Local News

The MN State Patrol responded to a 2-vehicle crash occurred on Monday morning at 11:32 at the intersection of Highways 12 and 24 in Litchfield. A semi was southbound on Highway 24 and another truck was westbound on Highway 12 when they collided.

The 2024 Freightliner 114SD was driven by 43-year-old Jacob Joseph Garding of Kimball. He was not injured. A passenger in that vehicle – 57-year-old Ricky John Kalkbrenner of Litchfield – received non-life-threatening injuries and was taken to Meeker Memorial Hospital.

The 2018 Volvo tractor trailer was driven by 46-year-old Ivan Clay Moehiman of Wellington, Kansas. He received non-life-threatening injuries and was taken to Meeker Memorial Hospital. Also responding to the scene were Litchfield Fire and Police Departments and Mayo Ambulance.

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The Litchfield High School Marching Band Indoor Concert will be on Friday, November 8th and Saturday, November 9th at 7 p.m. each evening in the Litchfield High School Gym. Admission is $7 for adults and $5 for students.

Band director Bailey Benoit says the theme this year is Rhythm of the Rainbow. She says the will perform songs with colors in the title or with an artist who has a color in their name.

Benoit says the drumline will do its black light show during the concert which is always very entertaining. She says the Litchfield High School Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take place just before Friday night’s concert.

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The Veterans Day Chili Luncheon is coming up on November 11th from 11-to-1 at First Presbyterian Church in Litchfield. Veterans eat for free, and it’s $10 for everyone else.

Rosie Graphenteen says the luncheon helps them raise funds for missions that the church supports in Meeker County. She says it’s also a nice way to honor our veterans, and she likes to recognize her grandson who served in the Marines.

Graphenteen says the menu will include different kinds of chili, toppings, corn bread, regular bread, chips, bars and beverages. She says the Presbyterian Church, at Holcombe Avenue and 3rd Street, has handicapped accessible dining on the main floor and dining downstairs as well. Take-outs are available, and deliveries around Litchfield can be arranged by calling Rosie by November 8th at 320-221-2082.

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Four Litchfield High School graduates will be inducted into the Litchfield High School Hall of Fame this Friday evening – prior to the Indoor Marching Band concert, which begins at 7 p.m. This year’s group includes the late William Michael O’Fallon from the class of 1952, Marcia Curtis Provencher from the class of 1966, Jon Lovald from the class of 1988, and Adam Stern from the class of 2001.

Mike O’Fallon was involved in speech, theater, band, track, cross-country, football, baseball, wrestling and honor society while he was at Litchfield High School. After graduating in 1952, he attended St. John’s University in Collegeville, MN for 4 years – with a major in mathematics and a minor English, and was involved in theater, track, cross-country and wrestling.

O’Fallon had planned on being a high school math teacher and coach, but was offered a 12-month DuPont fellowship by the Vanderbilt University Mathematics Department. With a masters in mathematics, he was then offered a job teaching at his alma mater – St. John’s – in 1957. He then pursued his doctorate – enrolling at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill in 1960 as he was offered a 3-year National Defense Education Fellowship. He also received a 2-year Research Associate appointment in UNC’s Biostatistics Department and completed his PhD in Mathematical Statistics in 1967.

In 1965, while writing his PhD dissertation, Duke University recruited him and he taught there for 9 years. As an associate professor, he studied epidemiology during a sabbatical and explored research projects at Mayo Clinic. He then applied for a one-year fellowship with the National Cancer Institute to study breast cancer and moved his family to Rochester in 1974, and spent 19 years as a professor in the Mayo Medical School. In 1994, he was appointed to chair Mayo’s Dept. of Health Sciences Research, and retired from Mayo in 2002. O’Fallon passed away in Rochester in 2022.

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