News

Participants in Saturday’s annual Soapbox Derby.

Stars of the show

The Waseca Mason Tuscan Lodge 77 sponsored a Soapbox Derby Race the afternoon of Saturday, August 10. This was the sixth time the organization has held soapbox races, but the first time at a new location, along the west side of Tink Larson Field on Fourth Street NE. Six-year-olds were the stars...

From left: Hazel Botten, Amelia McKenna, Josh Babcock, Dawn Tangen, SaraJo Vulcan, Conway Botten, Ryan Gehrke, Kaisley Gehrke, Janda Ferguson, Tanyce Bruegger and Chad Neitzel.

Fifth annual New Richland Night Out

Several dozen people attended New Richland’s fifth annual Night to Unite celebration Tuesday evening, August 6, 2024 at New Richland City Park. “Night to Unite” is meant to honor law enforcement officers and first responders, including medical personnel and firefighters. “The weather was...

A rustic display catches the eye along Waseca County Highway 23 near the Wilton bridge. The nostalgic feature was made by Laurie Mariner and James Priebe, pictured here with grandchildren baby Charlotte Lund and Kenny Spiess.

Pioneer photo by Ben Revermann

‘Flair for decoration’

For anyone driving south of Waseca on the Wilton Bridge Road, an old Ford F-100 pickup truck sits as a greeting to passersby where County Roads 4 and 23 meet. James Priebe lives close to the truck, in fact, he’s the one who put it there. His girlfriend Laurie Mariner helped him do it. At the...

Jerry Hackett constructed a model of the Waseca County Courthouse from toothpicks. Pioneer photos by Deb Bently

Architectural appreciation

Shakopee resident Jerry Hackett, 85, says that if he had kept all the model buildings and bridges he’s constructed over the past 19 or so years, “There would be no room to walk, and I would be living alone,” he says, joking that his wife Pat would not put up with it. During July, Hackett...

Joe Heinrich is newest shareholder with the legal firm of Patton, Hoversten and Berg. Pioneer photo by Deb Bently

New shareholder

“It’s a big deal to become a shareholder,” says Joe Heinrichs, 28, of his new partial ownership with the well-established law firm Patton, Hoversten and Berg, P.A. (PHB). He compares joining PHB with being put behind the wheel of a precision automobile. “All the support and resources are in...

Heartland Healthcare owner operator Ken Bentson

Pioneer photos by Ben Revermann

Putting heart in healthcare

Mayo Clinic closed in Janesville in August of 2023; it was officially finished moving out on March 1, of 2024, leaving Heartland Healthcare the only medical provider remaining in town. Just two blocks off Main Street across from the Summers Ridge Veterinary Clinic, the facility’s address is 303...

Waseca’s Tink Larson says the best advice he’s ever received was from longtime Waseca boys' basketball coach Manny Beckmann.

"I remember Manny telling me in my first year of coaching that a coach will never please all the people all the time, so do it the way you want to do it and hopefully you will please yourself." Pioneer photo by Jim Lutgens

Mr. Baseball

Tink Larson does not believe his life story would make much of a book. Others might disagree. For instance, there's the time he was pushing age 60 and was forced into action for the Waseca Braves amateur baseball team, replacing the late Todd Mann, who sustained an injury, at catcher. They...

Staff members from numerous agencies support the Drug Court program. Acknowledged during a July 16 celebration of the program’s tenth anniversary were (Front, from left) Kaiya Martin, Kate Hendrickson, Rachel Cornelius, Scott Wolfe; (Back, from left) Mary Ulrich, MacKenzie Weis, Daniel Frenk, Scott Hanson, Scott Cody, Robert Jarret, Nicole Grams, Rusty Hardeman, Perry Berg, Judge Carol Hanks, Judge Joseph Bueltel. Team members not pictured include David Wright, Kris Markesen, Joshua Sorensen, and Laura Cain. Pioneer photo by Deb Bently

Area ‘Drug Court’ marks ten years of bringing change

By DEB BENTLY News Editor “I sure didn’t expect I would ever be advocating for the Drug Court program,” stated area graduate Ken Holmseth. He remembers “I was convinced the justice system was out to get me.” Holmseth was one of three Waseca graduates who spoke Tuesday, July 16, during a...

More than 80 people attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Waseca Art’s Center newly named Harguth Gallery.

‘She gives her talent as a gift’

Locally famous artist Char Harguth, 88, was honored during a gathering on Friday, July 19, at the Waseca Art Center along North State Street. More than 80 people attended the invitation-only event. The Center has named a gallery in her honor; the ceremony was a ribbon cutting as it was opened...

CLASS OF 2024 - Fiftyone seniors, members of the Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton Class of 2024, threw their caps in the air in celebration Friday, May 24, in the JWP gym.

JWP class of 2024

“Four years we will never forget, even if we did some things we regret.” That statement from JWP graduate Katelyn Ziemke served as the motto for the Class of 2024. Beginning at 6 p.m. Friday, May 24, 51 JWP seniors enjoyed the tradition of hearing the band welcome them with “Pomp and...