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y Tim King 

Gerald Ruda was chosen as Chairman of the Board of 

he Todd County Commissioners for 2012 at the Tuesdayanuary 3 meeting. Ruda had been vice chair during

011. He takes the chairman’s gavel from Commissioner

ark Blessing.

“I would like to thank Commissioner Mark Blessing

r a year of outstanding leadership in 2011,” Ruda said.

Commissioner Randy Neumann was chosen as vice

hair for 2012.

OFFICIAL TODD COUNTY NEWSPAPER

Commissioners once again selected the unified bid of 

he Staples World to be the official newspaper for Todd

ounty. The county’s official newspaper publishes the

ficial proceedings of the board of commissioners, includ-

g the minutes of meetings. The official publication also

ublishes the county’s financial statement and list of 

delinquent property taxes. Although the

Staples World was chosen as the official

newspaper, the Eagle Bend News Herald,Browerville Blade, and Long Prairie Leader

will publish the same material. The Staples

World has contracted with those publications

to publish the official material.

The bid of the Staples World was $9.30 per column

inch. That is the same rate as the World’s successful bid

to be the county’s official newspaper last year. Legal

printing for the county was budgeted at $11,000 in 2011.

 According to County Administrator Nathan Burkett the

actual cost for legal printing in 2011 was $13,313.41. The

county has budgeted $11,000 for legal printing again for

2012.

In separate action commissioners accepted the bid of 

the Long Prairie Leader to distribute the county financial

statement to the parts of Todd County not covered by the

distribution of the official newspaper. The Leader’s suc-

cessful bid was $7.30 per inch and was made jointly on

behalf of the other three weekly newspapers. The

Leader’s bid has been the same since 2008.

COMMITTEE APPOINTMENTS

Commissioners approved their roster of committee

assignments for 2012. Committee assignments for the

On the afternoon of January

4, the Todd County Sheriff’s

Office was notified that

Maryann Leona Biskey, 57, was

missing from her rural resi-

dence on 309th St, Section 132,

Bruce Township, rural Burtrum.

Her husband, Gary Biskey, had

noticed she was missing when

he awoke in the morning. Her

purse and cell phone were at the

residence, and no vehicles were

missing. Family members

reported they had not heardfrom her since the evening of 

January 3.

On Thursday afternoon,

January 5, the body of Maryann

Biskey was located within a half 

mile of her residence. Deputiessaid they found no signs of foul

play, but could not determine

any cause of death. Her body

was sent to the Anoka County

medical examiner's office for an

autopsy, which was completed

Friday, January 6. No cause of 

death has been released.

  Anyone with information

about her death is asked to con-

tact the Todd County Sheriff's

Office at (320) 732-2157

The Todd County Sheriff ’s

Posse, Long Prairie Fire Dept.,

and MN State Trooper helicop-

ter assisted in search efforts.

The MN Bureau of Criminal

  Apprehension is also assisting

in the investigation.

A community newspaper serving Browerville, MN and surrounding areas. USPS 067-560

Thursday, January 12, 2012

 Volume 95; Number 30

 www.bladepublishing.net

Wed. Jan. 11

Snow/Wind

28°/-2° 

Thur. Jan. 12 

Clouds/Wind

5°/0° 

Fri. Jan. 13 

 Partly Cloudy

17°/10° 

Sat. Jan. 14

 Partly Cloudy

23°/6° 

Sun. Jan. 15 

 Partly Cloudy

19°/11° 

 Mon. Jan. 16 

 Partly Cloudy

26°/12° 

 W EEKLY W EATHER REPORT

75¢

Commissioner Gerald Ruda, right, was appointed Chairman of the Board of Commissioners

r 2012. Commissioner Randy Neumann, left, has accepted the position of Vice Chair.

Commissioners appointChair/review committees

Burtrumwoman’s

cause of

death is

unknown

Continued on page 16.

 Reprinted

 from the

Todd County

Sheriff’s

Newsletter 

It usually

goes without

saying, when

Law Enforce-

ment has news

to report, it is

almost always

negative. On

T h u r s - d a y ,

Decem-ber 29,

2011, an ATV

driven by

Travis Ritter,

of rural Sauk

Centre, went

through the ice

on Fairy Lake

in Kandota

Twp. Ritter’s three year old son

was a passenger on the ATV.

Ritter was able to hoist his son

out of the freezing water, but

was not able to get out of the

water himself.

This is where the good news

come in. Two 17year old girls,

Mercedes Eke and Kali Arnzen,

were enjoying the unseasonably

war weather and were skating

on the lake when they saw the

  ATV plunge through the ice.

Eke immediately skated to her

cell phone and called 911.

  Arnzen skated to the locationand took off her ice skates and

threw them to Ritter, to use as

ice picks to pull himself from

the freezing water. He was still

unable to climb out of the freez-

ing water, so Arnzen retrieved

one of her skates from Ritter,

removed her jacket, tossed

Ritter a sleeve of the jacket,

anchored herself with the skate

and assisted Ritter by helping

pull him out of the water.

Ritter and his son were taken

to the hospital in Sauk Centre,

where they were treated and

released. The quick thinking of 

the two young ladies was amaz-

ing. Without their help, emer-

gency personnel would most

likely have been reporting bad

news and would have been

involved in the recovery of a

body.I’m sure neither of these girls

planned on being heroes. Since

the incident I have spoken with

Ritter and he said he didn’t

know what he would have done

without their assistance. I’ve

also spoken with the parents of 

both girls. The girls are very

humble about this experience. A 

formal commendation is being

planned for the girls.

The lakes in Todd County are

still very unpredictable and no

vehicle traffic is suggested on

our lakes. Use extreme caution

when on the ice and if you are

not familiar with a particular

lake, it’s best to talk to a local

bait shop or area fisherman

about possible ice hazards typi-

cal of local lakes.

Todd County Sheriff Pete

Mikkelson.

 Maryann Leona Biskey.

  Mercedes Eke and Kali Arnzen’s quick

hinking on December 29th may have helped

avedthe life of Sauk Centre’s Travis Ritter.

Sauk Centre Herald photo.

Sauk Centre girl’s quick thinking may have saved man’s life