The Litchfield High School Hall of Fame ceremony is coming up on Friday evening in the High School Commons with a reception at 6 p.m. and a program at 7 p.m. This year’s group of inductees will spend some time at Litchfield High School on Friday – touring the facilities and speaking to students.
Marcia Provencher is on the Litchfield High School Hall of Fame Committee and says this year’s inductees include Andrew Revering and Donald “Pokey” Schreifels – both from the class of 1961, Debra Freitag Baker from the class of 1981 and the late Mark Wood from the class of 1971. She says nomination forms are available at the Litchfield High School office and from Committee members and they have lots of them to sort through each year.
Provencher says the nominations stay in the mix, so no one needs to be nominated again if they weren’t chosen right away and the committee looks at their career accomplishments and other factors such as their charitable and volunteer work. She says this year’s group will have a chance to speak to students on Friday afternoon at Litchfield High School about how high school maybe directed them in the paths they chose to follow in life.
Provencher says several past inductees have been invited to the ceremony and they will receive pins recognizing their membership in the Litchfield High School Hall of Fame. She says past inductees Ann Olson Montgomery and David O’Fallon will be speaking during the ceremony.
27-year-old Trey Ertl of Litchfield was sentenced on Monday to 20-years in prison for beating and stabbing a man during a robbery near Litchfield in June of 2024. Ertl was given credit for 478 days he has spent behind bars since his arrest.
The 240 month sentence handed down by Judge Stephanie Beckman in Meeker County District Court was for his August conviction on a charge of Attempted 2nd Degree Murder, and will be served concurrently with sentences of 192 months and 132 months for convictions of 1st Degree Assault and 1st Degree Aggravated Robbery.
Ertl and two others brought an Olivia man to a rural area to look at a camper for sale, then stole the cash the victim had with him, hit him with a car, beat and stabbed him, but he survived.
Ertl was also going to go on trial this week on assault charges for beating a fellow inmate in the Meeker County Jail in February, but entered into an Alford Plea of Guilty last week. He was sentenced to 33 months in prison Monday. And last week, Ertl pleaded guilty to 1st Degree Assault for beating a man during a robbery in Litchfield in March of last year, and four other charges, including Attempted Murder, were dismissed.
On Monday Ertl was sentenced to 12 years and 2 months in prison but will serve that sentence, along with the inmate-beating sentence, at the same time as his sentences in the camper assault case. He was also ordered to pay his victim nearly $30,000 in restitution.
The Litchfield City Council has approved of the first reading of an ordinance authorizing a sanitary sewer rate increase. Rates will increase 3% for residential and commercial customers.
City Administrator Dave Czoik says the City is looking at wastewater projects totaling 40-to-60-million dollars, and some of the industrial customers will bear much of the cost, but the rates need to increase for all customers to help pay for the needed wastewater infrastructure for the next 10 years, beginning in 2026. Residential customers 70 and older can apply at City Hall for reduced rate increases.
Cziok began a discussion about future equipment purchases. Council member Darlene Kotelnicki then introduced a resolution for the staff to purchase a couple of pieces of equipment that are needed in the immediate future. Council member Malinda Larson amended Kotelnicki’s resolution to allow staff to purchase items on the equipment list that were under $25,000 each. The amended resolution passed on a 3-to-2 vote with Kotelnicki and Council member Bob Powers opposed.
A resolution was also introduced last night to allow people to get a $50 membership at the new Litchfield Area Recreation Center just to use the walking track from November through March in the coming year from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. each day. It passed on a 3-to-2 vote with Kotelnicki and Powers opposed.
Also last night, the Litchfield City Council designated the Litchfield Rail as the official newspaper and approved of spending $4,680 to install lights on a deciduous tree in Central Park again this holiday season.
On November 3, 1990, The Righteous Brothers scored a No.1 hit in the UK with “Unchained Melody,” 25 years after its original release, thanks to its appearance in the blockbuster film, Ghost. Written in 1955 by Alex North and Hy Zaret for the film Unchained, the ballad was first performed by Todd Duncan. Later that year, multiple artists found success with the tune including Liberace, Jimmy Young, and Les Baxter. It would soon become one of the most recorded songs in history. The Righteous Brothers’ version, released in 1965, however, would become the definitive recording. Produced by Phil Spector and featuring a solo performance by the duo’s Bobby Hatfield, the track was a hit upon its release. In 1990, when it was featured prominently in the Demi Moore/Patrick Swayze film, it gained a new generation of fans around the globe.
In 1991, approximately 300,000 people attended the free “Laughter, Love and Music,” concert at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, which celebrated the life and work of Bill Graham. The 60-year-old concert promoter and impresario, who was instrumental in the rise of the ‘60s counterculture movement, was killed a week earlier in a helicopter crash. Many of the acts that Graham had supported performed at the memorial event, including the Grateful Dead, Santana, and a reunited Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.
In 1957, Jerry Lee Lewis’ “Great Balls of Fire” was released by Sun Records. Selling one million copies in just ten days, the recording would become one of the era’s best-selling singles.
In 1990, Vanilla Ice’s “Ice Ice Baby” became the first rap single to top the Billboard Hot 100.
In 2013, the first YouTube Music Awards were held in New York City. While the fan-voted event, which celebrated the year’s best music videos, was short-lived, it marked the overwhelming impact of the platform on the music industry.
BORN ON NOVEMBER 3
1930: Mable John
1933: John Barry (Composer)
1948: Lulu
1954: Adam Ant
1973: Mick Thomson (Slipknot)
1987: Courtney Barnett