The 7th Annual Hoot Lanes Jr. League Scholarship Tournament was held on Sunday, March 21, 2026 and this one was bigger than ever.

This tournament is limited to bowlers that bowl in the Hoot Lanes Jr. League. 34 bowlers participated in the tournament which is the most in the seven-year history.

The event was another enormous success. The tourney awarded $12,000 in scholarships for the tournament which is also the most money ever donated.

There was also a $300 random draw by the Bowl4Life Scholarship Foundation and the winner of this scholarship was Mason Waugh.

Thomas “Tom” Henry Christensen, age 88, of Janesville passed away surrounded by family on Monday, March 23, 2026 at Lakeshore Rehabilitation Center in Waseca.

Eloise Emily (Pierson) Zellmer, 89, of rural Waterville, passed away peacefully on March 21, 2026, surrounded by her family.

Born January 6, 1937, at home in rural Lewisville to Nels and Anne (Sanders) Pierson, Eloise was raised on a farm near Butterfield, where she developed a deep love for family, faith, and hard work. She was baptized and confirmed at First Lutheran Church in Butterfield, choosing Philippians 4:13 as her guiding verse. She graduated from Butterfield High School in 1954 and attended Mankato State University.

Six Grizzlies finish their wrestling careers

Six WEM/JWP Grizzly wrestlers finished their careers at the end of February and one of those was named this year’s Most Valuable Wrestler.

Brady Murphy was named the Most Valuable Wrestler after finishing an outstanding career which saw him finish in the top 10 in many Grizzly school records lists.

Murphy, along with Zach Quast, Charles Adams, Devin Cowdin, Spencer Nordstrom, and Kayle Langford were seniors this winter who will be hanging up their wrestling singlets.

Carrie Ann Ferch, of Waldorf, MN, passed away peacefully on March 16, 2026, with her loving family by her side, after a courageous battle with cancer.

Choir students receive “Superior” rating at Sub-Sections

The WEM Music Department has been very busy this year and during the final months of the school year they have many events planned.

Of those events, two are coming back to the district after not being held for years.

Most recently, the WEM Choir participated in the Sub-Section Music Contest Festival and they were awarded the top honor, a “Superior” rating.

For generations of Scouts and Scouters across Minnesota, Camp Cuyuna has been a place of adventure, faith, friendship, and lifelong memories. From campfires and merit badges to quiet moments along the lake, thousands of young people and volunteers experienced some of the most meaningful moments of their lives there.

Its Girl Scout Cookie Season and these three 8th Grade Girl Scouts are excited to be raising money to put toward their Silver Award Project. WEM Area Girl Scouts Mallory Wetzel, Tori Bruns, and Charli Atherton have started working on their project, which will consist of putting together activity bags for social workers and public health employees to bring with them to home visits, and they are also putting together foster care bags for children who are unexpectantly/involuntarily removed from their home. The foster care bags will consist of..

Hilda “Lou” L. Nutter, age 86, of Elysian, MN, died peacefully Friday, March 6, 2026.

A Private Family Service will be held with interment in Cedar Hill Cemetery, Elysian, MN.  Mankato Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.

A loyal reader of the LifeEnterprise sent this column to the paper a number of weeks ago. Here is what she sent.

I don’t think our kids know what an apron is. The principal use of grandma’s apron was to protect the dress underneath, because she only had a few, it was easier to was aprons than dresses and they used less material, but along with that, it served as a pot holder for removing hot pans from the oven.

It was wonderful for drying children’s tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears.

Rice County Highway Engineer Dennis Luebbe appeared at the Morristown City Council’s March 2 meeting to discuss the possibility of connecting a trail or sidewalk from Highway 60 to Verdev Drive.

“That project is still in our 10-year plan,” Luebbe said. “The county board approved it in the middle of February. We’re looking at trying to secure money from MnDOT, through one of their grants.”

Luebbe says they have tried to get a grant for that project for a few years.

WEM art students have been sharing their talents with the community in displays in Waterville and Faribault and beyond over the course of the last few weeks.

The Graphic Design students created personalized logos for hats and shirts under the guidance of visiting artist and local business owner, Brady Fisher of Brady Gifts and Promotional. Featured WEM designers include: Cody (Otten) Doring, Gage Bliss, Jackson Dahl, Gage Hobmeier, Nevaeh Geyer, Alix Velzke and Cora Shaw.

Nearly two dozen WEM/JWP wrestlers have qualified for NYWA (Northland Youth Wrestling Association) Regional Tournament.

They advanced through four different local tournaments including Janesville, Mapleton, Blooming Prairie, and Tartan.

Those who advanced include the following:

Pre-K: Johnny Deleon.

Kindergarten: Koda Knish.

1st Grade: Mateo Masso.

2nd Grade: Gabriel Behne, Beau James, Maddox Knish, Mariella Masso, Rhett Melchert, and Ryatt Melchert.

3rd Grade: Lucas Grother.

LAKE CRYSTAL - Throw out the three-point shooting in the Section 2AA opening round boys basketball game between No. 13 seed WEM and No. 4 seed Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial (LCWM) Tuesday, March 4 and the results would have been much different.

Unfortunately for the Bucs, three-pointers counted and the Knights held a distinct advantage in the long range shooting in their 74-54 win over the Buccaneers.

LCWM made 10-of-23 from behind the three-point arc while WEM hit only 4-of-23, giving the Knights an 18 point advantage on the 19+foot shots.

In last year’s legislative session, the Minnesota Legislature passed a law ending the shotgun-only zone for deer hunting in the southern and west-central counties of the state.

The action leaves each county currently in the shotgun-only zone with the decision of whether to pass an ordinance to maintain the ban on rifle hunting.

Le Sueur County can either do nothing and allow the rifle hunting ban to lift, or it can pass an ordinance to uphold the current law.

The trip to the Class A State Wrestling Tournament for the first Grizzly wrestlers will provide memories of a lifetime.

Four of the five were making their first appearance. Two of the five were able to win a match. Three of the five have a chance to make a second appearance.

Seniors Brady Murphy and Kayle Langford and juniors Kavan Sheehy, Trenton Huber, and Aiden Gruber each represented the team with great determination and pride.