township Zoning Administrator Ben Oleson shared that the township has been discussing the issue since late 2005 and has been administering shoreland zoning controls for three years under temporary agreements with Wright County. The criteria is that the township must be at least as restrictive as the county and the administration has to be as effective, Oleson said. He believes the township meets those requirements because the township has the same zoning map as the county, he makes regular site visits to every property and works with a township attorney on enforcement matters, staff receives regular training and all zoning information is available online. I believe we have a good model, Wright County Planning and Zoning Administrator Sean Riley said later of the sharing agreement. Were enforcing state-level regulations and having township input as a key part of the process is a good model. We have professional staff, are also sincere and want to protect the resources and not play favorites. Several residents spoke out on both sides of the issue. County government will always be in a better position to administer planning and zoning of available resources, said Dave Levi, who lives on Cedar Lake.

Veterans Day
continued on page 12

Corinna zoning
continued on page 3

Inside . . .

Irish football team to make first state semifinal appearance

Chamber craft sale: page 3

Kickstarting his career

St. Tims Shopping Extravaganza: page 8

by Gabe Licht Editor

James Warren project to be funded. "People are pledging and we'll involve everyone in the experience with the rewards they get," Warren said. "It's not every day that someone from small town Minnesota goes to Nashville. We want to take them on the journey. We'll be blogging and posting videos and show what it's like to make a record in Nashville with some pretty cool rock stars." While Warren now plays guitar, his roots are in percussion. He participated in school band, jazz band, marching band and the DasselCokato drum line in high school.

Coming up
*MLHS fall play is 7 p.m. Friday through Sunday *Books with Boone is Friday *MLHS fall band concert is Nov. 21 *Thanksgiving is Nov. 28
Landon Caughey surveys Pine Islands defense in Maple Lakes 28-10 state quarterfinal win. The Irish will play Minneota/LH at 2 p.m. Thursday at the Metrodome. (Photo by Chad Pingel)
by Gabe Licht Editor

For the first time in school history, the Maple Lake Irish football team will be playing in the state semifinal game. With a 28-10 win over Pine Island, the Irish earned the right to play Minneota/LH at 2 p.m. Thursday at the Metrodome. Early in the contest, it did not look like that would be the case.

Pine Island's first drive ended with a 51-yard run for an early 7-0 lead. Then they added a 45-yard field goal that hit the cross bar and bounced over to go up 10-0. The Irish responded with a monster run of their own, when Dusty Strub took a backfield toss 78 yards to pay dirt. "As soon as he got around the edge, he outran everybody," coach

Tim Knudsen said. So, instead of going into halftime down two scores, the scoreboard read 10-7. "Only being down three points at halftime, we felt really good," Knudsen said. "We made a few adjustments at halftime in what we wanted to do."

Irish football

continued on page 9

Growing up in Maple Lake, Matt Wagner pretended to be a rock star with his brothers and cousins. Now he's pursuing a career in pop folk music under the name of James Warren. His plan is to put out a fivesong EP in the Nashville studio of Tesla drummer Troy Luccketta with Pillar guitarist Noah Henson as producer. In order to reach that goal, Warren is turning to www.kickstarter.com/profile/jame swarrenmusic, where fans can pledge to support his project. A total of $15,050 must be pledged by Jan. 5, 2014, in order for the

James Warren
continued on page 3