News stories from International Falls, Minnesota

Margaret M. (Kotilinek) Weingart, age 82, of Robbinsdale, Minn., passed away Monday, Oct. 13, 2008, at home.
Margaret was born Jan. 23, 1926, in International Falls, Minn., to Benjamin and Ellen (Glenn) Kotilinek.
She was preceded in death by her parents and husband, Paul.

After a lengthy illness, Leon Carl Kielczewski, age 57, passed away at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, Thunder Bay, Ontario, on Sunday, Oct. 12, 2008, with family by his side.
Leon was born to Paul and Margaret on May 16, 1951, in Fort Frances, Ontario. He lived most of his life there and traveled often to Edmonton, Alberta, to visit with family and friends.
Leon was an avid outdoorsman and enjoyed the time he spent with family, friends and by himself at Kettle Falls and on Rainy Lake.

Marilyn Kay Nelson, age 58, of Bemidji, Minn., died Thursday, Oct. 9, 2008, in Bemidji.
Funeral services will be at 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 18, at Cease Family Funeral Home, Bemidji.
Visitation will be from 4 to 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 17, at Cease Family Funeral Home, Bemidji, and one hour prior to services Saturday.
Marilyn was born May 29, 1950, in Fergus Falls, Minn., to Selmer J. and Pearl M. (Olson) Nelson.

Koochiching County wants to be considered a location for a new Veteran’s Affairs nursing home.
County commissioners said they plan to discuss the proposal with Minnesota Rep. Tom Anzelc and Sen. Tom Saxhaug.
But commissioners also expressed concern that locating a VA home in the county would create competition for clients and staff with existing nursing homes in International Falls and Littlefork.
Commissioners said they would like the county to be considered for the VA home because now veterans must travel to VA medical centers in places like Silver Bay and the Twin Cities.

Cynthia Jaksa is scheduled to visit the Littlefork City Council at its regular meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday at Littlefork City Hall.
Jaksa is expected to make a presentation on Kootasca funding.
Also on Thursday’s agenda is continued discussion on a proposed improved facility for the Littlefork Ambulance Service. A Nov. 3 start date for the Aspen Street construction will also be discussed by the council.
The business of the city’s sand pit and sand sales is scheduled for discussion as well.

Falls victory heavily overshadowed by emotional Parent’s Night festivities

Not even cancer could spoil Parent’s Night for the Falls Broncos girls swimming and diving team.
In a sports world focused on numbers and results, the Broncos’ 100-73 victory Tuesday over Babbitt-Embarrass/Tower Aquatics wasn’t even in the same universe as what transpired out of the water in Falls’ last home meet of the season.
Senior Sara Lindberg, participating for the first time in three weeks since finding out her mom had cancer, was given a surprise of a lifetime.

It wasn’t pretty from the service line Tuesday at Falls High School, but the Broncos still performed well enough to beat Mesabi East 3-1 in its last home match of the regular season.
The teams split the first two games before the Falls cruised to victory: 25-13, 25-27, 25-12, 25-14.
Not surprisingly, the Broncos’ most convincing victory came in Game 3, the game they didn’t commit a service error.
The Broncos has 13 mishaps in all — four in Game 1, five in Game 2 and four in Game 4.

Christianson earns all-conference honors as Broncos eye sections
Bronco junior Stephanie Christianson earned all-conference honors Tuesday in the Iron Range Conference meet in Hoyt Lakes, and led the Falls to a third-place finish out of seven teams.
Grand Rapids won the conference crown with 20 points, while Hibbing (46) finished ahead of the Broncos’ 86 points. Rounding out the competition were Ely (117), Virginia/Mountain Iron-Buhl (134), Eveleth-Gilbert (138) and Greenway (203). Mesabi East didn’t post a team score.

Alberts wins Hitter of the Week award
Rainy River’s Samantha Alberts earned MCAC Northern Division Hitter of the Week honors for her efforts last week (Week 8). The freshman posted a 4.4 kills per game average and tallied 43 digs in three matches.
“That’s a really nice honor,” RRCC coach Mel Millerbernd said. “There are a lot of good hitters in the league.”
Alberts is the second Voyageur to earn a weekly award as setter Monica McAllister won Setter of the Week in Week 7.

Voyageurs fall in season finale

The Broncos’ all-time record against Cloquet in football is 14-6, all under head coach Stuart Nordquist. However, the teams have split the last two meetings with Cloquet winning the regular-season finale last year 28-6, and the Broncos winning the regular-season finale in 2006 46-12.