Minnesota Prairie Roots

Writing and photography by Audrey Kletscher Helbling

A kidnapping, killing of a police officer, bomb threat & more unnerve Minnesotans May 6, 2010

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 10:47 AM
Tags: , ,

THE PAST FEW DAYS have been more than a bit unsettling for Minnesotans.

Here’s why:

  • A 14-year-old girl from tiny Fairfax is kidnapped while on her morning paper route and then sexually-assaulted in a cemetery. She escapes her captor, who has since been arrested and charged.

This happened in rural southwestern Minnesota, an area I know well because I grew up in Redwood County. After I left home and graduated from college, I worked as a newspaper reporter in Gaylord, several small towns away from Fairfax along Minnesota Highway 19. I drove through Fairfax every time I returned to my hometown.

Later, I worked for The Sleepy Eye Herald-Dispatch in Sleepy Eye, even closer to Fairfax. My northern coverage area reached to Fort Ridgely State Park just south of Fairfax.

Somehow, when you know the places involved, a serious crime like this really hits home. And the fact that my cousin Dawn and her family live in Morgan, near where the girl was found, makes this crime even more personal. Read my May 5 blog post to see how Dawn’s family was impacted.

Knowing southwestern Minnesota as I do, I can only imagine how residents of these closely-knit small towns are feeling—shocked, fearful, angry, less trusting, shaken…

  • Tuesday evening a SWAT team gathered on the street by my Faribault home. As I watched, the SWAT vehicle and a contingent of squad cars turned right and proceeded up the hill. I later learned that they made a meth bust three blocks away.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time law enforcement has descended upon my neighborhood. A decade or more ago, they were searching for a knife used in a murder two blocks away.

Yes, I lost my small-town innocence years ago. In the 25 years my family has lived in this house, we’ve called 911 several times. Once, my husband and I awoke to the frantic screams of a woman calling for help in the early hours of a cold January morning. An ambulance hauled one person away.

Another time a young man came to our door pleading for help as he was chased by a pack of young men. And, yes, we saw his pursuers and worried that they would burst into our home.

And then there was the time we, unknowingly, sold a car to a member of a Twin Cities gang. Police later found a gun, involved in a shooting, in the trunk of the car, still registered to us.

Long ago, I lost my trusting innocence.

  • And then, just several days ago, a Minnesota Department of Agriculture employee reportedly threatened to blow up a Minnesota state office building, the place where my eldest works.
  • On Saturday, Maplewood Police Sgt. Joseph Bergeron was shot to death, still buckled in his seatbelt, en route to investigate a reported car-jacking.

Yes, these have been unsettling days for me, and for many Minnesotans.

© Copyright 2010 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

How the kidnapping of a 14-year-old Fairfax, Minnesota, paper girl impacts a family in nearby Morgan May 5, 2010

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 10:51 AM
Tags: , ,

A sense of security and trust has been eroded in small towns like Morgan, above, after the abduction of a teen from nearby Fairfax. The girl was found near Morgan.

UP UNTIL YESTERDAY, Fairfax was just another sleepy little town in a string of small towns along State Highway 19 in southern Minnesota.

That all changed when a 14-year-old newspaper delivery girl was abducted Tuesday morning from this community of nearly 1,300. According to news reports, the teen managed to escape her alleged 25-year-old kidnapper by jumping from his moving car. She then used her cell phone to call her mom.

The girl, who was reportedly sexually-assaulted, was found 10 miles south of Fairfax in Brown County. Her alleged abductor, a Marshall man with ties to Fairfax, has been arrested.

For families who live in the Fairfax area, especially, this crime has come as quite a shock, according to my cousin Dawn. She lives in nearby Morgan and tells me the abducted teen was found just miles from that farming community.

Dawn suspects that the man likely drove through Morgan en route to his Marshall apartment. She’s probably right. If you dig out a map and pick the most logical route west, you would drive right through Morgan to Marshall.

All of this has left my cousin, the mother of five, shaken. But it is her 12-year-old daughter who has been most impacted. “I think she put it together that as she walked to school yesterday morning, he (the alleged kidnapper) was probably driving through town…She refused to walk to school this morning. We are one block from the school. I believe everyone is pretty shocked around here.”

Dawn tells me, though, that her community had a wake-up call several months ago when a Level 3 sex offender moved onto a farm place several miles from town. Neighbors no longer leave their children alone or allow them to walk anywhere without an adult.

“I don’t know if it’s because in a small town you typically know everyone and are so trusting that when something like this happens we get even more paranoid,” Dawn says.

Yet, despite the fears she is now dealing with among her children and her diminished sense of security, Dawn is focusing on the 14-year-old who managed to escape her kidnapper. “I guess we are all so happy she was able to get out of that car.”

© Copyright 2010 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

The SWAT team rendezvous in my Faribault, Minnesota, neighborhood May 4, 2010

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 9:19 PM
Tags: , ,

TUESDAY EVENING I’M WATCHING American Idol when my husband suddenly leaps from his comfy spot on the couch to peer out the window.

“What’s going on?” I ask.

He doesn’t respond.

I can see only the tail end of a brown car parked in the street.

“The SWAT team is out there,” he says.

The SWAT team leads a team of law enforcement officials in Faribault Tuesday evening.

I grab my camera, which is sitting nearby. Sure enough, armored men, thick as flies, cling to the side of a vehicle that leads a procession—an ERU (which I think means “Emergency Response Unit”) vehicle, a Rice County sheriff’s squad and several Faribault police cars.

They turn at the corner by my neighbor’s house and head up and over the steep hill on First Avenue Southwest. Through the window, I quickly snap two pictures, which don’t turn out very well given my haste and the fading light under cloudy skies.

A Rice County sheriff squad and several Faribault police cars follow the SWAT team and ERU vehicle up First Avenue Southwest in Faribault.

Soon Randy and I are slipping on our shoes and walking up the hill, although I’m thinking this isn’t the smartest thing for us to be doing given all those weapons. Half way up the hill I decide to play it safe. Randy, despite my protests, forges ahead and disappears.

“They have guns,” I yell after him.

I head back home, waiting for my curious spouse to return. Safely, I hope.

He does and reports that the action is happening about three blocks away next to Division Street near the Faribault Senior Center, where the street has been cordoned off. He can’t get any closer.

And that’s OK with me.

© Copyright 2010 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

My $7.50 garage sale finds

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 9:00 AM
Tags: , ,

FOR YEARS, I SHOPPED garage and rummage sales primarily out of necessity. These sales provided an inexpensive way to clothe my children and decorate and furnish my house.

They also proved a great source for books. I would buy gently-used books for my kids and for the library at the Christian day school they attended.

Sometime during those years, I also began buying vintage tablecloths, trays, bowls, glassware, pictures and mirrors. I like old stuff, especially usable old stuff.

These days, with the attitude that I really don’t need more things, I’ve become selective about bargain purchases. On Saturday, for example, I passed up a $5 mirror.

Even though I’m adhering to that stricter policy of buying only what I really, really like, and/or what may be valuable, I do not apply this rule to others.  I tried convincing my friend Lois, whom I saw at a garage sale on Saturday, to make an impulse purchase.  She made the mistake of telling me that her father-in-law likes John Wayne. That’s all it took for me to pitch a $35 near-life-size stand-up cardboard cut-out of John Wayne as a birthday gift for Herman.

Lois is to be commended for not giving in to my peer pressure. She settled on an 8 x 10-inch photo of the star that cost her only a few dollars.

A silver-plated mirror purchased for 50 cents.

While Lois had her John Wayne, my morning of garage-saling had proven fruitless until I picked up a round, silver-plated, mirrored tray for 50 cents. I have no idea how I will use it, but I like the piece and think it may have value.

I love the colors in this vintage tablecloth, added to my collection.

Then, later in the day, I scored my big finds. My husband and I just happened to see the yard sale while en route to Walmart. In other words, this was not a planned stop. Here I found a vintage tablecloth for $5. It was the colors—vivid lemon citrus mingled with blood-red and blue-gray—that drew me to the floral print fabric. Those hues are rare and I was happy to add this to my collection. And, yes, I use my tablecloths.

A vintage TV tray becomes a work of art.

Then, my husband discovered two TV trays in the most beautiful orange, yellow and deep rose florals. Each cost $1. I collect vintage metal trays too, with or without the folding legs. I removed the legs from one of my new trays and propped it atop my entertainment center as a piece of art. I often re-purpose my finds. If I need the tray for its real purpose—dining—I’ll pop the legs back onto it.

A leaf-shaped, three-legged dish from the FREE box.

I nearly left my final treasure behind in a cardboard box. It’s an odd-shaped melamine scooped serving plate that rests on three legs. Imprinted on the bottom are the words: “UNION PRODUCTS INC. LEOMINSTER.MASS. CAT.#2729″

I had picked the curved dish up and then placed it back in the box because it was a bit grimy. I figured I really didn’t need it. But then, when I learned that everything in the box was free, I snapped up the dish. With some scrubbing, the dirt washed away.

Now I have this lovely green plate that, I suppose, could hold raw vegetables or any assortment of food. But when I study the gentle curves, I see simply a fine piece of art.

#

I WOULD LOVE to hear your garage/rummage sale stories. Why do you shop these sales? What treasures have you found? Did you find a valuable item dirt cheap? Share your stories in a comment to Minnesota Prairie Roots.

© Copyright 2010 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Iris May 3, 2010

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 9:22 AM
Tags: , , ,

SOMETIMES, NATURE NEEDS few words to define her beauty.

Close-up of an iris bud

Iris buds

A clutch of iris buds

Iris buds and iris blooming

An iris in bloom

© Copyright 2010 Audrey Kletscher Helbling



 

Faribault art gallery seeks “Shoe Stories” May 1, 2010

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 12:11 PM
Tags: , , ,

HEY, ALL YOU MINNESOTA artists. Here’s your opportunity to get your foot in the door, or at least your shoe in the door, of a southeastern Minnesota art gallery.

The Paradise Center for the Arts in Faribault is seeking entries for a juried show featuring artwork related to shoes.

That’s right.

Shoes.

Maybe these shoes, belonging to me, my teenage son and my husband, will inspire you.

Entries must include an image or parts/whole of a shoe or shoes. And, get this—your shoe art must fit inside, and be delivered in, a shoebox.

Deadline to get your “Shoe Stories” in to The Paradise is Tuesday, June 8, 2010. Click here for the rules: http://www.paradisecenterforthearts.org/gallery/

Now, if you’re not from Faribault, you’re likely wondering, what’s with the shoes? This isn’t Grand Rapids, hometown of ruby red slipper tapping Judy Garland.

But the Shaft-Pierce Shoe Factory operated here from 1903 – 1934 and our historic downtown is home to a third-generation family-owned shoe store. That would be Burkhartzmeyer Shoes, which, along with JA Johnson Advisors, is sponsoring the shoe art show. Try saying that three times.

I love Burkhartzmeyer Shoes, an old-fashioned shoe store that caters to customers. Here employees measure your feet, find shoes in your size and slip them onto your feet, check the fit and then when they ring up your purchase, they’ll tie the shoebox with string and add a sucker. Yes, exactly as I remember from my youth.

Burkharztmeyer also repairs shoes and addresses special foot needs.

Burkhartzmeyer Shoes is located on Central Avenue in historic downtown Faribault.

As you can tell, I am a bit smitten with this business that speaks to the niceties of yesteryear in today’s fast-paced, self-serve world.

These are my Clarks Shoes, purchased at Burkhartzmeyer Shoes. I wear them all the time, as evidenced by their obvious need for a coat of polish.

My 16-year-old, whose feet sweat profusely, was fitted with these breathable shoes at Burkhartzmeyers. He loves them as they keep his feet mostly dry.

Anyway, back to that shoe art show. Entries may be in any artistic medium, but must be prepared for gallery display. Submission by digital images is required. Four prizes will be awarded, including a $100 first place honor. The show runs August 6 – September 25 in the Paradise gallery.

So hop to it, you creative Minnesota types. Box up your magical shoe art and bring, or ship, it to paradise.

Here I am in my kicking-around, well-worn Clarks shoes inherited from my sister Monica, who collects shoes. Maybe these will inspire you.

And last, but certainly not least, my husband's hard-working work shoes. Or, should I say the hard-working husband's work shoes?

© Copyright 2010 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

Burkhartzmeyer Shoes building photo courtesy of Kaylyn Wirz

 

I get free green beans (and lots more) at the Faribault Expo April 30, 2010

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 1:37 PM
Tags: , , ,

WHEN I VISITED the annual Faribault Business Expo and Community Showcase for the first time on Thursday evening, I didn’t know quite what to expect.

“Surprised” best summarizes my reaction.

First, I am surprised to see so many vehicles encircling the Faribault Ice Arena, where the event is held. My husband and I even have to wait for a parking spot to open up.

Once inside, I am a bit overwhelmed by the rows of booths spread out before me. But you have to start somewhere, and I begin by accepting a still-warm chocolate chip cookie, a vendor freebie. Considering that I haven’t eaten supper, I wolf down the treat and a second cookie offered a few booths away.

Already I like this expo. But it gets better. A guy dressed in corny corn head-wear hands my husband a can of Spaghetti Rings. “She’ll take the beans,” he tells the Faribault Foods, Inc, rep and I’m handed a can of Butter Kernel green beans.

Freebies from the Faribault Expo.

Now I’m looking for a cloth bag to carry my loot. I settle temporarily for a paper bag from the folks peddling hearing aids. Considering my ear specialist has told me I really need a hearing aid for my right ear, I talk to the hearing aid vendor for a few minutes, all the time straining to hear him above the buzz of conversation that fills this arena.

Then I move on to The Cheese Cave and introduce myself to Laura. I’ve blogged about Faribault Dairy Company’s specialty cheeses several times and am an enthusiastic promoter of the firm’s cave-aged blue and other cheeses. Simply put, I love this cheese. With three huge plates of St. Mary’s grass fed Gouda, St. Pete’s Select blue cheese and Fini, a sharp cheddar, laid out before me, I can’t resist spearing toothpicks into a cube of each.

I continue down the aisle, tossing bean bags until a vendor finally nudges my fifth bag into the hole and hands me a cloth bag. I tell him I’m not athletic. When he calls me a “good sport,” I feel my face flush.

Twice I try to putt a golf ball into a hole for other prizes that I can’t even recall now. I’m no Tiger Woods, not that I would want to be Tiger Woods.

And then, there’s Plinko. I’m excited about the State Bank of Faribault’s game patterned after The Price is Right Plinko board. I could win $100. But I don’t. I win a lint remover. My husband does better, winning a cooler of sorts that we can’t quite figure out.

All told, by the time we leave the expo, we have pens and pencils, can coolers, a mug, candy, pizza cutters, magnets, informational brochures, a note pad and those two cans of canned food.

Lest you think I’ve come simply for the freebies, you would be wrong. I talk to printers, a cell phone provider, journalists, the police chief, art center and rental center employees, a historian, a restaurateur, carpet cleaner, radio station personnel, bankers and friends.

Oh, and I register for a gazillion prizes.

The entire event impresses me and I expect I’ll return next year. Then, though, I hope to see some of the ethnic businesses that have become an important part of the Faribault community. I don’t recall seeing a single one at the expo.

And, I’m hoping too that another week night is chosen for this event. Some downtown Faribault businesses are open on Thursday evenings, and holding the expo on a Thursday excludes many of them.

There’s always room for improvement, including my need to work on my golf swing and tossing bean bags.

© Copyright 2010 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Tina & Lena are Minnesota Moments cover girls April 29, 2010

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 9:02 AM
Tags: , ,

The May/June issue of Minnesota Moments features Tina and Lena.

THE MAY/JUNE ISSUE of Minnesota Moments has just published and it’s jam-packed with fun, interesting and informative stories.

The Minnesota comedy team of Tina & Lena pose as cover girls  in a humorous portrait captured by our talented photographer, Stuart Goldschen.

Publisher/editor Mike Nistler, whom I think is mostly German, if not all German, got the inside story about these two Norwegians. The women define themselves, on their Web site, as “two loony ladies with lots of laugh lines, (who) spout off about everything from woodstoves to Web sites.”

I’ve never seen the duo perform, but I betch ya I would like their self-described “clean, clever style of backyard wit and wisdom that’s stuffed with heaping helpings of hilarity.” Check out Mike’s feature for more details about this entertainment/motivational team.

Inside this issue, you’ll also find John Caughlan’s stunning photos of Split Rock Lighthouse, which turns 100 this year.

My photos, and a few taken by my daughter Miranda, fill many pages of the current issue. I’ve written travel features about Bemidji and Itasca State Park, which my family visited last summer. (Yes, I work even while on “vacation.”)

I also have features (and photos) on a WW II veteran from Kenyon, a 12-year-old Civil War enthusiast from Owatonna and a 91-year-old painter from Faribault. I meet the most interesting people with equally interesting stories to share. If you’re a follower of Minnesota Prairie Roots, you’ve read about those individuals here. But my magazine articles are more in-depth.

Toss in my three book reviews and a “Back in the day” piece, and you can tell I’ve been one busy writer and photographer.

Lest you think I am now resting and twiddling my thumbs with this issue hot off the press, you would be wrong. In the magazine business, we are always, always working ahead on the next edition and beyond.

For the July/August issue, I have already completed stories on a small-town bakery, a patriotic garage, a souvenir store and a resort. I am nearly finished with a feature package about Minnesota rose gardens. My three book reviews are in to my editor and I’m now reading books to review for the fall issue.

Still on my list to complete are a story about a small-town library and a county fair photo essay.

Don’t feel sorry for me, though. There’s nothing I would rather do than write.

© Copyright 2010 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Trying vomacka at the old feed mill April 28, 2010

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 10:22 AM
Tags: , ,

The Feed Mill Restaurant menu and specials, listed on a recipe card.

TYPICALLY, WHEN YOU walk into a restaurant, sit down and ask for the day’s specials, the waitress rattles off the choices.

But not at the Feed Mill Restaurant in historic downtown Jordan. During a recent visit there, the waitress hands me a lined white recipe card with the neatly-printed specials.

Now that’s different, I think, as I put down my menu and scan the card.

For $7.99, I can have liver and onions or hamburger steak served with mashed potatoes and gravy and soup. Hamburger steak? That’s different. How can hamburger be steak? (Later, when I google “hamburger steak,” I discover this to be a fancy word for hamburger patties.)

I continue reading the recipe card.  For a dollar less, I can have a hot beef, pork or hamburger commercial. A fish sandwich, chicken and tuna salad sandwich and hot dog options round out the specials.

Considering I don’t like most of the selections, I order a hot pork commercial and, given a choice, pick green beans over applesauce.

My hot pork commercial.

And then, when presented with the soup options, I face an unknown. Should I try the vomacka or stick with the more traditional vegetable beef barley?

“What’s vomacka?” I ask the waitress.

It is, she explains, a Czech creamed vegetable soup and vomacka means “gravy.”

I figure, what the heck, I may as well expose my taste buds to something foreign.

As my husband and I wait for our meals, I hear the waitress tell the elderly woman two tables away that carrots, green and yellow beans, potatoes, onions, celery and cream comprise vomacka. Dill seasoning flavors the mix. I don’t even have to eavesdrop. Her loud voice carries across the room where, even though it is the prime lunch hour, only my husband and I and the woman and her female companion are dining here.

Our beef and pork commercials arrive promptly. My pork commercial is just OK. The vomacka is tasty and I’m glad I’ve tried it.

Vomacka, a creamy Czech soup

And even though I expect a more historic feel to this restaurant, which is housed in a 1914 circa feed mill, I enjoy the view of rushing Sand Creek through huge plate-glass windows in a late 1970s addition.

When the waitress sees my camera, she suggests that I photograph the creek from a nearby foot bridge. “We’ve had professional photographers in here and it doesn’t work,” she says, looking toward the windows.

I want to tell her that I’m a professional writer and photographer too and that I know shooting images through these windows will not work. But, I hold my tongue. Clearly, she thinks that I am just a woman having lunch here with her husband.

My photo of Sand Creek, taken from a foot bridge near the Feed Mill Restaurant in mid-March. The dining room overlooks the rushing creek.

© Copyright 2010 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Joy in a memory garden April 27, 2010

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 8:16 AM
Tags: , ,

Valentina's memory garden

MY FRIEND JOY lives up to her name.

Everything about her speaks to pure joyfulness. She’s always positive, happy, industrious, creating, caring, giving…

So Sunday, when I stop briefly at Joy’s house to shoot photos for a church project, I am taken with the evolving garden she is designing in honor of her granddaughter Valentina. With Joy, everything is a work in progress.

The memory garden, ringed with stones and rocks, is a testament to a grandmother’s love for the sweet baby girl who died two days after birth in 2006. Valentina’s twin, Samantha, lived.

Joy first showed me this developing memory garden several years ago. On this day, I am treated to a circle of blooming blue hyacinths and a cluster of blossoming white tulips. Also scattered in the hard soil are a few lonely white pansies. A white-budded tree hydrangea grows as a focal point inside the circle.

Joy’s garden, admittedly, needs some upkeep with dandelions and other weeds creeping into the space. But it’s easy to overlook that and focus on the love and thought that went into this small spot of earth.

My eyes gravitate to the word “COURAGE” that centers this garden.

“Why courage?” I ask.

Joy explains that Valentina means courage.

I marvel at how Joy crafted Brazilian agates into letters—C-O-U-R-A-G-E—carefully  placing the stones into concrete. I also marvel at how this determined grandmother and her son Dan, Valentina’s father, hauled hefty bags of Brazilian stones onto airliners and back to Minnesota so Joy could incorporate Valentina’s homeland into this memory garden.

There is so much love here, in this spot, in this earth. And even though Dan lives today in Brazil with his family, back in Minnesota, one grandmother holds close her precious granddaughter in a garden that exudes courage and joy.

Dandelions mingle with hyacinths in Valentina's memory garden. The rusted scissors adds interest. "I never throw anything away," Joy says.

Joy formed COURAGE from Brazilian stones.

Looking down into a cluster of blooming hyacinths.

© Copyright 2010 Audrey Kletscher Helbling