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The YME Trap team is enjoying the opportunity to be shooting Trap simulator style thanks to coach Jason Hoff heading up an effort to bring this advantage to the team. The East Medicine Pheasants Forever was approached by the team to request a donation of funds to purchase the dry-fire simulator system. “To our surprise, they voted that they will take care of it all expenses. We owe a huge Thank You to the EMPF Chapter for this awesome surprise to help the team - Very exciting news. Jason got on the horn right away to order,” says Trap Coach Sandra Berthelsen. The YME trap shooting athletes will be allowed to use this system with a coach present to practice their shooting skills without having the expense of ammunition. “We hope to have practices more often and the kids use their own guns with this system so not much is different. Over time the more they practice the better you will become,” Berthelsen says.”Please reach out to Jason Hoff if you have further questions about how to get your child introduced to trap shooting before the Spring season.”

Who dunnit? That will be the question audience members answer this Halloween season during an upcoming Murder Mystery Dinner Theater fundraiser: “Murder on the Yellowstone Trail,” written and directed by Paul Warshauer, to be held in back-to-back shows at the Rock in Granite Falls on Friday and Satuday, October 28 and 29. Proceeds from ticket sales of “Murder on the Yellowstone Trail” will benefit the Granite Falls Historical Society (GFHS) and Granite Area Arts Council (GAAC).

Psalm 121 - 1I lift up my eyes to the hills; from where is my help to come? 2My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. 3The Lord will not let your foot be moved nor will the one who watches over you fall asleep.

Last week, motivational speaker Terrence Lee Talley made a visit to Granite Falls along with Minneapolis-based band WonderStruck. Talley has traveled to schools around the country with a message of “never lose hope and never give up”, encouraging students to create positive life choices. Talley, also a published author, combines stories, comedy and motivation to share his message. He grew up in the Twin Cities. Talley’s appearance at Yellow Medicine East was held with support from Student Reach Minnesota. The program was held first for students of the district in grades 5th through 12th, and repeated in the evening with an assembly for the public in the YME Auditorium.

Pioneer PBS’s producer of Compass Amanda Anderson was approached by Dr. Tom Birkey, and his wife Doris along with the Montevideo Area Memory Loss Network (MAMLN) with the idea to produce a program about the Birkeys’ experiences with Alzheimer’s disease some time ago. Right away, Anderson knew that the idea fit in perfectly with the type of programming Compass has been striving to achieve, utilizing solutions journalism for story-telling. Thus began an effort over the summer to film and edit “Birkey’s Brain”, a program that premiered for the first time last week at the Montevideo Millennium Theater, which donated the space for the event, in partnership with MAMLN and Pioneer PBS. “It was really conceived from Dr. Birkey. He wanted to create a space where people were having positive conversations about Alzheimer’s Disease and living well with Dementia,” Anderson says.

Local artist Brad Hall will be hosting a one-day class at Bluenose Gopher Public House coming up on Thursday, October 15th from 1 pm to 3 pm. It will be an EZ Cut Printmaking Class. Hall explained how the EZ Cut process is slightly different than working with a linoleum block, saying, “It’s like a rubber eraser. You can carve one in 10 minutes; some people may take an hour and then we print [using water soluble ink] with a rolling pin. It’s a lot of fun. I have little cartoon images; you want to do a really simple image.”

We have been blessed in the weather department so far this fall! We have enjoyed some great temperatures across the state over the past several days! This weekend was fantastic to get out and enjoy all of the fall colors. We saw highs in the 60s for most of the region both days with lots of sunshine! Tuesday, was an absolutely incredible day for temperatures as highs climbed into the mid to upper 70s for much of the region.

United Way of Southwest Minnesota The SWWC Foundation for Innovation in Education has been awarded a community impact grant from the United Way of Southwest Minnesota (UWSWMN) in the amount of $4,000 to invest in the SWWC Service Cooperative’s Student Enrichment Programs. Their programs are offered to assist K-12 students in finding their passion in life by providing high-quality enrichment opportunities.