By Brenda Erdahl
January
The Annandale-Maple Lake (ANML) Youth Wrestling Club’s annual open tournament attracted upwards of 200 wrestlers in grades prekindergarten through sixth for a day of individual competition Sunday, Jan. 8 at Maple Lake High School. The ANML program weighed in 63 of its youngest athletes to the event. . . Three new Wright County Commissioners took their oaths of office Tuesday, Jan. 3 at the County Board’s first meeting of 2023. Tina Diedrick was elected last fall to serve District 1, which covers Albion, Buffalo, Chatham, Corrina and Southside townships and the cities of Annandale, South Haven and Buffalo Precincts 1-4. Jeanne Holland was elected to District 3 which covers the cities of Otsego, Albertville and Dayton and Nadine Schoen will represent District 4 which covers the cities of Hanover, St. Michael and Rockford and Rockford Township. . . Snow and icy road conditions contributed to an accident early last week that took the life of 36-year-old Maple Lake man Scott Hollencamp. According to the Minnesota State Patrol, Hollencamp was standing on the side of the road near his car that had gone into the ditch when he was struck by a pickup truck. The accident happened around 7:18 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 3 on Highway 24 at milepost 43 in Clearwater Township. . . The 48th annual Maple Lake Ice Fishing Derby set for Feb. 4 has been cancelled, organizers announced last week. Record breaking snowfall in December and January and warm weather have made extremely poor ice conditions leading to the “difficult decision to cancel the 2023 festivities,” organizers said. As of mid-last week, the ice sheet was coated with 12 to 14 inches of heavy snow. Ice thickness was between seven and 11 inches and above average temperatures are expected to remain over the next week. . . The first meeting of the new year for the Maple Lake school board on Monday, Jan. 9, meant welcoming three new members and taking care of housekeeping items including electing new officers and making committee assignments. Branson Thomas, Natalie Anderson and Liz Lind were elected to the board in November at the general election to fill the positions of outgoing board members Lowell Benson, Joe Mavencamp and Bill Neumann. . . Former Saint Timothy Priest Michael Izen was recently named by Pope Francis as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. Izen ministered at Divine Mercy in Faribault until 2007 when he became pastor at Saint Timothy in Maple Lake, where he served until 2012.