Thursday, September 1, 2011

Volume 95; Number 12

www.bladepublishing.net

A community newspaper serving Browerville, MN and surrounding areas. USPS 067-560

75

Swimming accident claims the life of Eagle Valley teen

By Tarissa Host On August 22, at 8:38 pm, an injury at a gravel pit on county 80, rural Eagle Bend was reported. Todd County Sheriffs Department, Eagle Bend First Responders, and Bertha Ambulance responded and found that 17 year old Aaron Johnson, Eagle Bend, dove into a shallow area of the pond at the gravel pit and was unconsious and unresponsive when helped to shore. That day, Aaron and two of his close friends decided to go swimmg. Aaron dove into the water like normal, but hit his head and did not come back up. One of his close friends swam over to him and with help from the other friend brought him to shore. He was concious at first but his breathing slowly altered and the friends had to preform CPR on him. When the first responders and police arrived his pulse was checked and a defribulator was used. He was transported to Tri-

A beautiful evening for a picnic

The Browerville Commercial Club had perfect weather for their 7th annual Harvest Fest held on August 26th. The fest, featuring locally grown sweet corn, gave friends and relatives a chance to visit while enjoying the late summer evening. Many items were also donated to the Browerville Area Food Shelf.

One Big Pig! Meet Husky Lee

By Tarissa Host On August 19th, Husky Lee, won the title of largest boar in Minnesota for the 2011 Minnesota State Fair. Huskys owners, long time fair goers John and Barb Tabatt, are excited to travel to the state fair again this year to showcase their boar. Husky Lee is a four year old boar. He weighs in at about 1,160 pounds as of August 19th, making him the heaviest in Minnesota. He likes to eat corn, oats, garden scraps, and sometimes apples. You cant force feed a pig, said Barb Tabatt, he just eats what he wants. Barb revealed that Husky Lee likes to think he is part of their beef cattle herd. Husky escaped from his pen in the barn and they found him grazing with the beef cattle. He would go out with the cattle, sleep with the cattle, and travel the two blocks to Harris Creek for water with the cattle. The Tabatts have been participating in the largest boar competition at the state fair since 2004. The Tabatts raised pigs for their sons, John Jr. and Jason, who were both active in 4-H. Now that the boys are grown, Barb and John Tabatt continue showing boars at the state fair each year. In 1999, the Tabatts bought a little Yorkshire-Landrace boar pig from Terry Rickbeil. They planned to use the pig for breeding purposes so the boys could show them in 4-H. By 2002, the boar was too big to use for breeding so the boys decided they should keep him and see how big he would grow. In August of that year Barb Tabatt contacted the state fair board to find out how to enter the fair contest for the largest pig. She was told the pig would need a name, and be weighed at a certain time. The Tabatts decided to name the pig Terry, after his original owner. They had him weighed August 8, 2002. He came in at a whopping 935 pounds, but was still not big enough for the contest that year. In 2003, when Terry was four years old, the Tabatts tried again. Terry was still not big enough. Barb then did some research on raising pigs to gain weight. After gathering a ton of information, she made a plan to fatten the pig up. In order to fatten him up they needed to change the ratio used to make the pigs food. Barb learned apples provided a very good source of protein, so they gathered apples from anyone willing to give them away. Lastly,

County Hospital in Wadena, and air lifted to North Memorial Hospital in Minneapolis due to severe brain trauma and neck injuries. Aaron Johnson passed away on Thursday, August 25 at 4:58 p.m. The funeral was on Monday, August 29th at the Clarissa Elementary Gym. Visit his website http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/a aronjohnson1 and show your support.

Husky Lee, pictured above, won the largest boar competition at the 2011 Minnesota State Fair, making him the largest boar in the state of Minnesota. they fed Terry an ice-cream pail of milk each day. On August 13, 2004, Terry weighed in at 1,220 pounds. That evening the Tabatts recived a phone call that said they had won the largest boar contest. Terry was on display at the Minnesota State Fair in 2004 as the largest pig in Minnesota. Ever since then the Tabatts have entered the largest boar contest at the Minnesota State Fair. Again in 2007, the Tabatts entered the contest with a four year old boar named Squeaky. Squeaky weighed in at 1,240 pounds. One of the rules for the contest states that once a pig makes a trip to the fair, they cannot go again. So the Tabatts get a new pig every few years to raise for the contest. Husky Lee has now followed in the footsteps of Terry and Squeaky by becoming the largest boar in Minnesota 2011. It is a passion of ours, said Barb It is fun. The whole family goes down to the fair to see the pig. I feel famous when we go down there with so many people asking questions. It is well worth it.

WEEKLY WEATHER REPORT

Wed. Aug. 31 T-Storms 79/69 Thur. Sept. 1 Partly Cloudy 88/63 Fri. Sept. 2 T-Storms 71/49 Sat. Sept. 3 Showers 70/51 Sun. Sept. 4 Mostly Cloudy 65/50 Mon. Sept. 5 Partly Cloudy 67/50