Local News

The Peanut Butter & Milk Festival Committee held its annual meeting last night. Three board members were elected and officers were also reelected.

President Terri Anderson, Vice President Karen Becker, Treasurer Loree Schultz and Secretary Lori Christofferson were all reelected to the Board of Directors. A unanimous ballot was also cast for Lori Christofferson, Janet Huhn and Rachel Madsen to serve 3-year terms on the Board.

During the regular meeting of the Peanut Butter & Milk Festival last night, Joe Barka, Desirae Polzin and Carson Cervin were selected as the student delegates from the Litchfield High School FFA Chapter to travel to Alabama November 7th through the 14th for the annual sister-city exchange program to Hartford. Terri Anderson and Meeker County Dairy Princess Claudia Frenchick and her chaperone will also be traveling to Alabama in November.

Members of the Peanut Butter & Milk Festival will be helping with the Meeker Energy annual meeting dinner on May 20th; the Center Bank Brat Feed on July 9th; and with the Moo Booth at the Meeker County Fair. The next meeting of the Peanut Butter & Milk Festival Committee will be on Tuesday, May 19th at 7 p.m. in the Litchfield High School Ag Room. Everyone’s welcome.

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The School of St. Philip will be adding a pre-school this fall. Open houses will be held in the future and specific dates will be posted on social media.

Principal Andrea Dietrich says anyone interested may call the school to schedule a time to look at the preschool room and to get more information. She says the preschool will be for children ages 3-to-5 who are potty-trained, and they continue to take registrations for children in grades K through 5 any time.

Dietrich says the annual St. Philip’s School Rummage Sale is coming up at the Church of St. Philip on April 24th from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on April 25th from 8-to-2, and they will be accepting donations of items at the church from April 18th through the 22nd. She says 4th and 5th graders from St. Philip’s School, along with herself and some other chaperones, are enjoying activities this week at Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center.

Dietrich says if anyone would like more information about St. Philip’s Catholic School in Litchfield, they may call 693-6283.

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On Sunday evening at 7:20 P.M., the Stearns County Emergency Communications Center received reports of a crash with injuries near the intersection of County Roads 7 and 44 on the north side of Fairhaven Townsite. Parties on the scene told dispatchers that there were multiple injuries and that one person may have been ejected from the vehicle.

Upon arrival, deputies learned that a 2022 Ford Expedition, driven by 16-year-old Gavin Timmers of St. Augusta, was traveling westbound on County Road 44 approaching the intersection with County Road 7.  This intersection is controlled by stop signs for westbound traffic on County Road 44 and eastbound traffic on 140th Street. The Ford Expedition entered the intersection and collided with a Dodge Ram truck, driven by 42-year-old Katie Payne of Maple Lake.  She was traveling northbound on County Road 7 approaching County Road 44.

The Ford Expedition was occupied by passengers – 79-year-old Patrick Ternes of St. Cloud; 56-year-old Tina Timmers of St. Augusta; 49-year-old Ehren Timmers of St. Augusta; and 19-year-old Grant Timmers of St. Augusta.  The Dodge Ram was occupied by passengers – 15-year-old Kyrsten Payne of Maple Lake, and 47-year-old Ryan Payne of Maple Lake.

The impact at the intersection caused the Timmers Ford Expedition to roll. Care was provided to all occupants at the scene by responding law enforcement, fire departments and ambulance services.  Despite life-saving attempts on the scene, Tina Timmers was declared deceased at the crash location.  All other parties were treated at the scene for a variety of injuries and transported to the St. Cloud Hospital.

The Minnesota State Patrol was requested to respond to the scene and will be providing a crash reconstruction report.  The crash remains under investigation. The Stearns County Sheriff’s Office was assisted at the scene by the Wright County Sheriff’s Office, Minnesota State Patrol, Minnesota DNR, South Haven Fire & Rescue, Mayo Ambulance Service, and the Watkins Ambulance Service.

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